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McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: The Deposed King on May 06, 2012, 08:02:36 PM
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Preface: I am not an expert. I've self-published one e-book. But at the repeated urging of PG I am going to give it a shot at starting a thread on this subject. It gets a bit long winded but there you go. If you can do better. Please!!!
But for now, lets start helping both each other and the newbs looking to go into this thing cold.
Note my post is mainly or exclusively for Amazon's e-book self-publishing route. I'm going to give you the ABC's and the 123's. Then you can all point out everything I've missed and why my B is really everyone else's G and I missed everything in between, 8).
Regardless and anyway, first things first. I am an author and I've decided my manuscript is ready for self-publishing. I've looked at it until my eyes bled and the tears have streaked nasty crustations all down my cheeks but now its finally time to take the dreaded plunge. Only suddenly I am anxious: Where is Kindle Direct Publishing? What am I doing! Where do I go! Okay just take a deep breath, the KDP website is at. https://kdp.amazon.com . Note this is not located on the regular URL for amazon. But again I'm confused. Everything takes hours and hours to read through, all those helpful little FAQ's they have are mind numbing to read and worse. What they say is explained plain as day, is in fact clear as mud. My brain is strained and I fear grey matter is about to start pouring out of my ear. Again just calms down and let me start you off with a few things you need to know.
A) First off if I'm selling through amazon, what I want to know is what format my manuscript needs to be in. Now Amazon is quick to say they want your manuscript in HTML format. But if you look closely they also say they can take just about basically any format you want to provide them. Word, Adobe, HTML, etc. They pretty much are able to convert anything. They also warn you that if its not their preferred format there can be format issues (thus sending your blood pressure sky rocketing) but whatever, seriously you can't let that stop you. Not when you can make changes after you self-publish and the Amazon review process lets you make changes and see them reflected in your manuscript every 12 hours after its published online. Then anyone who's already bought your book is asked if they want the latest and greatest upgraded version of your book. But what about my thousands of readers who have bought my book the very first day!!! I don't want to put out anything less than my best! I might miss sales!!! Or so you think. But guys, really get a grip. You are not David Weber, you are not B.V. Larson (the david weber of indie authors), you will instead be lucky to get a handful of sales your very first day, and realistically they'll probably be your friends and relatives, who will forgive you for minor uploading errors. Errors you will be able to correct the first day or first week, depending on how helpless you allow yourself to be. (I mean come on, anyone can run around like with a chicken with their head cut off, but if you are online, surely even a technological dinausour knows someone who can help you on their day off, which is why I throw that week figure)
B) Back on task. First things first, any aspiring author wants all the tools available to him/her. So here's the link to the Kindle Reviewer. http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000765261 This is good for windows or mac. Unlike the KDP site, this lets you put in a word or a few other formats and spit back out something you can read. The first look at your masterpiece as it were (at least on someone else's software). Now this tool is more limited than the Publishing Site in what you can put in and what it will spit back out, (its a little frustrating that way but as an author we are born to live with such frustration), anyway after you have an approved format document and you have finished panicking, its time to look at your novel through the previewer. Please note I had some issues with tab indents for my paragraphs on my previewer that weren't a problem when the book was in the Kindle Store. Anyway the previewer lets you look at your document as it'll supposedly appear on Kindle. Note: I also got a mobi-file converter of some kind also, but don't have the link. A free download off the internet so I could look at it on my Kindle for PC in mobi format and see how my book would look (this is in addition to the previewer). That converter would only take a couple of formats, it wanted HTML and it looked different than what I was able to get on amazon, mainly in those paragraph indents. Which was a real bugbear for me. They showed up and then they didn't' show up and then finally I just told myself I'd fix it later and put it up for sale. But then when amazon started actually selling my book, low and behold they must have been able to convert the document I sent properly, because hurray those paragraphs were back in, weren't just solid blocks of text!
My advice? Follow the lines off of Galaxy Quest the Movie, 'Never give up, Never Surrender!' And also don't be a chode. You keep this advice firmly in mind as you are agonizing over/during the process: 'She who hesitates is surely lost and He who isn't willing to put some skin in the game is nothing but a great big woose.' It took me about 8 hours of hesitation and indecision, not to mention buckets of skull sweat as I poured through the FAQ's and tried to make sense of the insensible. Downloading every tool I could get my hands on and agonizing over minor defects and contract terms. All I can say having gone through the process. Having something better than open office and text files, would probably help you on the front end of your hesitation and indecision process. But it in no way stopped me and you shouldn't let it stop you either if that's all you got.
