Uploading Your Formatted Book
As I previously mentioned in my formatting software post, I ended up going with Atticus for formatting. While, for the most part I have been very happy with the program (darn direction of the quotation marks!) there is a next step that is quite important to keep in mind.
That important next step is the uploading of your formatted book to different Print on Demand platforms! I have now uploaded onto Barnes & Noble Press, Amazon (KDP), and Ingram Sparks. Here is how it went, little important notes that you might find helpful, and some of the hiccups I had along the way!
Let’s start with the one I had the easiest time with—Ingram Sparks.
With the ability to upload and change as many formatting drafts as you want during their 60 days for free, it really helped to ensure that my timing was right and upload went well. I also didn’t have a huge issue with the order of author copies and it was similar to the proof upload you are able to approve prior to release. I didn’t have the map issues that I will be discussing when I get down to the KDP version. All in all, Ingram Sparks was a simple enough program to deal with and I didn’t have any issues. Now that they don’t charge you for every change you make, it also made it easier to take the notes from a few ARC readers on some little things that needed to be fixed and correct them for the final version of the book.
Now on to Barnes & Noble Press.
This experience was a bit on the stressful side! Part of it was user error but also it was difficult to be specific to their needs and expectations with the little insight I had. They said that prior to 10 days before the books release that I had to have the final product uploaded onto the program. Not a problem. I uploaded then pushed the button to “submit for approval” after I checked the downloadable proof.
I thought all was well. Nope. MISTAKE WAS MADE! The Submit for Approval button was not what I needed to push. Instead I should have clicked “Put On Sale”. The Submit for Approval is only necessary if you want to order an author copy. I had pushed Submit for Approval prior and had never had anything happen so thought it was best to . Would wait a week and the approval never seemed to go through. So I thought it was due to the fact that it wasn’t meant to be pushed until the prior to release window closed. An assumption on my part and a mistake for sure.
But the big hiccup happened when I was no longer able to put my preorder book, that I had sales for, back on sale and they said I had to change the date of release because I didn’t submit in time. I tried to change the date to another date but it wouldn’t let me because it was “Submitted for Approval” which I also couldn’t edit or change. Several emails trying to understand and I was told there was nothing they could do. That my only choice was to squash those preorder sales and create an entire new book. And broken heart began =(
I created a new version of the book, tried to figure out how best to move forward with those lost sales, and just planned to push submit on the date that it was meant to be released.
Then everything was a 180 of crazy when the day of the books release I just happened to go to the website to find that I could change the release date suddenly on the original version. That I could push “Put on Sale” and everything was perfectly fine. As it should be. I didn’t need to create a new book. I didn’t need to freak out about lost sales. And although it was one day late, it was up on their site and ready to go. Imagine my complete surprise, mixed with relief, mixed with annoyance!
FInally- KDP Amazon:
The map. I have no other words. I have about six copies of my book with the lovely “no resale” band around them in an attempt to get the map just right. I tried trusting their proof. I tried not trusting their digital proof. All I came back with was sadness and a bunch of books with horrible copies of my map that just had me feeling defeated.
But let me tell you something…
When it was time to upload and release the paperback, suddenly they were reviewing it. Suddenly they had feedback on paper size. Suddenly the map was no longer a mess!!!!!!
Queue excitement!
The headache prior, the multiple unnecessary copies…I hear they now have a beta for presale options on KDP. I don’t know how this experience is yet, but if you are having the same issues as I was having with the map, then breathe. Let it go. And don’t order 100’s of copies of your book attempting to make sure it is all just right. Maybe just order one when you want to check everything else regarding the formatting. Wait for their review team to look over it before you think the map is a huge mess, let them guide the change. And no, I don’t mean the digital proof you can download as the review team. But they do let you see one after. They actually have you submit it, the book then has a team look at it over a 72 hour period (it never lasted that long for me though) and then I made a few changes, uploaded the new proof, and it was magically all right.
PHEW! What an experience? I learned a lot during the past few weeks as release drew near. Hope this helps make your experience of uploading your
