After making sure that THE NUGGET was safely on its way to the printer, I sat down to publish THE PIKE & SHOT WARGAME book. The text was already saved in PDF format, as was the cover, so I expected that the final part of the process would take me about an hour or so. In fact, it took me slightly longer as I had not quite got the design of the cover right, but correcting my minor mistakes took less than ten minutes.
The final book cover design. In my original design I had not allowed for the fact that, during the printing process, the cover is trimmed. Some of the text was too close to the trim boundary, and would have been lost if I had left the design as it was. Luckily, Amazon KDP allows users to review their books before they finally proceed to the publication stage, and I was able to make the necessary changes in a matter of minutes.
I now have to wait for Amazon KDP to review the files I sent them, and once they have done that (a process that can take up to 72 hours), the printed edition book should be available for sale.
The book will be 120 pages long, have some colour illustrations, and be printed on white paper with a full-colour cover. It will be 6" x 9" in size (i.e. slightly larger than A5) and will be on sale for £14.99. That is a higher price than I had hoped to set, but it had to be that sort of price in order to cover the cost of the colour printing, Amazon KDPs commission etc.
As soon as the book is released for sale, I will announce it on my blog as well as on the Portable Wargame Facebook page and Portable Wargame iogroup.
Bob, its looking great, cannot wait to get hold of a copy. Paul
ReplyDeletePDL (Paul),
DeleteI hope that you won’t have to wait too long!
All the best,
Bob
This is good news and fingers crossed Amazon give the green light for publication:)
ReplyDeleteSteve J.,
DeleteAmazon KDP flagged up a minor problem with the cover ... and it took me less than five minutes to sort it out. The book has returned to their checking process, and with luck it should be released for publication in the next day or two.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteReally looking forward to this! I like the cover with the green background - seems English somehow (strains of Greensleeves playing in the background....).
All the best,
DC
David Crook,
DeleteI tried a variety of different colours, but the dark green seemed to go best with the photograph used on the cover.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteAll going well- it is like 'smooth sailing' and you'll realize your wish of publishing before you do into Hospital. Pleased for you that things are going to plan. Best Wishes. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteI’m pleased that I’ve managed to get the book to this stage in the publishing process before the end on November. It does mean that I can go into hospital in the knowledge that the book will be available for people to purchase in the run up to Christmas.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob -
ReplyDeleteIt's an attractive looking design and colour, and I do like the figures. The green will complement the colours of the companion PW volumes, methinks. I'll be placing my order shortly...
Cheers
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteCheers! It was my first real attempt to design a book cover from scratch ... and it was easier than I expected.
The choice of dark green for the cover was made after a few experiments with different colours ... and it seems to go well with the cover photograph.
The figures are from WoFun, and are plexiglass versions of Peter Dennis’ Paperboys figures as sold by Helion.
All the best,
Bob
The anticipation grows...........I must see about pre-ordering a copy. The cover does look good and those Wofun 'flats' are very tempting!
DeleteBarry Carter,
DeleteThe waiting is the worst part!
To my eyes, the WoFun figures certainly look good ... and I’ve ordered some ACW ones. This may well lead to me writing a Portable ACW book in the future ...
All the best,
Bob
Congratulations Bob on finishing another project when you wanted to complete it. Looking forward to seeing it.
ReplyDeleteNundanket,
DeleteThis book has been a long time in gestation, and now that it is ready for publication, I feel both elated and a bit empty at the same time. I will no doubt be looking around soon for another topic to write a wargame book about in the near future, and I already have several idea forming in my mind.
All the best,
Bob
Printing in colour is so tempting, isn't it, even when it isn't strictly necessary!
ReplyDeleteTrebian,
DeleteI had so many requests for colour images that I had to give in ... and after the success of PCW, it made sense to do what potential purchasers wanted.
All the best,
Bob
Waiting with bated breath...
ReplyDeletePatrickW,
DeleteSo am I! Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long.
All the best,
Bob
Have you made any decisions about a pdf version yet? All the best for next week.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Simon
Simon,
DeleteI’ve rather been caught out by the speed at which Amazon KDP have moved to get the printed and Kindle editions of the book published. This, coupled with the fact that I have a date for my forthcoming operation, has rather put my plans for releasing a PDF edition on hold. I’ll try to find a solution over the weekend, and if I do, I’ll mention it on my blog.
All the best,
Bob