Donning a Different Hat

It’s time to buckle down and concentrate on the two upcoming art shows. This coming Saturday, August 2, I will be in Goffstown for their Uncommon Art on the Common show. The following weekend, August 9 and 10 will find me at the Gallery at Well Sweep in Hillsborough Center for the HAA Open Studio Tour.

Off comes the writing and editing hat and on comes the artist’s beret. Well, not a beret maybe because I am not actually doing the art, just preparing what is already done for the shows. I made post cards to promote the new book “Too Cold for Alligators” and I printed new brochures yesterday. I’ll do more brochures today and maybe print new note cards.

I wish I understood and knew the terms better for different kinds of hats. You all know that I talk about the hat analogy often regarding all my different “jobs.” I wish I could name a style of hat and come up with a description including color, material and accoutrements for each one. Then I could draw little caricatures of myself wearing these different hats. What fun.

I have today and tomorrow to work on this as come Thursday, I will be back to the editing role again. I have to get as much done as I will be without internet on Saturday and unable to do any newspaper work.

If you’re out and about on Saturday and get a chance, visit my booth in Goffstown from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. I will be sharing with Nan McCarthy and we’ll have an array of cards, prints, charcoal drawings, and acrylic paintings.

Update on "Too Cold for Alligators"

I received a phone call late Saturday afternoon from AuthorSolutions. She announced that they agreed to do my changes at no further cost to me. Yes! She started talking about grayscale and the work their production team will have to do. I said that I have the photos in grayscale and asked if it would be easier for me to send the file and she agreed. I liked this better because then I would have control of the editing. (Of course it still depends on the printing.)

I told her the issues I had with the color of the cover being too dark for the background pictures to show and that the font on the back was too small to read easily. She said they would take care of that, too. I next mentioned my mistake of forgetting to put “insert photo 2186” after the text on the last page of the interior. I knew as that was definitely my mistake that it would probably cost me. She surprised me by saying they would include that, also.

I am pleased. A company should work at making sure their customers (authors in this case) are happy with the product. These self-publishing companies are set up to be, basically, printers of what they are sent. However, there must be satisfaction in the result. I have been set back a few weeks and will not have copies of the book for sale at the upcoming shows, but at least when I do get copies they will be up to my standards. They have done well in their agreeing to fix the problems and that they are including my own error is very much appreciated.

So, yesterday after finishing my editing work for the week and writing an article, I went through the pictures. I was told to send the files using wetransfer.com and I uploaded the photos and hit send. It took over an hour for the 50 pictures to transfer. I also sent an email detailing the changes I wanted. Now it’s back to the waiting game, but I am excited. This will work!

The e-book version will not change and is still available at amazon.com. 

"Too Cold for Alligators" Update

Busyness caught me again and Gail visited for a couple of days.” I sent another e-mail this morning to AuthorHouse to address other issues besides the pictures in my book Too Cold for Alligators. For a so-called good name company, I am highly disappointed.

Here is the response to my emails last week:

Good day.

I apologize for the wait.  The photos have been checked by the printer’s technicians.  Below is the response:

“This is a B&W interior book printed at 106 line screen and in spec.  If the author needs clearer, less grainy images, you may opt to upgrade to premium color instead.  This is the way it will print on B&W.”

I forwarded your concern to our resubmission team.  An assigned specialist will get in touch with you and walk you through the resubmission process.  Should you wish not to push through with the change, please let him/her know. 

Are you kidding? Needless to say, I responded saying again how disappointed I am and asked them if this is what they do to make authors spend more money to get an acceptable product. I also said that if this is the work they do, they will not get any more business from me.

Maybe I cannot blame them 100 percent. There was my own lack of experience with this type of thing. I should have known that I needed to lighten and add more contrast to the photographs. (That doesn’t excuse the lifeless, dull, grainy grayscaling.) It’s hard to change what looks good on the computer monitor to something that doesn’t look as good and trust that it will print well. Also, it was my fault that I forgot to put an insert photo notice for the last picture.

However, the first pages and first chapter can be previewed on amazon.com which includes the first picture and that doesn’t look grainy, dull and lifeless. Then again, the e-book is in color. Perhaps the problem is just with the printed copy. Still, I am very disappointed! As I don’t do e-books, the printed version is more important to me.

It’s looking to me like this might be a company that throws around big names then keeps milking the authors for more and more money.

Too Cold for Alligators is available as an e-book through amazon.com.

Image Processing of Publishing

Finding My Way through the Image Processing of Publishing

Another busy morning and I took time to photograph the book cover. When I edited the photo by adding brightness and contrast, I noticed that there were alligators in the background of the cover which I hadn’t noticed before as the cover color is dark. What a nice surprise… but only nice if customers can see it. I posted the picture to Facebook.

I decided to go through the photos in the file and grayscale them. I looked more closely at the photos in the book. Yes, they are still dull and lifeless, but I noticed, too, they are grainy and there are vertical lines like when the printer is running out of ink or the print head is dirty. I also noticed that the maps, while better than the photos, also have that running out of ink look.

I heard back from someone who bought the e-book. She said that the photos are okay, though a little dark. The e-book has the color photos. I do tend to be a little dark with my editing. I don’t know if it’s because of my eyesight or the computer screen doesn’t show the pictures as dark as they will be printed. I have to work on how I “see” the pictures in the editing program and add more brightness and contrast if needed. When I think the picture looks perfect, it tends to print dark.

I tried to take that into consideration when editing the photos for the book. Still, it’s hard to know how they will print in a book. The types of printers, inks, and the book pages play a part in how the images will look. The colors on my program are RGB and the ones at AuthorHouse uses a “CMKY color space,” whatever that means.

