Maybe I could have gotten more work done on my book over the break, but I’m satisfied with what I got done. I’m on the last steps now. Proofreading. Final adjustments. I’ve got all the words written, all the captions set, all the picture plates placed in the text.

And, as if I needed to sneak this other project in while I was fussing around with getting ready to publish my next Hike with Me book, I went ahead and put out a short book. Or a long short story. It’s one of the ones I wrote over the summer, and I put some of it on this blog back in August. I’d been meaning to put it up since August, but I somehow never found the time.

I put it off, because, to be honest, I was afraid to put it up.

Afraid it wouldn’t sell. Afraid it would sell. Afraid that it wasn’t the right kind of story. Afraid that my effort at cover creation was too amateur – although, I kind of wanted it to look a little silly. The cover I ended up with, I hope, conveys the lightness and fun that I think is in the story.

Putting this book up had the additional advantage that it allowed me to test out the KDP paperback creation system. I’d been creating my hiking books through CreateSpace, but I always had to manually contact Amazon to get them to link the paperback and the email. There is an option to publish an ebook through CreateSpace, but it doesn’t allow for much reformatting of the text – I’m not going to publish an ebook with a table of contents that has page numbers, thank you very much.

I’ve tested out the system by creating a paperback for the other story, Kicking the Desk Job, so I can move forward with more confidence in using it for the Hike with Me book. Unless there are issues. I could always go back to CreateSpace for the Hike with Me if I don’t like how this small book turns out.

Though the tools seem nearly identical to CreateSpace, just in a different layout. The cover templates leave something to be desired – who, I ask you, creates a template for a 6×9 trim book that is actually less than 3×4 inches? Other than that, so far so good. The paperback will be available soon.

And Hike with Me: Idaho Centennial Trail Sawtooths will be coming right behind it. Soon. This week – if I can keep my proofreader motivated!

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