C) Next and this is a pretty simple concept. But for those of us who don't have a kindle, and want to sell our books on amazon anyway. Just be aware, you don't have to own a kindle and pay the 100 or 200 bucks for it. Kindle-for-PC is a completely free program and you can read e-books, particularly 'your own e-book' as well as other mobi-files that have nothing at all to do with amazon on this reader. Now you will need to make an amazon account if you don't already have one and/or link your pre-existing one after you do finish installing the program. But if you link a debit or credit to your account, you too can start buying and downloading completely free e-books, as well as the first 10% of books you are interested in reading (including your book). Here's the download link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311 But guys, really. Its pretty clear and obvious at least to me, that if you are going to sell your book on amazon, you really need to be able to read it. (Please note: Amazon is filled with a bunch of asshats, and you as the author, will actually have to purchase your own e-book after you self-publish it. If you want to look at the whole thing, as the readers will get to. Otherwise you're like the rest of us who haven't paid amazon. Stuck with reviewing the first 10%)
D) Artwork: now this isn't strictly necessary because if you don't have an art. Amazon will put a generic place holder with the name of the book and author as the picture for your book. So just be ready now or you'll have to add it in later. Unless you're okay with losing one of the best marketing tools available to you. A book cover.
E) If you're going to read the FAQ now would really be a good time. Again the link is https://kdp.amazon.com and they also have community forums for questions and for those of us interested in some feed back. I refused to go that route because the Forum looked ginormous and I wasn't willing to hesitate forever in a haze of indecision. By gosh and by golly my book was going out on monday and that's the day I did it, I refused to be impeded or slowed down or whatever, I figured I could go there later if there were issued. But if you need some help and advice on the front end or you're going to give up, this is probably the place to go.
However now that we are done with all that happy hooplaw we can get started on every aspiring author's greatest fear. I'm going to step by step you, as best I can, through the actual process of uploading your book to KDP for the approval process.
(Note post is chopped into two sections because it exceeded the maximum character lenght)
The Deposed King
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1) I went to www.kdp.amazon.com and its time to sign in. I click the sign in button and now, after I signed in, I'm at the Bookshelf. Suddenly I'm filled with fear and trepidition. They are Introducing KDP Select, my eyes are flickering all over the screen. What should I do!??? Where should I go!
Just calm down. Calm down and don't worry about it. Instead select, 'add new title' and simply click it.
2) my heart beat slows and I start to calm, then suddenly my screen is filled with boxes that need filling in!!! Once again pretty simple. 1. Enter Your Book Details: now this isn't too hard to understand. There's a title section. In Which you very simply enter the name of your title. For instance the name of my books is 'Admiral Who?', now you can just move on. But wait, asks the paranoid new author, when I go to http://www.amazon.com/Admiral-Spineward-Sectors-Novel-ebook/dp/B007WQSY44/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336250641&sr=8-1 and look at your book Mr. The Deposed King, I see that your title includes your series title: Admiral Who? (A Spineward Sectors Novel:) [Kindle Edition]! I've found you out, you are trying to decieve me and I shouldn't listen and just put the name of my series in their also, you say triumphantly. (I wag my finger at you.) If you will just look below you will see a box to check, that asks is this book part of a series. If it is, check the box. right below the box it says series title and volume. Simply fill out the information. Since I was a new authors. I put in: A Spineward Sectors Novel: and in the volume area I put 1. For edition I put number one. Because this book has never been out before. Then its time for...? The description. No deception involved, honest.
2) Next to your cover, the description of your book, is your best piece of advertising. You can have up to 4000 characters in your description. Think of this as the back of your electronic paperback. After looking at your cover and clicking the link, this is what I will read before deciding if I'm going to read the free sample of your book. So spice it up and make it count. If you look at my book, you can see what I did. Then just go forth and beg your friends to help you construct something to hook the masses.
3) Book Contributors: now this is a really terrible name. I had the darndest time figuring out what it meant just by looking at it. What this really is, is the name of the Author, Co-Author, and if you're going that route, the Editor. You need to click the button and fill this out. This is where you can put your name, or a pen name or call yourself the Purple Green Dinasaur. But whatever you do, when you go to amazon and look up the author, then whatever you put in here, will be the name they need to use to find your book. You don't have to use your own name. But you can. Just put in whatever you want. For instance I put in the name of my son as the author. Amazon didn't reject it because it wasn't the name on my amazon account. So do whatever you want. Just keep it PG, amazon is against sexually explicit stuff. Pretty obvious to me but anyway there you go anyway.
4) Next are Language (the language you want the book in) there are some drop down boxes. I just put english. Next Publication date: just put the current date. Next Publisher: I left this blank. Next ISBN: I wasn't willing to pay a hundred bucks or more, and so didn't get one. Instead I have an Amazon AISN. Please note if you don't put your ISBN in now, you might have trouble doing so later. Read the FAQ if you have questions, because I didn't do it, I'm not up on the whole what you can and cannot do process.
4) 2. Verify Your Publishing Rights: for everyone here I'm pretty much assuming this is your own unique work, not something you are publishing off the public domain. Just pick, 'This is not a public domain work and I hold the necessary publishing rights.'
