Continuation of the From Flood to Fountain Note Takers Edition

A couple of days ago, I tried to explain to someone how editing and layout work for a book, and it's different for ebooks vs print books. I apparently can't explain it well enough LOL. I will say that I have gotten quite the education, there are so many things that if done correctly, no one notices, but if done incorrectly, the mistakes stick out like ketchup on a white shirt.

So I have been indulging my inner perfectionist while working on the print versions of the Water in the Bible book. I'm so glad I have the inside of the book, the text, the story is complete, I tweak it every now and again, but try to leave that part alone. 

I do however work on the layout, making sure things like new chapters always show up at the top of the left hand page. Did you know that? New chapters and most new sections traditionally show up on the left hand page. And sections like bullet points shouldn't break between two pages, especially if it's going to go to the following page, if it's a LONG bullet point, that sometimes can't be helped, but for the most part, lists, bullet points and the such should stay together on one page. Also you don't want a bold heading over a section to be at the bottom of a page so that the section it's referring to is on the next page. It's better to have some extra blank space at the bottom of a page rather than split something that would work better being altogether.

There are other things as well, things like mirrored pages, how large the blank edges (top, bottom, left and right) should be. Page numbers, and don't get me started on how to create a proper and accurate table of contents! There is a trick to that if you are using Word or any other good word processing program, but for sure each time you make any changes to the book, you need to redo the TOC. 

As I said, it's a bit of work, not to mention the spelling, grammar, sentence, paragraph, chapter and book length. A friend suggested I might put in some graphics or pictures, and I had to decline that suggestion, it would take at least another couple of weeks worth of work just to get the images then another week or more to get the book re-formatted for that. I think I'll stick with words at this time. Though my picture is in the book on the last page, and in the upcoming print books, it's also on the back page. That's as far as I want to go with pictures for now.

Now on the print books, one is a standard 6x9, I should be getting the proof copy in the mail on Monday (I'm so excited!), after I am satisfied with the way it looks, I can make the book go live for sale on Amazon. With Amazon, for the author's proof copy, they put a big stripe across the book that says "Not for Resale",  it indicates that it's not a retail book, can't be sold or even gifted (according to them). That's fine, I get that they want to protect their bottom line, the sales need to go through Amazon. 

I just finished editing the 8.5x11 copy, this one has the exact same content inside of the book, and it contains a 3.5 inch outside margin for note taking, journaling, drawing, coloring or stickers, whatever the reader wants to do to make it their own. I'm calling it the Note Takers Edition, I was also generous with the white space at the end of chapters for the same reason. 

I just ordered a proof copy of that, I assume it will arrive sometime next week. One option with the paperback versions is they offer matte and glossy finishes for the cover. I ordered one of each with the proof books so I can better decide which I like best. Anyplace that I could ask online about this (to other authors), I see that it's a mixed bag, some love one, some love the other, so the only way for me to know for sure is to get one of each and decide then.

I just looked on my orders for Amazon and it says both will be arriving by Monday, I sure hope that is accurate, I'd love to hold both of them in my hands at the same time on Monday. I think I see one thing I need to possibly adjust, on the larger book, the front cover picture doesn't fill out the entire page, there is a black band around the image, depending on how it looks when I get it, I may leave it like that, or I may go ahead and re-do the image to make it fully fill out the cover. 

If you would like to check out the ebook version which is available on Amazon right now, go here and you will find it, I appreciate your support. You can purchase the ebook outright or if you have Kindle Unlimited (you basically borrow the book from Amazon) you can read the book for free, I get paid by the pages read, so again, I will say I appreciate your support.

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Wretha,

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