Category: Book updates

I received a message from an acquaintance on Twitter this evening that his book finally arrived. As part of the book release, I have paid for a handful of copies to be sent to various media outlets and heavy equipment associations. These copies should help spread the word about R. G.’s Overland Trains and set accurate history in motion.

After comparing the PDF proof that Amazon generates versus what is printed in the book, I am confident that the content is comparable. After making some formatting changes, mainly on the cover, I ordered a 2nd author’s proof to make sure that the cover image lightening and image alignment were as I wanted them. The first author’s proof showed me that the book cover was too dark and there was a portion of the sky that was at the top-left corner – very distracting.

On the most recent author’s proof, you can see substantially more detail and more of the Sno-Train than in the first edit. Much improved.

I received the author’s proof a few days ago. Since then, I have paged through the entire book and made some minor corrections, mostly formatting. In order to release the Kindle and the paper book at the same time, I moved the LIVE date on the eBook to make sure this could happen. I also made some formatting changes to the book cover. It was a little too dark and I moved the Sno-Train over to the right side a little more. That way, you can see the inside of the rim.

Next steps are to order another author’s proof and make sure everything is the way that I want it.

An author’s proof is a non-retail book printing for the author’s review. This is the final review step before releasing the book to the public for sale. I paid a little over $24 per author’s proof plus shipping and handling. Once I review the proof, I can submit it for approval or make edits. I read yesterday that one author reviewed three different proof versions before going live for sale.

The next steps are for me to review the book and make text or formatting corrections if any are needed. If none are needed, then the book will go live 24-72 hours after I hit the “publish” button. If I need to make corrections, I will submit for another author’s proof to make sure that they were formatted the way that I want.

I finished the manuscript for the Overland Trains story this morning. Once I uploaded it to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), it presented me with a printing cost per region.

I was then able to select a book price. I wanted to price the book at $35-$50 to make it more available. Amazon wants royalties too. My minimum cost to buyers would be $42.37. I chose to list the book at $50. I’ll make $4.58 per book based on that list price. I think that is fair.

I ordered two proof copies that should be available and delivered in about a week. Once I receive the copy, I will review it for any last minute corrections and then make it live. I still hope to have it ready for purchase by September 14th.

The Amazon Kindle eBook is available for pre-order on Amazon.com. Click on the thumbnail cover below

I finished corrections to the Kindle eBook version this morning. I uploaded the file to the Kindle platform for automated review, which should take up to 72 hours. I am working on the Paperback version, which incorporates some amazing and largely unpublished images from the Overland Trains story.

I completed final edits this week. I have incorporated the Foreward and Acknowledgements pages.

I have one section in the Sno-Train’s history that is still in the works and should be finished up this week. Once that is complete, the next steps are to strip out the images tags for the Kindle book version. Kindle does not portray images well at all. I will have one image of the Sno-Train in the Kindle version. Otherwise, it is all text. The image tags are placed in the book to position them for the color paper book version. They are merely placeholders for me when I start formatting images.

I am still shooting for September 14, 2022 and a tentative pre-release date for both Kindle and color paper copy.