Whale book at the printer

Ok. Finally. I finished every single page of this book I've been working on since January of 2007, put texts on each page, and sent the files to the printer to be printed and bound. (Practically that's all I did for the half of my precious spring break!) This website, lulu.com actually costs less than if I do on my own. So hopefully I would be happy with what they do for me.

I can't really comment before I actually see the result in my hand, but it was a little tricky to upload files so I'm a little nervous to see how it turns out. They won't accept the full bleed size files and they won't accept the double spread image, so I had cut every image fitting to the single trim size page and upload them all separately.

This image on the page is the half title page, which you see right after you turn the cover. Practically page number 1. I'm quite happy with this simple image, but I wasn't sure about the cover which might be the most important image since it's the very first thing people see. But oh, well, I was over by the time I was thinking of the cover.

I had three candidates for my title, which were 1)Whale in the Forest, 2) Blue the Whale's Footprints, 3) Why Blue the Whale Went to the Sea?
The original idea was number three, and I've kept this title for over an year but I never so much liked it. It sums up the whole content of the story though. But when I saw my friend, Parin, couldn't quite remember the long title and repeat it (which I always have a hard time, too!), that made me sure I needed a simpler title which you can actually remember and repeat it at the book store. So there we go, Whale in the Forest!

I'm excited and nervous at the same time to see the result of what I've been working on for such a long time. I'll update when the printed book arrives.