Trials, Errors and Tribulations

I was going through the Kindle community boards, hoping to get lucky and find some references I could check into regarding the formatting for my manuscript as well as the cover art.  I knew there were several well-known companies that provided ready-made covers for a set price and while those were certainly a viable option, they didn't address both my problems.  Eventually, I saw several postings for FormattingExperts.com so I sent them off an introductory email.

To say I was pleasantly surprised isn't the half of it! When the customer service manager, Rafal, confirmed that they do formatting and cover art, I was ecstatic.  Then when he indicated that I wouldn't have to pay until I was completely satisfied, I became a bit skeptical - but then again, who was I to judge??  He asked for a brief synopsis of the manuscript and I sent him the back cover blurb.  Within days, I was sent a cover for my review.  Overall, it was okay but I certainly wasn't impressed.  There was punctuation missing from the title and I didn't like the way the color in parts of the title seemed to disappear into the cover.  I sent Rafal an email, pointing out the error and some additional minor changes and within a day or two, the corrections and changes had been made with an updated version sent to me.  In the meantime, I had also received confirmation that the formatting had been completed.

At that point, I should've been one happy chickiepoo because the formatting was done and my cover was done.  The only problem was, the more I looked at the cover, the more appropriate I thought it would be for a video game rather than a book.  I sent another email to Rafal, voicing my concerns.  I told him what elements I liked about the cover and what I didn't.  I sent him some photographs to help with the visualization and some sample fonts I thought were more appropriate.  I fully expected to receive a polite response telling me to go jump in the nearest lake.  Far from it. Within days, I received a brand-spanking new cover that absolutely thrilled me.  It was perfect!!

However...me being me...I still had issues with the font.  Again, FormattingExperts took care of it.  For a very reasonable price, I got a custom-designed cover, a perfectly formatted manuscript and excellent customer service.



I figured with the biggest hurdles over, the rest of the publishing process would be a cake-walk - not...