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Thanks to all the free publicity, sales have taken off. Most are local, and I’m offering free delivery. I drive an all-electric car that I charge at home where we are solar-powered, so I don’t pollute when I drive. It’s been a lot of fun seeing new areas of San Diego, and visiting with old […]

My collaborator and I were interviewed by the local public radio station. Listen here. As a result, I have had a bunch of book orders from people I don’t know. Now it feels like I’m getting somewhere. I’m into my second printing of 100 books, and approaching the break even point financially to cover those […]

I ordered the second printing of 100 books. I thought my graphics person and I communicated clearly, but I didn’t double check. And, indeed, the second printing had a different flaw than the first run. There are two pages in the wrong order, resulting in a full spread of two blank ones. Not what I […]

I’ve almost depleted my first printing of 100 books. More than half have been purchased, the rest were gifts or complimentary copies for promotional purposes. Don’t despair – another 100, even better than the first printing, are on their way. I’m pleased that there is strong interest – several schools are considering the book for […]

When you sell a product, you have to pay sales tax in California. Book sales on Etsy take care of themselves – Etsy collects the tax and remits it on my behalf. If I sell books directly, which I’ve done for local folks, then I am responsible for collecting and submitting the sales tax. Most […]

I received my first printing of 100 books! Because I neglected to get my Library of Congress Catalog Number ahead of time, we added it after the fact, and I have begun shipping orders. Very exciting!! If you are not local, please order through my Etsy shop. If you live in or near Encinitas, send […]

Today I uploaded the text and cover to the publishing site and ordered ten examination copies. With the help of Laura, my graphics consultant, we finalized the cover and sent the whole thing off. I’m grateful to have Laura’s help. It’s not enough to have a front and back cover. The publishing site calculates the […]

I worked at NASA for quite a few years, so I can’t help use nerdy NASA language … the countdown is complete, I’ve ordered the first 100 copies of my book, and now I’m just waiting for them to be delivered to me so I can deliver them to you. There were a few typos […]

Yesterday I got the ten pre-print copies of the book. Very exciting!! Turns out we didn’t quite get the format right, and there were two blank pages and a few other glitches in the introductory section – the part you number in Roman numerals before you get to the real pages with real page numbers. […]

My book is written. It has been illustrated and edited. Now it’s in the hands of a graphics expert who is laying out the pages so that the margins are correct for binding, so that pages end in the right places, so that the headings and page numbers are inserted properly and so that all […]

Before I was elected, and before I had read anything useful like I hope this book will be, I tried to understand the pension situation in Encinitas. Residents were raising alarms about unfunded pension liabilities and elected Council members were trying to reassure everyone that the situation was under control. I kept hearing “it’s complicated,” […]

ISBN, LCCN, bar code, price, author bio, cover design, … these are all items I need to figure out in order to finalize my book and get it printed. I thought writing would be the most challenging part of this project. It has been four years since I decided I would write some kind of […]

Self-publishing authors are expected to create a social media presence, including a website. This is definitely NOT my area of expertise. But with a little help from a friend and the help desks at Word Press and Bluehost, it seems I have succeeded. Rudimentary, for sure, but it’s here. If you are reading this, it’s […]