The Misplaced

[Jagdar]

I am very excited - using Kindle Direct Publishing I have self-published my first book!
You can see it here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O6DZLFG

It is called "The Misplaced", and is aimed at anyone from 10-16 years old.
It took me about 2 years to write and another 4 to actually publish.

Formatting it and designing a cover took me an entire weekend too.

I like the way it turned out. The table of contents fits neatly on a page, and it looks great on a kindle and even better on a full-size iPad!

I'd really like some black and white art inside. Even 3 or 4 sketches would liven it up.

I have also started a blog, initially about writing the book. The first two posts are up, along with a biography and some pictures.
Not much else in the blog but it is there!

www.gnportch.com

Take a look and tell me what you think.

What are your favorite/least favorite chapters ? If you could pick three chapters, which three would merit some artwork ?

Very exciting !!!

(That reminds me - the stoopid book I read about writing suggested you go through your work and delete all the exclamation points, except the few you thought were absolutely necessary.
Then go back and delete those too! What stoopid advice - how do I write without !!!! )

Jaggy

[Fozzie]

Congratulations! Publishing a book is huge!

[Jagdar]

I'd like to write more in the series.

I have already started the second one (A Fall From Grace - The Misplaced #2), which sees my two heroes Jimmy and Sparrow head off to Edinburgh. Of course I could hardly write about Edinburgh without having been there, so under the pretext of 'research' I had a one week vacation there a couple of years ago. Book two will see the emergence of a new enemy.

If you ever are over visiting the UK, Edinburgh is Jagdar recommended. Just make sure you go in Summer. Winter must be cold.

A third book will remain in Europe. Initially I thought the Paris catacombs would be great, but I am now thinking about Berlin instead. I lived there for three years, and it would be great to set a book there.

The fourth ? No idea, but thinking about setting one in the US. Perhaps New York ??

[Jagdar]

So I have made a few changes. Changed the cover. Fixed a typo.
Uploaded a new Kindle version.

Branching out from KDP, I used Createspace.com (also I think owned by Amazon) to design a print version of the book.
This took forever. If anyone wants to use Createspace to make a book, this is how I got it to work.

1) Make a version in Word.
2) Upload that version to Createspace. It will then complain the formatting is wrong, and tell you what to do to fix it. Better yet - it gives you a Word file to download formatted in the right way.
3) Review that word file - delete loads of extra white space
4) If you want page numbers and a table of contents, add or update them now
5) Important - create a PDF from this. You might need to download a free conversion program, and then Print from Word, selecting the option to print as PDF.
6) Upload the book as a PDF.

Anyway - a week later, it is finally done. Available for order on Amazon. And it has a real ISBN now too !!!

http://www.amazon.com/Misplaced-1-G-.../dp/1503095495

Things should really be a lot easier than this. I have to think the kindle version is a lot more convenient, just click and download. Still, I wanted a print version just to see it.
And I got an ISBN on the print version, whereas the Kindle one just has an AZIN.

(And anyway - the Kindle version is a lot cheaper than the print version .... In fact free if you have Kindle Select, the lending library thing. I found as a Amazon Prime member it let me borrow one book a month for free!)