self-publishing diaries | finalizing the galley
Today, I spent the afternoon working on the galley-ready version of CLOVEN, which gave me some more time to make minor tweaks to the poems (this was mostly just to balance typographical weirdness in the stanzas, anything that was cut off, and adjusting margins as needed. Luckily the 8 x 8 trim size, which I also used for GRANATA makes longer lines a little bit less of a hassle (compared to 6 x9 or 8.5 x 5.5, which I also often use. I've even done a couple of lengthier lined dgp chaps this way that I could not print in-house, including Carol Weliky's recent book that turned out glorious used even larger 8.5 x 8.5 dimensions.) Like hers, this one is too slender for spine text, but I still got excited choosing the color for it.) I've been spending time going back and forth between design platforms as I upload my older titles to Amazon, which has an entire different set of specs, but I still prefer B&N's interface, though you have less options in terms of size. (the price per copy is actually about the same as is the cover quality--though I prefer the latter for interior stock.) The other printed item I got this week was a gorgeous planner prototype I've been working on and since its a year, the thickest POD book I've published thus far, with a couple more ideas I'd like to try out in terms of journals and planners for the shop. I am spending this year comparing the costs of printing interiors on my own as I've always done with having them printed for me (especially books that involve images, which can get costly anyways in terms of ink and toner.)
The interior is looking pretty good at this point, so I finalized the files and requested approval from the printer, at which point I usually order the first proof copy (how many will need to follow that will depend on how well I stick the landing on the first go, sometimes there are at least three go-rounds before I can actually order the finished batch. Since printing can take up to a month, we are still a couple months out from release, but if I can get a swifter turnaround on corrections and adjustments, we may have book in hand by December.
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