5) 3. Target Your Book to Customers: you've got two places here to pick from. Catagories and Keywords. These are for Amazon, to help put you in the right spot to get readers. For catagories (you can only have two) there was a big tree but I ended up selecting: Adventure, Space Opera. For Keywords you can have 7 and I picked: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Sci-Fi, Military Science Fiction, Adventure, Fantasy, Admiral Who. Please note, I had to play around with that last keyword. When I did a search for my book before I had the title of my book in the keywords, it wouldn't come up on a search. So putting the title of your book in there, or at least some of the first words are key. Otherwise you can only find your book by looking up the author name. So keep this in mind as you figure out what keywords to use. Frankly, I'm not entirely sure I picked the right keywords for my book, this was just pulled out of my hind end. So other than putting the title of your book in there, if you've got a better idea for the other 6, let me in on the secret.
6) 4. Upload Your Book Cover: Okay three things to remember. 1) File Tye: TIFF (.tif/.tiff) or JPEG (.jpeg/.jpg) format
At least 1000 pixels on the longest side, with an ideal height/width ratio of 1.6.
2500 pixels on the longest side is preferred 2) The Kindle file format internally supports JPEG and GIF images of up to 127KB in size. So keep your image sizes down 3) When I uploaded my image of Admiral Who?, it was grainy and blotchy and I was sure it was ruined for my cover. I tried again and again. First letting amazon automatically resize my image, then had my brother manually fix it. Couldn't get the glitchy picture on my bookshelf to fix. But don't worry, I put in anyway, accepted the grainly glitchy surface, yet low and behold when it popped up on the amazon kindle store, it was just as you see it now. I did nothing and in my book shelf, still today it looks glitchy but if you follow the link to my book on amazon, no issues. So take a breath. Amazon isn't perfect, nor is its software. If you've got a bad picture showing up on your bookshelf cover image, just go with it. After 12 hours, they'll have reviewed your book, it will be up on amazon, and you can see if it looks okay then. If it doesn't, simply go back the 'brows for image' tab, click it and upload a new image. SAVE and wait another 12 hours. Rinse and repeat until you've got the image you're looking for.
7) 5. Upload Your Book File: Two parts here. DRM or no DRM (which is encryption for those of us who are clueless) I chose no DRM, being more inclined to the Baen model. If you want it so no one can copy your book. Whatever, its up to you. Just don't start a whole big diatribe against me about how I'm a fool or shouldn't have done it. I know the subject can get a bit hot at times. Keep it off my thread and start your own. I am sharing with you the step by step process as I did it. Make any changes you want, and let us know how it worked out for you. Next Book Content File: Click 'Browse For Book' find the file you want to upload on your computer, select it. Then upload it. They've got an option to preview it, you click and button and so forth. If that's what you want to do, then do it. i'm not going to step by step that part.
8) when everything on this page is how you want it you either click: save and continue or click: save as a draft. This will take you to page two: 2. Rights & Pricing.
9) 7. Verify Your Publishing Territories (this is literally the next thing you see after Rights and Pricing which is up in the top right corner of the screen): You can pick World Wide or select Individual Territories. I picked world wide so everyone could buy my book. But if you are discriminating against other or various countries for whatever reason, you can go in and manually pick which areas you want your book to show up in.
10) 8. Choose Your Royalty: This parts pretty simple, although they make it look complicated. You can chose to have 35% royalties or 70% royalties. There's some fine print in there. But for an indie author? Pick the 70% royalty and just go with it. The only reason not to pick the 70% royalty option, is because of this. Any book selling for under $2.99, has to automatically take the 35% option. Now I am selling my first book for $0.99 because I want to get it to as many people as possible. So I'm stuck with the 35% for my first book, I don't have a choice. But if you're book is selling for 2.99 and higher I will go for the 70% option and run with it.
Since we're talking about royalties and such. FYI: There's like a penny per MegaBite file size fee, (this is the cost of downloading your book and I do know its not a penny, they've got some calculations there, somebody else look it up and put it there, I just remember what it looked like, just remember also, the transfer fee is a one time cost that comes out of your end) Also unless you're a foreigner Amazon says they'll hold 30% of you're end for taxes. Meaning they take their 30%-65% off the top, charge you a penny for sending the book to your purchaser, then hold out 30% of the remainder for the government. If you are a foreigner, they will attempt to give this to your government for taxes, if your side has anything on the books if not. You need to send them the tax treaty info I think. I'm USA so I didn't really go into that info very far.
Also for getting paid: They hold everything you make for two months. Theoretical Example: In March I make 5 bucks day, so 5x31 = $165, they hold this $165.00 during all of April and I can't touch it, then they hold it for all of May and again I can't touch it, but then on June 1st, my money is now finally available to be withdrawn. They will either send a check to your mailing address or if you add a bank account, they will allow you to withdraw it there, also you have to have at least 10 bucks in your account or they won't send you the money yet got to have over the $10. Please note: this is the info I have from my reading, haven't had my book for sale for 3 months yet. Oh yeah they've got like six different amazon sites. I clicked to sell them on all of them with the auto conversion of my 0.99$ into the equivalent of euros or yen or whatever. So just a, click all the little boxes, unless you're out to stop those europeans or japanesse or whatever from reading your book.
