Formatting Hell (Where Indie Authors Go)

I love being an indie author.  I don't much like waiting for other people to decide my future; or having my writing changed into something that is different from my voice.  Why write if you lose your uniqueness?  Yeah, I have always fought authority, and like John says, authority "always" wins. 

But not in this case. Indie authors are here to stay.  Kind of like rock and roll.  I am here to stay.  And I am determined that, this time, I will win.  What is cool about being an indie?  Well, besides keeping my voice, I get to call all the shots.  I have never been much good at having someone else do that.  I get to decide how to market my work, how often to publish, what to publish, and where to publish it. 

Will my work ever become hugely successful?  I hope so.  If it doesn't, I will still keep writing.  More and more people are listening, and I got my first "fan" mail by email yesterday. There is nothing quite like getting an email from a stranger telling you how glad they are that you write; how they can't wait to read whatever you are writing next.  That makes the struggle to be heard worthwhile.

But, formatting...oh my.  I really thought I had it covered.  The first book taught me a lot.  The second book should have been easy.  But, no.  For the last week or so I have been struggling with some formatting issues discovered once it went live!  There were extra alpha characters on kindle that did not appear on Nook or in the paperback.  Nor were they on my original documents.

I seriously thought I would develop ulcers before this got solved.  FINALLY, after a friend on kindleboards found what was wrong, I uploaded the new book yesterday.  Only to find out that a reviewer cannot get the gift certificate for kindle to download.  Fabulous.  Will this book ever settle down?

I called a different friend and told her I was sending a gift certificate and to see if it opened.  It would not.  She then went and bought the book and it downloaded.  Then, it said her gift was waiting...but it would not download.  That may be because she had the book downloaded already because of buying it to see if it worked that way.

The good news?  People buying my book are getting it.  Thank God.  I put up information on several Facebook pages yesterday, so I would have really hated for people to be buying my book and getting nothing.  The bad news? I still don't know what is wrong with the certificates.  At least I know it is not me.  I will be calling Amazon later today after I have that reviewer try to download the certificate again. 

Still, Gastien Part 2: From Dream to Destiny seems to be my problem child.  This is the rebellious child after giving birth to my first one.  Everyone says no two deliveries are the same and I can now vouch for that.

I am going to be working on Book 3 today: Tristan Michel: Bloodline of Passion. I pray this child will give me a break when it comes to formatting.  I don't have much hair left to pull out. I am also running low on bottles of cab.