I don’t know who, and I don’t know where, but it looks like sometime in the past week I came across someone who was being very generous, giving away free virus samples (I suspect it happened when I went to the post office to collect my books, but I can’t be entirely sure). The end result: I’m sick and trying to restrict my activities as much as I can to keep myself from sharing this unwanted little present. So, sorry about the silence, hopefully it won’t last long (and yes, I know you can’t get sick from reading a blog, but when you are sick you can have trouble stringing to sentences together, and that in turn can make writing the blasted thing into something of a challenge).
Published by CreateSpace, printed by… someone else
Today I got the copies of my books. At first I was really excited… then I saw them, and I knew right away that something wasn’t right. From the look of things, I suspect that they were not printed by CreateSpace, but rather by someone else (the copies I received today don’t even have a product id, something that is in itself a pretty big no-no). Anyway, the yellows seem to be MIA from the covers, while the reds are much stronger than they were in the proof. The end result is that in two instances my name is almost completely unreadable, the contrast is shot in all of them, and all the covers look downright grotesque. As for the quality of paper, it is clearly of a different grade than the one that was used for the proofs. Its quality is not necessarily lower, but the paper is noticeably thinner (meaning that, for a book that is well over 400 pages, the spine winds up looking kind of funny). In addition to that there is the fact that the trim size itself seems to be something like 0.1 inch shorter than the one in the proof in all of the books, and that fraction of an inch was taken entirely from the bottom (the book’s width too is a little narrower, but the difference is not so apparent). That means that the pages are clearly off-center. It may sound like I am nitpicking here, but the truth is that all these details do make a significant difference that results in a far less professional look. No, the books I received today are not entirely unusable, but I have to say that the end result leaves much to be desired.
On the positive side, when it come to the interior graphics, I have to say that the print quality seems a little better. As for the durability of the binding, well, the jury is still out on that one.
The thing is that if you have paid for the external distribution option you should probably be aware of the fact that, even if your copy looks fine, the quality of the end product is bound to be something of a Russian roulette, because no matter how you set your books up, the fact that there are two printing companies using what are clearly two very different standards to produce the books basically means that the copies printed by one of them are bound to look like crap no matter what you do. A serious problem that is well worth considering before you add that external distribution option… especially if CreateSpace is going to resort to that secondary printer to fulfill its own orders (or even those that are placed via amazon).
Now, to be fair, I have to say that most of the books I have seen that are printed by CreateSpace have an acceptable quality (not great, but certainly good enough), and the same goes for those printed by Lightning Source (though I’m not even sure if these books were printed by Lightning Source… that lack of product id again). The problem is that there are clearly some differences in the way the companies that are printing books for CreateSpace work, but given that you are stuck using a single set of files the quality is bound to suffer.
UPDATE: I have contacted CreateSpace regarding these issues and they are currently being investigated. I don’t know what’s going to come out of this, but so far I am extremely satisfied with their response. This is a relief, as one of the things I had fretted the most over when I switched publishers last year was precisely the question of what would happen when something went wrong (what can I say, I am enough of a realist to know that it was a matter of when, not if).
I’ll keep you posted.
UPDATE #2: okay, apparently some measures have been taken to avoid future issues (here’s hoping they will work).
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Pick your own world
ARGH, I hate having to even think about marketing, and yet here I am… AGAIN! I have released my books, but as usual it is what comes after that that seems like the most daunting prospect. I know I should at least give it a try, I get that, but the thing is that while I enjoy blogging (at least to a certain extent, I’m not so fond of it in those days in which it seems to have become something of a chore), I am not good at self-promoting, I’d much rather be writing, and even when it comes to blogging I know I have failed miserably when it comes to keeping this thing professional (read I’d rather blog about cats and hammocks than about me, me, ME!!!). To make matters worse there is also the fact that, as soon as I start looking for marketing ideas my mind begins to wander… there are so many things I find so much more appealing, and unfortunately my sales, or lack thereof, tend to reflect that fact.
Sometimes I get worried about that, but then I turn on my computer and I see two paths opening in front of me. I can write or I can market. I can focus on the real world, or I can push it aside and build my own. I hesitate for a moment and then I click on my word processor… that gateway to the world I’d rather live in.
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Not everything is a disease… or even a problem
I was reading an article over at the Huffington Post about the problems people have staying asleep (you can find it here if you are interested). It offers some sensible suggestions, and a number of dire warnings about depression, bipolar disorders and underlying conditions… the one thing the article doesn’t do is mention the one that, in my experience, works best: don’t panic, listen to your body (this may take some tinkering with your schedule), sleep when your body tells you it’s tired, wake up when you are rested, and you will be just fine… even if you are waking up in the middle of the night and sleeping at what most people deem to be odd hours.
