Growing a Book — Self Design and Self Printing

Well, I wanted to self publish my poetry book.  Self publishing meant that I’d have complete control over the content and design.

It meant that I’d be in charge of promotion. I read the book, Self-Printed, by Catherine Ryan Howard, and began to build my platform on social media while I finished photo shoots and writing.

One of the things that helped me with this project, was having a hard deadline.  I’d been given the opportunity to share my book, When You Can’t Scream…Or 10 Reasons Why I Smoke, by a poetess friend, Teresa Mei Chuc.

She invited me to Poets House in New York, for a special reading at their 24th Annual Poets House Poetry Publication Showcase, on July 30, 2016.

Teresa had also secured a stage at the New York Poetry Festival on Governor’s Island, and graciously invited me to read and promote my book.

Deadlines are amazing things!  They motivate in ways that nothing else can.  I bought my plane ticket, told my family and friends I’d be promoting my book, and now I had to get it ready to print.

Of course I’d read in Catherine’s book, about how much work was ahead.  Forewarned does not equal comprehension!  A month of finishing the writing and photo shoots would be followed by two weeks of intense and long hours choosing and editing photos, designing the interior of the book and the cover, and learning to manage the technology I’d use to accomplish my goals.

I didn’t plan on doing this alone, but despite the assistance I solicited from creative friends with tech know-how, my desire to control the content and look of my book meant 14 hour days of stress and a stiff neck.  Two weeks later at about 2:00 a.m., I submitted my book to the self printing company, Createspace.

First, I secured a couple friends to help me edit photos in Photoshop.  Hunched over and peering through my scratched glasses, I watched Ana Rosa edit, then put my hand to the experience.  The deadline was looming, and we invited a friend, Philip Ruiz, to help.  In a week, I’d learned to do cosmetic editing, manage lighting, sharpen faces, erase blemishes, clone and redesign portions of images for better composition, and most importantly, resize my files for printing.

It was a sharp learning curve blessed with the awe of all that is possible in this incredible digital medium.  I hate to admit it, but by the end, I was re-editing photos done by my friends, to get the perfection sought by my artist’s eye.  Here are a couple of photos I did:

Nique Haggerty-Wheeler                                          Cassie Jordan-Kristan White

The interior of the book was designed using InDesign, and for this I secured help from Violet Soto, a young photographer in my community (who also has photos featured in the book).  Violet and I had to work closely together, and at times this was a complete joy.  

At other times I drove her crazy with my demands for perfection and my stress to meet the deadline.  After a week focused on the interior, Violet had to disappear for a couple days to photograph some events and perform in a local Harocho group.  The book wasn’t finished, but I continued to climb the learning mountain to finish with my newly installed InDesign app.

Then it was time to create the cover.  Violet and I used Team Viewer, an app that lets people view and manipulate one computer from two different locations, to begin the design. While she chose some bright colors that matched my photo, I researched important elements of book cover design and completed writing the back cover text and collecting the rush reviews I’d requested.  In two days, we had a design we liked, and Violet had to leave me to the last bit again.  I was ready to upload the design to Createspace, or so I thought.

It took three more days of seeking additional help from my cousin, Cat Wendt, to make the cover file small enough to upload.  Eventually, this meant remaking the entire Photoshop design over again in the InDesign format, not once (by Cat), but twice (the second time because I wanted to move the text just a snippet)!  I was 5 days behind my deadline, but once again did a midnight submission and shared the good news on Facebook.  Done!

Oh, but Not Done!  It seems I’d been confused about the name my photographer, Judith Foster Thompson wanted used for her credit on the book. And just in time, my editor, Michael Ray De Los Angeles noted I hadn’t credited his work on the cover.  I thought it would be easy to make the changes.

This had been a collaborative venture, and I really wanted to acknowledge everyone.  I opened the interior to change Judy’s name in one spot, and discovered that I had to relink all the photos to the document since I’d neatly put them all away and the program couldn’t find them along the original path.  This took 5 hours!

I checked my cover submission and discovered the spine had been moved in its several recreations. I’d have to remake it yet again, not just make a simple text change.  This took me 10 hours!  I resubmitted and waited to hear if the new submissions met the review standards.

Right before I heard back, I had a conversation with Philip about the cover I’d posted on Facebook.  He said it seemed too bright and colorful.  Even though I explained my thinking, how I wanted the cover to catch the eye and not fade into a pile of black or white covers, I remembered my original vision.  It had been dark.

So, because I’m the publisher and designer, I’m actually considering redesigning the cover in the blacks and charcoal grays of my original plan.  This seems insane since I’ve been through so much, and I now know it will probably take me a day or more to execute the design.  Friends have suggested I make the pink cover a limited edition, which sounds fun!

I get the proof copy in the next two days, and I can decide to redo any part of it.  It’s my book.  I can order extra fast shipping and still get books in time.  But there’s a risk that something will go wrong.  I might do all that work and discover I don’t like the new colors, or upload it and discover I’ve made a mistake in the measurements.

It’s a bit terrifying and sobering, knowing that despite all I’ve learned, I’m still a total amateur at all this technology.  But I’m a big kid with new toys…

Doren Damico is a lyricist and poet with a passion for the art of being human.  For more poems and poetic commentary check out her blog archive, Poetry, at: dorendamico.com