"Unveiling" - Publishing Status Update

Unveiling: The Inner Journey - "Personal Empowerment" Means Taking Total Responsibility

I'm getting a good lesson in taking total responsibility for my creations right now.

Of course, one of the basic themes of metaphysics is that we create our reality - all of it. So if there's something that we like, it's our reality-creation. And if there's something that we don't like - the same.

Let me digress for a momen. In this blog, I'm often writing at three different levels. The first is about the actual content and material of Unveiling.

The second is sharing from my life how to put the Unveiling teachings and principles into action. If it is part of the more abstract or conceptual learning, it will go here. That means things like: understanding and using our archetypes, doing our personal integration, discerning whether we are on a "Heroine's Quest" or an "Inanna-Descent," or other aspect of our pathworking, etc.

The third "level" of writing is sharing the actual day-to-day pragmatics of being an author; not just writing a book, but getting it into publication, sharing the word, etc. For details on becoming an author as a means of generating revenue, see my scientific/technical/business blog.

What follows is a combination of levels two and three; the pragmatics of getting a book into print (level 3) and how this relates to pathworking.

Once more, Unveiling is "back in the shop."

Two weeks ago, I completed (yet another) full-pass edit/proof, and found well more than 100 tiny-little changes. (I call these the "comma/semi-colon edits"; they're not always that, but they are minutia of that level.) When there are over 100 changes, instead of submitting a "changes list," the thing to do is just a full "manuscript resubmission." Which I did. Contacted my CreateSpace Publishing Consultant, Travis Craine (who is a dear, by the way, and who really tries to work with me). Agreed to the manuscript resubmission, paid my fee, and my credit card was duly hit. I uploaded the new manuscript.

I knew enough now to call up and confirm that they had the manuscript. Had a lovely little chat with someone on my "Team" at CreateSpace. She told me that they were "a little busy" (codeword for completely swamped), and that I would get my newly-laid-out digital interior proof towards the end of the timeframe usually allocated for this.

So I focused on other things, and gave this a week. Actually, a tad more than a week - I uploaded on Monday of last week, and didn't recheck until yesterday (Tuesday; eight days after manuscript resubmission).

Big mistake. (Did I mention this "total responsibility" thing?)

There on my "Message Board" from CreateSpace was a little note -- I needed to go pay them a fee. Well, damn, I'd already paid them a fee. A quick call cleared that up. But -- eight days are now lost. I told them that it was their job to move this project to the "head of the list" since it was their fault that they had boffled their own system.

The response, from the sweet young man at their end, was that they were "extremely busy right now" (codeword for "completely overwhelmed"). Fine, I understand, and I'll keep putting the pressure on them until they do move this project up.

So the thing is - here's where "total responsibility" comes into play - as an author who has chosen to self-publish (no one forced that decision on me; I could have gone with a regular "publishing house" and cut my profit margin by two-thirds), there is no one who really cares about the progress of this book except me. Not my "Publishing Consultant." That's not his job, really. He'll help when I ask, but the bottom line is that moving my book through the system is my job, not his.

So here we are -- back on top of CreateSpace once again.

They do a pretty decent job, by the way. I've been pleased with their layout design and implementation. (They send these tasks out to one of their free-lance specialists; I've been happy enough with the work done so far.) But this is the second major time that they've boffled the work flow process at their end, and it all has to do - more or less - with their software tracking system, but at the end of the day, it's a matter of accountability and who's keeping their eye on the ball.

And at the end of the day, for the self-publishing author, that has to be the author him or herself.

Enough on this topic for now. Will go lean on Travis and my CreateSpace Team just a little, and after marketing and curriculum design, there is always the index to finish.

And still, I continue to recommend to friends who have a "knowledge-based business" (teaching, consulting, or doing specialized work) that they publish or produce their work so that it can teach or communicate in their place. And for the rationale, please visit my scientific/technical/business blog.