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“Just Dreams” Now Available in Paperback

Hi there:

You have no idea how happy I am to announce that “Just Dreams” is now available in paperback format.  After a month of trial and error, it is now possible for you to purchase a hard copy of the book (as opposed to the e-book) and have it autographed by me at some point during one of my upcoming public appearances or when you see me around.  To get a copy, just go to the “Books” page on my website and click on the first Amazon icon.

It took a while for me to make this possible because I had to learn everything I now know about book covers, interior file formatting, pricing, sizing, and book distribution from scratch.  Well, not from scratch really but more by trial and error thanks to the amazing amount and quality of information I was able to gather from the members of two amazing Yahoo groups.  Without them, I would have been lost.

I decided to go with a matte as opposed to a glossy cover because I liked it better.  I also decided to go with cream instead of white pages and to make the book a little smaller than I had originally planned.  Initially, I was going to make it a 6″x9″ book which would have made the book a teensy bit less expensive to print, but then decided I liked it better at 5.25″ x 8.00″ instead.  The smaller size, the matte cover and the cream pages just looked a little classier to me. And anyone who knows me knows that's how I like to roll.  🙂

One of the things that took me forever to get the print book out was that I had to learn some very basic information about formatting the interior of the book.  For example, when I first uploaded the book, the text was double spaced,  not justified,  and the page numbers weren't formatted correctly at the top of each page.  In addition, I didn't have the right margins, or gutter and had never heard of bleed space (the space between the print and the edges of the page).  I tried 1.5 spaces because I didn't think 1 space would be enough and it still didn't look right.  I finally went to 1 space and figured out the margins, the bleed space and page number formatting after uploading and rejecting the online proof of the book several times.  It wasn't until I held a hard copy proof in my hand though, that I realized the text should be justified.

Reading the hard copy proof also taught me two other valuable lessons:  Authors need both a developmental editor and a copyeditor (my cover designer suggested that I also needed some Xanax but that's a whole other blog post). I discovered typos and other mistakes in the hard copy proof that I hadn't seen onscreen or in the printouts I reviewed.  Plus, seeing the book helped me make decisions about book design.

The paperback version of “Just Dreams” is also available on other sites such as Barnes and Noble through Ingram Sparks.  I decided to go with both Amazon/Createspace and Ingram Sparks for paperback printing to allow myself the most flexibility with respect to distribution options and wholesale pricing discounts.  I'm hoping that my books find their way into bookstores, libraries and other retail venues all over the world as a result.  Hey – my mom always told us to think big.  🙂

Peace