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| At Amazon - soon to be in print |
Some of you may have heard me say this
before—I’ve been vocal enough in my frustration—but those “brilliant” techies
who designed Word 2010 can only be described as sadists. I’ve just finished
formatting three books for CreateSpace. I had help from my blog host—yes you,
Ellis—who sat down with me in a restaurant halfway between our houses and
showed me how to format the first book, step by step. We switched to Word 2003,
a much more user-friendly program, because even a seasoned tech writer like
Ellis thinks Word 2010 sucks. My lesson went well, one book done, so off I went
to do book two. Easy, peasy, right?
Um, not when I got home. I resisted
throwing the computer out the window at least a dozen times, but because I have
a major character flaw called persistence, I forged ahead. (Okay, I sent the
file to Ellis a couple of times to straighten out the section breaks and the
pages. I admit it.) But I had another problem. My Photoshop program is on the
computer with Word 2010, so I have to send the file to CreateSpace from that
computer. Surprisingly, and after a lot of hair-pulling, I got the second book
finished in Word 2003 on one computer and sent it to myself to open on the
other. The formatting held.
Sound effects—heavenly music from above.
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| At Amazon - soon to be in print |
I thought it might be Firefox, so I ran
it through on Explorer. Same thing. Rejected. I called my credit card company. (They
love me, by the way. I really don’t know why. I never pay a finance charge. But
I digress.) So I went back to CreateSpace. They said it was my CVV code. Same
code I used three weeks before. I told them I’ve never had so much trouble
trying to give a company my money. They assured me they wanted my money.
We had a long telephone conversation.
The customer service representative had a lovely, lilting English/Indian
accent. I understood her. She understood me. She contacted the tech people
while I was on the phone. She was really trying to help. They insisted it was
my CVV code. I insisted it wasn’t. She said they’d get back to me.
So I worked on book three.
I don’t consider myself totally tech
challenged; in fact, I’m really not bad for an old broad learning new tricks. I
even do my own book covers on Photoshop, do my own website. But every time I
thought I had the third book finished—this in Word 2003—I scrolled up and there
were headings where they shouldn’t be, numbers on another line, pages
disappearing when I scrolled—seriously. I thought I was seeing things. Now you
see it, now you don’t.
Did that stop me from torturing myself?
Not even close. I got what I thought was a good document, sent it to CS. Their
proof looked a mess. Backward, in fact. Enough of Word, back to the sample
books. I called CreateSpace again. Another lovely service rep. The credit card
validating company is closed until Monday. She will get back to me. Meanwhile,
she’s sending my samples free of charge. I didn’t argue.
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| www.pollyiyer.com |
By the time this blog posts, I may have
an update. It’s Saturday, 5 o’clock. I’m on the way to the fridge for a beer—or
maybe something stronger.
Monday, 5 o’clock. After all the fuss
and phone calls, it turns out it wasn’t my CVV code that they insisted was the
problem. It was the expiration date. It was still the same expiration date that
was in their file, so I don’t know why it decided to kick back. I peeled the
egg off my red face, entered the profile again with the updated expiration
date, and made a dummy sale that Sara, the wonderful customer service rep, said
she’d delete. Bingo. The sale went through. Sara couldn’t delete it. So she
didn’t charge me for that book either. I’m feeling a little guilty getting five
sample books for free. After all, it was really my fault. I offered to pay. She
refused. I guess I’ll just have to live with Amazon’s generosity.
Time for my afternoon libation before I
send the next proof to CreateSpace.
____________________
Polly is the author of Insight, Hooked, Murder Déjà Vu, and Mind Games
____________________
Polly is the author of Insight, Hooked, Murder Déjà Vu, and Mind Games
30 comments:
I've only thought about formatting books, and it's caused me great anxiety. Once, my cc wouldn't get approved. The cc I was using had my middle initial. Seems I wasn't supposed to type the period after my initial--that was the reason it wouldn't go through. The arbitrary protocols some programmers set up on sites is ridiculous.
My daughter's laptop had Windows 7 with Word 2010. First, I don't like the file structure of Windows 7 so when I failed to install Windows 7 replacing Vista, I decided maybe it was all for the best. I didn't like Word 2010 either. I'm using 2007 and like it much better.