I often find when grayscaling my photos, I have to add quite a bit more contrast than from the color photo. So did AuthorHouse just hit a grayscale button without tweaking the photos?

So, I struggle through a Sunday wanting answers or to at least talk with a consultant to be able to resolve these issues. 

Owning Up to My Role

I still have not heard back from AuthorHouse. I checked Amazon this morning and my book is for sale there… with a two to three week lead time. Wow. I’m still struggling. I don’t want anyone buying the book in this state. I sent two more emails to AH this morning; more strongly worded than the past two days’ messages.

I’m struggling with coming to terms with how much of this is really MY fault. Yes, I should have made absolutely sure on the pictures. I should not have trusted that when they took the color photos and turned them grayscale that they would adjust the contrast as necessary. Then there’s the fact that the proofing is done online without seeing the actual copy (and now finding that actual copy to be unacceptable).

A lesson to anyone doing self publishing – these print-on-demand places print exactly what you send and don’t question anything. Why should they care? They get your money. So if what you send isn’t perfect, too bad. Oh, my lessons are always so costly financially to me!

Should I have known better to make my pictures lighter? I thought I had enough contrast. What I see on my computer screen looks good to me. How could I tell that the pictures wouldn’t print well on book paper? And yes, when I edited the color photos to send, I did peek at grayscale and thought they looked fine. So, what happened?

Am I now stuck with this? I am feeling that all my work the past year and a half has been for naught.

First Print of Too Cold for Alligators

It’s here! Too Cold for Alligators arrived by UPS at 5 p.m. and I eagerly tore open the package. I opened the book to take a look. The maps came out good. I turned to the last page. The photo isn’t there, the one that was the most important to me. Oh, no. I looked at other photos and my heart sank. They are dull, lifeless, and some are too dark. I am crushed. This isn’t the type of work I do.

Shock set in as I wondered what my role was in all of this. I immediately messaged AuthorHouse to report my disappointment. I know that the “package” I bought (their cheapest, but to me, very expensive) only allowed one set of revisions to the text (which was done before I approved the galley) and that photo changes would cost more money. They required color photos because of the e-book saying they would convert the pictures to black and white for the printed copy of the book. When I reviewed the galley, I commented at the time that the black and white pictures were too dark. I didn’t know if that’s how they would look in print. The coordinator assured me she would speak to the production team. I worked hard on the photos and to see them looking as they do is heartbreaking.

I have 50 photos in the book, well, 49 as the last one didn’t make it in. I checked the manuscript this morning and that was my mistake. I forgot to put “insert photo: The Light in Her Eyes” although I had it listed on the List of Photos page. I am willing to pay for that as that was my mistake. However, the poor quality of all the other pictures brings tears to my eyes. A year and a half of hard work and this is the end result? I am ashamed and embarrassed. How can I expect anyone to buy this book? And if they do, what kind of reviews will they give it? Like I said, this isn’t the kind of work I do.

And of course, I wonder if this is a ploy to get authors to put out more money. They offer as little as possible in the package then offer all other services for additional costs. If you opt not to “buy” more, then do they print as shabby as possible to get the author to have to pay for corrections?

Needless to say, I am heartbroken this morning. I wanted to have the book in hand to sell at upcoming shows. That will be impossible now. I don’t know what to do next. I’ll have to wait to hear from them. I’ll let you know.

I'm Not Infallible

I am proving this week’s previous blog writings correct. I am embarrassed to say that I have been called out on yet another mistake. These last two were totally my fault in not paying attention to numbers. Both instances had me putting in a wrong time. And what was one of the first things I was ever told? Always double check times and dates! Oops, sorry.

Well, sometimes you need the slap to the head to get you to pay attention. At least it’s not a physical slap, ha ha. I need it from time to time as I tend to slide into apathy as things I do the same every week tend to be skimmed through. This goes to show that I have to double check everything.

Book News

An email received yesterday informed me that my copy of Too Cold for Alligators has shipped. I can’t wait to see it! Did they lighten the photos? I hope so. They were too dark in the galley which didn’t have anything to do with how I edited, but how AuthorHouse changed the photos to black and white. I commented on it and they said they’d take care of it. I am hoping that everything will be okay and I can have copies on hand for the upcoming show on August 2 in Goffstown.

As for the next book on day trips which has been on the back burner for six months, I’m back to working on it. I have nine chapters done and I re-read them to catch myself up and re-edit. I’m holding off on the pictures until I see how the photos in Too Cold for Alligators come out. I’m also reconsidering the title and use of subtitles.

Random Day Trips: There and Back Again; Around New Hampshire in a Single Day would be a three line title, centered on the page. I’ll probably take out the “There and Back Again.” I never like long titles.

Upcoming Shows

I still have pictures on display (and for sale) at the Connecticut River Bank, Broad Street, Claremont until Tuesday, August 5.

Uncommon Art on the Common is a one day show held on Main Street in Goffstown on August 2 from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Artists and artisans will be set up in the park and along the downtown area of Main Street. I will be sharing a canopy with Nan McCarthy and we’ll have cards, paintings, photographs, and charcoal drawings. Come on down and check us out.

The following weekend, August 9 and 10 will find me at the Gallery at Well Sweep on Center Road in Hillsborough for an Open Studio Tour from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

I will be entering photographs in an upcoming show at the Jaffrey Civic Center which will run August 22 through September 27. An opening reception will be held Friday, August 22 from 5 - 7 p.m. Regular hours are: Tuesday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Wednesday - Friday, 1 - 5 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.