Seasons of Writing – Marketing Part II

I’m working on getting some wind behind my nonfiction book, Seasons of Writing. As I mentioned in my last blog, since I spent so much time working on it and I also believe it’s a great tool for writers, why not put some energy behind it.

You can currently purchase my book on Amazon.com and although I know we are in the age of e-books, I still like the idea of printed books so my next step is to visit bookstores and see if they would be interested in stocking my book. Plus, I would like to start introducing my book to other book clubs.

However, I’m running into a little dilemma. I really don’t want to spend a lot of money. I’ve researched a few book printing companies and since my book is small (in terms of size, not information) and I’m not looking to order in bulk, the prices seem a little too high. But they do offer book formatting. And as anyone would tell you that has self-published, the look of your book is very important.

Luckily, when I was looking to order books for the book club, my company’s Creative Art Services Manager offered his help. He also had contact with a printer. He did an awesome job but because he was doing it for free, I felt I wasn’t in the position to give too many critiques or ask for a lot of style changes.

After receiving the books, I decided the next time I would try my hand at laying it out myself. For one, I don’t like asking people for favors and two, I used to work in Photoshop, create flyers, and logos back in the day.

For the next order, I rolled up my sleeves and worked on the layout. It took a couple of days but eventually I was satisfied that it was ready to go. So positive that I had done such a great job that when the printer asked if I wanted to see a mockup, I arrogantly said no.

Thirty-five copies later and a bill of over a couple of hundred dollars and I now have books that have part of my head on the back cover cut off along with a very tight margin error.

It’s trial and error. I’ll have to eat the cost but I’ve learned some lessons.

I still did another go at laying it out again but this time I paid closer attention to detail and I asked the printer questions that I should have asked the first time. He is also sending me a mockup.

I have no problems working on a project over and over again until it’s right. After all, isn’t that part of being a great writer? The ability to draft and draft until it’s perfect?