About "Nakenashi no Tane" (The Last of the Seeds)

I finally made it.
My own shop...
Even though the world has become so convenient and easy, I never thought a day like this would come, so I'm deeply moved...

Wait. This is no time to be lost in sentiment.
People are actually buying this without me even providing details on what kind of book it is or what condition it will arrive in...!
What would I do if the shipping cost 2,450 yen via cool delivery!
"A hairy crab I don't remember ordering! And a book is included as a bonus!?"
If such a tricky package arrived... well, I might go down in history for that, at least.

So, with that said.
This is about the book I made for the first time.
It includes details you might not even need to know.

1. Title: "Nakenashi no Tane" (The Last of the Seeds)

Actually.
There was a day when the phrase "Nakenashi no Tane" suddenly popped into my head while I was soaking in the bath.
This happens from time to time, so I get out of the bath and eagerly write it down in my handwritten notebook.

In the first place, words that pop into my head are usually just me messing around. For example,"If a miracle could come true, I want to show you my Ayase right now"would be one of those.
Often, the content I'm going to write is already vaguely floating in my mind.

Did I have a memory like this?
It was about three days after I tilted my head while looking at the words in my "Nakenashi no Tane" notebook.
I found out that the Hiroshima Literature Flea Market was going to be held.
"Oh, this is the title of the book I'm going to release."
For some reason, I felt it intuitively.
After that, I got cold feet repeatedly, which led to the process of sending an email to Tsuru-san.

Since the title was already made, the rest is just about making things fit.
That said, the phrase I created felt like it fit me surprisingly well, so I'm quite fond of it.

2. Cover

Should I ask someone to do it, or should I ask Tsuru-san to ask the same person as Tsuru-san, Satsuki Amiya...
But when the title came to me, a simple 🌱 and 🌈 popped into my head.
It seems like doing the work of extracting what's in my head myself is the fastest way!
I thought easily, and made it while humming in the Canva app. That's right, I'll put an elephant on the back cover too!

...The hard part was when I submitted it to the printing company.
I calculated the thickness of the spine, embedded the fonts, made the left and right perfectly symmetrical, and it was still rejected with "The size is different!"
By the way, I struggled not only with the cover but also with the main text.
"The font isn't embedded!"
No, that shouldn't be the case.

When I was struggling in front of my computer,Samurai Tanaka-sandescended.
"Settings created by humans always have a manual. You just need to investigate thoroughly."

...Samurai Tanaka!! I never thought you would help me here!!

3. Price

I think this is the most important detail, the content.
No new writing, it contains 14 pieces from my note.
Charging money for something you can read on note...! While calming my trembling heart.
Since I'm at it, I'll make what's inside a surprise. Hehe... (anxious)
I hope it contains that one you like, that one that made you cry, but I chose all my favorites one way or another.

And then, I'm proceeding entirely based on Tsuru-san's standards.
Using Tsuru-san's 150-page, 800-yen book as a benchmark, I decided on 500 yen, which is a nice round number, considering it's 130 pages, no new writing, and a cover made while humming.

I'm fully intending to sell it to my real-life friends, so there's also the ulterior motive that it's easier to sell if the price is a round number.

4. Shipping

This is also the same as Tsuru-san, I will send it via Smart Letter.
I've set it at 200 yen, which includes the 180-yen Smart Letter and the cost of the bag.

And then international shipping!
Tsugumi-san!!← Suddenly calling you out
I left a comment yesterday saying "Hehehe♪"! When I checked, it was 330 yen! Sorry, it's 30 yen over!

A small confusion occurred there.
Today, I went to the post office to buy a Smart Letter and asked about international shipping while I was at it.

Then, the lady at the counter said,
"A book? If so, you can only use EMS!"
EMS is the one that costs over 2,000 yen, right? I'm sending a 500-yen item!

"No, no, I heard I could send it for a little over 300 yen," I said in a panic.
"Eh, when was that? Before COVID?"
"Which post office? Who did you hear that from?"

Who did you hear that from?
Is this school gossip?
"It was Tsuru-san." If I answer that, will she say, "Oh, that Rururu family!"?

To me, who was slightly nervous, the lady said,
"I'm sorry, I want to know how to send it cheaply too! If you'd like, read this!"
And with that, she gave me materials on international shipping.

So I have to look it up myself!

Thank goodness, I can send it for 330 yen...!
By the way, before I reached this point, I also shouted at Tsuru-san once. Sorry for being so noisy.

5. Points to nitpick in the book

Well, first of all, I want to say this.

I had a vague feeling about it when I saw the preview from the printing company.
I-isn't it too close...?

However, after having my data rejected so many times and being completely exhausted, I held onto a mysterious hope that "I'll make this sense of distance a selling point..." and pressed the OK button.

It's like the innocence of a baby who doesn't understand distance and ends up poking their own eyes.
I think you can imagine it like that.
(Again, I don't know what I'm talking about.)

And, early on in the main text, I discovered paragraph errors and typos.
Paper-based is scaryyy!
I read it so many times, really, so many times on the computer, but the moment it became paper, the mistakes were found immediately.

And, I overused the same conjunctions.
This, too, didn't feel strange when reading horizontally, or even vertically on a computer, but the moment it became paper, the horror of it being highlighted became apparent.

Also, I didn't use bold text in the book, but since I use bold text a lot on note, I can't deny that I feel the impression changes.

Please watch over this part vaguely...!
(I'm sorry for charging money...!)

"I think this part is wrong!!"
"It's not what I expected!"

If you nitpick me strongly, I think I'll go somewhere so far away that only a Catbus could find me, holding a corn, and cry by myself.

Well, at that time, it won't be a Catbus, butthe Griffin of Tokorozawawill come to pick me up, so I'll wait peacefully eating my corn.

6. toccodocco STORE

So. I've written at such great length again.

If you are interested up to this point, please take a look.
We are accepting pre-orders with a scheduled shipping date of February 13th.
Thank you very much!