Okay, let’s try this again, only more slowly.
Well. I did get the proof copy of The Lost Steersman back from Createspace.
Alas: acceptable to them, but unacceptable to me.
There’s nothing like holding the actual physical copy in your hands. The color is different. The green, when seen on a glowing screen, looks light and bright; but turned into pigment on paper, it is far too dark.
Also, there were some random flecks of green around the moth that were not visible when the green was very pale, but became horrible when the green was dark and visible. Plus, one of the commenters (Hi, Christian!) thought that the lettering on my name looked a bit rough-edged on the jpg version… and it turned out true on the book itself.
So, I have to back up and redo the front cover.
And while I’m at it, one more proofing — a careful proofing — of the text. I’ve already (dammit) found previously-unrecognized typos.
I attribute this to rushing things, trying to get everything in place before Christmas. Also, I had to prep for a presentation at the same time, which turned out harder than I expected…
Basically, it was too much crammed into too short a period of time. So: take a breath, settle down, proceed at a stately pace.
I’m now figuring on around the middle of January for The Lost Steersman and The Language of Power to be done, and on sale.
Also: as I mentioned in the comment stream, the paperback of The Steerswoman is in a slightly smaller format (8.5×5.25) than the others (9×6). I had wanted the smaller size for all of them, because it sat in one’s hand better. It was an artistic decision. But as it turns out, the other books are actually much longer than the first. I had not realized the impact of this…
Production costs are figured by number of pages. I had to move to the bigger size, or they’d cost too much to make, and the purchase price would just be too high.
But now I’m all dissatisfied that the books won’t be uniform. So…
I’ll go back and redo The Steerswoman.
Darn, did I just tell you not to buy Book One until I’ve got all four released? Well, yes. Yes, I did.
Assuming, that is, that having all four books be consistent in size, and sit neatly in a row on your shelf matters to you… then, yeah. Hold off. I tell you this as a friend!
As apology, when the newly-formatted version of The Steerswoman comes out, I’ll set the price lower for a while.
Okay, enough blogging. Must get some sleep, in order to be conscious and alert to… redo the front cover, and proof the text again, and resubmit, and order another proof, and do Book 3, and redo Book 1.
Yep. Stuff to do.