Archive for Self-Publishing
Attend 20 Workshops Free at the 4th Annual Digital Publishing Virtual Summit
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I’m extremely honored to be teaching with such an esteemed list of book marketing experts as D’vorah Lansky has gathered under her wing for this year’s 4th Annual Digital Publishing Summit.
You get to attend all 20 workshops for free, or choose those most pertinant from these categories:
- Promoting Your Message
- Book Creation Strategies (that’s where I’m teaching)
- Creating Multimedia Content
- Making Money with Your Message
Can’t make it live because of a conflicting schedule? No worries. Purchase the Full Access Pass and own them all.
But check it out for yourself to get all the details.
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Sign up now to reserve your virtual seat:
Digital Publishing Virtual Summit
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Apple Rejects Books Containing Links to Amazon
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Seth Godin’s book rejected by Apple’s iBookstore?!
They stand to make a tidy sum off Godin’s new book, Stop Stealing Dreams, if his past sales are any indication, and they are. So why would Apple reject it?
RESTRICTIONS OR CENSORSHIP?
Godin explains in his post, Who decides what gets sold in the bookstore? “…because inside the manifesto are links to buy the books I mention in the bibliography. Quoting here from their (Aooke;’) note to me, rejecting the book: “Multiple links to Amazon store. IE page 35, David Weinberger link.”
I hope you will read Godin’s post. As always he stands on the pulpit of principle and his sermons are not only inspiring but thought provoking. But my interest was mostly drawn, and prompted me to retweet his article, because my upcoming book also contains links to purchase at Amazon and elsewhere throughout the book and in the “Recommended” pages at the end.
Will my book also be rejected by the iBookstore? Apparently yes.
Godin wrote, “Apple, apparently, won’t carry an eBook that contains a link to buy a hardcover book from Amazon. That’s amazing to me. It must be a mistake, right?” I’m amazed too. I’m no publishing attorney, but this is disturbing news on many levels.
Godin put some of my own thoughts into words, “First, because the web, like your mind, works best when it’s open. Second, because once bookstores start to censor the books they carry (business reasons, personal taste, etc.) then the door is open for any interest group to work hard to block books with which they disagree. Where does the line get drawn? A key part of the argument about SOPA was that choke points and blacklists break a system that works best when information is allowed to flow freely.”
WORKAROUNDS TO RESTRICTIONS
Mr. Godin spoke of a workaround he provides at his Squidoo site if visited by iPhone or iPad, but one that shouldn’t be necessary because, “These stores can’t have it both ways. The web works because it’s open. The stores (all three of them) need to be too.”
Godin’s workaround is one he admits isn’t an option for all authors, and I would add; especially the technically challenged, like me. But once again twitter comes to the rescue.
There is a much better workaround. And like all great ideas, my reaction was, Duh, why didn’t I think of this myself. In response to my retweet, Mr. John Loughlin, technology prognosticator, replied:
“There’s a simple way around the problem that Seth encountered with his bibliographical links. Seth’s ‘solution’ is less than ideal. Bibliographical Internet links have long been an issue.”
Loughlin pointed me to his site, Ruby White, “Publish eBooks with any links you like!” The Ruby White article also points out other principles that come into play here, but right now because of my imminent publication date, I’m focused on the solution for the everyday how-to writer like me.
How do we circumvent this restriction, get our eBooks accepted by Apple, and still guide our readers to purchase links for resource books?
The Ruby White article points to this being a common problem for academic books for another reason, a problem that begs solutions. It cites broken and dead links. This is something we are all familiar with. As the Ruby White article says, “Files get lost, firewalls change, addresses get shuffled, and Internet resources die. This is known as link rot.”
My books are mostly how-to’s and so links are vital to additional education on the topic and sending my readers to people I recommend. Many of these links lead to purchasing a book, often at Amazon.
So, The Ruby White article says, “eBook authors, or their publishers, should use links they control and maintain.” It recommends creating our own page of links at our own site.
Again, Duh Aggie! I have created a companion website for my upcoming book, Amazon Categories Create Best Sellers, where contests, blog visits from professionals and much more are exclusive to my readers. It makes perfect sense for me to add one more page called “Links From Book.”
And now I am headed, before publication is finalized, back to my manuscript to change every URL in the book to just one permanent link where I can update all URLs in the future without publishing an updated book edition. I now have full control over link rot, without ebook store censorship.
As the Ruby White article summarizes, “Apple may prefer Uniform links and Seth may prefer Universal links but more important is a Persistent or Permanent link that is under the control of the creative owner of the work.”