11) 9. Kindle Book Lending: You are coming in on the home stretch now. I allow people to lend my book to other people. They can lend it to a person for 2 weeks, then my book disappears from the computer of the person who was lent the book. I'm not up on everything but hey guys. I just want the exposure, I'm not a house hold staple. The best thing for me is if a million people pirated this book and half a percent felt sorry afterwards and wanted to pay me. It'd be better than the 20+ sales I've got so far my first two weeks.
Then finally you once again verify that you have all the rights to publish your own book. You click the box. then you click the button 'save and publish'.
At last you are done with the ABC's and the 123's. And there is nothing left to do but stress and agonize. Both because you are filled with the irrational fear that Amazon will reject your book for some odd reason you don't have a clue about, or else really you would have fixed it. This fear then combines with a new fear when you go to try and make last minute changes to your book before it hits the shelves. Why? Because while you book is under review by amazon, its locked. You can't get into it and make any changes until the 12 hour review process is done. Click that button frantically, e-mail customer support, there's nothing you can do. After they're done reviewing it, then you can go back and adjust and re-upload and whatever else it is you want to do. I think even trying to delete and unpublish you book takes.... you've got it 12 hours. So after hitting this save and publish button you are committed. Someone out there in Amazon is going to be looking and judging your book. Even if its just with automated software making sure you're not an offensive porn queen or king in disguise, secretly trying to violate amazon policy or as I've heard in some cases, trying to upload someone else's book to make money. So once again take a deep breath and realize you're now committed. All those nifty little changes you want to make. Write them down and go to sleep. You can check in the morning and make all those little fixes then.
Sorry if this is a little bit long here. I know for most casual readers this is pretty deep in the weeds. Also know that for those of you stuck in the mud, I probably missed a few things that have you pulling your hair out. To each and everyone of you I say. I'm Sorry. But as of today. Amazon doesn't have a simple point and click option for publishing your book. This is literally as good as it gets.
One other caveat. If you go with amazon, you agree that your book sells with them, at the lowest price online. Meaning! If you go and sell your book on Smashswords or Barnes and Noble, that's not a problem. However while you can sell your book for more on otehr sites like Smashswords or Barnes and Nobles, Amazon will automatically crawl the internet and if they find your e-book selling for less anywhere else, they will automatically slash your price. Slam bam thank you officer, no review, no mitigation, your only recourse is to find where its selling it for less and raise the price. You're only other choice is to de-publish your book. Also if your book drops below the 2.99 mark, they will also automatically slash your royalties down to 35%.
I have also heard that it can take weeks or months before you can get the amazon price back up, if they cut it down. And that's after you raise all the other options like barnes and noble and smash swords. Why? Because when they crawl the internet, they will still find your lower price in some hidden chache. Be assured their bot crawlers will find those other (now deleted) options and reduce you again, even though you've already changed everything already. Basically you are fried and will be SOL until everything's aged off.
Okay I think I'm finally done. These are all the tips, pointers and advice I can come up with on short notice. Just ready yourself to take the plunge and submit your work of sweat, blood and tears to the Amazon Upload Gods and prepare yourself for a leap of faith! Know in your heart that you too can do this and that your heart is pure. Nothing can stop you!
Always follow the Dream,
The Deposed King
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This is a really great write-up, The Deposed King. I'm going to forward it to my father-in-law who asked me once about self-publishing. :)
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This is a really great write-up, The Deposed King. I'm going to forward it to my father-in-law who asked me once about self-publishing. :)
It it helps even one person, the hour I spent writing it will have been well worth it.
Although hopefully some others can point to areas I've missed or glossed over.
Have a great one!,
The Deposed King
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I have emailed it to my pa-in-law. We'll see what he says. :)
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can we save this thread some place as i know i will need it in about a year or so
thank you
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We should call Shecky or Blaze to ask them if this thread can be stickied. (Maybe just speaking their names is enough? :P)
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um i think there is a quicker way spot but i hope so this is rely helpful and i am shore i shall need it in the futore
i bet i am not the only one ether
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I've PMed the mods about making it sticky. We'll see what they say. :)
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I'm glad you guys seem to like it. Although understandably you haven't had a chance yet to test it and see how much it helps.
Hopefully some other people will post with their experiences with the e-book route.
The Deposed King
----P.S. I see we're in the none aging off thread section. Pretty cool.
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This post is now a sticky, thanks to the Goddess Priscellie! All hail the Goddess!
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I did try the Kindle route yesterday with the first of a series of stories. As of a few minutes ago, it's still in 'draft' status.
Will keep everyone updated.
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I've heard it takes anything from 18 to 36 hours for them to process it.
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I've PMed the mods about making it sticky. We'll see what they say. :)
I took it to Them What's Bossier Than Me, and Prisc kindly stickied it.
