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Ty and Marcus Mitchell are average middle school brothers growing up north of Chicago until one night when they’re hurtled through an inter-dimensional gateway to a parallel world defined by its multiple moons and planet-wide apocalypse. As they struggle to figure out where they are and how to get home, the boys encounter refugees of “the last day” from the distant city of Atlantis and a mysterious girl called Bellana, the sole survivor and resident of the devastated city of Spartanica. Ty and Marcus soon learn they only have seven days to get home. But before they can leave, they must battle through long-extinct predators, track down the elusive Professor Otherblood, and rescue a new friend from certain death. Is all of this insanity just Ty’s overactive imagination or are the brothers truly on the brink of being stranded on the brutal wasteland known as Spartanica?

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Guest Post:

I knew when I chose to go the self-publishing route with my debut YA/teen sci-fi adventure novel, Spartanica, that doing so was going to be a lot of work.  I’d had a couple friends in the publishing industry tell me, flat out, that Spartanica, first book in The Survivors of Sapertys Series, was more than good enough to be picked up by a literary agent to push through traditional channels.  I even had several agents selected.  But then I read the horror stories of authors waiting months to get accepted and then waiting much longer before their book even got printed.  As I read more about the process, it became blatantly obvious that once I signed over the rights to my book, I instantly gave up all control of its future.  No way.  Couldn’t do it.  I spent too much time getting Spartanica to exactly where it needed to be to watch it languish in some publishing black hole.

Getting the book published was actually very straightforward thanks to CreateSpace (CS) and Lightning Source (LSI).  I’d read a number of articles and blog posts regarding the difficulties of meeting formatting requirements at both publishers.  CS, however, offers MS Word templates with preset margins in every size book available to be selected.  It didn’t take me very long to properly fit my manuscript to their template. They also have a “Digital Proofer” which searches your entire text, finds any issues that violate their rules, and displays your book on-screen page-for-page for review purposes.  It was a tremendous help in putting the finishing touches on my manuscript.  LSI doesn’t have the same, but once you have your interior set at CS, only minor modifications are needed to meet LSI requirements.

Why use both CS and LSI?  I planned originally to use CS only.  A self-publishing arm of Amazon.com, the creators of CS obviously put a lot of thought into their site.  It’s easy to use and provides authors with tools for which other publisher-assisted sites want to charge thousands of dollars.  CS also obviously has a direct line to Amazon.com in the U.S. and overseas as well as to other booksellers.  So what’s the problem?  The CS distribution channel that sells to other booksellers does not accept returns.  The vast majority of other booksellers won’t even look at a book unless it can be returned.  CS doesn’t publicize this fact, but it’s crucial knowledge in understanding where your book will be available.  LSI requires authors to select returns policies for each of the countries in which they sell.  Hence, if you want independent and other chain bookstores to carry your novel, CS most likely won’t get you there.  LSI can.

Bottom line:  Self-publishers should use CS to get onto Amazon worldwide inexpensively and quickly.  Unfortunately, we also have to publish through LSI to have any real chance of reaching our readers through other booksellers.

This is one self-publishing lesson learned.  There are many, many others.  All things considered, I’m glad I went the solo route.  Publishing and marketing book 2 of The Survivors of Sapertys Series will be much easier now that I’ve been through it all once.

Author Bio:

Powers Molinar grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago and earned engineering and business degrees at the University of Iowa. While he works as a process engineer and project manager during the day, his passion is writing science fiction. His first novel, Spartanica, is the culmination of several year’s of part-time effort mostly late at night and on weekends when he wasn’t enjoying time with his wife and kids, all of whom were big helpers getting Spartanica written.

Powers believes every kid has the potential to become exceptional.  In addition to being a blast to read, he truly hopes his books spark kids’ imaginations and inspire them to read more and maybe even become writers.  Being a solid reader is a foundational piece of leading an exceptional life.  Powers hopes his books can be part of that foundation for as many kids as possible.

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