By the Flicker of a Lone Light (eBook)

The process of independent publishing, or publishing through 'Bukk', is literally a system that provides anyone with the opportunity to publish a book. However, this process can seem a bit complicated at first. It was the same when I first decided to publish a book through Bukk, but once you get used to it, anyone can easily put their book out into the world.

Vukk is an independent publishing platform that makes it easy for individuals to publish and sell their books. The process of publishing a book can be divided into four main stages. : Manuscript writing, book design, publication request, and review and publication.

The first thing you need to do, of course, is to prepare your manuscript. It's usually written in a Word file, and it's important to format it consistently. Vukk sets the print price according to the size of the book (e.g., A5, A4, 46 editions, etc.) and the number of pages, so the volume must be adjusted accordingly. The second step is the design of the book. The design referred to here includes the cover and layout of the book. The cover is the first thing a reader will look at when choosing a book, so it's important to think about an impressive design. Using a program called "Pre-Canvas or Canva" provides a tool that makes it easy for authors to create covers, but if you're from an engineering school, it's a good idea to get help from a professional.

When requesting publication, upload your manuscript and design files from the Vukk website, and set the price and sales method of the book. It's important to note that when setting the selling price, Vukk takes a portion of the book's sales price as a platform fee, and the rest goes back to the author's profit. When you make a request for publication, Vukk automatically starts the review process. We try to ensure the quality of the book by checking the formatting, image resolution, and typos of the manuscript, but in the end, the author himself or herself must carefully check the manuscript. If the review process is rejected, the author can receive feedback on the revised parts and request a review after the revision.

One of the most curious questions for many people is the revenue of independent publishing. Currently, both paper books and e-books can be sold on Bukk, and each has a different tax structure.

In the case of paper books, the tax rate is relatively low because they are printed using the POD (Print on Demand) method. The POD method is a system that prints and ships books on the spot whenever they are ordered, and it is very economical in that it is printed only when it is needed without stockpiling. However, due to the additional cost of printing and distribution, the percentage of royalty taken by the author is bound to be low.

On the other hand, in the case of e-books, there are no printing or distribution costs, so the percentage of royalties taken by authors is relatively high. Once created, it can be sold indefinitely at no additional cost, transforming it into a pipeline that can earn a steady stream of royalties.

The POD (Print on Demand) method is a printing technology that can be applied not only to books but also to various products. Although it may still be relatively new in Korea, this method is widely used in various fields overseas. For example, there are POD platforms where you can create and sell products such as t-shirts, mugs, and canvas art. Some of the most popular sites include Redbubble, Zazzle, TeeSpring, and Shopify. Shopify, in particular, is a platform that makes it easy for users to create their own online stores, and it offers the ability to integrate various POD services. Designers and creatives can sell their designs around the world without the burden of inventory management. Whether it's a paper book, an e-book, or a variety of POD products, it's all a process by which the creator puts his or her work out into the world and gains economic value from it. Although the initial profit may be insignificant, it is significant in that it is the first step in seeing the creator's passion come to fruition. I, too, took that first step, and I still can't forget the emotion.

From editing to cover design, each process is a pleasure in its own right, but it also comes with some challenges. For designing the cover and table of contents, design tools such as 'Miricanvas' and 'Canva' are useful. These tools are easy to use thanks to their intuitive interface, and they offer a variety of templates to save you time. When creating a cover, you can get an image from an AI drawing site or use a free background provided by the platform, which guarantees a decent quality.

In my personal experience, making book covers is a real delicacy. I don't know what makes you so excited, but when I go into design, all kinds of imagination explode. Just choosing a background and changing the photo a little bit on top of it got a pretty nice result. The satisfaction of converting a hand-edited book into a PDF or JPG file, and the joy of conceiving the physical form of a book and completing it, is indescribable. However, when you're so focused on design, it's easy to forget something. They are the wings and the spines of books. These parts vary depending on the number of pages in the book, and even a few millimeters in the thickness of the spine can mess up the design. If you miss this while paying attention to the design, you will feel like you have left the carefully prepared dish in front of the guests on the stove. The dish was nicely done, but it wasn't until I realized that delicious smoke was coming from the kitchen. It sounds simple, but you know how troublesome this can be. Sometimes, I think, "I don't need it all, wouldn't it be better to buy a high-end cover made by designers?" I think so.

It's like buying food from a Michelin-starred restaurant made by a chef. The price is a bit out of 8~180,000 won, but it's not a bad idea to take out the "trump card" of buying a high-end cover.

Editing is a different story. A table of contents is easy to organize, but editing the entire text is more difficult than you might think. To be honest, editing the inside of a paper book is much trickier. I often feel limited in this technical aspect, so I think it's much better to leave it to the designer. I also have a desire to edit it into a beautiful book and make it. However, as an unknown artist, the reality that it is a little unsatisfactory to satisfy this desire hinders me. The price is 2,000 won per page, and you can get at least 40 pages. Just like the price on the cover, it starts at 80,000 won.

Not only paper books, but also the e-book production process has its own parts that need to be taken care of. You may be worried about whether to create an e-book with E-Pub or publish a book in PDF format, but Epub recommends converting a Word file and modifying it within the platform. It's much simpler, and it reduces unnecessary stress. But what I feel every time I make an e-book is that the whole process is like a commotion. They start out thinking, "This is easy!" but then face more and more complex technical problems. Every time I do that, I think, "Why did I do this myself?"

Kakao Brunch Story Passed, and the Second Book

When I was thinking about how much my words would resonate with the world, I suddenly had an idea. 'Brunch Story, did you try it last time? Why don't we do it a little differently this time?'

At this time, I had the good fortune to be selected as a writer for Brunch Story, one of Kakao's projects. It is said that anyone can write a book, but the day I was accepted as a writer was just an ordinary evening of the day. While having a leisurely dinner with friends after work, I saw a text message that said, "You have been approved as a writer."

I remembered that I had applied once when I was leaving a large company in the past. At that time, I was a little frustrated when I received a text saying "I'm sorry I couldn't serve you", but what do you think? When I was a 24-year-old job applicant, I laughed as I recalled the many texts I received from major companies, saying, "Thank you, but I'm sorry I can't be with you." This time, he didn't care about that. At 1 a.m., I pressed the button to apply for an artist. It's going to fall, he said. However, he was wrong. 'Pass!' When the text arrived, I couldn't help but tilt my head. How could an INTP who was only full of sensitivity and had no feelings for others pass in a place where emotions were supposed to be stimulated? I was as straight and firm as a birch tree, and I had a calm sensibility like a fig tree.

When you get there, the articles that Merchandiser picks today are mainly emotional essays. Divorce stories, overseas travel stories, diary stories about being scolded by your boss...Most of the articles consistently touch people's hearts. When I applied this time, I wrote to Kakao, "Sensibility is too difficult for me, I'm going to write an informative article that I'm good at!" He declared. The topic was an informational essay for civil service examinees that I was writing. This decision led me to take my first steps as a brunch story writer.

After writing an informative article, the process of applying to be a writer was simple. Self-introduction, publication history....

From the next day, I had a chance to present my writing to the public, and the response was lukewarm than I expected. Anyway, Brunch Story was a big motivator for me to publish my second book.

I was afraid of "how people would react to my posts," but I think there was more excitement ahead of them. And that excitement eventually led to a second book, <Are You a Public Servant>.

The birth of <Are you a civil...