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Good luck RSL
And thank you for stickying it ;D
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This is a great post, and very informative. I was very happy to see it stickied this morning. I know that if I decide to go the self-publishing route myself, I will be coming back to this post. I love Amazon! However I'm not sure as of now whether I will sell exclusively with them or if I will sell with both them and Barnes and Nobles. My first book's deadline is August of this year so we'll see then!
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Doh! I forgot to click the 'Save and Publish' button. :-[
The entry is now 'in review'
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Does anyone know of a good link to some nuts-and-bolts info on formatting for e-pub? I have a self-pubbed novel through CreateSpace that I wish to offer as an e-book, but the Kindle self-pub site doesn't seem to have much to say on, for example, where to put the copyright information, how to do links to the chapters, what font/size/margin size to use, and so on. Thanks!
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Does anyone know of a good link to some nuts-and-bolts info on formatting for e-pub? I have a self-pubbed novel through CreateSpace that I wish to offer as an e-book, but the Kindle self-pub site doesn't seem to have much to say on, for example, where to put the copyright information, how to do links to the chapters, what font/size/margin size to use, and so on. Thanks!
I obviously failed with the table of contents. And I just put my copy right information and acknowledgements in the front. I remember they said something about font 12.
After that on the font front, the reader can adjust it bigger or smaller.
The Deposed King
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(font 1 yeah i will have fun with that one, note to self get friend to check everything before edditing the font size)
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As far as formatting for the Kindle goes, a quick search yielded a lot of links, but I found the following links helpful:
- http://www.newselfpublishing.com/WordKindle.html (http://www.newselfpublishing.com/WordKindle.html) (Very simple and easy to follow steps)
- http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/formatting-your-documents-for-the-kindle-in-8-steps/ (http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/formatting-your-documents-for-the-kindle-in-8-steps/) (8 things to keep in mind)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU2kprKRrGY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU2kprKRrGY) (Formatting for the Kindle in action)
- http://kindleformatting.com/formatting.php (http://kindleformatting.com/formatting.php) (A lot more detailed and good for the HTML code savvy author)
I think the major takeaways are that you should keep it simple. No fancy formatting gimmicks and as long as you keep it left aligned, you are good to go.
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spot my main problem will be the font 12 is too small to see to change any thing ater i have put it in to that font size
(if you ask me the minimu font size should be 16 at least if not 20)
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You can have it up to font size 18. When you publish it to the Kindle, Amazon makes the required changes when converting it to the .mobi format.
Also, keep in mind that most readers pick their preferred sizes on their device anyway.
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Well, Deposed King got the stressing and agonizing bit right, waiting to see if Amazon took some exception to something in my story . . . but, they didn't, and my story is now live ;D ;D 8) wooo hooo!
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Well, Deposed King got the stressing and agonizing bit right, waiting to see if Amazon took some exception to something in my story . . . but, they didn't, and my story is now live ;D ;D 8) wooo hooo!
;D I tried to recreate the mental and emotional strain of putting up your e-book as accurately as possible and follow this up with a verbal kick in the pants, at appropriate moments, to help everyone know they, both, aren't alone and to push them into keeping on keeping on instead of giving up.
Worst case people can scoff. Best case it helps you finish while biting your nails instead of stop and keep on chomping them down to the quick.
Glad if something I wrote was able to help. And not incidentally, Congradulations! Do you have a link?
The Deposed King
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Oh, right. Heh. Can't get anyone to spread the word if they don't know what they're looking for.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-of-Xyxyx-ebook/dp/B00820SC9Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336700399&sr=1-1
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Well done
;D
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Oh, right. Heh. Can't get anyone to spread the word if they don't know what they're looking for.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-of-Xyxyx-ebook/dp/B00820SC9Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336700399&sr=1-1 (http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-of-Xyxyx-ebook/dp/B00820SC9Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336700399&sr=1-1)
I'll have to check it out this weekend.
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@RS Leergaard: Can you please make a sample chapter available?
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Kindle-for-PC is a completely free program and you can read e-books, particularly 'your own e-book' as well as other mobi-files that have nothing at all to do with amazon on this reader. Now you will need to make an amazon account if you don't already have one and/or link your pre-existing one after you do finish installing the program. But if you link a debit or credit to your account, you too can start buying and downloading completely free e-books, as well as the first 10% of books you are interested in reading (including your book). Here's the download link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311
The above is a partial quote from The Deposed King. You don't have to buy anything, but you need the program to read book excerpts. Once that is done, at the link I posted above, on the right side of the page, is a small window that says 'try it free'. Click that and it will send a sample of the book (10%) to your computer for you to read.
I don't know why it won't let you look inside mine there at the link I gave you. Apparently I missed ckicking something. I did, however, set up a promotion for the book to be available for free for 5 days starting tomorrow (12 May 2012) @ approximately 12:00 pm. If it isn't available then, keep checking back until it is. :D
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Amazing stuff! A massive help to me!
I was wondering though, who did you turn to for artwork? I'm not a terrible artist, but I am far from book cover quality and I don't really know any artists who could help me out. Are there groups online who help with these things?
