The Writer's Life 12/22 - Closer

RIP Joe Cocker, 70, who succumbed to cancer. He was one of the most unique singers of all-time. His gritty voice and body movements captivated fans. His cover of the Beatles' With a Little Help from My Friends reached number one in the UK in 1968, and he performed the song live at Woodstock in 1969. His version also became the theme song for the TV series The Wonder Years. His 1975 cover of Billy Preston's You Are So Beautiful reached number five in the U.S.. Cocker is the recipient of several awards, including a 1983 Grammy Award for his U.S. number one single Up Where We Belong, a duet with Jennifer Warnes. He was ranked #97 on Rolling Stone's 100 greatest singers list. Well done, sir. (Facts from Wiki)

My rock n roll epic, Rising Star, is close to ready. I thought I'd finished preparation, but a new snag arose this morning when I uploaded the file to Create Space. I wanted the book to be in 12 pt. font. This stretched the manuscript to 656 pages. Anything more than 500 pages threatens the integrity of the format. In this case the print exceeded the right hand margin and would have been cropped. Doing it in 10 pt. reduces the number of pages to less than 450. It would be harder on the eyes but would have two advantages: it would reduce the weight and bulk of the final product, which would in turn reduce the cost, and it would require no monkeying with the margin width, something I dread and with which I am uncomfortable. I may resubmit as soon as this evening. One problem I may not be able to solve is having each chapter begin on a new page. The spacing gets lost on the upload. Meanwhile, I received stunningly good news about the process from my literary angel, Victoria Valentine. There is no fee for the set up or the printing! The author pays only for books or any extras he might choose. This all but guarantees a profit. 100 books of 450 pages will cost approximately $605. It may take a couple of years, but I'm confident I will sell them all. As long as they're not destroyed in a fire or flood, I should come out ahead. 100 books of 650 pages would have cost about $850. I love Amazon, the parent of Create Space.

My thanks to the kind folks who made purchases at today's abbreviated session of the floating book shop. I took my sister on the annual excursion to the Sea Breeze seafood shop at the corner of 18th Avenue & 85th Street. The line was out the door, but not as long as in previous years. $211 later, we're ready for Christmas Eve dinner.

Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/rP7o9

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/