It started out as a nice easy task that might take an afternoon. All I had to do was upload Artists & Liars to print format, adjust the digital cover and bish, bash, bosh–I'd have a paperback to satisfy the friends who have been asking me for another book. That was the plan.
The trouble is, once I'd formatted the text, I decided it could do with some illustrations. One image for each story meant drawing, scanning and formatting nine illustrations, which was a little beyond my comfort zone. For the poems, I decided to opt for phonetic transcriptions instead. All of this meant rechecking the whole format and pagination. Once I'd done that, all I had to do was make a cover to fit it. Again, it was at the edge of my comfort zone, although I've done it before for The Exiles of Ondd series.
Anyway, the cover completed, it was job done, so I began uploading the book on Amazon and ordered myself a proof copy. Only when I had it in my hand did I decide to add another complication; another short story, poem and flash story. It doesn't sound like much, but it meant coming up with two more illustrations with their accompanied scanning etc. and another transcription. Then I needed to recheck all the formatting and pagination and to resize the cover again.
Having done all this for the paperback, I thought I might as well add the extra text to the digital versions. However, Kindle and Smashwords have different formatting requirements, so I decided not to attempt to insert the illustrations. I didn't think my brain could cope with it.
Now, I'm at the stage when I can order another proof, and if it's all okay, I can go ahead and publish. That's providing I don't change my mind again, of course! As soon as the new extended digital and illustrated versions of Artists & Liars are available, I'll announce it here and everywhere else I can think of. Watch this space!