One Bleeds to Feed the Other

[Hawkzombie]

The book is....FINISHED! 100% done, folks.

Sporting a cover from our very own JayVe I am seriously pleased with this...I think it turned out amazingly well.

Here (http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/one-bleeds-to-feed-the-other/15977728) is the link to buy it directly from Lulu.com. And here (http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/one-bleeds-to-feed-the-other/15983894) is the link for the eBook version. This (http://www.lulu.com/product/file-download/one-bleeds-to-feed-the-other/16062900) is the link to the PDF. If you feel the prices are too high, I'd love some feedback.

The Kindle Version can be found here (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00557M15A) and the iBookstore version can be found here (http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/one-bleeds-to-feed-the-other/id443801203?mt=11)

I am very, very proud of myself right now...you have no clue. Here is the book in the flesh:

http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy66/Hawkzombie/2011-06-072016_40_52.jpg

http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy66/Hawkzombie/2011-06-072016_29_10.jpg


I love the cover, and the interior is spot on. I was going to approve the proof copy today, but I made a few slight changes inside and had to order a new copy :p...at three copies bought so far I'm my own biggest fan!

So...yeah. I'm published! I feel awesome.

Oh! Before I forget, here's a link to the facebook page! Tell your friends!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/One-Bleeds-to-Feed-the-Other/135756936500226

[Generation ABXY]

Well, congrats to you, Hawk. :)

[Arphahat]

Good job! Very professional looking.

[Ink Asylum]

Looks good.

[Dark Acre Jack]

Congratulations, it's sure something to do a physical publish these days.

Any digital plans?

[AntonThaGreat]

Congratulations and that cover turned out great! It would look awesome as a hardcover!

[Blue]

Yeah, what The Jack said - are you putting this up for the Kindle/Nook?

[Xerxes]

Congrats. Makes me feel a little more like shit for being so lazy.

[Kielaran]

Congratulations!

[Hawkzombie]

Digital plans:

You can ourchase a digital copy through lulu.com right off the bat. But today I'm looking into getting it on Amazon for the kindle. I'll keep you guys posted of all the channels I get it up and into.

It may be a few more days to get it expanded beyond lulu.com simply because I made a few minor changes to the text and dedication inside the book, and had to order a new proof copy :p Either way, it's out there 100% now. WOO!

Even if you don't purchase, or have any intent of purchasing the book, I would highly appreciate word of mouth if you feel so inclined. This has been a labor of love, and I'm just really happy to share it with everyone.

[Hawkzombie]

Double Post:

Who knew formatting a eBook would be so damned difficult? None of the specifics I put into place for print formatting seem to be translating well over to the Kindle format, no

EDIT: Ugh...ok I've got no idea how to do an ePub, which is what the Apple store uses. I've spent the past hour trying to get something to work and it looks like garbage and I can't even edit the text I put into a program called Sigil. I'm very annoyed by this. Very annoyed.

[Bone]

Beautiful cover! I'd seen some of the progression of the cover art, and I much prefer this font as well as the inverse white-on-red, makes the bloodstain artistic and less likely to be mistaken for a Twilight tie-in!

Congrats man.

[Spectre-7]

Getting precise formatting in ebooks is difficult, especially for something like poetry which tends to rely on rather specific line control and what-not. Sigil doesn't seem to help matters much, although I'm still not particularly skilled in its use just yet.

I suspect the best option would be something like the newest version of Adobe InDesign, which has a bevy of new options for dealing wtih Epub, but that's a pretty pricey package and has something of a learning curve attached. The cheapest option (and basically what I'm doing right now), is to do all of your file formatting in HTML, then use Calibre to translate the source file into epub and mobi. For poetry, you'll probably need to make creative use of <br /> tags.

[Hawkzombie]

Thanks Bone!

Ugh...the eBook is coming along very slowly :p...I have to basically start re-formatting the book from scratch. But, it's coming along now that I figured out the best way of doing it. Chances are I'll have the ePub file on Lulu and a separate Kindle-friendly file. So I'm gonna have to reformat it TWICE.