Let’s face it: we live in an environment that has imposed a rhythm on our lives that at times feels totally unnatural. In fact in quite a few countries taking an afternoon nap (the famous siesta) is part of the daily routine, and it makes sense.
Now, I realize that as a writer I am privileged in that regard. I can arrange my schedule in any way I want. That means that I can go to bed, sleep for three or four hours, wake up in the middle of the night –when no one is around– and work for three or four hours without interruptions, and then I can go back to sleep for a couple more hours. After that, more often than not I can take a long nap after lunch. Doing that I am perfectly rested throughout the day, and I don’t even own an alarm clock.
I am not advocating such a schedule for everyone, but it works for me, and that is precisely the point. Just the fact that your body complains when you try to browbeat it into submitting to a schedule that doesn’t suit it is not a sign of an underlying medical condition. It is a sign that we live in an artificial environment that ignores the body’s natural rhythm, and if you find a way to work around that particular problem you may soon come to the realization that there is nothing wrong with you at all.
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How things have changed
Something funny happened today that got me thinking: I was talking to my aunt and she asked me if I was going to be writing today. As she said that she gestured with her hand as if holding a pen and writing on a piece of paper. It was a little thing, but it made me realize that when I think of a hand gesture to signify ‘writing’ I no longer think in terms of pen and paper, I think in terms of typing.
When did my mind make that switch? I don’t know, but I have to admit that the realization caught me somewhat off guard.
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And now to the next batch of projects
With a few projects fresh off the press I should probably be taking the time off right about now to savor the moment. I’m not. In fact I’m already hard at work in the next batch, and I’m also already dealing with something of a log jam.
The horror story I mentioned a few days ago (that would be the idea that I said was acting like a mosquito buzzing between my ears some ten days ago) is not much of an issue any more. The rough draft is done and I am already busy beating it into shape. It is relatively short and will probably be released simultaneously in English and Spanish. In other words, that one is coming along nicely, and is past the point of giving me any real trouble.
The short project I began to distract myself between books two and three of Citlalli (the one I had thought would work as a side project while I wrote the first draft of book three) is more of an issue. Back when I started I thought it was going to be something like 40,000 words. If things had gone according to plan everything would be great, and I would currently be happily reviewing it. The problem is that I seemed to have miscalculated things a bit…. okay, so maybe it was more than a bit because the last time I checked the word count for that one stood at almost 75,000 words, and I wasn’t even even half way through (in fact I’m starting to get worried about the page count, price point thing when it comes to that one). Of course, I realize that calling that a ‘problem’ is not entirely fair, as I am I’m having a blast working on that particular project, and that in turn brings me to the real problem: the fact that that one is nowhere near done means that I am falling behind when it comes to book three of Citlalli, and to make matters worse that is one of those things you just can’t rush.
As for that book three of Citlalli. Well, I guess under the circumstances it is coming along as well as could be expected (I’m almost half way through the rough draft), but with two other projects vying for attention, one of them massive, I’m afraid that there may be small delay when it comes to getting that one out.
I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how things play out, though for the time being I am having to fight the urge to rush things in an attempt to meet a self-imposed deadline!
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A quick note on the status of the different ‘legacy zones’
Just a note to make things clear: in the course of the most recent update I added a number of items labeled as ‘legacy’ to the site’s menu. Two of these (namely my fanfiction and the tribute to my mom) are effectively complete, and as such are no longer being updated. The third one (that would be the Guide to POD) is still being maintained and updated on a yearly basis. In this instance the term ‘legacy’ only means that that particular section predates the creation of this blog. All of these links will open in a new tab/window.
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Updates, updates, updates
As you may have noticed, we have (the beginning of) a new look.
Anyway, the truth is that I’ve been working behind the scenes to shake things up and in the next couple of days those changes will gradually be going live. One of those changes is that this blog now serves as the homepage. A series of links that will get you to the older parts of this site are available via the menu above.
Also, my new books have been officially released. As soon as they are added to the amazon database I’ll be uploading the excerpts.
I hope you’ll like them, and sorry if things are a bit chaotic for the time being!
Er… update? Okay, the books are now live and the updates are done. Phew, I’m so glad that one’s over!
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When the mind gets stubborn
Okay, I seem to have hit something of a brick wall. I am still working on book three of Citlalli, but somehow I have this idea that seems to be like a mosquito between my ears that insists that I should write it first. Seeing how it looks like it’s going to be a short story I decided not to fight it (and I have to admit that now that I’ve decided to just run with it I feel much better).
