I've seen quite a few threads – here and on other sites and blogs – about FeedARead, so I thought I'd let you know how this writer is getting on with them. But first of all, why did I spend my own hard-earned money to get my writing into print? Well, I'm a published author (of sorts), having written a successful wine/travel book which got lots of press coverage in the broadsheets (the best was an 8-page colour spread in the Guardian travel section) and in one or two glossies. Since self-publishing a wine-related novel though, in spite of the positive reviews it’s received in the on-line media, I’ve encountered a reluctance in the trad press to review it. It seems as though indie e-books are still not considered as, well, books! So, I decided to release my e-book as a paperback in order to have hard-copy examples to send out for review. After weighing up the pros and cons of the various on-line options for POD and internet distribution, I settled on FeedARead – on balance, the cost/benefit figures worked best for me. Setting up the manuscript is very easy – you just upload it as a Word document – and the cover wizard is quite straightforward, allowing you to use your own pictures and text. The background processing appears to be a mix of full automation and human interaction – this means that things are slightly slower that with fully-automated sites like LuLu, but you get the reassuring impression that there’s a person somewhere helping you along. I was so pleased with the initial results that I couldn’t wait to publish and see the thing hit my doormat. I paid my eighty quid and hit the button. Oops... Some kind soul pointed out a couple of formatting errors and typos, and I had to redo the whole thing and pay an additional (small) charge to cover the cost of making the changes. I know that even the best-edited, second, third, or even fourth editions can still conceal the odd glitch, but I can’t stress strongly enough how crucial is the proof reader’s eye! Anyway, yesterday I received my first batch of shiny, pristine books. Those that I didn’t sell to my customers last night (I own a restaurant – it’s great to have a captive audience to sell to!) I’ll be sending out for review next week. I’m delighted with the production quality and the delivery speed (I ordered on Tuesday and received the books, here in France, on Friday). The delivery costs are a bit high if you’re only buying one or two copies, but the cover price (which includes a decent margin) is only £6.99 and anyway, most people will buy from Amazon. Well, here’s hoping…

You should be writing a journalistic column about this, Pat, but I'm sure many of us would be grateful if you could keep us posted on developments. Best of luck.

Paragraphs would be nice, though. Currently it reads like one of those "terms and conditions" spiels you get with dodgy offers.

Yes.

Some feedaread author feedback, more at the top of their homepage:

"FeedARead never ceases to amaze and surprise me with its total professional approach and yet one-to-one attention to detail, always being there when I need them most ... very professional, always ... very supportive ...”
Janine Harrington, author of Betrayed and founder of the charity LIFELINE.

"The book's just arrived and I'm very pleased - I was made aware of FeedARead via the Writers' Guild - I'm very glad about that. It's a really professional job."
Kevin McCann, author of It’s Gone Dark.

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