My Roller Coaster Ride - First Book Signing on 16 November 2013 (Coles, Stoney Creek)

Hello!  I did it and I never dreamed of hosting a book signing event and be the one signing it!  When I started writing my book in April, the major reason for doing it was to share my experience so that the readers will save both time and money.  It took me over five months to complete the whole publishing process even I had a publishing package (no mean to worry about the book interior layout).  It turned out to be quite costly and rigid since I preferred a more flexible design and editing option.

Guess what?  I started a second publishing round and did everything myself.  I did try to purchase a cover/interior design package with freelance designers.  Some require 1-2 months advanced bookings and/or my expected interior design was considered to be complicated (meaning double the basic price tag).

I experienced grievances when pasting my materials to an interior design template.  Section breaks made strange pagination and created unnecessary blank pages.  That was the original reason for recruiting a freelance designer.  Since I did not have that option anymore (because it's over my budget), I had no one to count on except myself.

Believe me - it was quite stressful and unexpected!  I recovered and did more research on section breaks.  Revealed the hidden codes and strived to paste my materials correctly.  If not, it would create funny breaks and pages.  I took me nights of trials and the last unwanted page was removed successfully after days and nights of hard labor.

Was it fun?  It was once I got over the initial shock.  I comforted myself that it's good because everything was within my control.  I could really move around things the way I wanted.  I ended up using my own cartoon for the section breaks.

As I mentioned in my previous post I must find another way to lower my publishing cost or else book signing was out of the question.  The first publishing agent left me no margin to accommodate a cut (very often 45%).  For those who do a quick tabulation, you will agree with me that self-publishers do not really make a big profit .. very often a few dollars if they get lucky.  If the cut is deep and the publishing cost is huge, they may not even make a dollar.  That's why I always admire them for the time they spent in sharing their experience in their books.  It's more about passion!

First Book Signing Event Photo Galery