Well, it really is a great feeling to push that final “submit” button after you’ve uploaded the cover, the file, and all of the metadata and other information that Amazon asks for. And behold – only an hour later, my second book, titled The Lafayette Campaign, a Tale of Deception and Elections, magically appeared on line. What a great feeling.

Now, don’t everyone just run out and order it at the same time. Of course, on the other hand, who’s stopping you?

I have to say that taking this book from a manuscript to a finished project was a much, much, much easier and pleasant experience than it was with my first book, where I worked with a package publisher that provided one-stop shopping but which was much slower, was much more expensive, had poorer quality control, doesn’t allow me to control pricing easily or view sales in real time, pays royalties (erratically) six months after sales and, well, I could go on.

What made all the difference was the partner I chose to do business with this time. Suffice it to say that I would highly recommend Glendon Haddix and Streetlight Graphics to any author for book design, file conversion and cover design. I plan to do a post comparing the two approaches in greater detail in the near future, but for now let me just say that Glendon was a delight to work with – fast, responsive, efficient and skilled. Moreover, from the date I sent my text file to him to the date the book went live at Amazon was exactly 30 days – about as quickly as I think it’s possible to get a quality job accomplished.

What happens next?I’ve already submitted the interior and cover for the print version to CreateSpace and am awaiting a physical copy to review before pushing it live, which should happen in a few days. In the meantime, I’ll also upload the files to LightningSource to access additional channels.

I’ve decided to go exclusive at Amazon for 90 days so that I can do a few free giveaways and to see how I otherwise like the KDP Select program. When I decide to opt out (likely after the first 90 days runs out), I’ll upload the various files also prepared by Streetlight to Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple and Google.

Now, of course, it’s time to convert my efforts to getting the word out and promoting The Lafayette Campaign. Any assistance that any of you might feel inclined to help me do that would, of course, be most sincerely appreciated. And reviews would (also of course) be very welcome indeed.

Finally, thanks to all of you that have provided encouragement and advice along the way. It’s been greatly appreciated.