Using CreateSpace.com, I have created my self-published fantasy novel, “The Third Dragon”, in paperback form. My paperback fantasy novel is currently going through the review process and will hopefully be available at CreateSpace.com & Amazon.com by the end of January or beginning of February.
CreateSpace.com has a step-by-step process which is relatively easy to follow. However, it is time consuming. I already had the fantasy novel ready in word, but I had to tweak the pages so that the front and back matter was in order. I also had to add page breaks after each chapter so that the new chapters started on their own pages. I tried to add a map of the fabled land of Ungal, but this never turned out right.
The fantasy novel book cover was probably the most difficult. CreateSpace.com makes it easy to create your own book cover, but I wanted my own design. To have the design completely my own, I would have to download the back cover, spine, and front cover all as one .pdf document. This meant that I had to get the measurements exactly right. Since the spine is a variable, I had to calculate the spine width based on the number of pages in the fantasy novel. CreateSpace.com gives the formula, but it was still difficult to get it exact on my program.
The next difficulty in creating the book cover this way was getting the .jpg converted into .pdf. Every time I did it, the image got skewed. After over an hour of designing and trying to convert the file, I finally gave up and used CreateSpace.com’s templates instead. This allowed me to download my .jpg images, but now I had to separate the back cover, front cover, and spine. Unfortunately, the spine on the templates was generic, so I could not use my own spine design. But at least I finally got the fantasy novel cover front and back the way I wanted it.
It is in the review process now. Then I will order a proof to see how my self-published fantasy novel turns out in the physical form. Once that is done, my fantasy novel will be ready on Amazon.com and CreateSpace.com. To find it, search “The Third Dragon” or Dawn Ross. (Direct link to CreateSpace.com novel will be posted as soon as the novel is available there. CreateSpace.com will give me my own page to promote my self-published fantasy novel.)