Thankfully, the ePub is the only one that looks to be so re-formatting intensive. The kindle I may be able to get by with adjusting the formatting in bits where it looks wonky after the conversion.

EDIT: Just saw Spectre's post...I am basically copy and pasting the source file into Sigil and just creating chapter breaks after each poem. And for re-formatting the breaks, it seems to be going alright. I'll look up Calibre and see how much easier that might be to use instead (or at least give me a few more editing options)

EDIT: Calibre is a godsend. I just have to format it for ePub then I can make it MOBI. VERY happy about that.

My only concern is how it will look on different readers...but it's something that will be hard to accommodate, especially with the way the poetry is supposed to look. Hopefully it won't be -that- bad.

[Bone]

Ugh. I know this might be extra work, and maybe it won't even work- but could you convert a copy of the final poem to vector outlines? Would make sure no formatting would change at all, as it would be treated like a piece of art and could scale to any size.

[Hawkzombie]

Ugh. I know this might be extra work, and maybe it won't even work- but could you convert a copy of the final poem to vector outlines? Would make sure no formatting would change at all, as it would be treated like a piece of art and could scale to any size.

I'm a little lost in what you're getting at here :p Do you mean convert all the poems to vector so they resize with the e-reader instead of worrying about losing my special formatting? In all honesty that sounds like MORE work than what I'm currently doing.

So far, the bit by bit reformatting is working well.

[Bone]

Well, if you have a format that looks good, I just figured you could export what you have now to outlines. Not sure though. I used Quark a long time ago, InDesign just a little, Illustrator a lot. I know Illustrator can convert type to outlines. InDesign too... such as http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=47267 or http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/InDesign/5.0/help.html?content=WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8 cb3f-6be6.html

If it looks good once outlined, you would know for sure nothing would change in other formats, as you'd be reproducing art and not type. Of course, make sure epub can accept SVG or whatever vector format you choose.

[Bone]

Of course doing this would cancel out any text search functions in a reader. I'm just talking if you have really specific, tight poem layouts that are a bitch to reproduce every time.

I had a friend whose poems would take a single word, written vertically in red, then have words in black horizontally that used some letter in the vertical word. Pretty cool effect, but the layout was part of the poem and they just made it into vectors.

[Hawkzombie]

Ohhhh ok. No, it's nothing that in-depth at all. Just some aesthetic formatting that I found pleasing that's lost in this way. It's not a huge issue, since the digital is more for people on the go, etc and the print is the definitive version. But thanks for the suggestion.

This is working alright, actually. Just time consuming.

http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy66/Hawkzombie/difference.png

As you can see, it's not exactly how I want it, but it's perfect for an eReader. What you can't see here (and what I miss the most) is I had the spacing to single instead of double if certain words ran longer than the margins, to show it was part of the original line and not a new line in the poem. I lose that here as well.

[Bone]

Aw yeah, that's fine.

[fitbabits]

Ugh...

Ugh.

Ugh...

Congrughtulations, Hawk!

[Purple Santa]

Congrats HZ. The sample you showed was enough to sell me a copy. Sorry I can't buy more copies to become your #1 fan. Will #2 do? :)

[Hawkzombie]

Aw, thanks a ton Purple Santa! I find

Thanks for the Congrughtulations everyone :p

I finished the eBook! So if you're looking to support me on the cheap, here ya go! I went for a cheaper price on the eBook simply because it's more of the 'hope to sell enough copies to make up the difference' and to make it more enticing. Hopefully it works.

http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/one-bleeds-to-feed-the-other/15983894

This will be on the iBookstore soon as well, and once it's approved I will let you guys know! I'm going to be adding it to Amazon right now as well, for the Kindle. Sadly, no ISBN for it, since those cost money when they aren't supplied by lulu.com and since this is me doing it for Amazon, I can't use the lulu ISBN on that eBook. Oh well, not a huge issue.

EDIT: And The kindle version is under review and should be up within 24 hours.

