publishing | Boulder Community Media

Black Friday and holiday sales will soon be upon us. Holiday stress brings out the worst in us. Do you have angst around “who gets what?” or “Who gets left out?”

Do you start shopping early and buy a whole bunch of the same things in case the need for an emergency gift rears its ugly head?

How about buying books from local and indie authors? As long as you’re spending $ 10 or $20, it’s a great way to support small businesses. Most indie artisans, including myself, have some success with direct sales, like organizing a book signing event at the Boulder Bookstore, where maybe 25 or 30 people turn out, mostly my friends. That’s not the most efficient way to go about book sales.

The publishing industry reflects the same economic divide we see everywhere else. The rich and famous receive substantial advances, national interviews, and prime shelf space.

The rest of us? We’re bootstrapping book tours, setting up folding tables in the corner of a bookstore, and hoping someone picks up a copy.

This isn’t just about books. It’s about art, access, and whose voices get heard. The creative economy has its own top 1%.

So if you’re tired of seeing the same celebrity memoirs dominate the conversation, you can do something about it: support local authors. Champion the storytellers in your own backyard.

On July 22, 2022, Michelle Obama tweeted that she had a new book out. By the end of that same day, she had sold 800,000 copies, give or take. Just like that. No fuss. No multi-city book tour in a beat-up Volkswagen. No lugging around boxes of books like you’re a literary UPS driver. One tweet, and boom, she made a cool million.

I have this wild dream that one day, one of my books or documentaries will catch fire like that. Not a Michelle Obama-level barn burner, necessarily. I’d settle for a slow burn that eventually flickers into a campfire. The truth is, for regular people without publicists, prime-time interviews, or a built-in audience of millions, selling books is an uphill slog through five-foot snowdrifts in January.

Sure, every now and then, an ordinary person breaks through. Usually, it’s because they’ve done something extraordinary, like Captain “Sully” Sullenberger, the U.S. Airways pilot who calmly landed an Airbus in the Hudson River.

Sully didn’t start out wanting to be a bestselling author. He just did a remarkable thing. Then a publisher called. Now he’s got three books and a biopic to his name. The moral of the story: Be heroically cool under pressure in the face of disaster, and the publishing deals will come.

Me? The closest I’ve come to a celebrity was running into Emilio Estevez at the Boulder International Film Festival. He was gracious. I was a bit starstruck.

My book, Beyond Heart Mountain, came out on February 27, 2022. That summer, I logged 3,000 miles on the road, speaking to rooms filled with anywhere from 12 to 60 people.

I had just started driving a used Nissan Leaf electric vehicle. At the time, there weren’t many high-speed chargers in the least EV-friendly state in the country. The range anxiety offset any glee I may have felt when I sold a book.

I try to put myself in situations where success is possible. I fantasize that one day I’ll be speaking at a library or community center, and in the back row, Oprah will be sitting with a cup of coffee and a curious expression. She buys my book. She tells Oprah. Oprah calls Reese. Viral.

My eyes are peeled for a person in a runaway wheelchair that I miraculously stop from rolling into traffic. The Today Show calls me.

Savannah: Tell me, Alan, what’s it like being a hero?
Me: Ah, it was nothing. Anyone would’ve done the same thing.
Savannah: Is there anything else you’d like to tell our viewers?
Me: Well, I just published this book …

Reality checks are everywhere. Speaking of The Today Show, Dylan Dreyer, the second-string weather person, casually mentions her new children’s book, Misty the Cloud. Nine months later, it has 4,000 Amazon reviews.

So here’s what I’ve learned: next time I do this, I’m going to become famous first, even if it’s grabbing an out-of-control wheelchair or landing a commercial jetliner on a river. Then I’ll write a book.

If you’re in a book club, choose a title by a hometown writer. If you’re browsing online or walking through a mega-chain bookstore, skip the celebrity display and buy from the guy at the card table. The author who drove 200 miles to speak to a dozen people? That’s the one who needs your support.

In an effort to help writers compete, check out Best Chance Media. It’s a unique publishing imprint. Best Chance is traditional in a nontraditional way, giving everyday writers a shot at being seen. It’s not a vanity or hybrid press.

