Saturday, October 27, 2012

La Vie en Rosé is now a real book!


Yes, a printed paper one that you can put in your pocket and read on the train or in the bath and you can order it right now at this link where there is a full preview. The book is 68 pages, 5" x 8", colour cover, black and white content with 13 illustrations. I decided to convert my original colour images to greyscale to make it less expensive, both to manufacture and to sell.

The economics are as follows : I'm selling the softcover book for £6.00 or hardback for £14.50 (plus postage). Blurb charges me £13.50 per copy for hardback and £3.50 per copy for B/W softback so I'll make only a tiny profit but I want to sell millions - oh, allright, dozens. So please put the book on your Christmas list and tell everybody about it: can it do that thing they call going viral? Remember you read the story here first.



Although I love Blurb and they've been very helpful and I will use them again, I must admit that their Booksmart software is hair-tearingly infuriating to work with and I'm not a beginner in that sort of thing. But let's leave niggling aside and focus on the joy of accomplishment. 

As a life-long procrastinator, I can go for months avoiding and displacing and distracting but when I finally get down to something I've been putting off, it's full blast, staying up all night for days, eating dinner at midnight and breakfast at 4 pm, staggering around bleary and dishevelled until the damn thing is finished. That's what I've done and all I need now is approval, hugs, and lots of sales. 

And next week I will know the result of something else which I have not spoken of but have been busy with. 

 Say something!

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8 comments:

addon said...

J'ai commandé un exemplaire de voler pour moi ici en Australie à toute vitesse! J'espère l'avoir dans mes mains très bientôt!

Natalie d'Arbeloff said...

Merci cher Adam! J'éspère que le livre te plaira et qu'il arrivera chez toi bientôt. Looking forward to your opinion when you receive the book. Could it sell like hotcakes - or whatever Australians eat tons of?

marja-leena said...

Congratulations on all that hard work, dear Natalie! I so enjoyed the story serialized on your blog. Wishing much sales and fame!

Natalie d'Arbeloff said...

Thanks dear Marja-Jeena, you were one of my big encouragers to keep the story going - it would probably be still unfinished without that motivation!

addon said...

Hi Natalie, Blurb advised me this morning that the book is on its way, should make it down here by 12 November ... much looking forward to that wonderful moment when you open a new book! Hot cakes not a favourite down here - call it "like meat pies"!

Natalie d'Arbeloff said...

Adam, that's a long time to wait! I thought Blurb had a branch in Australia as well but maybe not. I hope it gets to you in good shape - let me know!

addon said...

This afternoon, not long after I had risen from my daily nap, the heavy tread of the Fed Ex man and the ding-dong of the doorbell signalled the delivery, in a featherweight box, nonetheless the size of a large pizza, which the bearer compared favourably with his delivery last week of a heavy roll of two wool rugs, made in India, we hoped not by child labour, a box, which only with reluctance yielded to my increasingly frenzied tugging and pulling to reveal, at last, a book.

What a book! A gem! A jewel! An opal of gleaming!

But I must not hasten, it is late now. I prepare the slim volume for reading as my father taught me so many years ago, I place it on its spine and open a few pages at a time, alternately from back and front, smoothing it down. Stroking it ...

There it lies. What a firmness it has, so precious to handle! But it must wait, as midnight approaches and I fear being unable to put the book down once started. So it must lie there until the morrow. Dream well, little book!

Souhaite parier, Natalie!

Purple prose, huh?

Natalie d'Arbeloff said...

Adam, merci beaucoup! Your comment was delayed because instead of captcha I've now added 'comment moderation'. So they're sent to be by email to be approved before appearing here. Sigh! Life is so complicated.

Anyway, I'm so glad you got my *very* slim volume now and I hope you'll enjoy it. Let me know when you finish it.