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| After and Before |
Then I accidentally received the judges comments back from a contest I entered and BAM! Apparently, I suck. I won't go into detail because that wouldn't be professional. I decided that while I might not be able to win that reader over, I was in a position to rethink my interior formatting.
So I did.
I'd been on a panel with Julianne MacLean last year and knew she used Createspace to format her interiors. So I approached my contact there and she (love her) actually offered me a freebie to see how I liked their service--it's hard to get a better offer than that, right?
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| After (Createspace) and Before (me) |
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| Top-createspace Bottom-Me |
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| After (Createspace) Before (me) |
The difference seems to be in the margins and in the kerning. It's subtle and yet their version seems a lot more professional than mine. So, I'm sold. I did a good job (IMO), but their's looks like a 'proper' book. I haven't redone all my books yet, just the Cold Justice Series. Now my cover artist is adjusting the cover size so I can load these new versions onto my local bookstore's Cafe Press printing machine. Then I'm going to check out Ingram Spark.
So although it's a bit of a kick in the teeth to hear negative things, you have to try and use them to empower you in some way. It's easy to be bitter and life is too short :) There are other places that format interiors too. Ask around and find someone you like.
Now I have a box of books formatted the old way, LOL. Guess what? I'll probably use them for contests.
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| The End! |
10 comments:
Great info, Toni. Could the things you learned formatting with Createspace be a possible I SPY segment? Pretty please. :) I'm actually going to try to teach myself formatting for this next release. There was an article in the RWR not too long ago that talked about using Scrivener for formatting. Can't remember if it included print formatting. But I'm going to give it a go if I find the time. ;)
I'd read your books if they were jotted down on two hundred napkins stained with tomato sauce.
More power to you ladies! I dob't have enough brain cells to figure this out. Plus I really don't want to. :-)
I do my own formatting, too, Toni. I took an online course from Oregon Writers Network (OWN) that pointed out the dos and don'ts and then I learned InDesign and worked with Createspace. My little head just about exploded but I did learn and now I find it VERY satisfying to do my own covers and interiors. (If I had the bucks, I'd probably pay for a professional cover designer, but I'd still do the interiors. Fun.)
Good on you for taking a criticism and learning from it. We don't all do so as gracefully as you did.
Interesting article, Toni. Yes, the differences are subtle but important. Though that said, the differences you illustrate seem to be between good and "gooder" not between bad and "badder".
Anne Marie--it isn't difficult. For me it's the constant mouse action making my wrists hurt. Happy to give up any of that stuff for that reason alone! Sounds like Marcelle would be a better I-SPY person... :)
Maureen--lol. That can be arranged! Thank you for the sweet words :)
Rita, I figured it out when I had to. Now I'm happy to let someone else do it!!!
Marcelle, not sure if I'm graceful so much as bloody-minded :) But thanks ;)
I like knowing I can do what I have to do if I had to. I like understanding the details involved. I think you know way more than me on the subject! I love your covers BTW. Always have.
Jean--I figure if I'm always improving just a little bit, it's a good thing. :)
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