The
E-book Upload
After
a long 800-mile round trip to western Montana - the snow beautiful and roads
fairly good for winter, I sit down before my computer, newly completed book
cover in hand.
With
excitement and trepidation I begin the long awaited process of uploading my 6,000-word
book/article to Smashwords. Two years of gathering and digesting research
articles and over a full year since I began writing the piece, the time has
come. The proofing, reproofing and reproofing as well as multiple edits from a
variety of sources are behind me. My other writing on my novel and newspaper
articles has taken the back seat for a while.
Although
I am not techno-savvy, I do get by. Over the past month, I managed to follow
the Smashwords "Style Guide" http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52 , stripping out
all the formatting in my article to create a flowable text that will read on different devices. (We'll talk more
specifically about that later.)
Filled
with nervous energy I carefully follow all the leads and prompts on the screen
to upload my book, the cover, author profile and other information. As I write
the author profile, I can't help but wonder, "How much does one really
want to share about themselves for the entire world to see?"
As
I get ready to click the "Submit" button (or was it an
"Upload" button?) I hope my book/article is well done, professionally
acceptable and will be a benefit to those who read it. With some faith in the
computer-gods, I plunge ahead, submitting my materials to the Smashwords
"Meatgrinder" hoping to pass without any AutoVetting errors.
File
uploaded, cover uploaded, author profile complete, I intently watch my computer
screen as it flashes, "You are number 26 in the queue to upload at
Smashwords." The tiny circle spins as I await confirmation.
Suddenly
words pop up on the screen, "You have lost Internet connection."
What?! No! All the time spent carefully uploading! I frantically check all my
connections, then call the phone company. The phone line crackles painfully as
I explain the problem. The service tech responds, "It will be 24 to 48
hours to correct the problem."
With
deep frustration, I turn back to my computer and attempt to reload Internet.
There, miraculously, pops up the message, "You have successfully uploaded
your book to Smashwords, there are no AutoVetter errors." Yay!
Out
from my email spits a three-page document about how to get an ISBN number, how
to check for compatibility with epub and html files and how to get into the
daunting task of marketing your work.
Shortly
after completing a few more tasks, my phone lines and Internet go totally dead
for nearly 24 hours, interspersed with numerous cell phone calls to the phone
company. My carefully planned e-book upload is narrowly accomplished. Hard to
believe how dependant we have become on the Internet!
Now
the challenge of letting people know what my e-book/article is about and how it
can be useful is the next step. What is your next challenge to writing and
publishing? Do you have a plan to move forward?
Theresa
Nichols Schuster's Smashwords Author Profile: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/tnschuster
Book
page to sample or purchase Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or Excessive Mast
Cells? Research Summary: http://smashwords.com/b/266579