[Hawkzombie]

And added facebook page link to the OP.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/One-Bleeds-to-Feed-the-Other/135756936500226

[Ondo]

What you can't see here (and what I miss the most) is I had the spacing to single instead of double if certain words ran longer than the margins, to show it was part of the original line and not a new line in the poem. I lose that here as well.
You could retain that formatting. If you have each line be its own paragraph (or div), instead of the simpler method of using <br>, you can give each line a small top or bottom margin. The margin wouldn't show up when a line wraps, which should give the effect you want. (You could also give each line a negative indent, so when it wraps the continuation on the next line is indented a bit.)

[Hawkzombie]

You could retain that formatting. If you have each line be its own paragraph (or div), instead of the simpler method of using <br>, you can give each line a small top or bottom margin. The margin wouldn't show up when a line wraps, which should give the effect you want. (You could also give each line a negative indent, so when it wraps the continuation on the next line is indented a bit.)

And I honestly dunno how to do that, which is kinda sad :p

It's decent enough, honestly. And at 3.50 a pop for the digital versions, I think it suits itself just fine.

[AntonThaGreat]

Hawk, if you need someone to format your epubs, I'd take up the job! I converted a few PDF scans before, and it turned out pretty well. I used inDesign and then also Sigil to get the HTML & CSS right. I'd do one book for free just for the fun of it and the read. If you like the work, maybe we can work something out for another book. So keep me in mind!

[Hawkzombie]

I'm actually done! They aren't totally perfect, but then I doubt they ever would be to me :p...I'm happy with the end result, and the end price you can't really argue with.

[Hawkzombie]

Updated the OP with Kindle and iBookstore links.

[Hawkzombie]

For a limited time (basically however long I decide to keep it going) all versions of the book sold through www.lulu.com are going to be 15% off! Please spread the word to everyone you know.

Print (http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/one-bleeds-to-feed-the-other/15977728)
PDF (http://www.lulu.com/product/file-download/one-bleeds-to-feed-the-other/16062900)
ePub (http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/one-bleeds-to-feed-the-other/15983894)

[JayVe]

So, I'm back from India, and I don't have a copy of the book. Hopefully the post office returned it to you?

[Dorkandproudofit]

Congrats, Hawk! Don't spend all the royalties on socks!

[diablopath]

How are sales coming along, Hawk? Doing good or are you disappointed?

[Joshkdmw]

I know he sold at least one.

[Hawkzombie]

I have sold 3 now :p

So a little disappointing, but not alltogether unexpected. Still, the feeling of getting it out there is a good one.

Also, I totally forgot to send JayVe his copy. I am SO sorry about that man. I was gonna mail it, then the postal strike happened, and then I just plumb forgot until JUST now. I feel poopy. BUT! I will send it out as soon as I get paid next, since I spent all my extra cash on my son :p

[evilgoodwin]

I laugh at inferior Canadian postal service.

Also, purchased because I forgot to do it earlier.

[Hawkzombie]

There is no greater feeling than to see the e-mail notification that a copy has been sold. Thanks a ton guys for the support :D

[MagGnome]

I hope that JayVe has received his copy.

The book looks slick - congrats! Between you and Spectre, there are several books I need to pick up soon. :)

[evilgoodwin]

Forgot to mention I received my copy on Monday, I think. Shiny book. :D

[Hawkzombie]

JayVe, have you received it yet? I forgot to PM you to tell you it was on the way :p

I'm am a terrible terrible person lol

[JayVe]

JayVe, have you received it yet? I forgot to PM you to tell you it was on the way :p

I'm am a terrible terrible person lol

Yep! Got it! Looks great. Really enjoy. Thanks mucho :D

[Hawkzombie]

Yep! Got it! Looks great. Really enjoy. Thanks mucho :D

Awesome! Thanks again so much for the work on the cover. I absolutely loved what you did with it.

[Handmade.Mercury]

I made a friend buy this.

[Hawkzombie]

I made a friend buy this.

No way! I feel vindicated :D