CreateSpace and Me - The War of Words (And Images)

Hi Guys,

Thought I'd update you on how things are going in my quest for world domination (err - literary success?) Well the big news is that as of today two of my books have been approved for publishing in paper, Maverick and Alien Caller. And a third book Thief is now in the process.

It has been an epic battle getting the books through this process, in part because of my own limitations in all things computer related. But there have been some other problems arise which I did think I might mention for any of you considering taking this route.

1) PDF - CreateSpace demands PDF documents (or so I thought, however experience has proven that it ain't necessarily so). So because I don't have Acrobat, and really don't want to shell out the readies for the programme I went online to get a PDF conveter. The first one I found was Word to PDF by Abdio, which cost me forty bucks. It didn't work, producing documents that were poorly formatted and with great big gaps in words here and there. Naturally I wasn't impressed, especially when I sent off an e-mail asking for either a fix or my money back and heard nothing back. That, despite their promise to get back to me within 24 hours, was over a week ago. So that's my first DON'T of the process.

However it leads to my first DO as well. Or actually two DO's. The first is that when I reached out for help I went to the CreateSpace Community and got answers within hours. Useful answers. And the second is the answer itself a print program called Do - PDF, which was free and has worked absolutely faultlessly.

2) File sizes - for those of you like me the files you need to upload are not small, and conversion to PDF just makes them larger. Much larger. Word files doubled in size. Graphics files trebled and more through the conversion process. And if any of you are on dial up like me, that's a major pain. Fifteen megs, the size of the one piece file I created to do the book, takes an hour or so to upload. And then, as if to help me pull my hair out, CreateSpace itself kept logging me out after an hour and not saving the uploads. By the fourth time I really was screaming at the computer and threatening it with bodily harm.

However, again there is a solution, it's called cover creator. Initially I tried using it and it fell over and I couldn't understand why. It also didn't seem to have the layout I wanted, which was essentially only a bair template for the front cover, back cover and spine, all of which I had already prepared. But a more detailed search revealed that as you go through the available formats there are other layouts, and one of them 'PALM' was perfect for my needs. Better yet,the file sizes were already reduced since I could cut down my single large graphic into two pieces and throw away the spine since it was included as part of the template. And they were reduced even further because Cover Creator does not require the files to be in PDF format. JPEGs are fine. The result, one fifteen meg upload became two uploads of around two and a bit megs, and no logging out.

So for me the next DO - is cover creator.

3) There are of course fishooks in even this, and the main one is graphic sizes. With my layout being for a six by nine inch book and the requirements for the graphic being three DPI, I figured that the correct graphics should be 2700 by 1800 pixels. Silly me!

In fact the correct size for a six by nine cover is six and a quarter inches by nine and a half. They do mention this, but foolishly I ignored it. The upshot of course was that my graphics were slightly too small, and I didn't realise it. So my next DO is read the instructions for graphic file sizes and plan accordingly.

The second fishook is not mine though, unless my eyesight is really that bad and I am going colour blind! So I went through the process uploade my undersized files and it told me they were undersized, 295 DPI instead of 300. But as you go through the process little buttons turn green as you complete each step, and those buttons did turn green. So I assumed the undersizing was of no matter.

Then of course you get to the end having uploaded and twittered around with everything, a process that might take an hour or so, and you hit the button that says submit cover for approval, and I clicked it with transcendant joy. Only to go directly to hell as my cover vanished and I was told by the programme that not all parts of the process had been completed and so it was start again. The message wouldn't even tell me which parts were incomplete and of course I had no clue. After all the seven buttons had seven green colours on them which said they were complete.

So I did it again - same result. It was about then I started to consider taking to the computer with an axe! However I digress.

It turned out after careful detailed study that in fact only five of the seven buttons were green. Two were yellow. Unfortunately green is actually greenish yellow in this programme while yellow is infact yellowish green. In short they look almost identical! I am so glad that these people did not have a hand in designing traffic lights!

After that however, somewhat balder than before and hoarse from screaming at an innocent computer, things went more smoothly. Which leads me to my last DO.

There is absolutely nothing like having a paper copy of your book in your hand, and that is an experience that no reader or tablet can give you. So my final DO.