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I did mine myself using Paint Shop Pro 8, a starfield background and two pictures (a galaxy image downloaded from the internet and part of a jack-in-the-box) plust the text tool. Sounds hard but it really isn't. Took me less than an hour following the PSP8 help directions, but I'm used to the program. Might take longer if you're new to it.
Barring that, Amazon will put in a generic cover if you don't upload one.
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Amazing stuff! A massive help to me!
I was wondering though, who did you turn to for artwork? I'm not a terrible artist, but I am far from book cover quality and I don't really know any artists who could help me out. Are there groups online who help with these things?
I got a philipino artist. There is also deviant art. Or I've been told you can go to some universities and try to hire an artist still in school.
meg_evonne seemed to know someone.
Hope we can help people on this thread.
thanks,
The Deposed King
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Hmmm....I think I would definitely go the route of paying someone with REAL skill to do it. My sketches are good enough to get a general idea across and thats about it.
Thank you guys yet again.
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@RS Leergaard: Can you please make a sample chapter available?
I don't know why it won't let you look inside mine there at the link below. Apparently I missed ckicking something. I did, however, set up a promotion for the book to be available for free for 5 days starting tomorrow (12 May 2012) @ approximately 12:00 pm. If it isn't available then, keep checking back until it is.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-of-Xyxyx-ebook/dp/B00820SC9Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336700399&sr=1-1
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I just checked, the promotion is still 'in progress'. It hasn't taken effect, yet. I'll let you all know when it does.
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Belay what was here before.
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The free copy of Xyxyx is now available. You still need an Amazon account, but the book is free to download, for now. :)
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Thanks, I just downloaded it to the boyfriend's tablet as I don't have a Kindle.
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Hmm, interesting. I've been hearing a lot about this E-Publishing stuff. I tried to get my first novel published through traditional means. No one bit. I told myself that perhaps it was my writing, that I really can't write a sustainable Vampire thriller. But people have been urging me to try this. Lo and behold, I signed up for the Butcher forums and came across this topic almost immediately. So methinks me should try it after all. I mean really, what do I have to lose? Very helpful, King. Thanks for the info. (Y)
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Don't forget to post a link to your book in the "Author Craft" section. Good luck!
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Don't forget to post a link to your book in the "Author Craft" section. Good luck!
Thanks, Spot!! I will. I hope you like the beginning... 'It was a Dark and Stormy Night', LOL JK XD
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Hmm, interesting. I've been hearing a lot about this E-Publishing stuff. I tried to get my first novel published through traditional means. No one bit. I told myself that perhaps it was my writing, that I really can't write a sustainable Vampire thriller. But people have been urging me to try this. Lo and behold, I signed up for the Butcher forums and came across this topic almost immediately. So methinks me should try it after all. I mean really, what do I have to lose? Very helpful, King. Thanks for the info. (Y)
Glad to be of service.
hope everything works out for you!
Always follow the dream,
The Deposed King
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Thanks, Spot!! I will. I hope you like the beginning... 'It was a Dark and Stormy Night', LOL JK XD
:D Oh and welcome to the forums! Stop by Weird in the Bar for some good, clean fun. Okay, not always clean, but always fun!
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Speaking of E-publishing in general
There is deanwesleysmith.com He has a whole series about E-publishing, some of it gets a little complicated when it comes to pricing books though.
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I just wanted to stop in and say we found the post valuable and informative. I enjoyed your book and have written a couple reviews on it. Keep up the good work.
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Saw your review up on amazon. Thanks!
always follow the dream,
The Deposed King
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Saw your review up on amazon. Thanks!
always follow the dream,
The Deposed King
The other review is here (http://ourforumon.com/kindle-book-reviews/admiral-who/msg2163/?topicseen#msg2163) from a slightly different viewpoint. I'm also promoting this thread and your blog on the site.
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Thanks for the promo. I'll take a spin around your site and see what's what!
The Deposed King
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I just uploaded one of my stories to Amazon Kindle using The Deposed King's very helpful directions! Thanks very much!
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Hey, give us a link and title to look for!
I've got to check with prisc to see if ebook purchases through the forum's amazon link generate any revenue for Iago to run the site with. I know hardcopy does, but not sure about ebooks.
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I just uploaded one of my stories to Amazon Kindle using The Deposed King's very helpful directions! Thanks very much!
Great! Great news LizW65, like PG said give us a link if you can. Also if there are any sections that could be improved upon in those 'helpful directions 8) ) just let me know.
The Deposed King
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Here you go!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008MQEO8I
(Warning: extremely silly.) ;D
I'll be putting up another work as soon as I get the proof back from CreateSpace and approve it.
ETA: It wouldn't let me use the cover from the hard copy (wrong number of pixels) so for now there's no image available. I think it shows up as page one, though.
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Hey, give us a link and title to look for!
I've got to check with prisc to see if ebook purchases through the forum's amazon link generate any revenue for Iago to run the site with. I know hardcopy does, but not sure about ebooks.
