Left – SA edition. Right – USA proof.
Just when I was looking forward to a blogging catch-up of note, an overseas parcel slip arrived – my proof copy of the USA edition of my Regina fantasy. It has shown me, again, that only when one gets the printed copy can one truly assess what the book will be like. After having edited the file time and again and again and again, I am still finding little things in the proof like double full stops and lack of hyphens where they help to make sense, and a sudden switch of chapter headers away from italics – but it looks good nevertheless.
It will be noticed that USA has a larger standard size. Strangely enough, though, the proof still has far more pages than the SA version. At nearly 500 it seems a bit overkill so I have spent today in reformatting to bring it closer to the South African edition of 357 pages.
The redesigned cover does seem quite attractive, though.
Incidentally, it seems totally immoral to me that South Africa demands customs duty on books. Such items really should be exempt.
© Colonialist August 2013 (WordPress)
Colonialist's Blog 
I prefer the SA version – less cluttered, although the colours in the US version are more vibrant. I don’t know – it’s Sunday morning – don’t be asking me to make decisions 🙂
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You have a point.- doesn’t make MINE any easier, though! 🙂
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The proof looks good Col.
as for customs – this is Africa. Where the government can make money, they will. And the people that are still prepared to spend money on books must obviously be rich, so ream them while you can is probably their motto!!
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Anyway, of course, books are something to be lost or destroyed on their way to schoolchildren, one must remember.
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Congrats!!!!!!!!!
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Fanks!
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Wow! Concatulations! This is Pawesome! Both covers look great! =^.^=
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Thanks! The second one is the original Tickle, but we were purrsuaded to use a stand-in so as not to steal the scene from Regina. But then, scene-stealing is a cat’s natural right, not so?
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Plus a different cat? Looks great to me, Col, this must be so exciting!
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It was the cat I originally had in mind, but then it seemed it was scene-stealing.
It is!
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Basking in your experience as a published author here. What a lovely perspective to read this evening. Wonderful looking cover, Col!
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Thanks! Er … but which one?
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The final version…though both are nice….
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Thanks!
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The US cover is MUCH better! I heartily approve of the new fonts, one can read your name much better, and the title has a lot more flash. (Remember one of my original moans was that one can’t really read your name that well on the JD version?)
You know, the text in the SA version is very closely spaced. Maybe take the font size down by a point or two and rather have better line spacing. It’s easier on the eye. Weird though that the US version has 500 pages. Are the margins terribly large? Is the font? I suspect they increased the line spacing, which P’kaboo will probably also do, but 500 pages is a lot.
How is the binding?
Books used to be customs free, I remember my father ordering music from Germany, and not paying customs on it. But of course if a person in government makes such decisions who doesn’t know what a book is…
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It is actually only 470 pages, but I think the main fault is double-line spacing. That is too much Times New Roman 12 is a bit large, but easy on the eye. By using 11 it will bring the book thickness to below the average in US – not too good. I used 13 points before, but think 15 is better.
I must load the current version and see how it goes.
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470 pages, that is better. No you don’t want to be below the American average thickness. Awr that came out wrong, sorry sorry sorry… 😀
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*looks round nervously for any eavesdropping Americans*
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hehehehehe!!! You guys! What’ya got against the Cowboys? 😉 (*singing innocently, “pom, pom,pom,peya…”*)
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Looks grand!
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It does seem most encouraging!
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Congrats! It looks great!
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Thanks! It certainly does seem attractive, and the interior formatting seems to work well also.
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Congrats. Mister N.
I agree on the customs. Disgraceful.
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Thanks!
Maybe we should start a petition.
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Yeah, why not. Do you have all the relevant details regarding the issue?
Btw. Is this the Amazon (US) version of the book?
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Only the bitter fact that one gets clobbered when importing a book or a proof.
Yes, it is. Printed in Virgin Islands, of all places.
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How do they transfer royalties if I may ask, Mister N.. There seems no SA facility?
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They seem to be able to operate on PayPal or card. One has to do tax declarations etc.
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They refuse to pay into my Paypal account. If they do by now, this must be a new development; pls let me know if it’s confirmed.
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I will.
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Congrats Col, and I agree about the customs duty.
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Thanks!
It really is annoying.
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May I wish you all the success with this new venture in a new country. 😉
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Thank you very much!
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Congrats Col and I totally agree with your last sentence. The book looks great my friend. 😀
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PS: I like the USA version best. 😀
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Thanks for the opinion! It does seem crisper.
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It does hey? And I see they used a different cat as well and Regina on her horse looks bigger too. 😀
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congratulations – how satisfying for you…
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Much appreciated – and it is, but now gives some dilemmas.
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I do agree with you on the customs duties charge… books are educational.. but then we toss educational books into dams to cover up people on the take…
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Quite so!
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I fully agree with the final sentence.
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I wish something could be done about it!
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