DO absolutely get a proof copy of your book sent to you in the mail.

Cheers, Greg.

Maverick Going Paperback

Hi Guys,

Thought I'd let you know what I've been doing, which is mainly to start going through the process of converting Maverick now that its been edited, into a paperback through CreateSpace.

It has been an awesome process so far. Both brilliant to see the results as they come out, and frustrating as I have to wrap my head around all sorts of problems. All the things I never thought about as a simple ebook writer. For a start I'd never heard of things called bleed and gutters. (And now I almost wish I never had!)

I've chosen the size six by nine for the book since it's rather long. This is very slightly larger than a standard paperback of eight and a half by five, but when I did my first PDF conversion of the text it came out at 850 pages. In this new format it's only 550 pages, which makes a huge difference in price and the sheer size of the book.

Above you can see the first version of the cover, (reduced in size since I'm on dial up and the time to upload a four meg file is extraordinary - worse if the farmer across the way has his electric fence running!) I'm pleased with it, though will probably do some tweeking when the proof arrives in the mail. I'm a natural tweeker!

My plans for the coming weeks are to get the proof and finish the process for publishing Maverick, and also to put out Alien on the Kindle and then start the process of converting that to paper as well. Over the rest of the year most of my other novels should follow - though I may be bald by then.

Lastly a very bad fantasy joke: Did you hear the one about the wizard who turned his car into a garage?!

Cheers, Greg.

Maverick Revised

Hi guys,

Just a short note to let you know what I've been doing these past few weeks. In a word editing. (Actually it's probably the most horrible word in any author's vocabulary! It is mine anyway.)

But the good news is that it comes with a purpose, and that purpose is to get some of my books into paper form (yes I know many of you younger people may not remember what that is any more!), through CreateSpace.

So so far this year both Thief and Maverick have been through extensive revisions and given new covers in preparation for the transition, and more will follow. However for those who've read them and want something new, currently my long suffering editor (sister) is working on the first edit of the next book off the blocks this year, Alien. I hope to have that out on the Kindle in the next few weeks.

In the mean time, because I may be the worst (most unreliable) blogger in history and feel the need to apologise - again, I'll leave you with an even worse joke.

A priest, a nun, a monk and a bishop walk into a bar.
The bartender looks up at them and says - 'This is a joke right?!'

Cheers, Greg.

Update On Writing: Thief Re-edited.

Hi Guys,

Been a while since I posted last but I have an excuse - the dog ate my homework! Well maybe not, but I have been busy writing so I figure that has to count for something. Anyway since publishing the second Wizard at Law book in January (and February has only just begun), I've also re-edited and recovered my first novel - Thief.

I'm really quite pleased with the way the cover turned out. It's a million times better than the old one I think you'll agree, and it's another step in my master plan to take over the world! Or at least to get a few of my ebooks published on paper as well by the end of the year.

Next to go through this process is Maverick. It already has a new cover and is being edited as I type (thanks Lucy!). I've also started the CreateSpace process for it, but I have to admit that when it comes to all things computers, I am somewhat on the slow side.

As far as writing goes, I'm currently finishing off Alien, a sci fi romance adventure in which a retired agent with a personal enemy that would make Superman tremble is visited by an alien woman that funnily enough has her own enemies. Of course the real fun starts when their enemies get together!

This is a book that has been almost finished and sitting around as an untouched file on my computer for years, like so many others. So I'm quite pleased to be finally completing it. Of course that leaves maybe eighty more all awaiting the same attention!

Anyway, that's been my year so far and I'm quite pleased with how its gone. I hope you and yours are having an equally good one. Oh and I thought this was funny:

If wishes were horses I'd need a lot of pooper scoopers!


Cheers, Greg.

Second Wizard At Law Book Published.

Hi Guys,

Happy new year and all.


Thought I'd let you know that the second Wizard at Law book - The Glimmering, has been published on the kindle. Here's the blurb:

It starts with a glimmer, and then it just glows!

Thomas Crow and his friends are back with another case.

Someone is busy turning the people of London bright yellow one by one and in the precess, threatening the exposure of the people and magic to the world.

