My quandry is that the book I want to make is a how-to about design, and that kind of info won't transfer well to a small screen. It would be fine on the ipad, but not a mobile phone. So do I not worry about that, perhaps provide the visuals on the web for free for anyone who buys the ebook but wants to see the examples in a better format?

Hmm.

Go all in on black--Robin Black, that is. An all-access pass gives tickets to these events:

Friday, May 13, 7 to 10 PM
At a private home near the Botanical Gardens
An intimate evening of wine, delicious appetizers, a performance by Stories on Stage, and a Q & A with the author.
 
Saturday, May 14, 1 to 4 PM
Ferril House
Seminar led by Robin Black: What Do Readers Care About and Why Do They Care? A Workshop on Telling Stories That Matter

1. Robin Black's If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This came out last year to wide acclaim. It's her debut short story collection, and each story is a carefully constructed, fully developed world about people who are asked to face the truths, large and small, about their lives. This collection was an Oprah Magazine Summer Reads pick, and they liked it so much they even wrote a Reader's Guide, which is a series of questions suitable for a reading group's discussion. There is something for everyone in this collection, and for that alone, hearing what Robin has to say about her experience in publishing and the writing process is reason enough to come along.
2. Robin has been noted as a writer who emerged "later in life." If you, like me, still have aspirations to do great things even though we're older and getting moreso every day, Robin's successes are inspiring. I like encouragement, and I love success stories. I'm betting you do, too.
3. Did you see that description of the first night "at a private home near the Botanical Gardens" ? This is a beautiful setting for a gathering, especially if that gathering is comprised of...
4. A warm, supportive, funny, and generous writer's community. That's Lighthouse in a nutshell. You won't meet nicer people, anywhere.
5. But you say you're not a writer? It won't matter. If you love good writing, strong characters, and realistic and probing fiction, your future readings will be enhanced by hearing a working writer speak to her experience. When you engage with people who are connected to the books you love, your appreciation for them grows that much more.
6. If you're a writing teacher, taking the time to learn something new from another writer will give you more tools in your teaching toolkit.
7. And finally, if you attend a Lighthouse event like this one, you're supporting the arts. You're taking a demonstrable stance on the idea that good content, valuable ideas, and building community matter. If you support the organizations that care enough to bring artists in to engage in conversation, they can continue their good works. Everyone will benefit.

If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This accolades:

San Francisco Chronicle  §  Irish Times Top Book of 2010  §  Short Listed for The Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize  §  Long Listed for The Story Prize  §  A Denver Post Bestseller  §  Winner, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia Literary Prize  §  Summer Reading Pick, O:  The Oprah Magazine

I’m also in the middle of a number of freelance editing jobs, so my progress hasn’t been remarkable. I am giving myself six weeks to get the writing done. Then we’re going try creating and selling the ebook version, and perhaps a POD for the print-lovers. I bought a URL and hosting space. I’ve worked extensively with Lightning Source in the past, but think maybe using CreateSpace this time around too might be helpful. What about the aggregators? Brave. New. World.

Creating a "professional" book is really hard.

Barrier to entry may be low, but creating a book that looks professional and is indistinguishable from a book published by a "real" publishing house is very difficult and requires a minimum investment of a few thousand dollars (I'm up at around $5,000 right now). You wonder why "real" books take 9 months to produce--and usually significantly longer. Well, I now know why. It's hard to get everything just right (if you're a novice at book formatting, Microsoft Word will become your worst enemy). And once you've finally received that final proof, you feel it could be slightly better.

A book that looks like it was created in Word will be an immediate turn-off to anyone who might want to purchase your work. Don't do it. Unless you're writing about the Key to all Philosophies that will tie everything in the world together in one tidy package, ensuring happiness to all of mankind and and an end to all unnecessary wars and famine, you will not be taken seriously with a sad, lifeless layout.

Just because you have a Twitter account or Facebook page, you still may not be using social media to its greatest effect. If you aren't reading, following, commenting, and writing your own content consistently, then unfortunately, you are merely a bystander.

Social media requires that you read and comment as much as you post (or don't post) your own content. It's a conversation, and your participation must add value. If it doesn't, you won't be taken seriously.

This is especially true for authors, whether they are being published by a big house or are taking on the task for themselves. Authors need to know what other books are competing with their own, and it would also benefit them to know what other published book and web sites might complement their own impending works.

The weight of the work you'll face promoting your title can be daunting, and it will require many hours of diligent follow-up. Here are a few you can do:

1. Start a blog, then faithfully post. Your posts should be the very best representation of yourself as an intelligent and connected person, of your writing ability, of your sense of humor, and of the authority you possess about your subject matter (and that goes for fiction and poetry too.) Photos always help. And then you must promote your blog by linking like-minded or like-topic blogs to your own. You have to enter the conversation from both sides.

Don't know where to start? Blogger.com and Wordpress.com are free.

Squarespace (hosting this site) costs about $8 a month but will allow you to build a full-fledged site with web pages and blogs, as well as photo galleries, which are customizable and flexible. You can find a low-cost solution that will have small learning curves. Now's the time to embrace new things, even if you’re uncomfortable with the online world. If you can't learn it on your own, recruit help.

2. Make a Facebook page and friend people who might have an interest in your book. Read all the how-tos and weed out the extraneous noise that Facebook brings. This will take some time and patience. Make a concerted effort to be present and optimistic about your work.

3. Get a Twitter account and use your own name. Twitter is a vehicle for informed and close listening to online buzz. Follow people in publishing, reviewing, and others who are active in your subject matter. You do not have to post about mundane events, and if you do, you will be tuned out. Instead, focus on your field of interest, lurk, then begin to respond thougtfully. This is another task that will take time and patience. And some of it will seem to be fluff, and you'll be right. But you will be building relationships.

Serious social media participants are very quick to identify half-hearted or self-aggrandizing online behavior. Tenacity, humility, humor, and quiet authority will take you a long way.

This is plain Helvetica, with no line height or letter spacing added. The letters look like they're bumping into each other. I see content-heavy sites like web news use Helvetica all the time. While it might look great in print, onscreen, it's awful. No one can easily read this. It looks like an uncomfortable grey puddle up there, doesn't it?

Now look at another example.

This is Verdana, which was designed for the screen. I added some line height, and no letter spacing, because Verdana doesn't need letter spacing.

The point is this: know your audience and know how to choose the best tools for the job. Just because you used to work in print and now your life is upended and everything's askew, don't rest on what you once knew. Figure it out.

The city received a $20,000 NEA grant for the program (link to Big Read, which lists all the grants to all the cities). More valuable, I believe, would be a city-wide book festival that brings in authors and showcases the entire gamut of Colorado's literary orgs, including big and small presses, innovators in the fields of print and epublishing, and more. We have universities and private writing schools--all could play a big role in showcasing the book in all its forms. I've heard all the arguments against the festival, based on its past success (or non-success), but I think more readers and more citizens would benefit from the festival than from rehashing a novel--no matter how beautiful--it has already read.