So if you’re a writer who’s been rejected 60 times, don’t give up. If you’re a reader who believes that good stories should come from everywhere, not just the famous few, check out Best Chance Media and buy from indie authors (So far, it’s only me). Help level the field. Help change the game together, one book, one reader, one chance at a time.

If you have questions or comments, message the ALAN-BOT. We learn more and more every day!
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I read on many of the Facebook groups about the frustrations self-publishing authors experience when they try to upload their manuscripts to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

Brain damage and frustration are the prices you pay to self-publish all by yourself without signing up for a “pay to play” publishing house or hiring consultants to help you. I’m an analog writer, and dealing with the technology of authorship can be frustrating.

Self-publishing means we do it ourselves. I also have a publisher that takes all the brain damage out of all this.

Making my own books gave me an appreciation for what established publishers do on behalf of writers. I can attest that they earn every penny they squeeze out of each book sale.

The issue I’ll address here is how to lay out your manuscript for a hard copy book. I’ve published three books on KDP.

The first one had me pulling my hair out, but once I settled on a format, the others were simple, since I followed a template I made for myself with the first book.

Pick out the size of the book you want to publish. The instructions I’m providing instructions for 6″x9″

Here are some simple steps I followed using Microsoft Word (Word). The first step is to decide what size book you want to publish. I chose 6″x9″ from the list that KDP supports. After you’ve opened up Word, pull down “File” and open up “Page Setup.”

This will bring you to the “Page Attributes” tab where you can set up the page size. After you’ve opened “Paper Size” choose “Other” and type the size. In this case, for 6″x9″ I chose 6.11X9.25.

Pick Other, then type in the desired dimensions from the KDP page size list. For a 6×9 book, I use 6.11×9.25. Also, orient your page to be vertical at 100 percent scale, then hit OK.

After you’ve chosen your page size, open up the drop down the “Page Attribute” box and choose “Microsoft Word.” That reveals a tab. Select “Margins” and then OK.

A new window will open that allows you to select your margins. This is where you can get frustrated, because the margin sizes can be adjusted to meet your visual preferences. This may take you three or four uploads to KDP to see what they will look like. KDP allows you to change your formatting and layouts. If you walk away, remember to save your project as a draft so you can come back to it without having to edit your “sent” project. I did that after I had second thoughts about the layout. For projects that you “submit” and you want to edit, it takes a few days for KDP to process the data and make it “live.” My advice is to be patient and not rush. KDP allows you to sell your “coming soon” book. I settled on these settings, and you can try them. What you pick can vary depending on font and type size. After you hit OK, your manuscript will change. Take a look at it. If you like the balance, upload it to KDP as a draft. What is frustrating is that once your manuscript is uploaded, KDP will make its own version, which will be slightly different than what your Word document looks like. Be patient and take your time.

Deciding on your margins is hit or miss. If there’s any part of this that can be frustrating, it will be your margins. I suggest you jot down the margin combinations you’ve tried, rather than trying to remember them. As for multiple pages, mirror the margins. This allows the gutters to match up with the facing pages.

After you’ve set your margins, open up the “Layout” tab at the top of the box. I use half-inch headers and footers. Again, you can mess around with the settings, but if you have page numbers, you’ll want adequate space so that they fit relatively centered in the header or footer – not too high, and particularly not too low to the page edge.

Select your header and footer. I wouldn’t mess around with the line numbers – that’s for legal documents and legislative drafts. Borders are just aesthetics, but likely unnecessary for book publishing.

That’s it for KDP self-published books. I can’t overemphasize the need for you to be patient with the trial and error you’ll likely experience.

When it comes to the KDP e-book version. You’ll keep your manuscript “one-up” with a single sheet. The frustrating part is with the table of contents. I would leave that out of the e-book because the pages float around and change. Also, the Word table of contents tool doesn’t change as the pages change, and it becomes disorganized.

The e-book title pages and other stuff at the beginning, like the Dedications, may get scrunched together, so be prepared not to have separate pages for the introductory information.

I use a website called Online-Convert to make e-books other than for KDP. It does a pretty good job of converting my Word files, including adding a front cover. Again, nothing is 100 percent. You’ll have to mess around with pages and formatting.

If you have questions, ask Alan Bot!

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