by
kow626
on Fri 20 Jun 2008 03:39 PM EDT
Things have certainly been changing and moving pretty fast on my end. Phase 5 of my phase plan (update this site, catalog and insure all my valuables) is supposed to come before Phase 6 (publish my first book). But lately it seems like they’ve been blending with one another. I’m still updating the site but I’ve also fast-tracked some other things in Phase 6. But it’s a good thing even if it’s a bit overwhelming.
I won’t be doing a physical book first anymore. Now I’m gonna publish a series of ebooks and later on collect them all into my first book. The ebooks will consist of the short stories, poems, etc. and they’ll be absolutely free. They’ll be published under the ‘Following the Syllabus’ imprint. And my publishing company is called ‘as-is publishing.’ I chose that because I like the way it sounds. All titles will begin with “This is an as-is publication” and end with “This has been an as-is publication.” I think it’s cool. Just a couple days ago I purchased a block of 10 ISBN’s for a total of $275. I opted for the 15-day processing cuz I don’t need the shit done urgently and it’s cheaper. I think it’ll be ISBN-13 which’ll save me a lot of hassle. My reasons for doing so are so that I can publish my own shit without worrying about anyone else fucking with my creative process. And it’ll be my company, my quality, and most importantly I’ll have full creative control and ownership. I won’t use them for the ebooks, just for the physical books.
Along with that, as the ebooks are distributed, I’ll copyright the individual works beforehand since the government requires what they call a ‘best edition.’ That means your work has to be of the highest quality possible that you plan on selling/distributing. It can’t just be a text file that I register since most of my work is like that. Well, it can be, but that ain’t what I wanna do. Primarily, I’ll be using .pdf format. I’ll also have .doc, .docx, .txt, and .rtf for a greater selection to be used on different portable devices and computers. I don’t like the html .exe’s. It’s an option but not one that I care for. I don’t like the look and feel. Plus if you’re gonna be at a computer anyway, the other ones do the job just fine. .lit is out for me too. I don’t think it’s worth the hassle for a format that isn’t widely used. But I could change my mind when the time comes. We’ll see.
I’ve registered my websites already: followingthesyllabus.com and as-ispublising.com through Go Daddy which is the same I use for this and themaskedguardian.com. I’m just now finding out that they have a free hosting plan for new domain purchases. So now I’ll have to plan those sites and alter the MG (Masked Guardian) site. I used the new eCO system for copyrighting. But I can’t use it till I’ve done the first ebook to acceptable quality. That means I gotta grab some Adobe software. I’m gonna wait for Acrobat 9, so it’s gonna be a month. But I also need to create vector graphic logos so I might grab some of their other stuff, like Illustrator, and teach myself how to use it like I did everything else I know about computers. Had to do a little bit of research to learn that Illustrator was the standard in graphics design. Photoshop was the first thing that came to mind but that ain’t what I need. I’m not familiar with Corel products either. I’ve been using Adobe products for quite a while now so they win.
I could grab a torrent and keygen for free right now but I wanna try the trial versions instead; none of which are available till July 1st. Sucks for me. See what happens when you wanna go legit? And they wonder why motherfuckers dl shit illegally instead. Supply and demand. Simple ass business. I already have the logo designs in my head. I’m most looking forward to creating a more polished MG logo and finally put it on a t-shirt. I’ve been wanting to do that since forever. Damn character is still holding up after 20 damn years. Can’t wait to share all that work with everyone.
The domains cost 14.14 total: 6.95 for the domains, 6.99 for private registration (plus the 20 cent ICANN fee). I used the promo code oyh3 to get a $3 discount on the domains. They come with 1 free email account with 100mb storage in addition to the free economy hosting plan. I don’t know the full specs on that yet but I’ll figure it out in due time.
The first published story is gonna be Dodo. It’s the one that got the most praise when workshopped and has the most cross-genre potential. Distribution will most likely be via this blog and then when I finally get all the other stuff up and running for the other sites, that’ll be where this section will move to and all updates and posts related to my published work will be available there. I’m pretty excited. I won’t say this is what I’ve always wanted in my life but it is what I’ve come to want at this point. Social networking is gonna be another thing as far as promotion goes. I’ve already got MySpace. Now I gotta spiff that up too. It’s gonna be a long, grinding, painful road ahead but it’s worth it. I’m not complaining one bit. I love it. But for now, I’ll stick to updating here and I have no choice but to wait for Adobe to release their trials and Acrobat 9 so I can get part of my show on the road.
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