You earned your libations! Great picture--cute dog. Sitting by the water is one of my life goals. I love your books, Polly--so even with the frustration--keep up the great work.
Thank you, Elaine. I'm glad to see these things happen to others. I am now friends with every customer service rep at CreateSpace, although I doubt they see it the same way. I really do wish it hadn't been my fault, though.
I also do my own formatting and have had some of the same problems you mention, Polly.
I have Word 2007, but like 2003 better for formatting because it's easier to work with headers.
I've done three books on Create Space and am getting more comfortable with it, but the tech support team on the phones there deserve champagne and flowers this Christmas. They're outstanding.
I'm gearing up for my fourth book, which I hope to release in late summer...and that one has divider pages between sections. A new challenge.
I do believe we're a little nuts, Steve. Not to mention obsessive-compulsive, anal retentive, and control freaky (had to turn that into an adjective). Stubborn? Definitely. Stupid? Hmm. There must be a part of us that enjoys the torture. Masochistic?
I get frustrated with Word 2010 and I just use it for everyday writing, recipes etc. Those of you who format books are champions.
I hate later versions of Word. They aren't making it better. Congrats to you,Polly, on making it through the process. I've had my own tech challenges with my PageMaker and PDF software. After some mystery update (that I didn't want), whenever I export PageMaker files to create a PDF file the PDF file is encrypted and some online printers can't take them. Work around involved placing the PDF file in Photoshop and creating a TIF. Ye gods. Could they make things any more difficult?
I couldn't have completed any of these books without Ellis. I keep asking her what she did that I didn't do, and she can't tell me, because she fiddles until it works. I fiddle until I'm on the verge of hysteria. Good thing no one can hear my foul language. Thanks Onisha and Linda for dropping by. These programs seem to push unwanted buttons.
OMG, do I sympathize!!! I've had similar problems, and some that are so bizarre (like having the same 16 page number repeat from beginning to last page) that I've had to start over. Every time I think I've conquered every glitch know, a new one pops up. It's like trying to juggle Jello. You just can't anticipate the next wiggle in order to prevent it from happening!
Thank you, Susan. I am feeling so much better. I was beginning to think I was alone out there in Word hell. I love the juggling Jello simile. I couldn't have said it more perfectly.
I bow to your perseverance, Polly. You've put your finger on why I've [thus far] refused to indie publish. I grappled with Word daily in my former life and refuse to go back. If I am to spend endless hours struggling with formatting documents, I may as well give up writing, return to my 9 to 5, and make some real money. The notion of hiring someone else to format my novel seems ludicrous.
These days, I write on a Mac. Word for Mac is a weak and crippled stepchild of the PC version, but at least it's consistent. In four years, I've never had a corrupted file and everything stays where it's supposed to, including section breaks, headers, and page numbers. For a one-time Word power user, this borders on a miracle.
I wish I had a Mac, Viva, but my son bought me a Lenovo, and one should never look a gift horse in the mouth. (Cliche alert!)
Indie publishing is a big step, and one should be sure that the validation a large press, or even a small one, offers is more important than getting your work out there. For me, it wasn't. Maybe if I were thirty or forty. But I'm not. But certainly, a Word program that does what it's supposed to would make life a lot easier. Maybe there's a Mac in my future. :-)
Polly, I absolutely HATE Microsoft Word in all its versions! Too bad we're stuck with it when we need to format our books.
I write on a Mac using their Pages program, which plays nice, and when I did my Christmas short on CreateSpace, I wound up doing almost all of it in Pages.
But formatting for print is really trick. The prospect of doing that with an entire novel daunts me, so hats off to you, Ellis, and Steve and anyone else with the brains and moxie (and persistence) to navigate all that.
So excited that your novels are coming out in print! Now I can finally order them and dive in.
Best wishes.
Thanks you, Nancy. Three will be ready soon, the fourth this summer. Since you asked me to let you know, I was definitely going to email you.
