Day 115

I was supposed to stop after 100. I was also supposed to update this blog more often. But my urge to write has taken an extended vacation (that's a topic for another time, another place).

So anyway, here we are.  115 days. I didn't get to the 300 sales mark I was shooting for. Maybe I didn't publicize enough. Maybe I'm not a savvy marketeer. Maybe the book wasn't engaging.

But I did make it to 108. Which isn't half bad.

I had a long chat with Ozzie Chick a couple weeks ago about my motivations behind this book. Once upon a time, it was just about writing it. I was going to put pen to paper, give it a go, and stick it in a drawer. Honestly, I never thought I would actually finish it.

Then, I got caught up in the excitement of it all. I had visions of living the life of a writer. Of leaving the office behind and setting up shop at café tables with a Moleskine and a chewed-up pen.

But that, too, passed. Realism kicked in. And then I thought long and hard about what I wanted and realized what mattered the most was that people read it. Read something I had created. Something I had brought into being from nothing. Something that was just mine, that someone else could make theirs.

And it happened. 108 people took my story into their lives, even if only briefly.

I'm happy with that.

And now that these 100 days of Kindle publishing are over, my baby starts a new phase as a printed book.  It may not be everything I dreamed of, but it's pretty close.

The create-space e-store for In the Past Imperfect

Day 71

After 71 days of publication, I decided to update the Kindle text of the novel. 

After I sent off a (very slightly) revised text for the print version, I wondered whether it was worth making changes to the text available on Kindle.  The changes amount to the correction of three typos spotted by diligent readers, and the deletion of a few song lyrics, for protection against over-zealous lawyers out there.

Obviously, I want the Kindle and the print versions to be identical.

But how complicated was the updating process going to be?

The answer: rather complicated.  But not overwhelmingly so.  Assuming I did it right.

The first step was to actually recall the changes I had made.  Thank goodness for doc comparison.  Then, following the rather over-simplified instructions from amazon, it was time to download, unzip, modify, rezip and upload the html.

I am not a tech whiz.  My guess is most writers aren't.  So my recommendation to you would be: make sure your text is perfect the first time!

My KDP homepage now tells my my "new" book is being published.  Fingers crossed I haven't accidentally screwed up the formatting, or deleted the entire text, or done something else terribly wrong.

You'll have to let me know.

ITPI now available on amazon.de!

For all European readers, you can now get In the Past Imperfect on amazon.de for the extremely reasonable price of €2.83!

Check it out right here.

Day 12

There are some interesting musings on the "real"-book vs e-book showdown by one of my favourite Paris bloggers here.

My take?  I love books.  I love the colour of them, the feel of them, the sound they make when you crack the spine, the dusty smell when you take an old favourite off the shelf, the weight in your hand, the warmth they bring to a bare wall.

But as a writer, I have to say the e-book opens up possibilities that my frustrated agent-less peers of generations past could hardly even imagine.

Two weeks ago I was just another name on the reject pile.

Today's stats?  52 sales, 3 customer reviews, several posts on the facebook page.  It's a small start, but it's a good one.