So, you’ve now heard about one of the biggest pitfalls to self-publishing, and that is, VARIABLE PRINT QUALITY. And not the kinds of problems that are author errors, like not proofreading, not caring about structure of design, nor quality of end product. No, I’m talking about print issues that are completely out of your control, problems which you couldn’t have conceived when you were receiving decent proof copies and being assured that any errors would be rooted out with each order.

You in effect have no idea what each customer will receive when s/he purchases your book. You can say to yourself, “You know, there are no guarantees in life,” or, “Chances are, they won’t even notice the flaws that I do,” but we all know that that is simply NOT the point. In my head, I was screaming, “We can figure out how to BOUNCE-LAND eight-hundred million dollars’ worth of rovers onto the surface of Mars, but we CAN’T figure out how to consistently produce 25 errorless copies of a paperback book?!?! WTF?!?!?”

(I was really thinking this, by the way. And please excuse my language.)

Aside from the months of preparation with the book’s production, I had also been simultaneously preparing for the launch (meaning the date it would be available for sale) of my book. Months before, I established this very blog post on Facebook, set up profiles for Amazon Author Central, Goodreads and Pinterest. I also figured out how to link my Goodreads account to my Amazon Author and SCBWI profiles, so that once a post went up on Goodreads, it would automatically feed to the other two. I designed and printed postcards, and then wrote, storyboarded, animated and narrated a video trailer. I contacted numerous local papers for interviews, and planned a Goodreads book giveaway–touted to be essential in marketing strategy for a debut book. I also started reaching out to what I hoped were relevant online blogs that could promote my book upon review, as well as local groups to try and get presentations lined up. Each marketing avenue took so much time to either hear back or set up.

So now knowing all this, I think you might have a better understanding as to why, in the face of knowing that a defective copy of my book could be distributed with each and every order, I decided to soldier on with this enterprise anyway.

Answer, simply put, was that I had invested my soul into publishing this book.

I had further invested my own money into getting this book into print, the nuts and bolts of which will be discussed, next post!

Since it’s hard to illustrate a “call,” I figured another diagram was in order. I admit it, I am addicted to these font symbols.

So, when last we left off, I was about to call Customer Service after receiving my defective copies. I poured all the disappointment into my dejected tone, and the CreateSpace representative was very sympathetic. In fact, she did everything right to soothe me and said everything she needed to, to assure me that this matter would not be taken lightly. That once they received the defective copies back from me, then steps would be performed to 1) investigate what happened, 2) determine the fixes, and then 3) test that the problems had been fixed. All defective copies would be replaced. Sit tight, she said. I got a case number and a reassurance that she, the very same representative, would call me back when she had something to report.

And she did. Which I think is truly extraordinary and worth mentioning. She acknowledged receipt of the defective copies, went through the tracing of which facility it was printed, and alerted them to the issues at hand. She got a test copy made and examined, and once that was complete, a replacement order would be sent to me.

For all the flaws in production and heartache, CreateSpace really does strive to determine the issues and get to a resolution. It’s just a shame that in the end, with the number of calls, back and forth e-mails, and sending back of the defective copies (which they also paid for), I still got a runaround between CreateSpace and Amazon, who pointed fingers at each other at one stage in the process. And then there was the waiting, waiting, and more waiting.

The manufacturing issues were never really resolved. Defective copies still kept coming in the replacement batches that were supposedly checked, one by one, by a real person’s hand.

Eventually, I just dropped it. The deed was done. The only thing I could realistically do at this point was to pull the title and begin again with another POD. This was frankly an unbearable choice for me. I couldn’t start all over. I had further read credible stories that Amazon “sabotages” books printed by PODs other than CreateSpace. And even with the spectre of not knowing how each ordered copy was going to come out, I couldn’t make myself pull the last 6 months’ hard work, determination and anticipation off the shelves.

This is the reason why I still advise all new authors to give the traditional publishing route a go, before self-publishing. I absolutely intend to for my own future books. And if it doesn’t work out, at least I know what I’m getting myself into if I self-publish once again.

In advance of the two events I will be doing on Sept. 24, I am putting out a call for your help! If you liked my book, I would very much appreciate a review of it on Amazon, regardless of whether or not you have purchased the book. Testimonials shared to my Centipede Dragon Facebook page will also be greatly appreciated!

Now, back to my self-publishing journey. As I relay this next part of the story, I’ll need to take a deep breath.

My first proof proved to be very rewarding. I was foremost relieved that the colors were printing accurately, since the color scheme of the book was so important to its overall look. I felt like perfection was within reach, and so, I spent the next couple of days poring over every square inch of every page, looking for any flaw or any last tiny thing I would want to change or fix. Now, this is worth noting, because I had just been through months of figuring out how to deal not only with gutter-matching,  but getting rid of “compressed object streams,” transparency complications, and PDF color shifts and compression problems. The fact that I came back to re-inspect these by now intimately-known 32 pages once again with a fine tooth comb demonstrates how confident I was in being able to achieve a flawless product.

I proceeded to upload, digitally proof, approve, and order my second proof.

And this is where the dream came crashing down.

The first thing I noticed with proof 2 was that the binding seemed a bit strange and puffy. Then I opened the actual book, and the pages began to fall out.

Many of the pages themselves were improperly trimmed. The color of the background should bleed all the way to the edges of the page, yet in this proof, several of the pages had been cut sloppily, as if the page had slipped on the cutting surface, resulting in a white edge that was the bare-part of the page (see C).  

And then on some pages the page number was partially cut off!

My heart sank. I heavily picked up the phone to call customer service. Next post, the call.