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Learning a lot about self-publishing. In fact maybe I should re-title this journal, "How to Self-Publish Your Book on Create Space".

After massive amounts of research on ISBN numbers - I've decided to use the Create Space ISBN. And not get the custom one or purchase my own. The reason is simple - I'm not going into the publishing business. I don't have a lot of business material that I want to self-publish and market myself. I don't have an aggressive marketing campaign. And I'm not necessarily publishing a series (not really a fan of the concept, most people who write series - seem to get burned out by the fifth book. Trilogies work better.)
Also, here's the thing about ISBN numbers, outside of being expensive, you need a new one for every edition, version, type of publication that you publish. If it is a different size - new ISBN. Different cover - new ISBN. On paperback? New ISBN.

For libraries? You need an LCN - Library of Congress Number. Which I've decided to purchase.

There's lots of choices that are involved in publishing a book. Never quite realized how many. Writers who are traditionally published via places like Random House or Simon and Schuster - probably never notice or know about them. They certainly never blog about them.

1. Simple Interior Design Format - you can do classical/literary (3 options and fonts), modern edgy/contemporary (2 options), whimisical/romantic (2 options).

I chose option 2 - edgy modern (which is similar to the font used in Jim Butchers novels and Jonathem Lethem.

2. Finish - I went with Matte over Glossy. Mainly because I don't like glossy for most books. Depends on the book design of course.

3. Paper - Black and White, White, Cream - I went with White, more flexibility, fits my theme better.

4. Trim - 6"9 because it is over 300 pages.

The book will definitely be published in Kindle Format - I bought Kindle Conversion as well, although it's amongst the cheapest of the services. When I'm done - my book will be available through all Amazon services, (International and US), Baker & Taylor, Ingrams, Barnes & Nobel, Kindle, and other retailers.

I intend to submit the book to Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, and Publisher's Weekly to see if they'll do a review. As well as IndieBound.

I'm going to wait to provide it on Kobol, Nook, Apple, Googlebooks - to see how people respond. Because that would require a new ISBN and a separate conversion service.

Found out that when they provide me the high resolution cover - it is mine. I own the rights to it, once they clear them. Nifty. I can use it again for a separate conversion.

Getting excited about this. This is going to work. I think.

Sunday Television in April

Have a lovely 4 day weekend, with the only required commitment - the 11 am design consultation that I completed well an hour ago. See previous post for details.

Sunday television has suddenly become insanely crowded with good television series. (Depending on your taste of course, and since my taste is so weirdly eclectic, I'm guessing I probably watch something you love and something you despise with the force of 1000 suns. It's gotten to the point that I often just tell people to list off what they like, before I nod in agreement and state - yeah, that one.)

Here's my Sunday Line-Up for April:

1. Once Upon a Time
2. Call the Midwife
3. The Good Wife
4. Mad Men
5. Outlander
6. Wolf Hall
7. Game of Thrones

I cancelled The Walking Dead during the second half of the third season. The violence really got to me. It's is unrelentingly violent television series - there's no light in it, just unrelenting violence and torture. With a very dark sense of humor. Also, I've never been fond of the zombie horror trope. It bugs me.

Revenge -- I gave up on this season. I got tired of ranting at the television screen. The show was pissing me off. Or aggravating me. It never resolved any of its story threads, it just kept regurgitating them. On and on and on. Also, you know there's a problem when you can't abide 90% of the characters. By the time I gave up on it, the only character I didn't want to push off a cliff was possibly Nolan and Emily, and the other characters appeared to be invested in pushing them off a cliff, and somewhat succeeding at it.

Madam Secretary and Secrets and Lies - I just couldn't get into. Neither held my attention for more than five minutes. I'd wonder off and surf the net or play Candy Crush.

Probably a good thing I cancelled these shows - considering I have 7 other shows on the same night that I really love to watch.

Good Wife has admittedly not been as strong this season as it was last season. But it continues to redefine itself, and the characters continue to evolve and grow in unexpected directions. I never would have predicted this storyline, I honestly thought they were going a different route. Also the dialogue is smart and fast. The acting pitch perfect. And I adore Eli's daughter Marisa.

Once Upon a Time - remains unpredictable as well, also rather clever in its plot lines and thematic scope. Exploring various angles of story telling, what stories mean, what fairy tales mean, and why we tell them. Plus the characters continue to grow evolve, peel back layers, and change. I'm starting to really like the character of Regina, who has grown on me a great deal.

