Proof Copy – What to Do with It
The moment UPS knocked on the door was an amazing moment. I knew that the package the delivery guy was holding contained my book and I could have quite happily snatched it off him and slammed the door in his face, rather than waste time signing for it! It was even more amazing actually seeing my book ‘in the flesh’, incredible!
Although you may be tempted to kiss it and stroke it forever, what you actually need to do now is examine it carefully and proofread it. Here’s a checklist:-
- Drink copious amounts of bubbly to celebrate being an author.
- Get a photo taken of you holding your book and bombard friends and family with it. Also keep it to put on your blog/website.
- Front cover – Is it how you wanted it? Is the wording correct? Does it all line up? Does it look fabulous?
- Spine – Does it have your title and last name? Is it readable? Is it correct?
- Back cover – Check the blurb for errors. Does it say what you want it to say? Does it sell your book? Is it honest? Is it enough of a teaser? Does it look good?
- Size – Is the size right for the amount of pages? A shorter book may be too ‘floppy’ in a larger trim size
- Inside – This is the hard bit. You need to read every page carefully and highlight any typos, grammar/punctuation/spelling mistakes, any formatting issues etc. For example, I noticed errors like a space before a comma, pages which were meant to be blank between chapters but which had chapter headings/page numbers at the top etc. Be harsh, you want your book to be perfect.
- Make changes to your file, saving it as “revised” so you know which one to upload on to Createspace.
- Upload the revised version and order another proof. If you’ve been thorough enough then this will be the last proof you will have to order.
- Wait patiently for it to come.
- Repeat above steps with second prove and approve it if you’re happy with it.
- Wait for Createspace to release your book!
Of course, if you’re going to be selling any copies of your book, you won’t be twiddling your thumbs while waiting for the proof to arrive, will you? I’ll be talking about this in another post.
Much better. I now am able to follow you on Twitter, FB, Google+ and LinkedIn. I’m excited for you getting your book in. Don’t know about you but I was pretty impressed with the job they did on my wife’s book.
I need to do more work on cover creation, but that can be changed at any time. Are you also putting it on Kindle? I’ll buy a copy of each but do most of my reading on Kindle and iPad anymore.
If you do that, look into Pulsing on Kindle. I did for my wife’s book, so buyers get it for free, one day only. There were 1000 downloads, but as I understand it, most that get the free stuff never read it. But the advantage is you get moved way up in the Amazon rankings. Her buok sold 400 copies after the pulse, granted only 99 cents but it’s a start. Her’s is in the contemporary romance area.
Your book is probably a lot more involved and worth more money, but at least look into it. If you want, I have some info. Let me know and I’ll send it via Google Plus PM.
Have fun,
Stan