Whatta Mess

I admit I’m not so skilled with html and so forth but I believed if I just took things slowly and went through all the steps in the process, nothing could go wrong uploading Sugar Shack to Kindle. Plus I could preview the book before publishing it. Except somehow I wasn’t able to preview it.  My first error probably occurred before then. Maybe when I converted the file to a web based filter? Choosing the wrong font? Missing extra spaces before tabs? Not including the cover image in the web file?

All of the above and then some, as I found out when I turned on my Kindle, typed in “sugar shack” and saw, among a few other novels titled Sugar Shack, my own book listed for sale. The one I had oh so carefully uploaded just a few hours earlier. I was a little put off by those other books with the same title. I should have checked that first. Except Sugar Shack really is the perfect title for my book. (And I’m not the only author who thinks so!)

But I was pretty excited to see it there anyway and quickly bought a copy. That’s when the real woe began. First I noticed there was no cover image. Then I saw that the spacing was a little off. Then the type looked funny. Too light with commas that were almost indecipherable from the periods. And I use a lot of commas. The worst though was all of those double tabbed paragraphs. My book looked horrible and would not, I am convinced, be a good Kindle reading experience.

I sat and stewed for a few minutes. I turned on the news and tried to focus on yet another story about the heat. I want to know what happened in Norway! I already know it’s hot outside in Michigan. I clicked off the news and went back to Kindle to see if I could unpublish my book. After a bit of clicking around, suddenly a page appeared with the words “unpublish this book.” I clicked it immediately. Then I kept checking to see if the title would disappear from my page. (I already have a book on Kindle, formatted by someone with much more skill at these things than myself).

It didn’t go away instantaneously, so I poured a glass of wine. Then I wrote this. Now I’m checking my Kindle again to see if Sugar Shack by Cynthia Harrison is still for sale. Hang on a sec. Crap. It’s still on there. I’m sure the unpublish function will kick in soon. Meanwhile, I’ve got a nice cold glass of chardonnay waiting. This too shall pass. And the incident in Norway today helps me keep my little mess in perspective.