I Don't Know What I'm Doing...and Why

Yesterday's flash of inspiration about combining some of my novellas into an anthology and creating a paperback for myself seemed like the best idea I've had in ages. I'm not writing anymore, and this would allow me to keep my hand in the publishing biz. All I'd need to do was the formatting.

Well, that's not exactly true.

I'm like the person who's never published a book before, who thinks, wow, it's easy! Just upload it to KDP and voila! (Kind of like me the first time I published.)

Combining four manuscripts onto one document was the easy part. I knew I'd want to create an ebook before I advanced to the paperback step, so I got the doc ready, with each chapter title formatted so that Kindle Create would recognize them as chapters, then dumped it into the app.

The first step after that was done was the app asking me to create a title page. A what now? Oh, I need a title? Shoot. I wrote yesterday about how my first (now unpublished) anthology had a terrible name. Now I needed a good one, but what? How do these four stories tie together? Maybe something about home? After all, the stories are either about leaving home or staying in a hometown or reluctantly returning home. I knew I didn't want to use the word "finding" again, due to unpleasant flashbacks; thus, I landed on "Touching Home". Now, I know what you're thinking. "Touching home" is a baseball term. Do I want potential readers to think my book is a baseball romance or a sports book? (Actually, "Touching Home" would be a great name for a baseball romance novel. Free to the first taker!) 

Right now, in lieu of finding (!) anything better, I'm sticking with "Touching Home".

But don't I need to signal to a reader somehow that this is four stories in one book? I'm a big believer in honest advertising, so I don't want to mislead anyone. Should I subtitle it, "An Anthology"? Or what? Maybe a series, so this could be Volume 1. I do intend to combine my remaining novellas into a second book anyway, which would be Volume 2. And everyone insists that a series is the way to go! People love series! (Really?) But Volume 1 of...The Touching Home Series? Isn't that redundant? "Touching Home, Volume 1 of The Touching Home Series". No, I need something better, and I have no idea what. 

And that would still not clear up any confusion that this is not one long novel. How many damn subtitles can I have? "Touching Home, Volume 1 of The Touching Home Series, Four Stories"? This is all getting too complicated. 

And what about a book cover? I've pretty much decided that I'm not going the self-designed cover route. None of Canva's templates are attractive in an eye-catching way. Nevertheless, I scrolled through them yesterday, hoping one might jump out at me. Through tough experience, I've learned that what Canva's cover templates are missing is, for lack of a better word, "shine". They're all flat--matte. Dull. Nothing like the cover Miblart designed for Running From Herself. Take a look at my book page and compare the first book to the others. The contrast jumps out at you.

Since this (or these) books will only be for myself, I'm not willing to pay big bucks for two covers. Thus, I'm leaning toward the $35.00 option, GetCovers. I initially viewed their portfolio before going with their parent company, and I was not impressed with their work, in the sense that they seem to be fine with fantasy, but little else. Still, I won't be asking for much; just covers that don't lull someone to sleep.

Then there are the little things, like penning a book introduction and making it sound not only like I'm an actual writer, but that it's a book full of fun engrossing stories. Later will come the blurb and the back cover copy. Damn, am I going to need to review Jessie Cunniffe's tips again? I never saw any tips about anthologies, so I suppose I'll be on my own.

And all this before I even reach the paperback formatting stage! The worst part!

As it stands now, I'm doubting my title, I don't know what the subtitle should be, I don't know how to label the book as an anthology, I can't seem to write a decent book introduction, I'm dreading the blurb. 

Things are going great!

Sure, I could just quit while I'm ahead, but that's not me. I choose to get 7/8ths through the process before quitting (kidding!) Everything now depends on whether I can format the book to my satisfaction, which will only be another eighth, before I decide to give up.

To be continued...