Become a REAL Self-Publisher

New book coming in early September

2010-08-14T06:22:00.001-04:00

Two of my previous books about publishing—Become a Real Self-Publisher and Stupid, Sloppy, Sleazy—made a distinction between books published by “real” or “independent” self-publishers and those published by author services companies—which often call themselves self-publishing companies, and which are less charitably known as vanity publishers.

Those two books warn writers about those companies—but acknowledge that independent self-publishing is not right for every author and that there are legitimate reasons to use self-publishing companies.

I will not stop supporting independent self-publishers, but this new book is not fighting that battle again. Get the Most out of a Self-Publishing Company is a “big tent,” and the advice it provides should be useful to all authors, regardless of their path to publication.

It also includes updates made necessary by events since the publication of Become a Real Self Publisher, including iPad, MS Word 2010, Nook, Pubit!, AuthorHive and other recent developments which affect self-publishers. It's loaded with info and tips based on personal experience self-publishing ten books. The book is useful for all authors, and funny, too.

While some self-publishing companies produce excellent books and have reasonable prices, others have done terrible work and overcharged their customers.

It is possible to get a high-class book, at a reasonable price—if you choose the right company, carefully check its work, perhaps do some work yourself, and consider independent editors and designers.

Don’t buy services and trinkets you don’t need.
Pay the right prices for what you do need.
Don’t be seduced by low-ball/bare-bones publishing pack-ages—or by super-deluxe packages. A $199 book will probably look like junk. A $399 book probably won’t look any better. A $50,000 book will never earn back its cost of publication.
Let the publisher do the nitty-gritty “grunt work” which you don’t want to get involved in.
Concentrate on the creative process to make a good-reading, good-looking book which you can be proud of and perhaps make money from.
Inspect your book carefully before it goes on sale. Even if a stupid mistake was caused by someone else, your name is on the book, and every error is ultimately your responsibility.
Don’t rely only on others for marketing and publicity. Your book is more important to you than it is to anyone else. You must sell your book. Even if you pay others to promote your book, if people don’t buy it, it’s your fault.

A couple of updates

2010-08-14T06:03:00.000-04:00

The book says, "Outskirts Press will submit your book to the Independent Book Publishers’ Benjamin Franklin Awards for $299. You can do it yourself for $180, plus the cost of a few books." If you are a member of the IBPA, the cost of entering the competition is just $80.

The book says that the charge for 10 ISBNs is $325. The charge has been reduced to $250.

I was too limiting about "serif"

2010-08-14T06:00:00.000-04:00

My definition for "serif" did not include horizontal lines that could be at the tops of letters, like H.

My revised definition is: A thin line attached to the top or bottom of letters, or other decorative effects such as the “flag” attached to the top of the lowercase “h,” which may make text easier to read. Serif faces are generally used in books, but not on websites.

Revised edition

2010-02-06T04:29:00.002-05:00

Now that Apple has announced its iPad, I am finishing the updated version of the book, and it should be out in the fall. It will include the iPad, the merger of Amazon's BookSurge and CreateSpace services, a revised cover with the new subtitle (Don't be a Victim of a Vanity Press) some corrections and other additions.

The book now has many five-star reviews on Amazon, and I thank all of the readers who took the time to post reviews.

Googlewise, the book has close to 30,000 links. That's pretty darn amazing, and about twice the number of links the book had in December.

Yipppie! Some good news about the book.

2010-01-13T07:01:00.001-05:00

(1) The book was named to the Top 10 List for 2009 at http://www.myshelf.com/.

(2) The book now has over 21,000 Google links. I wish I could get a buck for each one. Or a dime.

(3) The book now has one more Five-Star Review on Amazon.com

Google's present to Michael

2009-12-25T10:36:00.000-05:00

As of today, Google shows an amazing 15,700 links to my book. I have become pretty good at manipulating the media.

A blatant commercial message:Flashing red Batphone can be delivered before Christmas

2009-12-17T04:27:00.001-05:00

Now everyone can have a red phone with a flashing light like Batman.

In general, I write at night. My day job is running a company that sells a wide range of telecommunications products. We sell business phone systems, installation supplies and tools, phone accessories like headsets, and fun stuff like this Batphone, which I designed.

When there’s trouble in Gotham City, Police Commissioner Gordon calls caped crusader Batman, the secret alter ego of millionaire Bruce Wayne.

