adventures in self publishing

moi50.jpgtoo many blogs?

 

I already have far too many blogs.   I started with one simple little Personal Blog, which led to a spin-off public service Internet advocacy blog, Stop Usage Based Billing,  and then to my political commentary blog,  Oh! Canada, all of which are very nicely hosted on WordPress.com

moonICON.pngbuilding the “Inconstant Moon” blog

Having just ordered what I am sure will be my final proof from CreateSpace, [more than a year later – ak!]  I am in the process of setting up a new blog, dedicated to my debut novel, Inconstant Moon, which will again use the WordPress blogging software [which works a treat] but will this time will be hosted on my own server (that is to say, a dedicated computer that is always connected to the Internet).

 

The primary purpose of the Inconstant Moon blog is to serialize my debut novel.  I plan to begin serialization to coincide with the public release of the CreateSpace book-book version. It would be nice if I can manage to have the ebook formatting & versions ready to go at the same time, but

book-book?

[digression warning]   I know, I know, it sounds like Jacob Two-Two, but the advent of eBooks it has suddenly made it necessary to use qualifiers to distinguish between physical books printed on paper and electronic books published digitally.

 

Because, after all, both are actually “books.”

 

When you look at it critically, “pbooks” would probably be a better word, falling nicely in line with “ebook,” but as I am only a noob self-publisher with a very small following indeed, any term I coin is unlikely to go viral at this point.

 

[ just wait ’til I’m famous… mwahahah / rofl ]

 

In the meantime, “book-book” gets the idea across with no further ado, so that’s the term I’m going with.

 

InconstantMoon200w.jpgback on topic

The Inconstant Moon blog will also have pages containing special features, introducing the characters and their world, as well as glimpses into my own world, with links to self publishing resources &tc I’ve stumbled across during the process of bringing my first book to market.  Because the novel deals with mature subject matter, I’m contemplating adding a front page with a caution.

 

And of course, all along I’ve been blogging about my adventures in self publishing in my personal blog.

about now you’re wondering why I am here…

It’s as simple as giving back.  CreateSpace is a business that is certainly generating revenue, but dealing with it’s human representatives has been extremely helpful.  The level of customer service I’ve experienced is precisely how brand loyalty is built.

 

I have not yet had time to even look into the CreateSpace community boards yet because of all of the other things I’m involved in, but I expect to at the least check things out.  Just hopping around it is easy to see that there is a wealth of self publishing reference material available here.

 

But it only seems fair that I share my CreateSpace adventures on a CreateSpace blog.

 

cdnpoli150.jpganother digression … politics … ewww

While StopUBB is in kind of a holding pattern at the moment partially due to the Canadian Federal election underway, the election means that both Oh! Canada and my Identi.ca and Twitter feeds need content.  Which naturally comes out of my personal time.  At the same time as I’m readying my novel.   Shouldn’t the novel take precence?  My broblem is that it’s all wrapped up together.

 

The biggest part of my politicization is due to my recent awareness of both digital and copyright issues.  Left unchallenged, changes to the law and locking down the digital and internet tools that make self publishing possible could be a serious detriment to self publishing.  So although my novel launch is very important to me, I feel it is equally important to advocate for real net neutrality, so writers can continue to disseminate our work in whatever way we choose.

 

envisioned for >this< blog

Although there will very likely be crossover content between this and my other blogs, I expect to pass along what I learn during my adventures in self publishing with CreateSpace here.   Sharing is good.