I'll join the parade of those who wish Microsoft would tell us that Word 2007 and later were all bad April Fool's jokes and we're going back to the prior versions that we all got used to and were comfortable with. I've had Word 2007 for three years now and I still hate it; still have to search the help file to figure out how to do things I could manage with a couple of clicks in the old version
Karen, Ellis and I were talking about sending all these emails to Microsoft. Somehow I think they've heard this multiple times over. As I said, those people are sadists.
Arrrgh! How frustrating! Congrats on making it through.
"I told them I’ve never had so much trouble trying to give a company my money. They assured me they wanted my money." = LMAO.
I'm not through yet, CK. I have one more book to go. Thanks to Ellis for saving me from hari kiri.
Even though I got a few presents from CreateSpace, they will get my money soon enough. I feel really, really bad that I got 5 books for free, including shipping. (Not really, really. Just a little.) But Amazon has a few more dollars than I do, so I doubt they'll miss my $40.
Oh great. I have to put a book on Createspace this month and I have a newer version of Word than I had the last time I did it. I had MSOffice 2003 on my old computer and tried to copy it over onto my new one, but I don't think it worked.
Glad you got it done, Polly--wish me luck!
You'll need it, Kaye. Or maybe not. I expect a full report. :-)
I feel for you, Polly. I did three books with Ingram's Lightning Source, pre-Createspace, and now I've done several with CS (oh, and even my very first novel with BookSurge which morphed into CS.)
I use a Mac and it's still hard. I've resisted upgrading my Word 2008 for Mac. Now I'm glad! (Really just cheap, which is also why I do my own formatting and covers, like you!)
The weird thing is, some of the books went straight through, smooth as silk, while others were a mess. Sort of like e-book formatting. Do you have any hair left? :-)
Persistence: that's what makes you a published author!
Lise
Thanks for stopping by, Lise. You're right about persistence. That's what it takes to be a writer. Add patience to the brew while you're at it. It's a whole new world out there, and if I'm being honest, I like the control of being my own publisher/designer. I had a terrific agent for two years, and all I did was wait--wait for her to send things out, wait for editors to get back to her. Then the process started all over again. I love this new world.
Well, I *am* totally tech-challenged, so this post made me laugh. Sadists. Still laughing.
The humor is written out of pain, Jenny. There are still problems, so I'm not quite ready to laugh. I received proofs yesterday, and though the books look gorgeous, there's still line spacing off. The whole project is making me wonder why I just didn't let them remain ebooks. Thanks for stopping by.
This all sounds really daunting, Polly. I've managed to put two books up on Kindle, but the next one will also go on CreateSpace, if I can do it. One thing I found that might help is to highlight the whole manuscript and hit Normal in Styles. Have you ever tried that? Then go through line by line to check for spacing. Let me know if this works!
Jan, I enter the MS in Styles/Normal. I can format the body fine. That's not problem. The problem is the header. Wait. You'll see. It's easier in Word 2003, but it's not easy. Seriously, let me know.
I am in the middle of this process and totally appreciate this post! Thanks Polly. Now I don't feel as dorky.
Polly,
Good for you for finally getting your books up on Create Space. I have a similar story. "It took a village" for me to get two books up on Create Space. Not a village, actually, but lots of help from experts. It shouldn't be that difficult.
It is mind boggling when dealing with technology. Most of the time you talk to a computer activated voice and the real person doesn't exist. Glad you finally were able to get it all ironed out. Good luck.
I had no idea there was so much frustration out there. Polly and I have kept each other sane (mostly) through this. It's not CreateSpace that's the problem. It's Word. The body text is fine. It's the headers, sections, and page numbers that drive you to violence. And what you put in doesn't always stay in. WordPerfect was SOOOOO much better.
But in the end, Polly's books--all terrific stories by the way--have excellent formatting. :-) She did it!
Gwen, I had no problem at all with CreateSpace. In fact, they couldn't have been more helpful. They even called me when I was having trouble with the credit card. If Amazon is number one, there's a reason for it. Their customer service is unequaled. But that %@*^% Word. Marilyn, you're right. It shouldn't be that difficult. Pamela, all I can say is good luck. You are about to embark on an experience. I hope it's not like mine. Off to put the finishing touches on the next batch for samples. Would you believe some of the bottom line spacing was off? Sure you would.
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