Nadine Feldman, Author

celebrating strong female characters and whatever else strikes my fancy

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self-publishing

How Much Independence is Too Much?

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Last night I tossed and turned, worrying about my book layouts. I’ve been zipping along, learning the ins and outs of Adobe InDesign, and I’ve been pretty pleased with my results so far. And those who know me can attest that I am fussy about what my work looks like. So all along, I’ve had confidence in my ability to do a nice layout. And I like doing layouts. Learning new software appeals to my geeky self, and sometimes I even alter the text a bit to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

However, I have images to take care of, and this is new to me (as is Photoshop). Morever, these images are of my late mother-in-law’s art, and she was very particular about color. I want to represent her work in the best possible light. And last night I met someone who knows what he is doing, and I began to doubt myself. Hence the tossing and turning.

Here’s the problem: I am not visual. In order for me to know what I want, I have to set it up myself, so even if I hired someone, I would go through this entire exercise just so I could say, “See, this is what I had in mind.” I also know that my eye is pretty good–I have seen books put together by “professionals” and knew that I could do a better job.

I respect my independence, but I also know that it gets in the way sometimes, that I could get better at asking for help from time to time. I’m trying to find the balance, which of course, is the ongoing theme of my life! I’ve decided, then, to do the best I can, and then hire a designer to mop it up, and in particular, to help with the images. This feels good. I still get to play with all the toys, but then I get to share–and to make sure I haven’t done anything stupid.

If It Walks Like a Duck…

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As I continue with laying out Patchwork and Ornament (my late mother-in-law’s memoirs that I compiled and edited), it occurred to me to print out a copy, put it into a binder, and start showing people what I’ve been working on. Show and Tell has generated a lot of response, all positive. Granted, these are my friends and family, but even so…instead of thumbing through it quickly and saying something like “that’s nice,” they want to read further. A woman in my dentist’s office read 35 pages while I was getting a tooth filled!

Even more interesting, as they read Jenny’s stories, they start telling me their own, and boy, am I hearing some great stuff. I’m thinking that, as part of my approach to get the word out about this book, I could put together a workshop to help people get started with creating their own family legacies, even if they just keep them in the family. I feel like I’m on to something special each time I share P&O with others.

Each piece of writing seems to send me on a new and unique journey, and the one I’m embarking on with this book seems particularly sweet and rewarding. Yet the manuscript alone doesn’t have the same effect…laying it out, and having it walk like a duck, I mean, look like a book, makes a big difference. I think that even if we just set up some margins in our word processing programs to make our manuscripts more book-like (except, of course, when submitting to publishers!), we may get more non-writers to take a look at what we’re doing. It changes their perceptions. It may even change our own.

Finding Printers

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The layout to Patchwork and Ornament is coming along really well. I’m about to add the various color images, photographs of Jenny Feldman’s art. I have enough done to know how many pages the final product will be — 168 including front and back matter — so I’m in the process of getting quotes. While I’m at it, I’m also getting quotes to reprint my first book, because I’m almost out of stock and need to figure out what to do with it.

The world has changed in the past ten years since I self-published my first book. We can get quotes online instantly from all over the world. I’ve been told that color books such as P&O are best printed in China, so I’m looking into it, but we’ll see. Apparently Canada and Italy fit somewhere in the middle of the pricing spectrum.With digital printing options, I can get small print runs (1,000 or less) done fairly quickly and easily in the good ol’ USA–but the prices may be a lot higher.

When pricing a book, one has to take into consideration the discounts to wholesalers and distributors. Amazon, for example, gets a 55% discount. If you’re going to use a distributor and/or fulfillment center (both good ideas), deduct even more. When I published my first book, I priced it too low, making my book an unintended non-profit project. If my print costs are too high, then I could conceivably price my book out of the market. It’s a tricky business.

I’ll pass along the price comparisons once I have them. In these tough economic times, I’d love to support American business.

Doing and Not Doing

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The past month has been crazy as I prepared for the Agents’ and Editors’ conference, but I came back fired up from all that time with fellow writers.  I plowed into my current projects: revising, laying out, and organizing. I set up my calender for the next several months.

I love when I get that much energy and fire to do my work. However, I also know that to be most effective, I need to take a certain amount of time off. Otherwise, I get burned out, cranky, and obnoxious (well, more than usual).

A few days ago we hopped a plane and are visiting family in Illinois. We are away from the searing Texas heat, and the pace of our visit allows us a lot of downtime.

Somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain, neurons are firing, solving problems with manuscripts, thinking about changes to the layout, and dreaming of new writing. I know that when I get home, rested and refreshed, I will have new and better ideas for my work. It never fails.

For me personally, part of being a writer has been to give up my Puritanical work ethic and to focus more on flowing with the writing. I value my ability to be consistent and organized–these qualities keep me on track. But cultivating the qualities of pacing, rest, and gentleness will make the writing I do better and more pleasurable.

A Bad Day Writing is Better Than a Good Day Doing Anything Else

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Today I printed a draft layout of Patchwork and Ornament. Taken from the journals and writings of my late mother-in-law, Jenny Feldman, P&O details her life from growing up in the South Bronx during the Depression, to her life as an artist and world traveler.

While I have a ways to go before it’s ready to go to print, I get goosebumps looking at the work. I am totally in love with it, not just because I love the author but because I think it’s really good.

Last year I left my corporate job with the intention of taking a year off to write. At the end of that year, my husband and I decided to extend my hiatus indefinitely, and each day I head to my writing area by about 8:00 a.m. and go to work. As with any job, some days I don’t want to do it. Some days the writing doesn’t go well, or I wonder if I will ever learn to write at all.

But today, when I look at the draft and see how far it’s come in a short time, I am filled with a satisfaction and joy that I find nowhere else. In these moments, just as after childbirth, I forget the pain and gaze with wonder at this new creation.

Writing can be isolating, lonely, and discouraging at times. We work hard, sometimes for years, and the work doesn’t always see the printed light of day. Even if it does, it may not sell. Still, I accept this life because of these magical moments, when everything comes together, and I feel like I know who I am.

Generosity and Business

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I listen to a lot of podcast authors, and they all say the same thing: be willing to give some product away, and you will build an audience of paying customers. This runs counter to everything I learned in the olden days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, but they tell me it’s true. Last weekend I became convinced that they are on to something.

While at the Agents’ and Editors’ conference, I attended a seminar on social media (hence my new enthusiasm for blogging). The two ladies who presented the seminar were knowledgeable and eager to share their wisdom. The result? I am seriously keeping them in mind for the near future to help me with the business end of my work.

I’ve taken other seminars in which the presenter was clearly protecting his or her self-interests and being selective about what information to reveal…telling just enough of the story to encourage dependence on their services. Needless to say, these are not the type of people I want to do business with.

As I proceed with this blog and other media, I hope to share meaningful information and dialogue. I love the new paradigm of building online community so we can help each other succeed. And I love the idea of hiring generous people when I need help.