In 2007 Barbara finished her first book. It was a lovely children’s adventure but traditional publishers refused to consider it.
It was frustrating, so I decided to draw on some publishing experience from years earlier and see if we could publish it ourselves.
I knew nothing about print-on-demand but I heard about Createspace and spent a lot of time learning how to use it.
I quickly realized that a good cover was important and the standard advice was to hire an artist, which I did to create the first cover. Below is a photo of the first cover.
I also had her create 30 small, black and white drawings for the first page inside and for each chapter heading. I was intent on making the book special. A couple of the chapter heading drawings appear below.
I published Lottie’s Adventure: A Kidnapping Unraveled and it was available as a paperback and an eBook. The photo below is the new cover with the changed graphics and the new subtitle.
As time passed and I published more books it became clear that Lottie’s Adventure had some issues that we wanted to correct.
Two issues loomed large. The title was a significant problem. A Kidnapping Unraveled indicated a problem that was already solved before the reader made it past page one.
To resolve this, we changed the subtitle to “Facing The Monster.” This indicated that Lottie would have to face a monster but did not say how she would deal with it.
The second issue was the cover itself. Looking at it several years later, I felt it had become too busy. Adding the grandmother’s image and the large mansion behind her detracted attention from Lottie.
Instead of working with the artist, I decided to resolve the issue myself. Part of my arrangement with the artist was maintaining full ownership of all the graphic files.
I used Photoshop to create a new background image and then created a new layer with only Lottie and her dog Chester on the cover with the book title.
In 2013 I edited all the files and relaunched Lottie’s Adventure: Facing The Monster.
The changes were made six years after the original publication, a reminder that print-on-demand gives authors the freedom to improve their books whenever they choose.
One of the biggest lessons we learned is that publishing isn’t the end of the journey. It is the beginning. Every book teaches you something, and those lessons can make the next edition better than the first. Traditional publishing often locks those decisions in place. Independent publishing gives you the freedom to keep improving.
Two editions. One story.
The original edition (2007) is on the left. The revised edition (2013) is on the right. Six years later we had the freedom to improve the title, simplify the cover, and present the story the way we felt it deserved to be seen.
Thank you for reading. If this story resonated with you, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. And if you know someone who might enjoy it, please consider sharing it.