Amen.
UPDATE: Victory Against More Censorship
Most of us have been watching and even participating in the fight against PayPal and other credit cards censoring the sale of legal fiction in the erotica genre.
I don’t read erotica, actually not much fiction of any kind anymore, but in light of iBookstore’s censorship, I’m so happy to add this note. Mark Coker, owner of Smashwords, met with Paypal in San Jose this week and as a result Paypal reversed their censorship decision. I can hear your cheers.
You can read the full details at Smashword’s blog.
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Kindle Formatting Made Easy by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
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Kindle Formatting Made Easy
Guest post by By Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Recently I published some quick tips on publishing articles and books on Kindle in my Sharing with Writers newsletter and got tons of feedback, some of it from folks who said they were still worried about “the learning curve.”
They helped me to see that the little secrets I shared may have been too advanced; many writers need something that’s more A to Z. It’s so easy that I thought I’d take the worry out of for those who have been procrastinating.
Just remember, e-book readers don’t have page numbers. The pages change every time a reader changes the size of a font. If you keep that in mind, formatting is mostly intuitive. And if you want those extra little tidbits I published in the last newsletter, go to my Sharing with Writers blog where I posted it for your convenience.
OK. Here goes:
- Use Word. Save your copy as a .doc., not .docx or .rtf.
- Use a simple font, preferably Times New Roman or Verdana. 11 pt works nicely for e-readers.
- Single space your text.
- Make margins one inch all the way around.
- If your book is fiction, change the paragraph indent from .5 to .2 inches. If you write nonfiction, don’t indent at all. Put spaces between your paragraphs instead.
- Remove any headers or footers you may have. That includes text of any sort and page numbers.
- Set justification. That’s the little section in the Word ribbon at the top of your screen that lets you move text all to the left, all to the right, centered, or justified on both right and left. Most suggest you use the latter so the copy looks even on both sides.
- Don’t leave lots of space between chapters or sections. A single space is all that’s needed. In fact, Nook won’t accept more than one blank line.
- You can use formatting in your chapter headlines. Make them bold or larger but don’t use fancy fonts (type faces). Some readers (like Nook and Kindle) don’t support the ornate ones. Arial, Verdana or Times New Roman are safe bets. You can use italics, but I see no reason for the clutter. People will be reading on a screen, after all. Chapter subheads can also be given some attention with bold or larger type face but, again, don’t get too fancy.
- If your book is nonfiction, be sure you mark the headings so you can make a table of contents with them—all automated and courtesy of Word. You should be able to find the heading formatter in the Word ribbon at the top of your screen.
- Your Contents page should have live links so that readers can skip easily to the sections or chapters in your book they want to read. Use the “references” tab at the top of your Word screen to make a Contents page automatically after you’ve formatted each headline.
- You can also use caps for the first three or four words in every chapter. That helps cue the reader that he or she is in a new section or chapter.
- It is acceptable to add information about your other e-books or forthcoming ones to the backmatter of your book. Why not? Be sure to use live links to their sales pages. It’s something I often suggest to my clients. Some authors even charge for a couple of ads in the back to offset the cost of publishing.
- The first page of your e-book is your title page (or the picture of your book cover—but Kindle provides an option that does that for you). Keep it simple. But include the ISBN. If you don’t have one, Kindle will provide one for you—f r e ^.
- Here is a tip that no one seems to tell those of us who love our front matter—you know—our acknowledgments, dedications, etc. Kindle eliminates them if you leave them in the front of the book. Your e-book must start with the cover image/title page/first chapter. So I cheat. I move selected pieces of my front matter to the end of my book. I think it’s important to thank people, and think it would be a shame not to put them somewhere!
- Just repeating here. Find a few additional tips at Sharing with Writers.
- Be sure to proof read the whole book once it’s set up as an e-book. You’ve made a lot of changes, right?
Click to Buy The Frugal Book Promoter: Second Edition.
I just loaded it to Kindle and you’ll get amazing bonuses in the process!
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CAROLYN HOWARD-JOHNSON
Author Bio: Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a multi award-winning novelist and poet. She is also the author of the critically acclaimed and multi-award-winning series of books for writers, How to do it Frugally, including the second edition honored by USA BOOK NEWS, and was named Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment by members of the California Legislature. She has been an instructor for nearly a decade at the renowned UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.
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What’s Up With Kindle Direct Publishing’s Select “Opportunity”?