Wolf Hall - haven't read the books. Have the first one on Audio, which doesn't quite work for me. But I've been curious about the mini-series, which my flist appears to have mixed feelings about. They state that it is a fairly close adaptation of the books, but the television writers (like all television adapters) take artistic license with some of the material and go off text at times. Apparently the television writers liked the character of Anne Boylan more than the novelist, Hillary Mantel did. And shipped Boylan with Cromwell, while Mantel shipped Cromwell with Henry. (I don't know if this is true or not, but I found the comment to be rather funny. Also, regarding slash?
I've noticed a pattern emerging over the years that I've found to be rather curious: heterosexual women tend to write slash m/m and fantasize over slash m/m, heterosexual men tend to write slash f/f and fantasize slash f/f. But very few homosexual men or women in fandom appear to write slash? Curious as to why? You'd think it would be the opposite?)

Mad Men - it's the second part of the final season. And if it is close to last year's portion - we're in for a great ride. Last season was good, amongst the best.

Game of Thrones - apparently they are going off book this season, combining a few things, cutting a few things, and adding a few things. Considering I was not overly fond of either Feast of Crows or A Dance of Dragons (although the second book was admittedly better, if a tad longer), this may not be a bad thing. Overall, I've preferred the television series to the books. Martin's writing style is not my favorite. Very verbose and rambling. The television series is tighter.

I decided to get HBO again because of GoT, well that and a few other up and coming programs on HBO.

Outlander - the first half of the season surprised me. It was so good, I bought the DVD for $24. (30% with an additional 20% off). Definitely better than the book - which is slow, and gives GRRM a run for his money regarding rambling and repetition.
Tighter, and the casting like GoT is pitch perfect. As is the production value and to some degree the writing. I like GoT better - but it comes rather close. Plus the actor playing Jamie, is admittedly hot or (very pretty).

Call the Midwife - a quiet, well done, character driven series - with no violence, and filled with kindness. It's my happy show.

hee...an anti-twitter music video in french animation

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Discovered quite by accident that my geocities Buffy meta site is still available. You can't see any of the graphics - but then they weren't work much to begin with. But you can access the meta.

http://www.oocities.org/shadowkatbtvs/

It contains 400 pages worth of Buffy Meta, mainly on Season 6, or all the episodes up to and including Season 6, there are a few on S7 and on Angel. Ghod, I went nuts. I mean seriously nuts. Talk about an obsession. I wrote about every character and theme imaginable. Also, analyzed it through a psychological, mythological, and philosophical lense.

My friends at the time (offline friends) decided that I was using it as a sort therapy - a way to get past some severe post-traumatic stress brought on by a variety of events that had all, more or less, occurred at the same time resulting in up-ending my life and metaphorically pulling the rug out from under me. It turned out well. I'm in a much better place now than I was then. And looking back, I rather grateful it all happened the way it did - learned a lot about myself and the world around me in the process.

I think Buffy will always have a place close to my heart, as will the people that I discussed it with on the boards that were active at that time, many of those people I'm still in contact with 13 years later...

I'd say Buffy had a hand in healing those old wounds, but I rather think it was the folks I corresponded with that did. We got to know each other through a shared (okay an obsession) with a tv series that for some reason or other moved us deeply and we related to on a deep psychological, emotional, and intellectual level - that none of us fully understood or could explain except perhaps to each other.

To this day, I'm not sure it was BTVS that I fell in love with - but the ability to discuss it through words, with fellow writers, poets, and artists ad naseum and with willful abandon. Worrying not what others may think of us. Screw them - we shouted!
We love this! And through it...each other. We were, I discovered, all ages, all genders, all sexual orientations, all races, all nationalities, all politics, all religions...there were people from around the world. Conversing. And you really couldn't tell what their race, gender, sexual orientation, etc was - and it simply didn't matter.
That was what I fell in love with - the people and the writing and the correspondence.
And that was what I occasionally miss. Also, that's what great art does - it brings people together in discourse over it. That's how you know something is great art - not by the awards it obtains or critical reviews and accolades...but by fan discussion boards and people writing fanfic, discussing it, obsessing over it, and loving one another because of it. It heals. It bonds. It changes. It creates new things. It reveals new things about us that we didn't see before. And it challenges us, and makes us ever so slightly uncomfortable. That is great art.