At Wayne Manor, the flashing red Batphone is answered by Alfred the butler, who tells Wayne about the trouble. Then Wayne and his young ward Dick Grayson put on their superhero costumes. As Batman and Robin, they race from the Batcave in the Batmobile to battle evil-doers, or rescue citizens in distress.

Now everyone can have a bright red flashing Batphone just like a superhero. When an emergency call -- or even an ordinary call -- comes in, a bright red light centered in a shiny chrome ring starts flashing to attract attention.

The Batphone has classic sixties styling, with heavy-duty construction, a two-year warranty, and is made in the USA. It gets all of its power from the phone line, and doesn’t require a power cord or batteries. It can work on an ordinary home phone line, or on an "analog extension port" in a business phone system.

The phone rings when the light flashes, unless a purchaser prefers the bell to be disconnected for silent signaling, or an optional high-pitched "BatSignal" or buzzer to be installed instead of the bell. Price with the bell is $122, including Priority Mail shipping to all 50 states.

Order online at www.GetABatPhone.com, or call toll-free 1-888-225-3999.

New subtitle for the book

2009-12-15T12:34:00.003-05:00

I recently realized that the title of Become a Real Self-Publisher might be confusing because the message is incomplete. People should not have to open the cover to read what a "real self-publisher" is, and is not. A primary theme of the book is avoiding being a customer/victim of a vanity press, so I decided to put that mesage on the cover.

I probably should have done it from the beginning, but life is a series of lessons.

WOW! My self-publishing book made it onto TWO bestseller lists

2009-11-30T08:08:00.002-05:00

Amazon.com has several different bestseller lists. There's one overall list, currently dominated by Sarah Palin. There are other lists, and the Moose Mama is numero-uno on a couple of them, too. Of course, being a bestseller doesn't mean a best book, and her reviews have averaged just three stars out of a five-star maximum.

I'm not in Sarah's league (Thank God) but my own recent effort made it onto two of Amazon's bestseller lists over the weekend, and all of my reviews (all two of them) are FIVE-STAR.

In the list of bestsellers in "Publishing & Books," my book was even above the classic Chicago Manual of Style. That's pretty amazing.

Amazon calculates sales rankings every hour. My best position was #29,928. While that's 29,927 behind Sarah's opus, it's way ahead of this overpriced weird piece of crap, ranked #8,385,292 by Amazon. That may be the absolute worst seller on Amazon -- but its review average is three stars -- just like Sarah's

WOW! My self-publishing book keeps moving up the list

2009-11-20T01:51:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I was thrilled to announce that my book Become a Real Self-Publisher had reached the #46 position (out of 100) on one of Amazon's bestselller lists.

Today, at least for a while, it's ranked #30.

It's also ranked #70,631 out of all books that Amazon sells.

That may not seem like a big deal, but it is. Amazon sells millions of different books, and my book had been ranked around #200,000 just a few days ago.

I've always known that this is a good book, and apparently others are realizing it, too. Amazon sales rankings are re-calculated every hour, and, of course, fame is fleeting. But right now I feel really good.

I thank everyone who has bought the book. Please tell others about it. Share the joy.

Whoopie! The book is now a bestseller (sort-of)

2009-11-18T06:22:00.002-05:00

There are lots of bestseller lists. The New York Times list is the most famous, but other lists are assembled by USA Today, Publishers Weekly and booksellers such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

Like the Times, Amazon has several bestseller lists. Their main bestseller list includes 100 books from all categories. As of today, Sarah Palin's rogue book is at the top and The Magician's Elephant is at the bottom.

In the Amazon list of bestselling books about home based businesses, my Become a Real Self-Publisher hit #46 yesterday. It's behind books on poultry, catering and child care -- but ahead of books about landscaping, massage and bookkeeping.

I never thought of my book as being about a home-based business (I actually drive to an office five days a week), but I'll accept the honor.

I'm not buying any champage to celebrate, but it sure feels good to be on any bestseller list. And it's nice not being on the same list with Palin.

Now I'm part of the booksellers' stupid price war

2009-11-10T06:00:00.001-05:00

About three weeks ago, a price war on "future bestsellers" erupted among Amazon, Walmart and Target.

Books such as Sarah Palin's Going Rogue were offered for pre-order at less than $10, despite much higher "cover prices" and higher normal discount prices.

My book about self-publishing came out about the same time, with a $19.95 cover price. It will never be a bestseller, but it seems to have gotten caught up in the price war, too.

