February 6, 2004 - Coming Soon

I'd thought about offering an e-book for awhile, but I wasn't sure how to get started. So I searched Google and found the Wayne Perkins book, A Cheap and Easy Guide to Self-Publishing E-books. For $19.95 (which is tax deductible as a business expense), I purchased the guide, which turns out to be extremely helpful.

He outlines not just some basics of self-publishing e-books but also tells you how to copyright your work, how to get an ISBN number, and provides marketing suggestions.

Of course, in addition to finalizing the manuscript, double-checking and proofreading it, I had to come up with a cover image. I chose a photograph I'd taken in Pittsburgh years ago of a striking building on the Pitt campus.

This morning, I thought everything was ready until I e-mailed a copy of the .PDF file to The Gryphon and he told me all the pages were blank! Once we'd figured out that it was because of the font I was using, one thing after another came up and we decided it would be easiest to work on it tomorrow together.

While I'm at it, I'll probably also finish up a collection of columns, previously published by Standard-Journal Newspapers. I've already sought and received permission from the publisher of that newspaper to reprint the columns in a book. Now it's simply a matter of finalizing the rundown, coming up with a title and writing an introduction.

So there's a few more details that need to be finalized. Until then, I get to twiddle my thumbs, bide my time and wait for my entry into the exciting world of e-book publishing.

Musings an Online Journal of Sorts By Alyce Wilson
February 6 , 2004 - Coming Soon
	With any luck, sometime this weekend I'll have published my first e-book, a collection of poems called Picturebook of the Martyrs. When it's ready, it will be available at eBookAd.com. The book compiles poems from my graduate school years through to more recent days. The poems span an incredible period of growth and self-realization in my life. Now, how do I condense that into a 100-word summary of the work? I'll need to figure that out for my online listing.
I'd thought about offering an e-book for awhile, but I wasn't sure how to get started. So I searched Google and found the Wayne Perkins book, A Cheap and Easy Guide to Self-Publishing E-books. For $19.95 (which is tax deductible as a business expense), I purchased the guide, which turns out to be extremely helpful. He outlines not just some basics of self-publishing e-books but also tells you how to copyright your work, how to get an ISBN number, and provides marketing suggestions. Of course, in addition to finalizing the manuscript, double-checking and proofreading it, I had to come up with a cover image. I chose a photograph I'd taken in Pittsburgh years ago of a striking building on the Pitt campus. This morning, I thought everything was ready until I e-mailed a copy of the .PDF file to The Gryphon and he told me all the pages were blank! Once we'd figured out that it was because of the font I was using, one thing after another came up and we decided it would be easiest to work on it tomorrow together. While I'm at it, I'll probably also finish up a collection of columns, previously published by Standard-Journal Newspapers. I've already sought and received permission from the publisher of that newspaper to reprint the columns in a book. Now it's simply a matter of finalizing the rundown, coming up with a title and writing an introduction. So there's a few more details that need to be finalized. Until then, I get to twiddle my thumbs, bide my time and wait for my entry into the exciting world of e-book publishing.
Moral: Getting it right is worth the wait. Copyright 2004 by Alyce Wilson Musings Index
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