Jamie Patterson's Blog, page 32

Final Drafts, Ordering Books

The first round of the final print will be complete within a week. We printed galleys a few months ago, about 70, and we have just four left. Now we're printing 100 books in the final form cover/interior with the thought that we'll probably have more adjustments to make before the larger print run.

For the sake of a quick turnaround, this first printing of the final is through a digital printer, just like the galleys. The quality is absolutely amazing for a digital printer. The printer we used was BookMobile, here in Minneapolis. Even though I haven't worked with them directly I've been impressed with the quality of the product and the super quick turnaround times. I'd recommend them to anyone.

We're getting closer and closer to a real-deal final product and it's kind of exciting.

Siena's Favorite Topic: Siena

My niece, Siena, is getting huge!

Talking nonstop, too. When she's not saying "no, no, no, no, Jamie! No, Jamie!" She's asking to see "Picture of Siena."

Short clip below so Uncle James can see how big she's gotten!

Slowing Way Down

This is how Huey "walks" these days. We'll come down the front steps, take in a nice big breath of fresh air and then he'll settle down in the grass for a little sunbathing. He's done this since he was a puppy so my patience has grown. He's a sunbather. It's what he does.

If I had left the camera rolling 20 more seconds you would have heard two little old ladies inquiring, "is he okaaaaay?"

Yes, yes he is okay. Just quirky.

One Week

The book (Lost Edens) goes to print today for a quick turnaround--they should be in hand one week from today. It's just a short run, 100 copies. One week from now we'll send the final, final, final to the big, bad, takes-a-month printer and we'll have 1,000. Now, where to find 1,000 readers...

Kindle Worked, too. I'm Pretty Cool.

Actually, it worked but the formatting is wonky.

Sigh. I know what I'll be doing tonight. Right now, though, I have to survive a dissertation that had a 40 page introduction to the study. Exactly 30 pages too many.

Even though I'm stuck in the no-fun social science universe the rest of the day, you can have way too much fun visiting the deleted chapters on Amazon:

In the UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005AHOSW4
In the US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005AHOSW4

I read about an author who offered credits to anyone who wrote to let him know of a typo. I might not start that just yet (wait till after the formatting fiasco is through) but maybe after! In any case, let me know what you find. A credit may or may not follow....

I Think Smashwords Worked!

It might not be in the best formatting shape ever but you can now preview and buy (for .99, I had to charge. Boo!) the Lost Edens Deleted Chapters at this link.

Amazon link coming shortly....I think.

Hats off to all the eBook writers of the world. It's definitely a skill to get one together!

Here's a p.s. did you know that you have to have the same price at all eBook distributors? Make sense, right? Well, not all of them offer books for free, so you have to charge at least .99 if you want to distribute on more than one. Now I get why Amanda Hocking and others have said things like "I had to charge .99, it's the lowest I could go," even though there are some ways to distribute for free.

The things I'm learning!

eBook Publishing: Easy as 1, 2, 3...

Three days, that is! I totally get why people pay other people to do the whole formatting and conversion for eBooks, even though it's completely free to do it yourself.

The Amazon process took a second and a half and was pretty fantastic. The only trouble was that there was some mysterious hidden formatting that was impossible to fix. There are about three pages that are completely one half inch indented (and not just the first line of each paragraph). Bah-humbug.

Smashwords. Don't even get me started. Still waiting on conversion. When I went to bed last night I was #765 in line and now I'm down to #38. So another hour and I'll find out about all the formatting mistakes I made so I can start over again.

Quick tip for teens: Do Amazon first so you can see immediately how things convert and what basic formatting adjustments need to be made. Then move on to Smashwords, which requires more adjustments. Smashwords, for instance, suggests removing all tabs whereas Amazon can read them fine.

Once things work out, I'll post a link here for the deleted chapters. They cover the time leading up to the events chronicled in Lost Edens and might be interesting for readers. Or they might have been a really good lesson to me to let the publisher deal with the conversion of the full length!

Deleted Chapters Might Finally Publish

More soon!

Smashwords!

I'm waiting now for Lost Edens Deleted Chapters to convert and publish on Smashwords. The process was remarkably easy but I've been at it for about five hours. Note to self: next time format correctly from the get-go.

The Smashwords Style Guide was super helpful and I'm hoping it set me up well for moving to other eBook publishers. Fingers crossed.

I've just read that Smashwords conversion can last anywhere from one hour to eight....so here's to hoping I'm closer to the former.

Falling off Bikes. Picking Yourself Back up Again.

My brother sent this to my dad early this morning just as my dad was starting to face the reality of the trauma he went through. Thought it was worth sharing and am posting with my brother's permission.

Hey Dad,

Been thinking about you a lot today and its funny, as life often is, that I just got a note from Mom that is right in line with the thoughts I've been keeping to myself all day. So I thought I'd share them.

