All Lee Welch books now available in paperback

The other day I held a paperback book I wrote for the first time. It felt damn fine. I stroked the paper. I smelled it. We opened a bottle of champagne.

I had held a paperback I wrote a few years ago when the French publisher of my first book, Salt Magic, Skin Magic, sent me a complimentary copy of the translation. That was a very nice feeling. But it was, of course, in French. I couldn’t read it. It was my book but it wasn’t my book.

This time it was definitely my book. With the words, as I wrote them.

Yes, only a few years late, I have created print on demand paperbacks of my three existing books: Salt Magic, Skin Magic; Mended with Gold; and Seducing the Sorcerer.

They’re only available on Amazon (sorry) but at least they’re available.

Read on for the story or use the links below to buy your copy:

Salt Magic, Skin Magic: https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Magic-Skin-Lee-Welch-ebook/dp/B07F8GLY4Y/

Mended with Gold: https://www.amazon.com/Mended-Gold-epilogue-Out-Loud-ebook/dp/B09LPSJ6FY/

Seducing the Sorcerer: https://www.amazon.com/Seducing-Sorcerer-Lee-Welch/dp/0473592622/

When I published these books originally, I did consider making print copies, but I decided most people would want ebook or audio, so it wasn’t a top priority.

Then I tried to create a print on demand version of Salt Magic, Skin Magic, mainly because readers asked me if I would. I thought it would be nice. Other authors do it, right? How hard could it be?

I went online and I tried.

I learned about font sizes and margins and spine widths and bleed. I read the handy help documents and understood even less. I soldiered on. I read the advice in various author groups about the merits of cream over white and matte over gloss. I learned that I must on NO ACCOUNT use my own ISBNs. And also that I must ONLY EVER use my own ISBNS on pain of DEATH.

I went away for a bit. OK, I scuttled away, whimpering.

I went back online. Tried again. Got a million error messages that everything was wrong and my cover images weren’t large enough and my book was written in a language unknown on Earth and who did I think I was with my stupid margins anyway?

I realised that creating paperbacks must be one of those things other people seem to find easy but that is really hard for me. I decided to wait until I could afford to pay someone to format my books correctly for me.

Time ticked on. Money that could have been spent on formatting came and went and came and went because fridges stopped working and cars broke down and people needed feeding and so on. And it wasn’t just the money. There were family crises and new jobs and always a million other things.

Readers were still contacting me occasionally, asking if print versions were available because they wanted one. Every time I’d feel both delighted and guilty. “I’m sorry,” I’d say, “Never say never, but just now I don’t have what it takes to make print available.”

Everyone understood. Everyone was so nice about it.

I’d think about print, sometimes, at three in the morning, or on the bus or while brushing my teeth. It was something I wanted to do. But it still felt like one of those ghastly fairytale chores set for you by a goblin. Collecting water in a sieve, say, or weaving shirts of thistles.

Then a very kind reader got in touch again and offered practical assistance – she wasn’t a formatter by trade or anything, but she reckoned she was usually pretty good at understanding online instructions and figuring things out. Would I like a hand?

Reader, she made me brave.

I went back online and tried again. The knowledge she was waiting in the wings to help made all the difference. I can’t thank her enough.

It was a long process. I did lots of things wrong. As far as I could tell from the error messages, Amazon doesn’t ship print proofs to New Zealand, so I had to do the best job I could, make them live and order them for myself. Oh, I forgot title pages. I tweaked this and that and ordered them again. One still had overly narrow margins. Tweak, tweak, tweak. Re-order. But in the end, it was done.

Now they’re live and they look fine.

So, if you’re one of those readers who contacted me years or months ago – thank you for your enthusiasm, your patience, and your understanding.

And here are the links again:

Salt Magic, Skin Magic: https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Magic-Skin-Lee-Welch-ebook/dp/B07F8GLY4Y/

Mended with Gold: https://www.amazon.com/Mended-Gold-epilogue-Out-Loud-ebook/dp/B09LPSJ6FY/

Seducing the Sorcerer: https://www.amazon.com/Seducing-Sorcerer-Lee-Welch/dp/0473592622/