Lulu Report Card III

[MGalloway]

Well, it is finished. After about eleven years of manuscript work (off and on), and a whole lot of editing, I finally uploaded my book to Lulu. !thumbsup! I ordered a printed copy a couple of weeks ago, and it looks just like I hoped it would. I have not set up global distribution (yet) but hope to do so soon...right now I just want to make sure the manuscript completely "works" as a story and that there are no typos in it.

I initially assembled the manuscript in Microsoft Works, but when I realized that product did not offer enough formatting options, I switched to OpenOffice (Writer). I tried uploading that version, but Lulu's converters would not accept that format. So then I tried the various free PDF conversion utilities that are out there (and the one in OpenOffice itself), but was unable to "embed fonts" like they request at Lulu.com. So, I ported everything over to Word and then let Lulu do the pdf conversion, which ultimately worked. Despite all the formatting battles, I learned a great deal about how other bookstore-type paperbacks are formatted, and the subtle nuances that are involved in the "look" of a finished book.

I have two other manuscripts that I am considering reworking and uploading to Lulu, but right now I'm going to stay "on break" for a few more weeks from writing (I need it) and I want to see how Lulu pans out in the long run. For those who are interested, this book is a work of suspense fiction, and very relevant to what is going on in the world right now.

http://www.lulu.com/content/397103

[Pockets]

CONGRATULATIONS x a LOT!!!!!

God bless and best of everything in your writing,

Thanks also for the LuLu update on the formatting issues., That will help us all to avoid future hic-ups when we try.

In the love of Christ,

Tim P.

[JohnOdz]

Way to go Michael! Congrats on the achievement, and may God receive the glory!

John

[rachris]

Congratulations, Michael! You're probably feeling pretty terrific right now! I hope Lulu pans out for you.

Don't you hate those conversion issues. I think they fall in the same category as "work-arounds," and it seems that life is full of them! (Hmm...come to think of it, I guess even God has to deal with them - He has to convert every one of us, and He's constantly having to do a work-around in our lives every time we find some rabbit hole to climb down. LOL)

Anyway, congratulations! Now enjoy your rest.

~Robert
Never act from motives of rivalry or personal vanity, but in humility think more of one another than you do of yourselves. Philippians 2:3, Phillips.

[tlm]

Congratulations! I hope it works out for you.!thumbsup!

[MGalloway]

Thanks for the replies. Now comes the "marketing part" which I'm actually sort of looking forward to. I am starting to also write up some articles (some related to the book and some not), and hopefully that will help, too. I spent a disproportionate amount of time on the formatting issues, but I sure learned about all the different types of "breaks" available in Word, lol. Perhaps that could be an article, too...how to format a basic novel in Word.