Launch issues and kerning

Today is the day my first book finally came out. Kind of weird to say it like that, but I’m still proud of it. It took me years to get it ready (although I wasn’t working on it full-time), so to finally see it launched feels like a pretty big achievement.

Of course, these things never go without a hitch. When I approved the book for global sale in the Lulu Store, the other ‘Global Distribution’ status suddenly jumped to rejected. Hopefully, that won’t mean that people who ordered the paperback through Amazon will get shafted now.

I also know for a fact that at least two books were sold through the Lulu Bookstore, but they haven’t registered in the sales tab yet. Of course, that might simply just update once a day, so I’m not too worried yet about that.

Speaking of the paperback, though, one thing that people are bound to notice is the kerning. At first, I thought it was just the font I chose that was a bit off (Bookman Old Style), but I later found out that it’s really just the compilation process to PDF that screwed it up. I might be able to fix it for the next book, anyway.

So why not simply choose a different font? Well, the kerning issues are noticeable, but I don’t think they’re distracting, and this font has very clear punctuation marks, diacritics, and italicized text that doesn’t make your eyes bleed. Since my book has a lot of all of those, I wanted a font that was pleasant to read, and despite the kerning issues, it never becomes strenuous…to me, anyway.

In any case, if you’re one of the people who bought the book (or even just being here on this weird blog), thanks. See you next time.

2 comments

  1. Well, it feels to me like a closing as in a graduation and your book as a diploma. Good job, quite an achievement.

  2. Congratulations on publishing your first novel. It’s no easy feat to write one, let alone give it developmental and line edits and finally publish it. I commend you immensely. It looks like a scintillating read! Once again, fantastic job. You should be so very, very proud that you’ve begun to tell your story.

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