I last left you caught in my self-made endless digital proofing cycle. When I finally took the bold step of hitting the “I APPROVE” button, suddenly, excitement surged through my bones.
What was next was the most important step I was about to take. I was on the cusp of ordering the very first print version of my book. The manifestation of years of work. A real book. My book. A REAL version of MY book.
Despite my anxiety I still opted for regular shipping, which required a shipping estimate of around a week. My budget was still a priority, and I think this is important to point out, because it’s easy to get carried away with it all and spend well over what could/should be an affordable venture. If I’d just endured months of grueling revisions and endless tweaks, I reasoned that a few more days of waiting wasn’t going to kill me.
When I finally received the first book, I can’t even begin to describe to you what I experienced when I opened the package to reveal my cover, when I was able to turn the very pages I toiled and agonized over, when I read the words and viewed the images on print...all of it bound in a beautiful, real, book.
I greedily went through it, speeding through the pages rapid-fire for the first few times. Even the colors were bang on. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I couldn’t believe that I was holding MY book. I’m still not sure if it has sunk in to this day, that this book is a real thing.
After a well-deserved few rounds of savoring my book, I reluctantly put my editing hat back on and started scrutinizing it. Let’s face it though, while savoring, the flaws started revealing themselves, so that hat never really came off. I carefully noted each and every single problem I couldn’t live with because NOW was the time to fix it. I was aiming to gang up all these changes to make the next hard copy proof the last (though CreateSpace’s pricing is reasonable, and as I said before, the digital proofing process is exceedingly forgiving.) In fact, the quality of the proof print alone convinced me that I could shoot for perfection.
Having gathered all my thoughts, I bravely dove back into the world of revision. Next post, we’ll get into print proof 2.
What was next was the most important step I was about to take. I was on the cusp of ordering the very first print version of my book. The manifestation of years of work. A real book. My book. A REAL version of MY book.
Despite my anxiety I still opted for regular shipping, which required a shipping estimate of around a week. My budget was still a priority, and I think this is important to point out, because it’s easy to get carried away with it all and spend well over what could/should be an affordable venture. If I’d just endured months of grueling revisions and endless tweaks, I reasoned that a few more days of waiting wasn’t going to kill me.
When I finally received the first book, I can’t even begin to describe to you what I experienced when I opened the package to reveal my cover, when I was able to turn the very pages I toiled and agonized over, when I read the words and viewed the images on print...all of it bound in a beautiful, real, book.
I greedily went through it, speeding through the pages rapid-fire for the first few times. Even the colors were bang on. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I couldn’t believe that I was holding MY book. I’m still not sure if it has sunk in to this day, that this book is a real thing.
After a well-deserved few rounds of savoring my book, I reluctantly put my editing hat back on and started scrutinizing it. Let’s face it though, while savoring, the flaws started revealing themselves, so that hat never really came off. I carefully noted each and every single problem I couldn’t live with because NOW was the time to fix it. I was aiming to gang up all these changes to make the next hard copy proof the last (though CreateSpace’s pricing is reasonable, and as I said before, the digital proofing process is exceedingly forgiving.) In fact, the quality of the proof print alone convinced me that I could shoot for perfection.
Having gathered all my thoughts, I bravely dove back into the world of revision. Next post, we’ll get into print proof 2.
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