Thomas must represent his client, one of the yellows as they've become known, a normal with no idea that magic exists or the people for that matter, and a man who really just wants a drink. And at the same time he has to keep lying to him, following the line of the Circle that it's just a disease and that the victims need to be quarantined. Helping to maintain the cover up that stops world wide exposure.

And then of course they have to find the caster that's creating the panic in the first place. Before the press finally get a picture of a yellow in all his glory and everything goes to hell.

Who'd be an advocate?!

 

So my years off to a good start, I hope yours are too.

 

Cheers, Greg.

 

Time Travelling Novella Written

Hi Guys,

Just time for one more post before Christmas, and thought I'd use it to let you know that the time travelling bug hit me again.

This time it was the bootstrap paradox that dominated my thoughts again, and in particular one scenario that I previously raised in my posts on time travel paradoxes. I won't give the plot away, but in essence this is the story of mankind's first chronosphere as it undertakes the greatest ever mission of exploration, the journey to the begining of time. The big bang. But of course things don't run smoothly!

This is a novella that I've just sent off for editing, and should hopefully be out on the kindle before the end of the month.

Other than that I thought I should just wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year, and hope that 2013 (now that we've got through the end of the world as the Mayan calander ran out of dates) will be a great year.

By the way, not saying that I ever believed the prediction for the 21st, but does anyone know where I can flog a slighty used bomb shelter and a million freeze dried RTE's?

Merry Christmas, Greg.

Time Travel Paradox - Can A Woman Be Her Own Mother?

Hi Guys,

I was going to continue with the next installment in my Alien Spotters Handbook in this post, but a few days ago in one of the other fora I engage in someone came up with a brilliant time travel paradox riddle, and I felt the need to write about it. Besides the dark vans with the tinted windows outside my house every day, and the men in dark suits with the sunglasses, were becoming a pain! Maybe they'll back off now!

Anyway the riddle that was asked was can a woman be her own mother through the aid of time travel? And the scenario given was this: A woman meets a man, gets pregnant by him, travels back in time, gives birth, and leaves the baby on someone's doorstep. That baby then grows up to become the same woman, gets pregnant, and then repeats the entire cycle.

This is of course a variation on the bootstrap paradox, in that messing around with time only occurs to the woman because she has already messed with it. Thus lifting herself up by her own bootstraps as it were.

Now to look at this juicy little conundrum, I think it's important to first point out two obvious issues. First, at some point in time, in fact for a whole nine months, this woman is actually going to be carrying herself inside of her. The other issue is that this is an obvious case of incest, since this child is going to grow up to have sex with her father! These are both strange and ichy issues, but not really relevant.

What is relevant is as I've said in previous posts, the fact that this scenario does infact make that entire period from the woman's conception, through her time travel into the past as a foetus, until her getting pregnant in the present, completely determined. For this entire period there can be no free will, no random chance. Everything must happen through this period as it happened before.

The reason for this is simple, genetics. In every conception there must be an egg and a sperm joining together, and in every ejaculate of a man, there are millions upon millions of sperm. Now in order for this woman to be her own mother, genetically she must be identical. That means that exactly the same sperm and the same egg must join. The chances of that happening, even if the conception happens in exactly the same way, on the same day down to the second, are of course millions to one. And if a different sperm makes it through, then the new baby will not infact be the woman that is her mother, it will be the sister (or brother) of that woman.

As any change, even the slightest one could theoretically change which sperm is successful, there can be no variation.

So for that entire, say twenty five tears, every free will choice anyone made, could not have been truly free. Because on each repeat of the cycle through time, they would have to make exactly the same choice. Every random event during this time span, could never have been truly random. Because on every repeat of the cycle, the same results would have to follow.

Anyway, that's my take on the paradox.

I'll try to get my next post out before Christmas, once more returning to the Alien Spotters Handbook (Men in Black - I'm just kidding! - Oh and please stop going through my rubbish. I did think it was the papparazzi but they've denied it!)

But if I don't, and lets face it, I also want to get the next novella in the Wizard at Law series out by Christmas as well, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy holidays.

Cheers, Greg.