Delivering Manuscript To Amazon

This may sound like a simple task, but let me tell you, I have spent hours at it, and the book is still not ‘up’, so to speak.  First I had to upload my manuscript to CreateSpace, the book publishing arm of Amazon.  I had decided to use them for my print-on-demand (POD) version because they offered better royalties and no other charge, unlike Lightening Source, to carry the book.  I discovered I also had to have the cover in two different formats: the one for the POD copy and a .jpg file for the kindle.  Emails back and forth with the designer.  One version uploaded in a weird green color that looked nothing like the real cover.  More phone calls.  Finally, on day two, the cover that I was uploading looked like the actual cover of the book. That took several more phone calls, being put on hold, etc.  By this point I was tearing my hair out.  Then I was offered the chance to proof read my book in it’s digital format, yet again. I almost skipped it. Thank God I didn’t.  There were mistakes in the file, which I caught.  Another call to the fellow how had created the POD/kindle files from my original WORD file.  I knew he’d have to go back to the WORD file and start over.  See, I even learned something new from all of this.  Grrrr.  Phone calls and emails galore followed.  I now have the correct interior file and the correct cover files.  The uploading process began again.  This time I made it to the ‘review’ stage.  Once that process is complete, the book goes up on Amazon.com, or so they assure me.  I finally sat down on my couch to read, groaning as I lowered my tired self to the cushion with a sigh.  Oops.  One more thought: “Little Nancy: The Journey Home” is already on sale at Amazon. Would the new book show up on the same page if someone searched for it, so he/she would see both books. Another phone call, hesitation, and then a tentative ‘yes’.  If this doesn’t turn out to be true, the rep told me, I can go into my Author Central account (another Amazon account) and link the two books together there myself!  More hair coming out in clumps.  I will leave that task for the next day, once I see where Create Space puts the new book in the Amazon.com directory.  What a process!  Not for the meek, or anyone afraid of calling and emailing entities that often don’t seem human.