All messages dated 19.10.12 except last, dated 20.10.12
LIVID AT THE STUPIDITY OF CREATESPACE
The good news is, I worked 18 hours straight yesterday to bring the paperback edition of WOOF! into the world. The bad news is, I have inadvertently awoken that beast dreaded by all creatives—the Tyrannical Machine, otherwise known as Kafka’s Bot.
I’m intending to publish through Amazon’s CreateSpace but, having uploaded the cover file and book at 5am, I just received the following at nearly 1pm:
The cover file does not meet our submission requirements for the reason(s) listed below. Please make any necessary adjustments to your cover file and upload it again by logging in to createspace.com.
The title for this book was listed as WOOF! – a barking mad novel but the cover indicates that the title is WOOF! a barking mad adult comedy about sulky goths, sarky gays and students gallivanting . The title displayed in the cover must match the title entered during title setup.
The Interior file meets our submission requirements; it is not necessary for you to make any revisions to this file or upload it again.
Excuse me?
So…
#angryhatON
Hi, you wrote to me about my book, saying that the titles don’t match between my book and its cover.
First of all, your system objects to all caps in titles. I wrote the novel as WOOF! but the CreateSpace system utterly rejected this creative decision and I refuse to rename my novel Woof! simply to please an arbitrary algorithm.
Second, I chose WOOF – a barking mad novel as I thought this to be one way I get past such a stupid restriction. I was happy enough to go with that as a compromise I didn’t feel I should have to be making at all.
Third, the text on the cover is NOT the title. It is obvious from the fact that WOOF! is in huge letters diagonally across the cover, with a red drop shadow matching the dog’s lead in colour, that this is the title and the text ‘a barking mad adult comedy about sulky goths, sarky gays and students gallivanting’ is descriptive only.
Were the book not to include that descriptive, anyone buying it thinking they were getting something to read about black labradors would not only be disappointed but quite possibly shocked as WOOF! is an adults-only comedy with (for some) controversial themes.
Even if I was to accept the distressed logic that suggests any text on a cover is indicative of the title, it should be pointed out that ‘a barking mad adult comedy about sulky goths, sarky gays and students gallivanting’ is above and BEFORE the actual title of WOOF!
It would be a nonsense to try suggesting that the book title is ‘a barking mad adult comedy about sulky goths, sarky gays and students gallivanting WOOF!’.
Now, are you seriously going to suggest to me that you are trying to dictate my design choices for the cover based on a witless interpretation that no reader in their right mind would ever make?
I look forward to your response. Thank you.
#angryhatOFF
Who’d have thought the cover (below) could prove to be so bloody contentious? How ridiculous is CreateSpace?