Anything that you buy using the forum's Amazon link generates revenue for the site.
Here's LizW65's book using the forum's link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008MQEO8I/iagonet (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008MQEO8I/iagonet)
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Here you go!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008MQEO8I (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008MQEO8I)
(Warning: extremely silly.) ;D
I'll be putting up another work as soon as I get the proof back from CreateSpace and approve it.
ETA: It wouldn't let me use the cover from the hard copy (wrong number of pixels) so for now there's no image available. I think it shows up as page one, though.
I see that snarky and witty show up in the user review. :) I'm buying this one right now! :)
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Where is the forum's Amazon link? ???
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Where is the forum's Amazon link? ???
http://forums.kindledirectpublishing.com/kdpforums/forumindex.jspa
is this what you're looking for Leergaard?
The Deposed King
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Your book must be good Liz, there are adverts for the Fifty Shades books at the bottom of the page. ::) ::)
One for the reading list.
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Your book must be good Liz, there are adverts for the Fifty Shades books at the bottom of the page. ::) ::)
One for the reading list.
Oh, good lord! ::) Please don't get any wrong ideas--my book isn't porn; its a straight-up murder mystery. It does contain some adult language and period-appropriate political incorrectness, though.
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Oh, good lord! ::) Please don't get any wrong ideas--my book isn't porn; its a straight-up murder mystery. It does contain some adult language and period-appropriate political incorrectness, though.
I was only teasing Liz. Amazon probably put that advert there because people are buying in bulk. Probably under female author category. I read a lot of medieval murder mysteries and am amazed at what I get as a suggested title.
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http://forums.kindledirectpublishing.com/kdpforums/forumindex.jspa
is this what you're looking for Leergaard?
The Deposed King
Ummm. I'm not sure. ???
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Saw that Admiral’s Gambit was out at Amazon. Was it easier the second time around? Did you do anything different?
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Admiral's Gambit is book two. Just hit the electron presses today.
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Saw that Admiral’s Gambit was out at Amazon. Was it easier the second time around? Did you do anything different?
Much easier the second time around. Since you can go back and make changes at any time to (in this case) my first book Admiral Who? I just opened up Admiral Who like I was going to make changes. And put it side by side with the 'new book' I was starting. being able to see what I'd done before made things move much faster. I just copied keywords and catagories, after some contemplation if I wanted to change from catagories, Adventure/Space Opera to Space Opera/Military Science Fiction, I decided to just keep it the same. I did modify one key word. I went with Space Adventure. Just have to see how it stacks up.
Although that said. While it was much faster and easier, the part I had trouble with once again was when I uploaded the file. This time I was using word, .doc, .docx, or .rtf. didn't matter what I did. Basically? The amazon previewer sucks. It shows indents that don't show up, when they convert your file. And if I put indents in they double indented. It was really frustrating. Plus between converting all my files from .doc to .docx to .rtf, Word auto changed my times new roman to something else. So when I uploaded the first file on amazon, even though the whole rest of the book was in times new roman except for the frist two sentences, the who look was auto converted into that strange style that snuck into the first two lines during all the copy and paste.
about an hour to two hours after it went live I uploaded the same file only without the funky font on those two lines, and with the indents back in. So now the file actually looks readable but sadly, my single indent paragraphs have been magically converted into double indent paragraphs. Not what I was intending at all and very frustrating. I don't know how to fix it. I'll just have to play around with it later I guess.
Anyone have any handy hints about how to just get a single indent? Cause what they show you on the previewer and what they actually put up on amazon for people to buy? Doesn't always match!!!
The Deposed King
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Much easier the second time around. Since you can go back and make changes at any time to (in this case) my first book Admiral Who? I just opened up Admiral Who like I was going to make changes. And put it side by side with the 'new book' I was starting. being able to see what I'd done before made things move much faster. I just copied keywords and catagories, after some contemplation if I wanted to change from catagories, Adventure/Space Opera to Space Opera/Military Science Fiction, I decided to just keep it the same. I did modify one key word. I went with Space Adventure. Just have to see how it stacks up.
Although that said. While it was much faster and easier, the part I had trouble with once again was when I uploaded the file. This time I was using word, .doc, .docx, or .rtf. didn't matter what I did. Basically? The amazon previewer sucks. It shows indents that don't show up, when they convert your file. And if I put indents in they double indented. It was really frustrating. Plus between converting all my files from .doc to .docx to .rtf, Word auto changed my times new roman to something else. So when I uploaded the first file on amazon, even though the whole rest of the book was in times new roman except for the frist two sentences, the who look was auto converted into that strange style that snuck into the first two lines during all the copy and paste.
about an hour to two hours after it went live I uploaded the same file only without the funky font on those two lines, and with the indents back in. So now the file actually looks readable but sadly, my single indent paragraphs have been magically converted into double indent paragraphs. Not what I was intending at all and very frustrating. I don't know how to fix it. I'll just have to play around with it later I guess.
