I have birthed something into the world. Three years late, mind you. The pregnancy was a bitch… yes, I finally got my first proof copy of Practice to Deceive. It’s a real book! Holy cow! Here it is…

It’s pretty surreal to hold something like this in your hands. I mean, I designed the thing from front to back, so it’s not like it was surprising, but there’s a big difference between a design on your monitor and a real-life thing you can hold, that has weight. It’s funny, without really planning for it, it’s pretty much exactly what I’d expect to see on a store shelf (not that I ever will!) in terms of size and weight. It feels… right, is all I can say.

This is a proof copy for a reason, of course – to check for mistakes. While the text is fine, there are a few minor tweaks I’m going to do. I’m pretty proud I managed to get all the pages in the right order the first time, frankly! It looks pretty readable, although you can take a peek at the interior below and let me know if you think otherwise. Of course, increasing the font size increases the page count which increases the cost, so I’m trying to avoid that if possible. I’m actually going to reduce the margins a little bit, it’s pretty spacious in the interior, so I may be able to increase the font a little bit.

The cover turned out pretty well, I think. I did take Liz Rees’ advice (I think it was Liz, anyway) and changed the logo to be lighter. I need to do the same on the spine, it’s hard to see. Overall the book is a lot darker, color wise, than I guess I expected. I chose a matte finish too, which probably darkens it a little bit.

Anyway! There you go! A real book! Now I know how to use Createspace for this, I’ll be adding paperback versions of A Lie Within A Lie too, which shouldn’t take as long as I have all the files and so on that I need.

After I’ve resubmitted the changes I need to make to Practice to Deceive, I’ll be able to put it live in Createspace, which will make it available for sale on Amazon and other places. I’m not sure what the final price will be, but I hope it’s not too high – however as with all print-on-demand titles, it won’t be that cheap. (No economy of scale for printing costs, you see.)

If you buy a copy I’d love to see it on your shelves, or in your hands, or on your desk or whatever. I’ll let you know when it’s live and available to buy, of course.