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Unpublish My eBook From Everywhere but KDP?
What’s Up With KDP Select’s Restraint of Trade? Kindle Direct Publishing recently launched an opportunity to enroll your book in their new “Select” eBook lending library. They offer a chance at earning thousands per month by tallying the percentage of times your book is borrowed against that same percentage of their large monthly kitty.
And authors have signed up by the tens of thousands already.
The downside? You must withdraw your book from every other site, including the iBookstore, B&N and even your own website sales page, not to mention NOT selling it through Android and iPhone Marketplaces and through your own app with a built-in e-Reader.
That’s right. You can’t sell in anywhere but KDP Select through Kindle Direct Publishing.
Need I say more?
For most authors there is no need to say more. And I won’t, but I urge you to read this informative article by Smashword’s founder Mark Coker. We can always rely on Mark for great information.
Amazon Aims to Empty Competitor Shelves of Indie Ebooks by Mark Coker at the Huffington Post
I’d LOVE to hear your own opinions and thoughts in the comment box!
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Self Publishing Hall of Fame List
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This blog is not exclusive to Indie authors, but as a traditional author who has gone Indie I just had to share this with you. I get more and more inspired as I look through John Kremer’s Self-Publishing Hall of Fame Featuring Famous Self-Publishers.
This is worth a look even for those who desire to end up with a traditional publisher. As Kremer points out, “POD publishing or self-publishing (Please Note: they are not the same thing) are excellent ways to test the market for a book, establish that market, and even build the market to such an extent that an author can sell the reprint rights to a much larger book publisher for a very good advance.”
Take some time to “thumb” through this list. It will do your heart good.
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Give it Away: The New Master Book Marketing Plan
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Give it away? How can that be a marketing plan?
It’s not quite the Steal This Book philosophy by Abbie Hoffman but Seth Godin’s buy it or take it free philosophy made him rich. Unleashing The Ideavirus quickly became the most read full-length ebook of all time. Seth’s Paradox #1 is the more you give away, the more it’s worth.
Jonathan Harnum speaks about successfully following Seth’s advice in I Make Money By Giving Stuff Away, at The Writing Show. And of course there is the man who led us to wrap our heads around electronic publishing’s reader’s rights, science fiction writer Cory Doctorow. The wise and outspoken Mr. Doctorow makes an effort to give away as much content as possible.
Tim O’Reilly, the first to say the enemy of authors isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity, seems to have started this revolution of free books and IdeaVirus.Charles Sheehan-Miles, who wrote the best selling Republic: A Novel of America’s Future, explained at The Long Tail why he’s giving away his ebook.
“…the biggest challenge most authors face isn’t online piracy. It’s not people out there diabolically copying their works and distributing them for free. In fact most authors (including yours truly) suffer from a different problem entirely — no one has ever heard of them…So, by giving away the book, I hope more people actually read it.”
And then there’s lil ole me who followed my heart during these terrible economic times and followed suit. I mentioned this in The Truth About eBook Piracy: And the Truth Shall Set Them (Customers) Free and caused quite an uproar of comments.
What about YOU?
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What do you think?
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Will your master book marketing plan include giving it away?
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Interviews with ten authors who give away their books by admin at WideOpen.
Step-by-Step Guide to Guest Blogging: Shelley Hitz Audio Tour
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Listen to Aggie’s Introduction
We are honored to welcome Self-Publishing Coach Shelley Hitz, who has stopped by on her latest podcast blog tour.
You’re in for a treat because Shelley teaches us about expanding web presence and gaining a following through guest blogging; exactly what she is doing here today. Teaching by example!
Shelley always offers excellent information and has a gift for teaching. So settle back with a nice cup of something hot and soothing, listen and learn, and even download a great freebie, Guest Blogging Success for Authors. Then you may want to order the full course, A Step-by-Step Guide to Guest Blogging.
Listen to Shelley’s Free Guest Blogging Podcast:
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Download Shelley’s free PDF report, Guest Blogging Success for Authors.
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Order the full course, A Step-by-Step Guide to Guest Blogging.
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Shelley Hitz is an entrepreneur, author and speaker. Her website, Self Publishing Coach, provides resources and tutorials that help you publish and market your book. Her series, Book Marketing on a Shoestring Budget, allows you to expand your book marketing efforts and sell more books without going broke. She even offers one of her reports free!
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We talk a lot here about the state of self-publishing.
This is the place where we want to hear YOUR opinions.
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If everyone’s a writer, who’s reading?
