Nightmare on Self-Publishing Street

By Laurie Graham | August 18, 2019 |

Proof copies of Dr Dan arrived a day early. The cover looked okay. Worth a tweak or two, but alright. Then I peeped inside. Aaaaarrrrgh….. it was a dog’s breakfast. Chapter breaks missing, front matter in the wrong sequence. It looked like a book assembled by a team of monkeys.

So I spent the next 12 hours, heart in mouth, re-formatting the text, re-submitting it, addressing the problems that came boomeranging back to me from the automated system. And so on. That’s the thing about self-publishing. There’s no-one at the end of a phone to whom you can sob, ‘But exactly how do I embed my fonts?’

I think I’ve now fixed everything. I’ll know on Wednesday when new proofs should arrive but by then, if I’ve made another hames of it, it’ll be too close to my deadline to do much about it. I can only hope that my readers will forgive me if it looks like a book I put together on my kitchen table. Because actually, that’s precisely what I’ve done.

 

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9 Comments

  1. Elizabeth Shelton on August 19, 2019 at 2:56 am

    Will forgive all, just get it out, can,t wait!!

    Reply
  2. JillywithaJay on August 22, 2019 at 10:58 am

    I’m with Elizabeth, and Just remember, next time it won’t be the first time.

    Reply
  3. Jane on August 22, 2019 at 12:23 pm

    Please give us links to Dr Dan — can’t find on Amazon…

    Reply
  4. Laura L Sullivan on August 25, 2019 at 1:40 pm

    I can’t wait to read Dr. Dan! (I’m holding out for the print edition.) Don’t worry too much if the formatting is a bit off. It will be like a valuable, collectible misprinted stamp someday. I’ll shelve it next to my weirdly formatted Angela Thirkell reprints.

    Oh, and in case you don’t obsessively Google yourself… there was a mention of you in the Tampa Bay Times a while ago. https://www.tampabay.com/books/laura-l-sullivan-re-reads-the-social-comedies-of-laurie-graham-20190726/

    Reply
    • Laurie Graham on August 27, 2019 at 7:54 am

      Thank you SO much, Laura. I’d have missed that.

      Reply
  5. Jane G on August 27, 2019 at 4:29 am

    Its here:

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dr-Dans-Casebook-Laurie-Graham-ebook/dp/B07WMGDYP3/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2QJJEGQRCF6LT&keywords=laurie+graham&qid=1566894190&s=gateway&sprefix=laurie+graham%2Caps%2C196&sr=8-4

    No advance readers required this time Laurie?

    Reply
    • Laurie Graham on August 27, 2019 at 7:55 am

      Not this time, Jane. Time has been too tight.

      Reply
  6. Jane G on August 27, 2019 at 11:57 am

    Thanks for the reply, one last question before I place my order – will it be published in hardback or only paperback?

    Reply
    • Laurie Graham on September 1, 2019 at 8:52 am

      Only paperback or e-book.

      Reply

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