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Carla's book

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
I'm pleased and proud to announced that Carla's first book, her memoir, entitled The Cherokee Advantage, will soon be published by Lulu Press. We are awaiting the proof copy. (It got trapped in Rochester, N.Y. as a result of the snow there.)

The book is written under her maiden name, C. C. Crittenden.

Here we see the proud author with a mockup (run here from the actual final cover file):

Carla_book_F14772R.jpg

Douglas A. Kerr: Pride of Authorship

Carla has worked on the book for nine years as she studied technique at various seminars and extensive online courses. She had wonderful help from teachers and other authors (both published and not yet published).

All editing, formatting, and prepress work was done here. Carla commissioned the cover illustration (done in oils) from a well-known local artist, and it was digitized here. We did the front and back cover design.

A complete "ready to print" PDF file of the interior was uploaded last week to the publisher, as well as "camera-ready" image files for the front and back covers.

The ease of the mechanics of publishing today is astounding. Lulu (they often go by the name "Lulu.com", but you know how I hate names that are Internet addresses) prints the books "as required". If one is ordered, they print, bind, and ship one, forthwith. Then process is essentially fully automated. Of course it's only as "easy" as it was here after all the preparations are made!

We hope that one round of "adjustment" will suffice, and that the book will be ready to order within about a week. It will be available directly from the publisher. I'll provide a specific link when that is in place.

You can get some idea of the nature of the book from the "blurb":

At first glance, you may think this is just another sad tale of molestation and neglect, but it is not. You will marvel at the courage and ingenuity of this human being as she struggles through adversity and survives in great style. Time after time she reaches deep into her soul for the wisdom and courage of her Cherokee ancestors in solving her dilemmas. Read and be amazed.​

The front cover illustration is intended to be evocative of the "Trail of Tears", the sad march of the Cherokee when they were relocated from their ancestral homelands in the southeastern U.S. to Missouri and (mostly) to what we know today as Oklahoma.

It was Oklahoma's gain, as the most civilized of the "Five Civilized Tribes" brought to that developing prairie area their culture and their skill with literature, government, journalism, and law. And those Cherokee girls were way cute (still are)!

Needless to say, I am thrilled at this milestone by this amazing woman.
 
I'm pleased and proud to announced that Carla's first book, her memoir, entitled The Cherokee Advantage, will soon be published by Lulu Press. We are awaiting the proof copy. (It got trapped in Rochester, N.Y. as a result of the snow there.)

Hi Doug, and Carla,

Congratulations with the (almost) final result. It was quite a journey, but perhaps the journey is the most fun/rewarding part anyway. Now only the last hurdle has to melt away.

Cheers,
Bart
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Congrats!

Hi Carla, Doug,

Many congratulations! This is an amazing milestone and you should be very proud, relieved and exhausted at the same time. Very well done :)


Best regards,

Cem
 

John Angulat

pro member
Hi Doug,
Please send my heartfelt congratulations to Carla.
This is a wonderful achievement, certainly one to be proud of.
I, too will get the book, and autographs are expected!
 

Ruben Alfu

New member
Congratulations Carla and Doug, hoooray!! I´d like to place an order too, please provide the instructions. An autograph would be greatly appreciated!
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Update

The first proof copy of Carla's book came today (packed like a plate for printing million-dollar banknotes, but sent at "book rate", a form of "barge"). It is exquisite!

Carla proofread it (260 pages!) and found three tiny glitches that eluded us in the first round (an errant space in front of the leading "W" in a paragraph, for example, another errant space in front of a question mark, and one passage not italicized as planned.).

We had also prepared some other changes, such as an improved portrait on the back cover, an added photo in the photo chapter, and an explicit "flyleaf" at the front - we couldn't be certain if the printer would just put one in - they didn't. (In a paperback binding, it is not automatic, in contrast to a hardbound book, where it is a useful side-effect of the construction process).

All this has just now been duly uploaded. We now await the second proof copy, so we can sign off for release.

I'll let you all know when the book is really available.

It has been a great experience. Carla is thrilled by the support from you all, and sends her thanks. Just now she's finishing the Parker County Women's Club newsletter, which goes to press tomorrow morning. We assemble and fold it and apply the address labels on Sunday and mail it on Monday. But we no longer generate the service bulletin for our church every week - a very capable colleague has taken that over.

Best regards,

Doug
 

John Angulat

pro member
Update
Carla proofread it (260 pages!) and found three tiny glitches that eluded us in the first round (an errant space in front of the leading "W" in a paragraph, for example, another errant space in front of a question mark, and one passage not italicized as planned.).
That's a monumental task! Carla must have eyes like a hawk! Proofreading is quite a difficult task, for one is not "reading" per se, rather examining each individual word and punctuation mark.
We're one step closer to getting our hands on a first edition!
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, John,

That's a monumental task! Carla must have eyes like a hawk! Proofreading is quite a difficult task, for one is not "reading" per se, rather examining each individual word and punctuation mark.
Actually not. She's more like a vacuum cleaner going across carpet, and if there's a paper clip it makes some sort of "click" to her - at every level, from an extra space between words up through the orthographic, typographic, grammatical, idiomatic, and logical.

We both do it that way. We neither have the patience to do it the other way.

It usually takes her about 10 minutes to do a 20-page technical article (copy editing rather than just "proofreading"). (But she says I'm on my own for the equations!).

Best regards,

Doug
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
I'm pleased to advise that Carla's book, The Cherokee Advantage, is available for order on Lulu.com. This link will take you right there:

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-cherokee-advantage/6389292

Several of you mentioned wanting an autographed copy. Carla would be delighted to do that.

If you are intersted in that, send me an email at:

doug.kerr@att.net

I'll wire you with the ordering information and other such stuff. We will ship to the US via Priority Mail, overseas by International Priority Mail.

Carla really appreciates your support.

Best regards,

Doug
 
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