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If anyone can publish a book, has the quality of writing plummeted?
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Has the battle between traditional and self-published abated?
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POD. Where does this leave mid-list authors?
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What POD issues have been troublesome for you?
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Have a fav place to self-publish? (i.e CreateSpace, Lightning Source, etc.)
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Where do you have the most successful sales? (i.e. Amazon, your own blog, etc.)
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Where is it all headed?
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Please add your own questions & opinions
in the comment box.
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Authors Spin Your Own Single With Kindle Singles, a New “Shorts” Publishing Platform
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Killer Idea: Kindle Singles
Just like in their music store, now you don’t have to buy the written whole record, get (or write) the single. Until recently authors had two choices, write it short enough to fit into a magazine/newspaper/blog or long enough for a whole book. Kindle Singles changes all that. It’s a store unto itself now.
Amazon pointed out in their news release October 12, 2010, “…in many cases, 5,000 to 30,000 words (roughly 30 to 90 pages) might be the perfect, natural length to lay out a single killer idea, well researched, well argued and well illustrated — whether it’s a business lesson, a political point of view, a scientific argument, or a beautifully crafted essay on a current event (or literary short fiction). Today’s announcement is a call to serious writers, thinkers, scientists, business leaders, historians, politicians and publishers to join Amazon in making such works available to readers around the world.”
Kindle is the First
Kindle is the first of the e-readers (but not of the mobile publishers) to implement this short publishing form. They most likely established this to keep pace with the vanguard success of mobile publishing — publishing short stories and non-fiction installments for downloading to mobile devices such as the iPhone. If I were Kindle I wouldn’t want my eBooks left out of this colossal market either.
The rapid ascension and near domination of mobile devices probably birthed the Kindle Singles concept of reading things at their “natural length.” I’ve checked into using this type of serialized publication myself, through mobile publishers, since my how-to type writing fits the mold. And now, with the launch of Kindle Singles I’ll definitely be checking into publishing there too.
And “Like all Kindle content, Kindle Singles will be “Buy Once, Read Everywhere”–customers will be able to read them on Kindle, Kindle 3G, Kindle DX, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry, and Android-based devices.” Are they trying to replace the small mobile publishers just getting off the ground?
Amazon goes on, “In addition, with the Kindle Worry-Free Archive, Kindle Singles will be automatically backed up online in your Kindle library on Amazon where they can be re-downloaded wirelessly for free, anytime.”
DTP Newly Renamed to Accommodate New Platform
Amazon’s Digital Text Platform is now Kindle Direct Publishing and allows us to publish Kindle Singles also, but you must submit your Singles once you’ve published it to Kindle Direct and wait for acceptance.
Speaking of the changeover of DTP to Kindle Direct Publishing, you’ll notice that no longer will you have the choice of five categories for your book. Now you get the same two category choices allowed as for the print books. When I asked them about this, and would this affect my previously published five-category Kindle titles, they answered:
“The number of browse categories allowed for Kindle titles was changed from five to two in order to provide our customers with a more relevant searching experience and achieve parity with our guidelines for physical books.
“Books published before this change will retain their original category assignments of up to five. However, if a publisher chooses to change their category assignments after this change was implemented, their title will be restricted to two categories.”
70% Royalties Option Enabled for Singles
Amazon used to give the 70 percent royalty option for books priced between $2.99 and $9.99. They’ve changed that royalty option now to include Singles so the authors can get 70 percent even for books priced between 99 cents and $4.99.
A few Questions
Short non-fiction such as I write needs updating when technology changes/enhances our options. I had two question for Kindle Singles:
- Can I easily remove the title and replace it with updated versions?
- Can I change my Singles title price after it’s published?
Here is Kindle’s answer:
“The answer to both your questions is yes. Once you submit your titles they will become unavailable while they go through a review and publishing process. Once this process is complete (usually 24-48 hours) you book will become live. When your books is live you will be able to adjust your price and or title names as you see fit.
“Please keep in mind that once you submit these changes your title will go through the publishing process again and will be unavailable for edits. However it will remain available for purchase.”
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What are your thoughts and questions?
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To be considered for Kindle Single digital-publications@amazon.com
You can also email your pitch & outline to kindle-singles@amazon.com
Check out Kindle Singles page
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Resource Articles Concerning Kindle Singles
Not a Full-Length Book? Write a Kindle Single Instead by Debbie Weil
Publishing with Kindle Single for not quite full length Books by Rebecca Lacko at The Written Word
