Sometimes Writing Is a Chore · 2 November 2024
I do not often feel so, but sometimes writing is a chore.
I love to write.
I love to rhyme.
But writing is a chore.
At least some of the time.
Like any job or career or lifestyle, writing is full of joy and pain. It is a job and it is a joy. And like any job, there are good and bad things about it. Even if you love it.
One of the things I hate about writing is preparing to publish. Getting things ready for the world is not always an easy task. Sure, blogging is easy. Just throw stuff out there and see what sticks. Anybody can do that. At least that is what I think sometimes. Then, there are other times when I know I am throwing poop out there, but do not have anything better. Ah, the joy of a publishing deadline. (Even self-imposed.)
As much as I sometimes dread the deadline of publishing my blog, publishing a book is even worse. At least if you want anybody to know about it.
I published my first works of fiction on Amazon as digital books only. I might have sold ten books in the several years since I first published. The worst part about that is that I have more than ten different titles out there for sale. And being the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided that I ought to publish the books in print. I got the first of my books ready.
(When I first started writing this blog post a bunch of years ago, I did not have as many tools as I do now. Some of them were not even in existence yet. And I did not know about some of the nuances of publishing with Amazon. So in reality, I am glad that I did not post the original form of this post way back when.)
At any rate.
Nowadays, Amazon has made it simple to publish print-on-demand books. You just choose what size of book you want, choose the paper you want, upload the cover, upload a pdf of your book, and voilà! You have a book ready for people to order and have in their hot little hands.
That is all well and good, but what about getting those books ready for Amazon?
I already posted a piece about my preferred software called Atticus. Atticus is actually really a service on a website where you format your books. At least that is what I do. I write my book in Word, edit it, then format it in Atticus. When I am satisfied, I save a PDF and upload it to Amazon. As long as I have the cover done, I have a book ready to go. Woo hoo! Another piece of drivel is out there on Amazon ready to be read by… Well. I have another book ready to sit on my digital shelf on Amazon. Still, even if nobody reads those books, they are out there ready to go.
My process is pretty streamlined now. I write my book. I edit my book. I format my book for both print and digital. I create a cover. I upload all the material. I use the Amazon ISBN. I set my price and do all the other stuff that Amazon requires. Then I wait. Usually, just for a day or two. Then, my book is ready. Ready to fly off the digital shelf into people’s e-readers or into people’s hands. Maybe publishing is not much of a chore after all.
I know I started out saying that sometimes writing is a chore, and sometimes it is, but mostly it is not.
I love to write.
I love to rhyme.
Writing is not a chore.
At least most of the time.
© 2024 Michael T. Miyoshi
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