This week I received the proofs of Change of Heart back from my proofreader. This is the final step that needs to happen before formatting and creating the ebook files for Kindle and the rest of the shops. I reviewed all the changes, noted where I need to have more commas (quite a lot of places!) and added a few words to my Americanism file. Then I set to work formatting the book ready for print.
Currently I'm using CreateSpace for the print books and they do have a good template to use. I've tweaked it a little bit and saved it as my own template and use this for my print books. It only takes about an hour to format. The big thing I have to do is to check the headers and footers on each page and make sure the section breaks are in the right place. Then I check to make sure all of my scene breaks look the same and all the chapter headings are the same. When I know how many pages my book will be, I send the number, book size and blurb to my cover designer who then creates the wraparound cover.
The other thing I've had to do is write a blurb for Blaze a Trail, which is book 3 in The Flanagan Sisters series. I like to put the blurb in the back of the book so readers can see when the next one is coming out. I'm not the greatest at writing blurbs, but my critique group has helped me out and I've now got one I'm happy with. I'll put all Blaze a Trail's details up on the website in the next few days.
Finally what I need to do is create the ebook files. This isn't too hard as both Kindle Direct Publishing and Draft2Digital can create these from a Word document and they turn out quite good. If there are any issues, they are really helpful at fixing them.
So my plan today is to order a proof copy of Change of Heart, and then to return to the editing of Blaze a Trail. I can't believe it's only about six weeks until Change of Heart is released!
