After spending what felt like eons proofreading, editing and formatting my manuscript, I came to the point where I had to upload it to KDP. I had a very hard time doing that the first time around. But it has become easier with each time that I do it. Yes, I’ve had to do it multiple times. I had read that is often the case but had really hoped I wouldn’t suffer that fate.
In looking over the book preview, I kept finding errors in the formatting. Most of them centered on the justification of the margins. I would find several chapters wherein the last line would have one word at the left margin and one word on the right margin with blank space in between the two.
Because I had “fixed” all these problems in my original file (which is how KDP refers to it), I wasn’t sure what to do about it in the book preview. I opted for adding or deleting words in the original file until the problem was fixed or at least looked good enough to call it good enough. Good enough is a hard thing for me. I have this perfectionist tendency that is hard for me to deal with sometimes.
Just a bit ago, I uploaded the thing for the fifth or sixth time. I’ve lost track. I hope that all my “fixes” hold and that I can “proof” all the 445 pages and not find any more errors of formatting. And also hopefully, I’ve dealt adequately enough with typos, spelling errors, homophones and all the other things that can be messed up.
Then it’s just a matter of “pressing” the “Approve” button. I wonder how long it will take me to muster the courage to do that.
In between finishing this post and now, I actually did press the “Approve” button. Then we got into the pricing aspect of the process.
Turns out, KDP gives you a minimum and maximum price to charge for your book. The maximum price is a little silly set at $250.00. But the minimum for mine is set at $10.34, unless I opt for Expanded Distribution. Then it is $15.51. I was pretty sure people might buy the paperback at $11.99, but I’m not as certain about $15.99.
And this doesn’t even address the issue of the eBook version. I’m 99% certain I selected the dual option when I first started to set this all up. But that hasn’t been mentioned yet. Maybe it will after I press the “Publish” button. If not, then I have another issue to work on.
Right now, though, everything is in limbo. I’m a bit of a mess emotionally and I’m not really certain what to do. But I guess I will get it figured out. I usually do.
But … if any of you have gone through this process and can offer a few insights, I sure wouldn’t mind.
Maddie's Mom Writes 