My Weird Indie Publishing Project Update: back cover

If you’ve been following My Weird Indie Publishing Project, then you know by now that this is a walk through the indie journey — that it’s not just self-publishing, but making all the decisions and doing most of the work yourself.

Today’s update on Book 3 of the Burnout to Bliss series is “where I’m at” and “what’s on the back cover?”

Where I’m At

Formatting:

In the “creation of the physical book” process,weformat.com formatted the manuscript (MS) and created the PDF for both Create Space and Ingram Spark. I got it this morning at 6 am.

What’s the difference? Good question. I searched online, asked my indie guru, Dave at Kindlepreneur.com, and asked my book formatter. Mixed replies. One was loaded with terminology about “bleed” and ink. My guess is that referred to artwork or photos within the text.

(So how does that apply to my book which is only text?” I don’t know.

But what I learned is this:

“You can use the same PDF if it meets Ingram Spark specifications.”

That said, if you order print formatting, be sure to order only Ingram Spark — just in case you decide to publish there, too.

While formatting was happening, I was tortured with writing the back cover book description, which is not the same as all the other book descriptions the indie gets to write. This one is 200 words max, and it is written more to intrigue the potential buyer than to tell them the story.

(Why “tortured?” because writing book descriptions is a kind of selling. And my experience has proven to me that I don’t have that gene.)

However, blessed with a friend who is interested in what I’m doing and who also has  brilliant feedback, I’ve got a back cover book description for the book formatter who will be asking for it, probably by Monday.

And so, if you’ve got something to say about it, now’s the time.

What’s on the back cover?

But first, here’s the cover that won all but one poll. You need to see the cover because both front and back covers should be about the same thing — that is, the text on the back should expand the message on the front:

Now: this is what will be on the back cover (all 200 words of it):

…this is the part of the journey where I learned to surrender, to let divine mystery guide me.

How could she, as a rational, responsible, adult person, take off work another year with no more paychecks and no guarantee of having a job upon her return?

The psychologist’s diagnosis a year ago was extreme burnout. The prescription was “Get as far away from your job as possible for as long as it takes.” But a few months in California was not enough to fix her damaged soul.

She was a teacher, a professor no less. And she was broken and couldn’t go back. Not now. But facing the unknown and possibly drastic changes with devastating repercussions created a new set of frightening concerns.

Choosing between her sanity and a paycheck created more paralyzing fear. Was she begging to be a bag lady? Or was she awakening her spirit, as the Mexican shamans had taught her on her previous quest? Even the desert lizard told her that she would be taken care of, just as he was; she only had to let go, trust, and accept.

Wavering between fear and surrender, she made her choice and plunged into the unknown.

________(the entire block quote is 200 words)

Comments are always appreciated. Thanks! Pam

Till next time, please be kind to everyone you meet for we all have our hidden sorrows. ~Tzaddi