After completing the steps to publish the electronic version of DEADLY STING yesterday, I decided there was no time like the present to go through the paper version as well. So, I reformatted the document for paper, logged out a new ISBN number (an ISBN is a unique number used to identify the publisher and the work. Every book published over the past twenty years or so, except those published by vanity presses, is assigned one of these numbers. There's a company which proudly sells numbers. If you can afford to buy ten thousand of them, they're pretty cheap. If you're self-publishing, you buy ten and they cost a fortune. I bought a thousand, and those should last me a very long time at roughly two a month. The ISBN authority is trying to push the idea of assigning a unique ISBN for each eBook format, which I think is logical, considering they sell them, but crazy from the standpoint of the publisher.

Once I'd formatted the book, I created a PDF version (I use Open Office to create PDFs), and uploaded it to the printer. I then got to work with PhotoShop to create the cover. Karen had already made me a front cover, so all I needed was to do the spine and back cover. That taken care of, I put in the third itteration of the paperback version of Ken Ingle's FIRST CONTACT. Both books should be available in paperback soon.

Karen and I walked to the post office, then had our little critique group. She didn't have anything ready for me, so I read ILLEGAL by Paul Levine, which I enjoyed. I'll probably post a review on Thursday. I didn't get much writing done, but I did start reading Karen's sniper book. Very exciting.

I'm going to make ACROSS THE RAINBOW by Victoria Chancellor the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. Challenged by his young daughter to fly across the rainbow, a charter aircraft pilot does so--only to end up in the past. There he meets a beautiful woman, but how can he stay with his new love when his daughter is waiting on the other side of the rainbow? Emotional and moving. Only $3.99. (Available in HTML, Adobe Acrobat PDF, eReader, and Microsoft Reader formats.). Here's the link: http://www.booksforabuck.com/rompages/rom_2005/across_rainbow.html

Here's the cover:

rob