Dream Vignettes by Fifi Leigh at www.lulu.com

On Friday, April 5, 2019, I finally decided to self-publish my graphic novel. I edited the whole graphic novel four times, and I finally decided that enough is enough. I seemed to play with it every time, even though I didn't spot any typos. I guess I am never satisfied with my work, and there is always something to improve. But I hope it is now good enough. When I uploaded 203 pages of the graphic novel, I soon realized that I needed to convert MS Publisher file into PDF because MS Publisher pub isn't compatible with LULU.com publishing. So, I went on Youtube to research. Then, I uploaded the covers, which also has a barcode on the back cover. My Illustrator created covers uploaded fast because I had saved them as JPEG files. 

I soon realized that the whole publishing process is new and different from when I self-published my first novel, The Sand Dollar, on LULU in September 2006. There were many changes, which was a little bit confusing. I bought a copy of my graphic novel because I wanted to check it out in print. They calculated the production costs and paper, and the price tended to be much higher than my first novel's pricing. My graphic novel's price was adjusted to $27.50. That sounds good for me because I had calculated on my own, beforehand my own production costs, and I considered making it around $20 because it was a lot of work, more work than writing a novel. I also had to pay for shipping and taxes, which cost me altogether--$33.94. I also decided to save a copy my computer work of the graphic novel pages and covers on a CD. 

On Tuesday, April 8th, I decided to do the "poor man's copyright," placing on my rough draft sketches and notebook with script into a large manila envelope, and mailing it to myself. I received this package in the mail, the next day. 

Now, I need to work on marketing material, but I am not sure what to do. I did some sketches. But I don't like them. I need to brainstorm better ideas. I might do a video, as well as some colored pencil sketches. 

I am still waiting for my copy of the graphic novel to come in the mail. I hope everything looks good.