Life Leverage: my new nonfiction project

Over at Hypno NZ I've just announced Life Leverage: Simple techniques to improve your health and wellbeing.

The project is a book-and-CD combo, with the hypnotherapy tracks on the CD supporting the changes that the book talks about making.

I've created a mailing list where you can sign up for updates on this and my other hypnotherapy-related projects, such as audio recordings and videos. The idea is to assess demand so that I can decide what kind of a print-and-distribution model to adopt.

If health is a topic that interests you, please take a look. I try to stay on the scientific end of the health advice spectrum and make sure that my recommendations are well supported, but at the same time treat human beings as human beings and not squishy machines.

City of Masks about to be published at last

I finally decided to stop waiting until I was happy with the game for City of Masks and just publish the novel without it.

I'm going through CreateSpace, since that gets me straight into Amazon (who own CreateSpace). So far it seems pretty straightforward.

I've used LyX for my typesetting, which was somewhat frustrating for a while but I finally figured out how to get it doing what I wanted. It's one of those programs that has two levels: Incredibly basic and very, very technical. I managed not to stray too far into the very, very technical side but it did take me some messing about. I'll be able to use it much faster next time.

I did the cover in Inkscape, because I find the Gimp totally unintuitive; I always end up frustrated whenever I try to use it. I should probably download GimpShop, which skins the Gimp to look like Photoshop. Not that I've used Photoshop for years, but it may be an easier interface to work with.

The cover illustration of the mask comes from an Italian artist, appropriately enough, at DeviantArt (donia.deviantart.com). She very kindly let me use it for free with acknowledgement.

So my total outlay for getting my book into print (and distribution) will be $5.71 USD plus shipping, for the proof to be printed and sent to me for approval. Amazing.

Publishing certainly has changed since I were a lad.

Journey in Four Directions - Publisher Interest

Just heard from my agent (that feels good to say). A publisher is interested in looking at The Journey in Four Directions: Ways of Becoming in Everyday Life.

And that feels even better to say.

Nothing definite yet, of course, but it's further than I've ever got before.

Self-publishing

So I've been doing some comparisons between Lulu and Lightning Source in terms of POD publishing. Figures in USD:

Lulu:
• Setup fee: 0.00
• Per book: purchased via Lulu 4.53, via distribution channels 1.50.
• Per page: 0.02
• Distribution/catalogue fee: 99.95, one off (gets you to Amazon, B&N etc.)
• Proof copy: whatever the normal price + shipping turns out to be; required
• ISBN barcode must be manually included
• Publisher must be Lulu (unless you are US-based) in order to have distribution outside the Lulu site.
• US only

Lightning Source:
• Setup fee: 50.00 for cover, 0.15 per page (electronic)
• Per book: 0.90
• Per page: 0.013 (0.015 for publisher direct orders, i.e. sold off my website, plus $1.50 per order handling, plus shipping)
• Distribution/catalogue fee: 12.00 per year
• Proof copy: 30.00 per copy; required
• ISBN barcode automatically included
• Publisher can be me.
• Also UK - separate setup, similar terms.

So being the nerd I am, I did a spreadsheet, and it looks like this:

Num pages	Num books	Per book (Lulu)	Per book (LSI)	Better deal
100	1	113.45	157.20	Lulu
100	10	14.50	17.70	Lulu
100	20	9.00	9.95	Lulu
100	25	7.90	8.40	Lulu
100	30	7.17	7.37	Lulu
100	40	6.25	6.08	LSI
100	50	5.70	5.30	LSI
100	100	4.60	3.75	LSI
100	200	4.05	2.98	LSI
100	500	3.72	2.51	LSI
100	1000	3.61	2.36	LSI
100	2000	3.55	2.28	LSI
100	3000	3.54	2.25	LSI
100	5000	3.52	2.23	LSI
150	1	114.45	165.35	Lulu
150	10	15.50	19.10	Lulu
150	20	10.00	10.98	Lulu
150	25	8.90	9.35	Lulu
150	30	8.17	8.27	Lulu
150	40	7.25	6.91	LSI
150	50	6.70	6.10	LSI
150	100	5.60	4.48	LSI
150	200	5.05	3.66	LSI
150	500	4.72	3.18	LSI
150	1000	4.61	3.01	LSI
150	2000	4.55	2.93	LSI
150	3000	4.54	2.90	LSI
150	5000	4.52	2.88	LSI
200	1	115.45	173.50	Lulu
200	10	16.50	20.50	Lulu
200	20	11.00	12.00	Lulu
200	25	9.90	10.30	Lulu
200	30	9.17	9.17	Lulu
200	40	8.25	7.75	LSI
200	50	7.70	6.90	LSI
200	100	6.60	5.20	LSI
200	200	6.05	4.35	LSI
200	500	5.72	3.84	LSI
200	1000	5.61	3.67	LSI
200	2000	5.55	3.59	LSI
200	3000	5.54	3.56	LSI
200	5000	5.52	3.53	LSI
300	1	117.45	189.80	Lulu
300	10	18.50	23.30	Lulu
300	20	13.00	14.05	Lulu
300	25	11.90	12.20	Lulu
300	30	11.17	10.97	LSI
300	40	10.25	9.43	LSI
300	50	9.70	8.50	LSI
300	100	8.60	6.65	LSI
300	200	8.05	5.73	LSI
300	500	7.72	5.17	LSI
300	1000	7.61	4.99	LSI
300	2000	7.55	4.89	LSI
300	3000	7.54	4.86	LSI
300	5000	7.52	4.84	LSI
400	1	119.45	206.10	Lulu
400	10	20.50	26.10	Lulu
400	20	15.00	16.10	Lulu
400	25	13.90	14.10	Lulu
400	30	13.17	12.77	LSI
400	40	12.25	11.10	LSI
400	50	11.70	10.10	LSI
400	100	10.60	8.10	LSI
400	200	10.05	7.10	LSI
400	500	9.72	6.50	LSI
400	1000	9.61	6.30	LSI
400	2000	9.55	6.20	LSI
400	3000	9.54	6.17	LSI
400	5000	9.52	6.14	LSI