Barnes & Noble immediatrely offered it at $17.95 to B&N "members." Some stupid booksellers priced it as high as $38.99. Amazon kept it at full price for two weeks, and then lowered the price to $17.95.

A few days ago, they cut the price by 2% more, to $17.59.

I don't know if they honestly expect to win customers from B&N with the extra discount, or if it's just an ego trip-- but maybe the move will sell more books for me.

That's nice, but I really don't like being put in the same group as Sarah Palin.

Discounts (and rip-offs) on my book

2009-10-28T04:57:00.004-04:00

My book has a $19.95 cover price.

Since the first day, Barnes & Noble has offered it for $17.95 to their "members."

Amazon.com just lowered the price to $17.95 to everyone. When Amazon offers a discount, it generally means that the book is selling well and they think they can stimulate sales further.

Some dealers are stupidly selling the book for a little bit -- or a lot -- over cover price. I can't imagine why anyone would buy from them.

Langton Info charges $21.94.

A1 Books charges $25.54.

AnyBook charges $29.29.

Tower Books charges $38.99 -- MORE THAN TWICE the Amazon price.

All of these booksellers pay the same price for the book.

Blooper Report, #1

2009-10-26T11:22:00.002-04:00

In the Author/Publisher's note in the beginning of the book, I said, "I'm sure that this version is still not perfect..."

Here are the first acknowledged imperfections:

Page 27, line 3: "that" should be "which"

Page 203. line 2: extra space before "George"

Page 424, last line: delete reference to page 190

Page 429, line beginning with "I put": extra space before "dash"

I'm sure there will be more.

Now the book is really real

2009-10-24T05:26:00.002-04:00

Both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble are now selling the final version of the book.

The book is REAL (but wait two weeks)

2009-10-11T07:54:00.006-04:00

It took much longer than I expected, but my book about self-publishing has been published.

It's now available from Amazon.com and will soon be available from BN.com and at other online and bricks-and-mortar booksellers.

The official publication date is 10/15/09, and it has a 2010 copyright. Like cars that debut in the fall, books published during October, November or December often use the following year for copyrights.

The book has 432 pages, and is a very good value at $19.95. I think it's worth more and I originally planned to price it at $29.95. Ultimately I decided to price it lower, so that no writer would have an excuse for not buying it.

It has a lot to offer every writer -- not just self-publishers.

I am quite proud of it. I honestly think its a fantastic book, and much better than most of the other books about self-publishing. It covers a very wide range of topics, in detail, and is based on my personal experience self-publishing several books. I wish I had a book like this one when I began self-publishing a year ago.

Now for the bad news: Despite an eternity of inspections, the version of the book now on sale has some errors. None of them are factual errors that will cause trouble, but there are improper hyphenations, a plural verb that should be a singular verb, one photo that's too light, a section of type that's too light, a photo that's slightly tilted, and assorted minor typographical bloopers.

If you are in a hurry to get the book, order it now.

If you want one that's a bit closer to perfection, wait about until about 10/26/09. I'll post a note here when Amazon has the corrected version.

The end of the beginning,or the beginning of the end?

2009-08-31T15:50:00.007-04:00

If all goes well, I'll finish indexing my book and do a final check tonight, upload to the printer tomorrow, get a proof on Friday, approve it, and books should be available on Amazon next weekend.

However, if I find a HOLD-THE-PRESSES error in the proof, it will add another week.

My first self-pubbed book took seven generations of proofs. I hope to do this book with just three.

I know the book won't be perfect. No book is perfect. But, if a writer strives for perfection, the book never gets published. At some point a writer just has to say, "enough!"

However, that earlier book took 51 years from conception to completion, and this one took less than eight months. I'm getting faster, and -- I hope -- getting better.

Delayed a bit, but for good reasons

2009-08-21T05:27:00.004-04:00

I originally planned that Become a Real Self-Publisher would have about 200 pages, and would go on sale last May.

The book surprised me, and -- like the character in Uncle Tom's Cabin -- it "growed like Topsy." As I wrote more, I learned more. And as I learned more, I wrote more. The page count ultimately got close to 500 pages, which I knew was much too much.

I've pruned it down to a more reasonable 432 pages, and added an index, which it needs but I had originally planned to skip.

In addition to being both longer and shorter than expected, I am also not reluctant to say it's better than expected. A self-publisher has to be able to toot his own horn, so, "TOOT TOOT, it's a very good book." Fortunately, I am not the only one who likes it.

