It’s 8:30 p.m. I started working at 7 a.m.
Well, wtf? That’s only 13 hours. Why do you suppose I feel so whipped, whapped, and brain-banged?
Actually, I got an enormous amount done today, some of it by serendipity. Big accomplishment is finishing the last installment of the Travelers series. My dearly beloved freelance writer/cowriter has written five of the seven pieces for that magnum opus. And it must be said, she’s a lot better at it than I am. She’s an amazingly good writer, and — mirabilis!! — she has a sense of humor.
Ô that rarest of the rare!
Her stuff is fun to read (think of that: p0rn that actually is, objectively, fun to read…). So I’m hoping we’ll get some serious traction once we start to post Traveler stories to Amazon.
Anyway, I finally finished doing my part: mortaring in the chinks around her solid bricks with my little addenda. They’re not bad, but they’re not as funny (on purpose) as hers. 😀
Also today an amazing discovery came my way: a large cache of vintage erotica has slipped into the public domain. It’s out there for the taking, and it invites republication in new and elegant forms.
You think 50 Shades is something new? Not so much, my friends. It was outdone several generations ago. Let me tell you raunch! Let me tell you BDSM!
Well, I shan’t. I’ll let Camptown Races Press tell you.
The seedling of a new plan sprouted today: a Camptown Races sideline to be labeled Classic Erotica, presenting repackaged and freshly decorated vintage smut. This could be highly entertaining. Oh, no. It will be highly entertaining. Some of this stuff puts 50 Shades to total shame.
I tried on a new template for the Camptown Ladies. Tell me how you like this one. I couldn’t get that handsome cowboy(oid) (OH! let’s just pretend he really IS a cowboy!) any larger without resizing him in Preview (again), which I ain’t a-gunna do. Just click on his gorgeousness for the full effect. He is, in a word or three, to die for.
Another of the day’s several projects was to get a grip on the workflow involved in “publishing” a bookoid on Amazon. It’s truly a tedious, time-consuming project, one I hope some day to foist off on an admin, virtual or in-person. To do that — and also to make my own efforts work consistently — I wanted to begin writing down a step-by-step checklist of the process involved. Yesh. The problem is, as you may note, that some of these “steps” are not single steps: they’re a whole series of steps folded into one “to do.”
Book Publication Checklist
Which Book:_____________________________________
Which Series:_____________________________________
Publication Date___________________________________
Place cover design, PDF, and .docx files in same folder
1. Design Cover | Need not be perfect for Bowker
Obtain Shutterstock copy
Record book the image is used for
Design image in PP
Check that image is correct size
Save to DropBox
Save to hard drive
2. Get ISBN | Assign 3 ISBNs at the start of each week
Proofread MS copy and be sure content is adequately formatted
Create PDF and store to disk
Record correct ISBN by COPY&PASTE into spreadsheet.
Enter ISBN here:
Enter correct ISBN on copyright page
3. Format MS
Format Word MS in plain vanilla
Check that A-level heads are marked “Chapter Title”
Insert links to preceding bookoids in series
Insert links to appropriate websites
CHECK links to be sure they’re not mail-to!
In a series, insert link to vh Amazon author page for future stories
DO NOT insert “chapter number.”
Delete any header or footer content
Replace section breaks with page breaks
Check all character formatting: use styles
Check all paragraph formatting: use styles
Proofread content again
Update TofC field on a PC
Check ISBN on copyright page
Check for correct title information on copyright page
Enter credits for artwork on copyright page
Enter plug for upcoming bookoids and other bookoids at end
Enter link for Camptown Ladies at end
4. Post to Amazon
Enter preliminary data in form
CHECK THAT SERIES & VOLUME ARE GIVEN AND ARE CONSISTENT
Format image to required size
Upload image
Upload MS
Check in Kindle reader
Make corrections
Re-upload to Kindle
Recheck in Kindle reader
Finalize upload
5. Clear data from DropBox | Move folder from DB to hard drive, containing:
Move images from Images collection to hard drive
Move cover jpegs from bookoid directory to hard drive
Move Word file from bookoid directory to hard drive
Move PDF from bookoid file to hard drive
6. Begin Publicity
Post teasers at websites
Post teasers at social media sites
7. Publicize | ASAP after bookoid goes live:
Post widgets at websites
Post links at social media sites
Hit up reviewers
Tell friends
Hand out flyers at SBA, WVWW, choir
Send notice or newsletter to mail list
TO DO: BUILD MAIL LIST
Dear God. “To do”: Finish bourbon & water and go to bed…
Dear Lord! And you’re sure this is preferable to grading freshman comp papers? 😀
Sounds as though you’re getting a handle on it, though. I so admire your drive, tenacity, and ability!
Infinitely. Nothing is more brain-banging than reading composition papers.
As a technical person, let me tell you that lists are our salvation … Often 80 steps, all simple in themselves, to remember.
I’m a little concerned. It sounds like you have found old stories and are going to profit off someone else’s work. Is that correct?
There’s nothing wrong with that once the copyright has expired. The copyright law is designed to preserve the profits for the artist and the first generation of the artist’s descendants, but it is purposely designed to expire so that the creative work can be freely disseminated to others. And that post-copyright dissemination includes freedom to reuse it, republish it, or spin off derivative works. The law does not lock up work in perpetuity.
We’re talking about something that was published in the 19th century, by the way.
Okay, that sounds better.
To acquire a new copyright on a work whose copyright has expired, you have to create substantial new and useful content. For example, you could do an annotated edition: a scholarly work in which you define archaic words and footnote passages with researched discussions of their historic, biographical, and literary significance. A work of that nature would also include an introduction or a series of headnotes discussing the work in general and its context, and it may also include appendices and an index.
If I were going to republish a public-domain work, that’s what I would have in mind.