I'm assuming a 5-year period, so the catalogue fee for LSI is $60.

Assuming I've got the calculations right, that makes a pretty convincing case for Lightning Source if I expect to sell more than 30 copies of my 100-page book, and as the page count rises that difference between 0.02 and 0.013 per page just has a stronger and stronger impact.

Not a really big surprise, since if I understand correctly Lulu prints through Lightning Source themselves. But interesting.

City of Masks disappointment

I just got the rejection email from Macmillan New Writing for City of Masks.

So I guess it's off to get myself an ISBN so I can self-publish.

I am comforted by the thought of the many good books that had trouble finding publishers, and annoyed by the thought of all the crappy books that have been published.

Would have been nice to have Macmillans' distribution working for me, though.

EDIT: Not only do the National Library of New Zealand not charge you for supplying an ISBN, they emailed one to me with stunning rapidity. And a moment's Googling found me a site where you can get an ISBN made into a barcode, online, for free.

I love the Internet.

Of course, now I have to lay my book out and create, or have created, a cover on which to put the barcode.

Current Status

I think I'll do this from time to time, as much to give myself a record as anything. What's taking up mind-space or life-space or just in progress for me at the moment?

Writing:

• City of Masks is with Macmillans for consideration.
  
• The Journey in Four Directions I've just signed up with an agent who will represent it at some book fairs in Europe.
  
• I'm thinking about sending 'Gu' to a magazine, maybe today.
  
• Restarting the Alphabet is drafted up to the first third ('Maiden'), and sitting at the Glyphpress forum.
• Topia has been stalled for a while. I've finally realized what one of the main themes is: Letting, or not letting, your disabilities define you. I need to rewrite pretty much from scratch, I think, which doesn't sound like fun.

Games:

• City of Masks has had one playtest and I've included it in the MS I sent to Macmillans. It needs more playtesting.
• Errantry needs playtesting too.
• The unnamed third game is stuck while I try to figure out the mechanics.
  
• I'm signed up for Fred's Amber play-by-wiki game, starting at the beginning of April.
  

Spiritual Practice:

• I'm doing my Transforming Practice every morning, usually in the shower. Erin used it yesterday (when she got to work but before she left the car) and said it helped with her crappy day.
• I'm doing the rosary on my commute. It's good.
• Centering prayer about 5 days out of 7 (in the evenings). Mostly I get the kind of good where you call yourself back to attending, more than the kind of good where you are attending.
• Tai Chi with a bit of Qi Gong - I count this as spiritual practice, partly in order to defy Descartes. I'm probably doing that 4 or 5 nights out of 7.
• I've given up buying books for Lent, which I've been on the verge of regretting a few times but have managed to stick to.
  

Websites/Programming:

• I'm working on getting my online booking system set up on hypno.co.nz. I'm now at the boring testing and perfecting bit, so progress has slowed.
  
• After that I'll turn my attention to finishing Unfolding Forms.

Hypnotherapy:

• I'm waiting for Roger to come back to me with a date for my interview. I strongly suspect, from what others have said, that I'll end up getting the diploma because I pass the Association exam.
• The Association exam is at the end of April.
• I'm reading Maxwell Maltz's Psycho-Cybernetics.
  
• On the business side, I've set up a bank account and got business cards and my room is pretty much set up. I'd like to get a better chair for myself, and a rug for the winter, and I want to get a standalone drive case so I can use the CD writer with the laptop to give people CDs of the suggestions to take with them at the end of the session. After the start of the financial year on 1 April I'll start spending money again on this stuff. Also a wireless network setup.
  

Reading:

• I find I'm tired in the evenings, so I'm mostly reading light stuff (and finding good light stuff hard to come by - I read too fast and the best authors write too slowly).
• Psycho-Cybernetics is interesting; "Man is not a machine, but he has a machine", namely the subconscious, which is a goal-seeking mechanism according to Maltz. It's programmed by the various messages we receive but we can take conscious control of the process and reprogram it. I'm not sure I totally buy it, but it's interesting.
• The Tribe of Tiger is the other non-fiction I'm reading at the moment.

Forums:

• I'm chiming in a bit on both "I would knife-fight a man" and Story-Games. Racism is one of the current hot topics at both.