With the book taking a lot of my effort and sanity, I'm going to take a break from this for one week. Sorry 😉
T-8 Days: Conversion Experience
8 Days until "Focused Fandom: Cosplay, Costuming, and Careers" is out!
So today, I ask myself – how I'm going to move to eBooks.
PDF? Easy. Open Office does it a treat, compatable, simple, effective.
ePub or Kindle? Well now we get into crazytown.
As noted earlier, Lulu and Amazon now allow one to convert documents, which sounds great, except I would have to learn new systems. And test the results. And possibly redo things. And . . .
I went through conversion engines a few times, and beyond Smashword's Meatgrinder, I'm not exactly happy with them.
But . . . well I have to look at them in case. To see if they'll work. If they'll make things easier (especially at Lulu, which has expanded their eBook opportunities). Just to be sure.
The odd thing is that this is easier because I like to write, so I'm always tweaking things or putting books out. I'd hate to think what'd happen if I did this, say, yearly. I'd go through rampup each time.
So, onward, I got some conversion packages to examine . . . you know. In case.
T-9 Days: Cover Me
So the book is edited and just waiting to be formatted, and now it's on to the cover.
The problem of course is that the cover is for an eBook, and the rules are a bit different. The cover's really only going to be seen as an icon or a blurb on a screen people go through, so I'm not going to an artist. If I do a print version, that'll possibly have a new cover, but right now I have to make something that shows up on the eBook stores.
This isn't always as clear as it seems, and it's a strange balance:
- You have to make it clear.
- You have to make it interesting.
- You have to make it readable.
- You have to do it in the small space that will appear on people's screens.
My previous self-made covers have been mixed bags, so I'm sticking with my retro interest and going for abstract, somewhat colorful, and clear text.
Wish me luck. Nine more days.
You can find more about the book at the website.