Friday JohnKu – AKA TGIF

~ John W. Howell

Friday

 

Friday again. It has been an interesting week pretty much filled with catch-up work for me. I’m getting ready to publish the sequel to My GRL and have decided to self-publish this time around. As most of you self-published authors know there is a lot to do before the book is ready. I am waiting for the final editor proofread and will then do the formatting. I have done some formatting so I think I can handle this part of the exercise. I plan to do a paperback and a Kindle edition so I will need to get the proper formats for each. My GRL was published by Martin Sisters Publishing, and they did all the work, so this is all new to me. Hopefully, I won’t blow a gasket in getting it done.

With the launch of My GRL, I had no control over price, timing, cover, or the internal appearance. This time will be different. I have control over all of these things. One thing I wished I could have done with My GRL was to get it into the hands of reviewers before publication. After the formatting is complete, I plan on putting it into the hands of those reviewers who will graciously agree to review and then publish the book with a more organized launch. I’m not sure it will make any difference, but it can’t hurt. This week’s JohnKU is about timing. Hope you like it.

Timing by John W. Howell ©2015

Starting a project,

Time spent planning the outcome. . .

Finishes it well.

30 thoughts on “Friday JohnKu – AKA TGIF”

  4. That seems like a great positive JohnKu! And I can’t wait to read book-2 of My GRL! The characters stuck with me, and I look forward to seeing more of them.

    I think you’ll be fine, picking up some of the non-writing work for Indie. Though all of it has become much more to me now, I began calling everything from the draft of “Atonement, TN” on through the blog my “grand experiment in Indie.” I set out to explore every aspect, and that included doing everything myself. I completely broke the formatting rules to achieve my own more “readable” print copy, and was very pleased with the result. (But with nearly two decades of experience as a technical editor/writer, I had experience in those things…) Every aspect that is except the marketing! I recognized from the beginning that I didn’t have time for that. The blog and a few tweets are all the marketing I do. So I remind myself of that each month when I get Amazon’s report. LOL! 🙂

    At any rate, John — I know that you can do it too. Congrats on reaching this milestone, and best of luck with the rest. Mega hugs!

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  5. Hi, John – self-publishing is challenging but the feeling of accomplishment you get (not to mention being totally in charge of your ship :-D) can’t be beaten!
    If you hit any snags with the ‘tech’ side of things then I’d be happy to help if needed, as I do my publications outside of the Amazon fold and have industry software (not showing off – I used to be in ‘the print’ professionally 😉 ) so I know most ways out of trouble! 🙂

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  8. I love the writing part, and the setup can actually be fun. I don’t mind working on technical glitches, as long as there is an eventual solution. It’s the marketing I hate, and my sales will show that.

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  9. That sounds like a good plan John. Formatting is beyond me. I just about managed to do it for the paperback version of my first novel, but never again, finances permitting. My guess is that you will be good at formatting. I know you are skilled at DIY and there’s surely a correlation between that and formatting. Have a good weekend.

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    1. I’m going to keep it simple with presets on the headings and body. I will do it all by hand to make sure there are no glitches. I find if you delete all formatting on the MS then you can insert what you need. I talk big now. We’ll see

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  10. Best of luck on getting the sequel to My GRL in gear. It seems like a daunting amount of work, but you appear to be handling it with ease. Really looking forward to reading more of John Cannon’s adventures.

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  11. I’m sure you’ll do fine, John. I’ve learned quite a bit about using Word to format my books. If you get stuck, I may have some knowledge of value for you. Feel free to ask. Have a great weekend!

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