From Blog to Blook Through CreateSpace

So you want to publish a book. Do you have a blog? Have you had your blog for some time? Have you been writing posts like there's no tomorrow (or day after anyway)? Then why not write a blook?

And what is a blook you ask? A blook is a blog that has been turned into a book. Pure and simple. And why not? They turn diaries into books, don't they? They turn journals into books, some are even quite successful? Then why not a blog? The material is all there. You even have feedback from readers already. It's a natural.

And that is what I did! I turned my humor blog into a blook quickly, cheaply, and with fantastic results.

You can too!

It's easy thanks to a most odd bedfellow, Amazon. They have a subsidiary, CreateSpace, that may just be the best self publishing offering around. If you are okay with a quality, standard paperback (there are a few other options), you might want to give them a look. They take the cost out of vanity. Don't get me wrong. They don't take the vanity out of vanity, just the cost. If you are a diligent, detail oriented sort, this could be your answer to that first self published book, and I guarantee you, it won't break the bank.

My story may be able to give you a good idea of what is involved.

After several years of blogging and at the same time having a boatload of rejection letters from agents and publishers for a collection of short stories I was pushing, I decided it was time to do something completely different. So I selected 150 of the best posts from my blog, organized them in a way that tells a little story, and started looking for an inexpensive but professional self publishing solution.

With the help of fellow blogger/writer/ezineist, Pam Beers, who took an early interest in my humor writing, we plowed through dozens of options. My qualifications were simple: 1) it had to be cheap, and 2) the cover had to be good. The former is easy to understand but the latter needs some discussion. I believed strongly that the blook's cover had to look like the real deal. And I didn't want to have to work with a "creative staff" to design one for additional costs. I wanted a free, easy-to-customize selection of templates to work with. I tried a few self publishing solutions that after an hour or two of file moves and layout issues, always fell short when I got to the cover.

Not CreateSpace.

I quickly found a front and back cover template that closely matched what I was looking for in terms of form and content. I was able to change the colors, fonts, titles, and back cover text easily. And better yet, I was able to upload the pictures I wanted, albeit I had to play around with a free trial version of Adobe Photoshop to get them to the minimum 300 dpi. But at the end of the day, it was a beautiful thing.

Yada, yada, yada!

I had a completed blook, and needed to decide which option to go with: 1) free publishing (with it's higher per book cost), or 2) professional publishing at $39 (to get a cheaper per book price). I went with the professional fee because it made "cents" over the long haul for my business plan. So I gleefully ordered my first proof and paid the pricey two day delivery fee (because of the glee mostly). The cost $2.17 for a 108 page book, plus the shipping fee of $12. [note: if you are able to control the glee factor, you can do this for a lot less (depending on number of pages of course).]

From the moment I ordered to the time I received the blook, it took three business days. Simply stated, the proof exceeded my expectations by a long shot! Holy smokes! It actually looked like a book!

I made changes and ordered another proof (a few cents more because I now had 110 pages). More glee. Blah, blah, blah. I finally had my finished blook. I promptly ordered 40 copies, shipped at a moderate glee price of $12, and had them at my front door in less than a week at a total cost of just under $100. I had met all my objectives. The closest other self publishing option that would have been able to generate the cover I wanted would have been about $300.

Also, for no charge, CreateSpace took care of the ISBN number and gave me two channels for sales: 1) an e-store option that yields a pretty good royalty per book sold, and 2) Amazon, which has its typical share in the wealth but reaches a bigger market.

So now it's up to me. It's time for the transition from self published to self promoted, something that doesn't come natural to this shy, humble writer. It puts the capital "V" into Vanity! We'll see, after all, the proof will be in the pudding. With a little pudding and a lot of luck, who knows, maybe I'll be firing off snappy one liners to Oprah's probing questions-the delusional thoughts of a gleeful, self published writer.

So have at it my unpublished peeps and happy self publishing!