Armageddon sic a disol book

What? You haven't read The Ship With the Flat Tire by Todd Hunt?*

Moving right along... The second proof arrived on Wednesday.** On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I read it all again and marked errors. Yes, I'll need to upload both the interior and cover files again. That is all.

I mean it. That is ALL. Once I correct the files and re-upload them, there will be NO third proof copy headed my way. That's right, I have reached the point of Author's Denial, aka "I Refuse To Tinker Anymore." The book isn't perfect. It will never be perfect. I think I've caught the most egregious stuff. There were only a couple of actual typos in this proof; mostly I was moving commas or tweaking words. Much of it still makes me smile, even reading it over for the umpty-umpth time. What more can I ask?

So--this week I fix the files, look over the final PDF and JPEG very carefully, re-upload them, wait for the acceptance, and then PUSH THE BUTTON, BETH. Look for it.
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* You should (if you can find it--it was published in 1967); it's really funny. It also might help you decode the title of the post, although that shouldn't be too hard anyway.

**By US mail, not UPS like last time. Curious.

Second proof

Here's what happened this week:

1) On Monday, I checked over my file for widows and orphans again, made a PDF/X from the interior file, and uploaded it. I was notified right away by CreateSpace that there was one mistake found. I couldn't find out what the mistake was because of my computer's age and inability to run current Adobe software.

2) On Tuesday, I checked my file at the library. The mistake was just a margin error on the title page, easily fixed. However, after I fixed that and made a new PDF, I realized that I had, with editing, added two new pages to the file and my chapter numbers were wrong on the Contents page again. Sigh. I fixed that, but decided to scan the PDF page by page for more errors, which was a good idea, because I found some spacing problems which I then had to fix. (On one page, there was a totally random blank line added for no particular reason. It had showed up on the first proof, but I thought I'd fixed it. Apparently not. I had to delete not only that line but the paragraphs above and below and then retype them to get rid of that stupid blank space.) Yipes. I thought I'd gotten all that before.

3) On Wednesday, I uploaded the PDF of the finally-all-correct-I-really-really-hope interior file. CreateSpace didn't find any problems. Hooray! In the evening, I tried to make my cover file into a PDF (after revising the back cover blurb). It didn't work! Frustration ensued, and I decided to leave it for the next day.

4) On Thursday morning, I did some research and found that the cover file wasn't supposed to be a PDF! It only needed to be a JPEG. Well, whadda ya know. Hey, it was three months ago that I did this conversion before, and I'd forgotten. Anyway, the JPEG was easy to create. That evening, I submitted the new cover file (no problems found) and submitted both files for review. CreateSpace said they'd get back to me within 48 hours.

5) On Friday morning (5:45 am!) I checked my email and wow--my files are approved! I ordered a proof copy. Why? Because even though I don't want to do any more checking, I'd feel pretty stupid if I didn't and some gross error went through. While I was in an ordering mood, I signed up for CreateSpace's Expanded Distribution plan, which includes the "Bookstores and Online Retailers" channel and the "Libraries & Academic Institutions" channel. (In other words, the Ingram and the Baker & Taylor catalogs.) And -- I got notice on Friday night that the proof is in the mail. If it comes as soon as the first proof did, it could arrive tomorrow.

This week: stalking the condo office for possible proof delivery, seeing what else I can do on the CreateSpace website to prepare for publication (though I think I've done most of it), and praying that the proof looks good enough to publish. Keep your fingers crossed, okay?

So near...

I am so near to uploading both my interior and my cover files again.

This week, I read my whole book out loud to myself. That was helpful in finding bits that didn't flow well and continuity errors (Character A was sitting on this page, but standing on the next, with no transition. Stuff like that.) I also tweaked the cover; it didn't need much.

I'm at the point where I don't want to look at the book anymore, but I need to. I had to determine a "reading level" for it for CreateSpace, so I tried to use a reading level function in MS Word. It never worked (guess I hadn't set the settings properly) but I did end up going through the whole book with Word's spelling and grammar checker. And whaddaya know, I found more spelling errors (incorrect compound words, mostly) and some grammar stuff, some of which I corrected and some of which I let stand because It's Just My Style, thank you very much, Word. Oh, and I used an online "readability index calculator" to determine my reading level (7th grade).

This morning I've been messing around on the CreateSpace website, resetting my BISAC code (which tells bookstores how to classify the book), entering the price ($8.99), rewriting my book description (which will also go on the back cover)--it goes on and on. But really, I'm so near...

That's my goal for the week--uploading both files. Once they're approved, will I then order another proof copy? Do I want to? Noooooooo (that's a horrified wail). I just want to push the "publish" button. But will I? We'll see.

I think the inside is looking pretty good.

No, I haven't completely polished the front matter yet. But the body and back matter is corrected, as far as comments that I received from my proofreaders go. Whew! And of course, as I was making those changes I discovered some other areas that needed attention. For instance, my capitalization for "king," "queen," and "prince" was wildly inconsistent when the term wasn't being used as part of their name. (E.g., "The king paced back and forth." To capitalize or not? I had it both ways. And had not noticed it at all until now. Yipes.)

Does chaos theory have something to say about all this? I'm thinking of Jurassic Park, where the scientist (as I recall) assures the park builder that SOMETHING WILL GO WRONG BECAUSE IT'S ALL TOO COMPLEX. Is my book doomed to have some errors, just because? I am starting to suspect so. Still, I'll get all the ones I can.

Next up is the front matter and the cover. Check in next week to find out how close I am to publication!

Back to proofing

I have the proof copy back, and I've started making the changes in my file.

Yeah, that's really about it for this week. I've gotten through the first two chapters.

My goal for the week is to get through the rest of the chapters, fixing any mistakes, poor punctuation choices, or awkward/confusing/contradictory passages that my readers noted. Then I'll need to do one last reading, tend to the front and back material and the cover, decide on the price and who knows what all else, and zowie! Ready to roll.

See you next week.

Writing and waiting

This week, I continued to work on the sequel for half an hour each morning, and I ended up writing some new material, not just editing old stuff. So that was good.

My current proofreader will return Just Like Magic to me on Tuesday. I'd thought I might get it back last week, but my reader needed more time.

My mom keeps asking me when she can buy a copy, though, so I'm still aiming at a late September publication date. We'll see!

Almost ready for the last push

Not much to report this week. I worked more on the sequel, got my book back from one proofer, and passed it on to another.

Yup, that's about it.

It's been so long since I worked much on Just Like Magic (six or seven weeks?) that it all seems distant and vaguely unreal. However, my goal is still to get it published by the end of this month. Which means that I'll have to really get in gear when I get the book back. The Last Push.

Well, except that then there's the e-book formatting push, and the marketing push. But you know. Last Push over the First Mountain.