Well, on the bright side we have that, if I can finish a first draft within a reasonable amount of time, it will probably do nicely as a secondary project. That is something I’ve been struggling for a while, as I like to write one book while I review or translate another, but all of a sudden I had found myself with three projects in the ‘to write’ category, and none in the ‘to review’ one (as for the ‘to translate’ thing, I admit that I find both Soulless and Citlalli a little too daunting).
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News about Soulless and Citlalli on the Edge of the Wind
Well it looks like I am going to wind up with two versions of these two books. It may not be what I intended, but in a really twisted kind of way I think it may end up being for the best.
What happened was that while I was working on the interior layout of Citlalli and the Shards of Light I decided to go for a different font and a bit more space between the lines than the one I had used in book one (in fact I decided to go for what was basically the same layout I had used for Laira). The obsessive in me wasn’t particularly happy at the thought that I was going to wind up with two different layouts in two books that were part of the same series, so I decided to update the layout of the first book while I was at it… and then I was made aware of the fact that not only was there a fee for updating the files of a book that had been signed up for CreateSpace’s expanded distribution package, but also that if the page count changed by more than 10% I was going to need different new ISBN anyway (and seeing how that page count was going to jump from something like 372 to 436, that was definitely me). That was not a happy thought, and then the situation was compounded by the fact that I was going to have to increase the price of Citlalli on the Edge of the Wind from $17.95 to $19.95 just to keep the title commercially viable using the expanded distribution. Things were not looking good, and I was seriously considering the possibility of scraping the whole thing and just learning to live with those two different layout, but then I decided to turn CreateSpace’s update policy to my (and hopefully your) advantage. Continue reading
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Dulling the world
Yesterday I came across an article in Yahoo that really bothered me. It was called ‘Don’t Let Your Kids Study These Majors’, and as you can probably tell it tells parents to despair if their children dare to dream of becoming something as despicable as an architect, an artist, a philosopher, an archaeologist, an anthropologist or a film-maker… scratch that, it tells parents to despair if their children dare to dream, period.
So what wonderful alternative majors does this article have in mind as being a far more sensible choice for these misinformed youths who dream of pursuing knowledge for the sake of knowledge, or who love beauty. Well, there is accounting, elementary education, finance, business and healthcare administration.
Now, these are all fine majors if you are passionate about those fields, but while it is true that you have to choose a major with an eye on you professional future, there is more to life that dollars and cents, and pushing kids into fields they hate because it is more ‘sensible’ seems like a terrible idea to me.
Let’s face it, a budding philosopher who despises math would probably make a terrible accountant anyway. Continue reading
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Pointless point sizes
This is a post that is meant mostly for authors looking to self-publish their first book using a DIY service such as Create Space, and it has to do with that pointless bit of insanity that is commonly known to as point sizes.
Let me show you what I mean:
Now what do these twelve samples have in common? Continue reading
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As if I didn’t have enough to do already
ARGH! Okay, so here I am, barely keeping up with my active projects as it is, when my brain has the bright idea of coming up with… another idea. In other words, to the release of four new titles and the two books that were currently being written (plus this blog and maybe a side order of, you know, LIFE) I have now added a novella. I’m not sure when/if it will ever be published, but it was one of those concepts wouldn’t leave me alone until I wrote it down, and the truth is that I am having a lot of fun with it, so I’m not really complaining about that. It’s not that I don’t love what I’m doing, it’s just that there’s a fixed number of hours per day, and there’s a limit as to how far I can cut back in such trifles as sleep.
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The books are coming!
They are almost here! I know I’ve been talking about this since what feels like forever, but if everything goes according to plan Citlalli and the Shards of Light, Scales at a Glance, and the Spanish language versions of both Scales at a Glance and Laira will be released on May 23.
Oh, and did I mention that I’m already hard at work in two or three projects that will hopefully be released next year? (and here I had thought that once this batch was done I’d be able to sleep for a month!)
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Looking for… a way to make walls look a little less dull
Okay, this is going to sound like a crazy request, but here it goes: I live in a house, it’s a nice and perfectly respectable house as far as houses go, and like all self respecting houses it has walls… way too many walls. The problem is that, even though as a writer I spend way too much time indoors, I am not too fond of walls to begin with, so can anyone think of a cheap (think flat out broke), easy (and preferably upcycling/recycling/whatever) DIY project that could possibly get a wall to look a little less like a wall?
Yes, I know, I should just paint them every five years or so and forget about it, but I figured I might just as well ask if someone had a better idea. Bonus points for mold resistance (as I have mentioned more than once, I live pretty close to a river, the house gets flooded on a regular basis, and humidity usually ranges between 70 and 100%… though sometimes it feels like it’s even higher than that) and for an idea that can accommodate some artwork.