I did it for a song.....My Book that is!

On various Indie and eBook publishing forums, people are commenting on publishing their own book and what it will cost, or asking for some advice on how to go about the project.

Using the Createspace option I produced The Knowledge Seekers and The Land Of Cudhabeen – for a song – and I can't even carry a tune.

I did the interior in Open Office, converted it to Word and after designing the cover with Cover Creator: uploaded the text and submitted it.

Firstly, I got a reject, since the Word file did not meet specifications, and was not compatible with my cover, but then, I followed the instructions offered and resubmitted and was successful on the second attempt.

I ordered three proofs by recorded delivery: had the copies within a week, and began to proof online and with the paper copies.

At this stage I figured I needed to edit the text - since I was (This is the fourth time you used this word) noticing some of my structures, the continual use of the same word, and my writing style, that might not be acceptable (use unacceptable) to the reader.

I purchased a years subscription to ProWritingAid and ran the text through this and followed some of the suggestions it made.

One big argument we had was that it thought my sentences were long. I thought that a Saga in the Oral Tradition of the Bardic Story Tellers would be long sentences and we compromised.

I resubmitted again and ordered three more proofs,  by snail mail, and waited a month for delivery.

In the meantime I obtained my EIN, in less that 10 minutes, with no waiting in a queue, by using the time difference between Ireland and the USA, cleverly for my phone call. (They start work very early, but it's in the middle of my day).

The proofs arrived while I was waiting for a safe delay period  - it take a few weeks for the computers to get the message - to set up my Createspace and Amazon/Kindle tax details so that my withholding would be Zero.

I reproofed, inserted the deliberate typo, (anyone who finds it and tells me will be clever) and put the book up for sale.

I built my Createspace and Amazon Author Profile and waited.

My costs on the book were €24.91 – not counting ProWritingAid – I will continue to use this for my next two books AND so far after two weeks  of marketing and sales I am in profit.

NOT BAD FOR A BOG MAN.