The Self-Publishing Blues

I remember someone saying we've all got at least one book in us, and with self-publishing options these days, it should be easy to just whip out this book and get it into the world, right?!  Well, boys and girls, not so easy.  It's amazing all of the components of the process that you have to think about -- should you get an ISBN?  What does that mean anyway?  What size should your book be?  What service should you use?  What all-inclusive package should you let the publishing service talk you into getting?

I certainly don't have any answers for you, yet, but I found this article by David Carnoy of CNet very helpful:   http://reviews.cnet.com/self-publishing/

Oh, and it's important to try to figure out which publishing service you want to use first because that will inform what options you have regarding size and pages of the book (I'm discovering that each service seems to offer different sizes from each other, so it's not easy to move your book around or list on multiple publishing houses without being able to adjust the size).  Thankfully, my understanding of how to use InDesign is growing, so I think I'm going to be able to resize things and be able to take advantage of both Lulu (which has the size of book I want but is more expensive) and CreateSpace (which is cheaper and is the Amazon subsidiary, so I have to believe that distribution would be better).

So, stay tuned for more trials and tribulations in the self-publishing world!

The Good, The Bad, and The Hopefully Pretty!

So, yes, I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon yet again, but I've been such a busy bee! As you'll see to your left, there's been some self-publishing going on!! Two pattern brochures, one for boy babies and another for classic accessories for either girls or boys, are now available on Lulu.com (don't fret, the girl baby accessories are coming!). Here are some pix of the finished products.

Why the flurry of activity? Because I'm going to be teaching crochet starting in January! There's a great company that has recently expanded into Washington DC called Knit-a-Gogo (http://www.knit-a-gogo.com/), where personalized knitting and crocheting instruction is available. I'll be teaching classes on Introduction to Crochet, Amigurumi Crochet, and Tunisian Crochet.

I figured it would be good if I have some easy-to-complete patterns available for my beginner crochet students, but these patterns should appeal to anyone who wants to whip up some cute baby gifts quickly. Another appealing aspect is that all of the pieces in each booklet can be made with just one skein of yarn! I've been using Lion Brand's Cotton Ease for these projects because it's 50% cotton, 50% acrylic, which is just perfect for baby items since it's soft, easy to wash, and economical. The color selection is nice too and still baby-appropriate without being the typical pastels.

So, watch for more updates soon!

Today's Thought: Another shameless plug for www.Knit-a-Gogo.com!