At around 10:30 this morning, I was safely delivered of a book, weighing in at twenty-eight pages – with all its pictures in the right places!
Kathy was so right when she said, back at the beginning, that publishing this way was “like giving birth”. She said the same thing on Saturday evening, on my Facebook page, in response to my running commentary on the progress (or lack of it) of the last stage of “labour”.
“Just picking up the new version of the book from Elaine. It’s copying across from
the server as I write … Now, can I still remember how to upload to Lulu …”
03 April at 19:14 •
“Just updated the blog … and the book is still copying! It’s a BIG file.”
03 April at 19:39
“New pages successfully copied and uploaded. Not so lucky with the cover – the file
that was perfectly adequate first time around suddenly isn’t right – so I’m back
to waiting – while it uploads again!”
04 April at 20:15 •
“Bad news from Lulu. “We’ve encountered a problem. We’re sorry We encountered an unrecoverable error. If you are unable to complete the publishing process, please contact support.” Not exactly the message I wanted!”
04 April at 20:40
(That was putting it mildly – had horrible visions of having to start the whole process all over again! Then I had another idea).
“Trying something else – copying the cover to my machine again, then uploading, rather
than trying to upload directly from Elaine’s server. All far too techy for a Saturday
night!”
04 April at 20:47
Cracked it! Just got a much better message: “Congratulations! You’ve published Fred
Goes to School”. It’s nearly as good second time around as it was first!
04 April at 21:03
“Just bought a copy of the new version of the book – at least I hope it’s the new version!”
05 April at 14:02
I’m not sure if the previous version is automatically over-written by the new one, so I wasn’t at all sure I’d put the right one in my virtual basket – until it arrived this morning. Ok, so the average adult may not be able to work out what the drawings are – and still less whether they’re in the right place or not – but as I said when the first version came through, the kids will know. It’s been worth the wait – and all the hassle – to get it right for their sakes.
Tags: children; charity; school; education; writing; publishing; Facebook; Lulu;