Here are comments from some previewers who are now in the process of self-publishing -- exactly the kind of people the book is aimed at:

“I am completing my first book and had researched some so-called “self-publishing companies” that are really vanity publishers. I have decided to truly self-publish, and Michael’s book will be of tremendous help to me in the process. The book is wonderful. It’s amazingly complete and detailed. Especially helpful are the sections on book design using Word and his dollar comparisons of self-publishing with some of the vanity and traditional pub-lishers. This book is a must-read for anyone considering self-publishing a book!” —Arlene Miller, M.A., author of The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! www.bigwords101.com

“Michael’s book, Become a Real Self-Publisher, is REALLY useful. He distilled an overwhelming amount of information and resources into one easy-to-use book that should help any aspiring author to achieve the dream of self-publishing more easily and more quickly. From timetables to pricing to common-sense advice, this book is a tre-mendous find for anyone considering self-publishing.” —Ginger Jenks, MCC, CEO of Magellan Enterprises, author of I Bark Because I Do: Bite-Size Lessons for Happier Living

“I am in the process of publishing my first book. Michael’s book is a good addition to my research library. It has a nice conversational style and comprehensive coverage of the major areas involved in self-publication.” —Nick Gretener, publisher of The Vanishing of a Species?

The book is now going through its theoretically final edit by eagle-eyed Sheila, and I'm simultaneously making a few changes. The book should be on sale during the first half of September. The "pub date" will be 9/1/09 and the book will have a 2009 copyright.

The book business follows the pattern of the car business, where cars introduced in the fall are labeled for the next "model year." The schedule has stretched to the point where cars introduced in March of 2009 are considered to be 2010 models.

It has not yet gotten that bad with books, but books published between 10/1 and 12/31 frequently show a copyright date for the following year, so they seem fresher as they age.

TIME OUT

2009-08-11T08:53:00.001-04:00

I'm taking a few days off. I probably won't be on the beach much. I have to concentrate on finishing my book about self-publishing. I should be back during the week of 8/16.

Now I'll have TWO copyeditors pissed off at me.

2009-08-06T06:31:00.009-04:00

The serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma and the Harvard comma) is a comma inserted after the second-to-last item in a series, and just ahead of a conjunction (and/or/nor).

When I was in school, I was taught to insert a comma before the “and” in a series like this: “I like lobster, shrimp, clams, mussels, and oysters.” (Hmmm. I wonder why “lobster” and “shrimp” don't get a final “s” like the other shellfish).

My writing mimics my speech pattern. I tend to be pedantic, and I like the rhythm of a dramatic pause at the end of a series of words. (I tend to put too many words in each series, but that's another problem).

Rosie, who copyedited my first two self-pubbed books, deleted all of my final commas to make my writing more breezy and contemporary. I liked “my” new speech pattern and tried to emulate Rosie’s method in my self-publishing book.

Sheila, my new editor, laboriously inserted many commas, and then I took many of them out.

There is no agreement among grammarians or editors in this area. Therefore, my new system is to be consciously inconsistent. I will use the serial comma when it seems necessary to provide a stronger, more dramatic break, or for clarity.

And now two copyeditors will be pissed off.

If you care about commas and other punctuation, buy a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss.

OK. I give in. I give up. I surrender. I'll do it.

2009-08-05T08:18:00.002-04:00

I had not planned to put an index in my book about self-publishing.

I’ve frequently been disappointed by indexes — even in really good books. Invariably some of the topics I’m interested in are not indexed and I get very frustrated. I’d hate to be frustrated by the index in my own book.

Some books have idiotic indexes that were never checked by an editor.

The automated indexing programs need a lot of human intervention.

Human indexing is expensive and takes a long time.

An index could make a book even thicker and more expensive.

My books get revised frequently, so an index would also have to be revised frequently, and I’ve learned that revisions and corrections often cause errors.

HOWEVER, I've rethought my position, and have started to index over 400 pages.

Why the change of policy?

(1) Readers expect to find an index, especially in a complex thick book like this one.

(2) There have been times when I could not find something I was looking for in my printed proof. If I'm reading the book on my PC either as a Word doc or a PDF, I can easily search for any word I want to find. But it doesn't work that way on paper.

