Page 23 with Text Bubbles

I looked over some the the pages that I’ve completed in the past month and added text bubbles. The problem I see is that I used the full A4 page when I created the pictures rather than sticking to the 8x8-inch square I used for the first two books. If I intend to print another square book, I’ll have to add more paint to the top and bottom margins to square up the image. That’s a lot of extra work.

My other option is to simply print the next book in A5 format. The 8x8 format priced a $9.99 has a profit of $0.33. An A4 format book priced the same has a profit of $1.46. My original concept was to use 8x8 for all six books, but I have learned that creating square books is a pain if you also want to generate ePub books.

Sales Report and Commission Junction

View fullsize

I feel like I’m getting some traction! :)

I usually check my Ingramspark account once a month expecting to see that I’ve had zero sales. Today I checked and, to my surprise, I saw that I had sold 16 copies of my second book, The Butterfly Who Airlifted His Friends Over The Wall. It was a Wow moment for me even though four of those sales were the copies that I bought to send to friends. Still, a dozen copies are in real reader’s hands. Dear Readers, whoever you are and wherever you are, I thank you!

When I logged in to Clip Studio today I saw a news item announcing Clip Studio’s new affiliate program. So far I’ve only used a few Amazon affiliate links, but I really do believe that CSP is an awesome tool for creating comics that wouldn’t mind promoting to other illustrators. I’m a genuine fan — CSP has saved me hundreds of hours over the last year. So, I signed up with Commission Junction so that I can add affiliate links to this blog.

After I publish this post, I’m going to update my affiliate disclaimer on my About page.

Here’s what the link will look like when I add it to a blog post:

—
Resources:
I used Clip Studio Paint EX to draw the picture in this post.

Revising My Second Children's Picture Book

I ordered a print copy of my second children’s picture book. It looks great — the paintings, that is — but the text bubbles suck. Several text bubbles were placed so close to the spine that they were unreadable unless the book is mercilessly flattened. There were ten pages that needed fixing, and six pages that were too high resolution (600 dpi) to pass through Ingramspark’s file validator. I used Clip Studio Paint to adjust the text bubbles, and I used Photoshop to change the resolution of the hi-res pictures. When you revise your Ingramspark book, the charge is $25.

My text bubble problem is the result of my desire to keep the text from intruding on the images. I squeezed the text bubbles into edges of the page without thinking about how they would look. That was a bad idea. For the next book I’ll give the text bubbles and other important details a generous 1/2-inch margin. Lesson learned.

I Approved My Second Book for Publication Today

View fullsize

My title management page now shows the eBook and Print versions ofThe Butterfly Who Airlifted His Friends Over The Wall.

Yesterday I re-submitted my corrected PDF to Ingramspark and today I approved the book for publication. Approving the book means that it will go into the machinery that will make the book available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kob0 in a couple of days. I’ll post those links when they’re available.

Speaking of the publishing business, today I got my quarterly remittance for my first book: $0.71. My total income for 2020 was $7.75, which makes me smile and motivates me to continue making books.

Repairing My Ingramspark Submission

View fullsize

I’m learning Corel Painter. I used the Sargent brush for this painting.

Right after I submitted my book to Ingramspark yesterday, I glanced through the PDF to admire my work, and saw that I had used the eBook’s ISBN number for the print book! Fortunately, Ingramspark allows careless authors to resubmit their manuscripts with edits before it goes to print. If I screw up again and have to resubmit it, it will cost me $25. I think that’s a reasonable fee for the chance to correct a dire error. Reasonable though it is, it’s enough to motivate me to check the ISBN meticulously the next time I submit a book.

My Second Children's Picture Book Has Been Submitted to Ingramspark

My eBook passing inspection

Today I submittedThe Butterfly Who Airlifted His Friends Over The Wall for publication by Ingramspark. The biggest obstacle with the eBook was getting the it to validate without a TOC (table of contents). I had the TOC configuration set to “None”, but that generated an error. For future reference, the correct setting in InDesign for Table of Contents is “File Name”.

The print book had three errors caused by files that were too hi-res…600dpi. I ran them through Photoshop and reduced them to 300 dpi and the book passed perfectly. Now I’m waiting for the proofs. If everything looks good, the book will be available for sale. Hooray!

This setting prevents a validation error

Well, Almost Finished, Except for Generating An ePub

View fullsize

Today I decided to create an ePub to go with the print book. Ingramspark charges $49 to publish the print book and the ePub version at the same time. If I were to publish the print book alone, it would cost $49 and then, when I published the eBook, it would be another $25. So why not do it all at once and save a few bucks?

To turn the print book into an ePub, I have to give the ePub its own ISBN and cover page, and that’s it. Another change I want to make is to create a black background — that white space at the top and bottom is really distracting. I think I can add some CSS to make that change. After all, an ePub is just an web page with CSS and images.

More tomorrow…

Filling in Ingramspark’s Improved Publication Form for My Second Children's Picture Book

Filling out the improved publication form…

Filling in the form is the hardest part of making a book. You have to decide how much to charge, how much profit you want, what the long description will be, and the short description, too. I spend hours on this form trying to get the words right.

As for the price, I’m going to price the book at $9.99, which would give me $.74 for each copy sold. I think that’s a fair price and a decent profit. If I don’t sell books, that’s okay. And if I sell thousands of books, that would be great. However, my long term plan is to create lots of books rather than to create one book and have it become a big seller. I’m going to write books that I would like to read. I am my audience. People like me, they’re my audience. Writing for myself is a great luxury, and it’s the only way I can be productive. My dream keeps re-energizing me, and that’s the way I like it.

I didn’t publish this today, but I’m only inches away from pushing that “submit” button. Hooray!

Exporting My Second Children's Picture Book to Ingramspark

View fullsize

Clip Studio Paint EX exporting PNG files

Today I started the process of exporting my book to Ingramspark as a PDF. Part of the process requires filling in a rather extensive form containing a bio for the author, a sales summary for the book, a shorter summary, the ISBN number etc. At the same time I’m going over the images and fixing tiny flaws. Tomorrow is my deadline. Hooray! It will be a relief to release this one!

Al Fresco Art Day, Jan 12, 2020 -- Doing Drills and Buying My Book

Today I ordered a copy of my book from Amazon. Here’s a screenshot of my cart. It feels great to be ordering my own book. I’m really curious to see what kind of quality Ingramspark is giving to self-published authors. The eBook isn’t available on Amazon, but you can buy it through Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo.

The Al Fresco Art Club challenge of the day was to do some old-fashioned sketching drills. I chose to do some of the cartooning exercises in Jack Hamm’s Cartooning the Head and Figure. It’s an amazing book with 1,000+ examples. Jack had a fertile mind and a quick hand.

I skethed ears, heads, and babies. You gotta keep the ears and heads simple, and the babies cute. You keep a baby cute by drawing the head big and the body and limbs chubby. I chose this drill because I want to amplify my characters’ cuteness factor in the next book. Too often I stretched out Jimmy’s body and changed him for an eight-year-old to a teenager. To make sure that doesn’t happen in the future, I’ll be drawing plenty of big heads and little bodies over the next three months. That’s right, I said three months. I’m giving myself 90 days to complete the second book.