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Easy Reedsy

Throughout the process of preparing Jackrabbit to go to print, I have been availing myself of an online service called Reedsy. I initially used the service to find someone to edit the manuscript. I ended up engaging the services of an editor named Jennifer Huston of White Dog Editorial Services. She was great to work with, and incredibly thorough. She lives in the Chicago area, and was able to correct some of my geographical errors, as well as many others.

Of course, this kind of quality does cost some coin. Between the editing and the cost of the cover art, I had pretty much blown my production budget for this project. I was concerned about how I was going to typeset the book, as I knew I was going to have to do it myself. I had head any number of sources say that MS Word was a bad choice. Adobe InDesign seems to be an industry standard, but is fairly expensive. I did shell out twenty-five bucks for a discontinued publishing application called Serif Page Plus. It looks pretty good, but I didn’t really want to take the time to master a new software package.

Then I noticed than Reedsy offers a typesetting called Reedsy Book Editor. I was a bit skeptical at first, but what the heck – the price was right ($0). Besides, Reedsy had gotten their vig from my transaction with the editor, so I figured it was the least they could do.

Color me impressed, friends! After a few minor initial hiccups (i.e. user errors), I was able to upload my Word file and the Reedsy Book Editor cranked out a typeset version in about five minutes. Super-duper-cool! Now I have to read through the bastard one more time and make sure there are no proofreading errors. Fun ahoy!

Into the Belly of the Beast

I took the plunge and signed up for my Amazon KDP account in order to start the process of publishing Jackrabbit. Big sigh. I jumped on the Amazon bandwagon back in the early 90’s because I’m a book nerd, and they were a cool online book store. Now they’re a behemoth that prys into way too many aspects of our lives. Yet I swallow my reservations and sign on, since it’s pretty much the only way to go for self-published authors. I hadda give them my damn bank account information! If I had more than eight bucks in it right now, I’d be worried.

Social Media? We Doan Need No Steenkin’ Social Media!

Okay, I created a Twitter page and a Facebook page for this endeavor. somewhat to my chagrin. No fan of social media, I. Hell, I bailed entirely on the whole concept last year when this whole Cambridge Analytica mess came out. However, I know it’s a requirement, if for no other reason not to look like some sort of prehistoric troglodyte.

So you can check out @S_W_Words on Twitter or @SweetWeaselWords on Facebook (ain’t doin’ Instrgram or anything else if I can avoid it – and I can). You’re not going to see anything there that you won’t see hear. Or perhaps anything at all if I can’t figure out how to automaticaly link the content from this website to those two social media platforms.

Grumble, grouse, piss, moan…

I’d Rather Be Writing

Instead, however, I’m working on this bloodydamn website. Oh well. it’s gotta happen if I want this book to see the light of day, so to speak. Blew my budget on getting the MS edited by someone who knows what they’re doing, so I can’t afford to pay someone to put this site together. Oh well, that’s rock ‘n’ roll, baby.

Featured Post

Welcome to Sweet Weasel Words

Welcome to Sweet Weasel Words, home of author Crawford Smith.

There’s excitement at Sweet Weasel Words World Headquarters over the upcoming release of Laughingstock (coming March 31, 2024).

In this darkly comic (and comedic) novel, comedian Duckie Dunne hits the road when his original partner mysteriously disappears.

Laughingstock
Pre-order on Amazon

See the Laughingstock page for more details.


Still available is the fascinating Jackrabbit. This is a historical crime novel about the latter career of Depression-era gangster John Dillinger. This criminal’s life was indeed stranger than fiction – so much so that I had to focus on only the last five months of it to keep from overwhelming myself and the reader. Check out the Jackrabbit page for details.