Festina Lente. Make Haste Slowly.

by Louis Bertrand Shalako

c2010

All Rights Reserved


The danger in talking about our work is that we reveal too much. All this must look so badly organized and scatter-brained.

This morning I have been working away since about 6:00 a.m. I'm trying to get four e-books up on Lulu.com.

Theoretically it is a nice easy job and at first it was going well. You can upload a variety of file types, and once you've gotten in and so far into the process you can go back and edit the cover image--at first it looks like you're stuck with their generic design, but just keep going.

Anyhow, it's easy enough to download a free author file from Smashwords, in EPUB format, and that seems to work well. The problem is that those have the phrase, 'This Smashwords Edition published by...etc.'

It should be easy enough to take that out. I have an original .doc file, and that's fine, it is a supported file format.

I don't know how to explain or even figure out what is going on in there. But I uploaded at least two proper .doc files, and those should be all right. Unable to locate one of the others, I used an EPUB file until I can fix the offending phrase, (and the ethical thing to do is not to promote this for a while, right?)

Okay. Now that fourth file was up once and then I deleted it. Now I cannot load either .doc or EPUB file, the error warning comes up and it just won't eat it. I don't know, and for some reason it seems to go into another interface--it's not the same one as the e-book publisher. Is the thing confused? Does it think I'm trying to convert an existing print book?

Intuitive as I undoubtedly am, this one will require a little analysis. For all I know, this will 'clear itself up,' after 24 hours or so. How the hell would I know?

This sure looks glamourous from the point of view of an objective witness.

The basic idea with Lulu is to find out if I can really publish POD for 'free until you sell.'

Now, that's a whole 'nother ball of wax, with bar code placement, book spine text/design, and 'rear cover art.'

Clearly this is another learning curve, and I do get tired sometimes.

On Smashwords, I can go in and read online in html format for free. That is the first 'x-percent' of the book. On Lulu, the 'preview'; is author selected. I chose small excerpts from around inside the books. It might have been better to stick with the first few pages, and then I could more easily check the opening materials.

1.) Maybe make an edited pdf.

2.) Try again!

3.) Try other file types.

4.) Try making a fresh edited EPUB with Mobi Creator.

5.) Keep thinking.