Indexing is an ISPITA (Industrial Strength Pain In The Ass), but I think it has to be done. It will probably delay publication by a week, but I can live with that. An added benefit of indexing is that it forces me to go through the book very carefully one more time, and I am finding things to delete or correct.

The worst thing about publishing books

2009-07-31T08:12:00.004-04:00

Everybody is a busybody.

Now that movie studios announce their weekend "gross" for examination, evaluation and comment by the public as well as by professionals, it seems that most of the world's population has an intense desire to know the details of every commercial enterprise.

When people learn that I've written and published some books, the instant reaction is "how many have you sold?"

These are friends, relatives and complete strangers who would not likely ask about my salary, net worth or frequency of sexual activity, but they think it's fine to ask about my book sales.

I don't know how many I've sold. I get a check from my printer every month, but at this early stage -- with only a minimum amount of promotion -- I don't even care how many I've sold. I expect to gradually build sales and have a steady income over a period of years. Other folks seem to expect an instant bestseller.

So while the truthful answer to the question is "I don't know," I really feel like saying "None of your damn business."

Don't trust Microsoft Word

2009-07-30T06:55:00.012-04:00

It would be extremely difficult to get along without computers. They're on our desks, in our cars and washing machines, and vital for medicine, education, food production, fuel production, communication, construction, entertainment, research, government, transportation, manufacturing and more.

They manipulate zillions of bits of information, with seldom a burp or a hiccup. Most of the predicted disasters for "Y2K" didn't happen. The computers that took men to the moon 40 years ago probably had less power than an inexpensive cellphone -- but they did the job.

For all the reliability of the computer hardware, the actual instructions put into them by mere human beings are often faulty or inadequate, and it's vital that writers keep this in mind when using a word processor.

Most people know not to trust a spell-checker. It will catch most misspelled words, but won't notice a wrong word. One book that I love to hate says, “for all participates.” “Participates” is not a spelling error; it’s the wrong word. “Participants” was the right word, but the robot didn’t realize it. Neither did the author. There apparently was no editor, and the vanity publisher didn’t care.

You may not know that Word frequently makes errors with hyphens.

Sometimes it seems to take a guess, or follow a rule based on recognizable patterns rather than consult an internal dictionary. It sometimes makes bad guesses, such as “li-mited” instead of “lim-ited,” “upl-oad” instead of “up-load,” “identic-al” instead of “identi-cal,” “firs-thand” instead of “first-hand,” “fru-strating” instead of “frus-trating,” “whe-never” instead of “when-ever,” “books-tore” instead of “bookstore,” and “bet-ween” instead of “be-tween.” It even produced “the-rapist.” Be prepared to do a bit of outside research and overrule Microsoft’s judgment.

Word often assumes that the letter “e” indicates the end of a syllable as in “be-come” and “cre-ate” and this results in errors like “se-ize,” “me-nu” and “cre-dit.”

Word recognizes that “par” is a common syllable, which causes it to make bizarre errors like “par-chment.”

“Of-fline” is one of my favorite abominations sanctioned by Microsoft. I also like “who-lesaler,” “mar-kup,” “fam-ous,” “wastel-and,” “sho-veled,” “proo-freading” and “apo-strophe.” Maybe Bill Gates retired too soon. Someone needs to fix this stuff.

Words that can have two meanings and can be pronounced in two ways cause problems.

Word can’t distinguish between “minute” (the noun) and “minute” (the adjective). It assumes you mean the noun, and will give you “min-ute” even when you want “mi-nute.”

You may get weird results if you rely on automatic hyphenation and have proper names. Word broke up “Panasonic” as “Pa-nasonic” instead of “pan-asonic” or “Pana-sonic.”

So now you have another reason to proofread very carefully, and never have complete faith in robots.

Getting old is probably better than dying young

2009-07-27T20:10:00.007-04:00

As you write, be conscious of your habitual errors, which may increase as you get older.

I’m a proud member of the first cohort of the baby boom. I was born in 1946 along with Dolly Parton, Candy Bergen, Donny Trump, Billy Clinton, Georgie and Laura Bush, Cher, Linda Ronstadt, Lisa Minnelli, Patty Smith, Jimmy Buffet, Reggie Jackson, Ilie Nastase, Sly Stallone and Oliver Stone.

In the new system, we are all still middle-aged, and we will remain middle-aged until dirt is shoveled on top of us.