Anyone have any handy hints about how to just get a single indent? Cause what they show you on the previewer and what they actually put up on amazon for people to buy? Doesn't always match!!!
The Deposed King
I'll download the new file later and take a look to see what happened.
I created a table listing the top 900+ searches on Amazon if you're interested.
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Sure I'm interested in seeing the table.
How'd you compile it?
The Deposed King
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Sure I'm interested in seeing the table.
How'd you compile it?
The Deposed King
The data is from their tag cloud on their site. It's the last post on the amazon kindle e-publishing thread on the other site.
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After looking at your list I have a question. If I already have say Adventure in one of my two Catagories slots on amazon. Should I also have it in my 7 keyword options? Or should I be trying for a different one?
Thanks,
The Deposed King
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After looking at your list I have a question. If I already have say Adventure in one of my two Catagories slots on amazon. Should I also have it in my 7 keyword options? Or should I be trying for a different one?
Thanks,
The Deposed King
I would suspect it would be worthwhile. From what you said before, you couldn't search on Admiral Who until you listed it as a keyword. Which seems strange. It does take time for a new entry to register though. Until we know more about their code I'd just select the best keywords you can come up with, that people use most often and fits your book. Of course if sales begin to slow, you might try a different set of keywords that fit, if you can.
Is there a word that is in your categories that you don't have as a keyword for Admiral Who? Try searching on that word and see if the book is listed in the search results.
I did some quick tests and "Spineward Sectors" and "Wachter" searches listed your book. So I'd focus on keywords not found in the other meta tag entries. I'll do some more tests and post the results on the other site.
Here's a short list of what Amazon seems to use for tags relative to it's searches amazon keywords (http://ourforumon.com/marketing/amazon-keywords/)
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Hi!
I just wanted to say THANKS! I read your advice about going through the self-publishing route. I will admit that sometimes computers work with me the same as they do with Harry. Or, I'm a bit dim. ;) (You can decide). I never did get the whole Kindle process working.
But, that said, there was a lot of useful information in the whole self-publishing aspects. The doctor said my eyesight should restore itself, eventually, after reading through all the legalese.
In the end, I went with Smashwords. I got two books up and running as of yesterday and I've already gotten a few sales. So, um, I guess I'm an professional author. Gah, what a thought. But, there was an unsuspecting populations lying there and I just pounced.
Anyway, thanks for the advice. I just wanted you to know it was both useful and appreciated.
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Hi!
I just wanted to say THANKS! I read your advice about going through the self-publishing route. I will admit that sometimes computers work with me the same as they do with Harry. Or, I'm a bit dim. ;) (You can decide). I never did get the whole Kindle process working.
But, that said, there was a lot of useful information in the whole self-publishing aspects. The doctor said my eyesight should restore itself, eventually, after reading through all the legalese.
In the end, I went with Smashwords. I got two books up and running as of yesterday and I've already gotten a few sales. So, um, I guess I'm an professional author. Gah, what a thought. But, there was an unsuspecting populations lying there and I just pounced.
Anyway, thanks for the advice. I just wanted you to know it was both useful and appreciated.
Congratulations! Put up a link sometime so we can all see it.
have a blast!
The Deposed King
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Okay...you asked for it.
Here are the links to the books, so any of you be so inclined.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/282162
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/283445
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Just an update. We've started using e-pub files for uploading to amazon for the formatting issues and it now takes me about 15 minutes to upload the text and image files and fill in all the keywords, title spaces, price, etc on my books.
I'm up to 5 novels and 2 novellas. With hopefully another novel out end of this month, beginning of next!
The Deposed King
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Whithout getting into much detail, what sort of income are you seeing from your novels?
Craig
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Whithout getting into much detail, what sort of income are you seeing from your novels?
Craig
I made about 10k off of my first two books during last year. Because of pricing I made 6/7th's of that from book 2.
About a 5 grand spike over the first two-2.5 months and then its down to residuals on the ongoing series. Everything in the series is pumped up when a new book comes out. It can die down to one or two books a day when nothing fresh in the series has come out in a few months but launch a new one and everything pumps up. 5+ sales per day. I've had as high as 9-13 a day per back listed book for a month and then its the slow couple month decline down to nothing again whereupon everything bumps back with the next new release.
However my new fantasy book never got over 20's a day for sales. So it really all depends on your reader base.
The Deposed King
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Just a heads-up... I use a program called "Scrivener," It's a great organizational too, backs up every 5 seconds, lots of useful functions. Here's the big value whammy... it'll compile and convert your novel into Kindle's MOBI and Nook's EPUB formats, without a hiccup. You type in your meta-data, select the format, and hit compile.
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Kindle really is the way to go as I have sold about 1100 copies of The Rules of Supervillainy and about 9 paperback copies. Still, I'm glad to have my physical copies.
Esoterrorism is also doing terribly way.
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I posted about my experience here: http://williamcmarkham.weebly.com/journal/self-publishing-with-kindle-direct