Lucky for you the Pacific Fleet is just that at the moment so all is quiet here on the watch floor. Shocking I know.

Anyway, Mom was mentioning our shared quality of self deprecation - often a good thing, occasionally taken to a useless extreme. One of the first thoughts I had, on the first night of my honeymoon, waiting in the Lanai ER for a narcotics wielding doctor, was the inescapable oppression of culpability. I just couldn't believe how stupid I'd been and how I'd ruined everything for my beautiful wife who wanted nothing more than to spend a relaxing week together after the stressful months leading up to the wedding. Indeed, I was pretty stupid but thanks to some fantastic pharmaceuticals and the indefatigable spirit of my wife I managed to hobble through what has to be one of the more memorable honeymoons on record. In my case there really wasn't much solace to be taken in my actions other than, hey, sometimes we all do dumb things.

Yours is a much different scenario. I wasn't there so I can't really speak to it, obviously something went wrong - people don't often face plant at 18 mph as a result of doing everything right (though, in fact, they sometimes can). Still, the bigger reality that is no doubt difficult for you to see at the moment - and not just because your eyelids are swollen shut - is that as unfortunate and horrible as this accident is it is less the result of your poor judgment (which I am not saying didn't have its hand in the whole thing) as it is the manifestation of the inevitable risk of an active life. We forget all too easily that life is really quite a risky endeavor. The human mind has been able to develop all kinds of safety mechanisms: everything from using heavy objects to beat off aggressive wild life, to complicated vaccines, to seat belts and bicycle helmets, but so far it hasn't been able to do much to alter the basic fragility of the human body. In the mean time we have developed all kinds of more sophisticated ways to hurt ourselves. Want to guess what highway fatality rates looked like a hundred years ago? I just googled the number of fatal plane crashes in 1900 - pretty impressive numbers. But you would be hard pressed to find someone who could effectively use these numbers as an argument against the development of aviation technology. Any idea how long it took to get from Minneapolis to Honolulu in 1900?

So what does this have to do with you? Only this - it is a dangerous world, probably more so everyday. In the face of these dangers we have several choices; you can attempt to insulate yourself from these dangers - usually at the expense of progress, you can completely ignore them and hope for the best, or you can take reasonable precaution and charge ahead. Are you beating yourself up for being on the bike path that day? Do you really think you took any more risks than someone who enclosed themselves in 4000 lbs of steel, propelled themselves forward at speeds exceeding 60 mph by setting fire to gasoline, and raced home alongside thousands of other people doing the exact same thing? You made a choice and that choice had its own risks. You made that choice out of a commitment to physical fitness and the preservation of our natural resources. Ok, probably more the former than the later but I thought i'd slip that in : ) This is an admirable value system and the more often you make the choice you will be healthier, happier, and more at risk of accident. Is that a reason do not do it or to beat yourself up over what happened? I certainly don't think so. If you had run into the back of an Escalade while biking, helmetless, down I-35, we would be having a different discussion. But you weren't. You were on a bike path. Wearing a helmet, as well as (I am guessing) pretty hideous biking clothes designed specifically for what you were doing to enhance both performance and safety. You are uncomfortable enough at the moment I see no reasons here to put on a hair shirt as well.

But you were stupid to be racing the train, right? Yeah, maybe but in the process of fruitlessly beating yourself by asking, "What was I thinking?" you might also wonder WHY you were thinking it. Isn't it entirely possible that the same part of your brain that compelled you to challenge a train with a bicycle is the same part that compelled you to apply to the Naval Academy knowing full well you probably couldn't pass the eye exam? or to go to law school even though you had a wife, two kids, and no job? or to start your own law firm even though you had a wife, FOUR kids, and a mortgage? or to go to every single soccer game, dance competition, and track meet the Academy of Holy Angels competed in during the 1990's even though you were the head of the fastest growing intellectual property firm in Minneapolis? (I have no idea if that last bit is true but it adds a nice rhetorical flourish so let's go with) I am no neuroscientist but I would be willing to bet that it was.

So. In the case against you we have so far found you guilty of being health conscious (and by proxy environmentally conscious) and acting in a manner entirely consistent with your most admirable qualities.

But you got careless in victory. The backpack slipped and here we are. Well, again I wasn't there so I can't say for certain but you know what - backpacks sometimes slip. And sometimes they can be just enough variable to cause serious damage - even in situations that aren't excessively dangerous or reckless on their own. But you know what - bicycle helmets are not an idea from a world without bike accidents. Emergency rooms don't exist because no one ever needs them. Those doctors didn't learn how to pull teeth back into place during your surgery. All those things we keep around 'just in case' are not accusations and utilizing them is not an admission, they are just evidence that we live in a dangerous world.

So, by now my sterling logic has no doubt exonerated your conscious and you can patiently wait out your recovery free of angst.

But in case not, just try to remember that you are loved and admired by the most important people on earth and that you did, in fact, beat the train.

Love,

John