In the last few years I’ve frequently and stupidly held down the shift key as I pressed the key to insert an apostrophe, and ended up inserting a quote mark. I also often type “hsould,” “anad” and “fro ma.” I tap the Caps Lock key a lot by accident, the semi-colon instead of the apostrophe and the “Page Down” key instead of “delete.”

I’ve also degenerated from being the world’s fasted six-finger typist to a pretty-good two-finger typist. (I actually have 10 fingers but I don’t use them all for typing.)

If I live long enough I’ll probably develop even more bad habits that I can’t control. I hope sloppy typing is not an early sign of dementia. I guess having to fix typos is better than dying young and perfect. When I start drooling on the keyboard, maybe I'll stop writing.

Proofread in multiple media

2009-07-24T06:06:00.000-04:00

No matter how many time you check your manuscript, there WILL be errors in your final printed book.

One way to minimize the goofups is to read your future masterpiece in multiple formats, including the original word processing screen, a PDF on screen, and a printed paper proof.

I like to get a printout of the PDF file done at a local quick printer while I wait for the first "real" proof from Lightning Source, who prints my books.

To save money and make the reading more realistic, get the pages printed on two sides. If you have graphic elements and not just text, it's important to see how the two-page spreads look.

Let others read it, and have one of them read it out loud to you.

One problem that's almost invisible on PC monitors but can be seen in a printed book are sentences or paragraphs that are gray instead of black. Look closely.

And watch out for straight apostrophes and quote marks that really should be curly.

This is a common problem when you copy and paste from text that was intended for Web use, where curlies are seldom used. The difference may be hard to spot on a PC screen, so ZOOOOOM up to 120 - 180% of normal size to make the errors stand out.

Also watch out for unintentional hyphens that may move from the end of a line to the middle of a line. This generally won't happen with automatic hyphenating. But if you manually insert a hyphen, and then shift text around, possibly by changing the size or position of a graphic element, hyphens can wander around the page.

You can minimize this problem if you press CTRL plus the hyphen to create a "soft hyphen" that will disappear if the word wraps away from the end of a line.

IT'S REAL (almost)

2009-07-23T09:14:00.003-04:00

I started my book about self-publishing in February and planned to have it on sale in May. Books seldom come out as planned or when planned. I ended up with more than twice as many pages as I expected, and took three extra months to write them.

I like to upload my files to my printer Lightning Source on Mondays. This time I was a day late.

However, according to the Lightning website, my files were fine (a very different situation from my first book where my beginner's ignorance wasted weeks). The first proof was printed last night.

It gets shipped today and I should see it tomorrow morning, a few hours before my father's funeral. I'm sorry he won't get to see it.

Does the world really need another bookon self-publishing?

2009-07-22T09:32:00.002-04:00

YES!

Here's why I wrote Become a Real Self-Publisher:

 A lot of existing books on self-publishing are dangerously out-of-date and out-of-touch.
 There’s a lot of confusion about what self-publishing is.
 There’s a lot of misinformation in books and online that can unnecessarily discourage potential self-publishers.
 There’s a lot of misinformation in books and online that can cause potential self-publishers to waste time, waste money and have inferior books.
 A lot of “advice” provided for self-publishers is provided by people who have never self-published and have no first-hand knowledge of what they are advising about.
 A lot of “advice” provided for self-publishers is biased to generate business for the advice-giver.
A lot of vanity publishers are deceptive and dishonest, for example promising “free publishing” and “free books” that are not free.
A lot of self-published books are terrible.
I like to write and publish.
I like to share knowledge.

The beginning of the end...

2009-07-21T08:54:00.000-04:00

Or maybe, it's the end of the beginning.

Today I uploaded the cover and text files for my book, Become a Real Self-Publisher, to my POD printer, Lightning Source. I'll probably see the first proof on Friday or Monday.

I started writing it in February, and originally planned on publishing in May, with about 200 pages. It gradually grew to 476 pages, and then I cut it back to 428 pages, and it should be on sale in August.

While Lightning works on the proof, I'm still writing and editing, and my eagle-eye copyeditor Sheila is also finding and fixing my imperfect punctuation and other inadequacies.

While imperfect, the current version of the book is good enough not to embarass me. I'm sending PDFs to several previewers for comments and suggestions, and perhaps some phrases of praise that I can use as blurbs to promote the book.

Next week I'll incorporate Sheila's corrections into the manuscript, and send the next version of the book for a new proof.

With previous books I've gone through as many as five generations of proofs before I approved a book to go on sale. I hope to keep this one down to three.