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Writing and Selling an eBook With Kindle Direct Publishing

admin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:02:29 +0000

Writing and Selling an eBook with Kindle Direct Publishing

By Michael S. Mitchell

The traditional route to getting published was to create your book, and then find an agent to work with you, who will finally get a publisher interested enough to publish it. The problem with all this is that your chances of landing an agent these days are remote, and even if you do, they may not be able to get a publisher for you. Both agents and publishers are inundated with unsolicited proposals and manuscripts, and they therefore reject nearly everything. If you haven’t put much effort into your book, then this is fair treatment, for example if it’s full of spelling errors. But we’ll assume that you have worked hard, and in your opinion, and maybe that of your friends, it’s ready to publish.

EBooks have changed the publishing world, and now offer you new options to publish. Of course, you can still go the traditional route to get a book published as a hardback or paperback, as well as in electronic form. However, if you just want to get to market as fast as possible, you can publish electronically yourself, at no cost, and without an agent or publisher in sight.

There are several eBook readers, but Kindle is the reader we’re focusing on here. It’s the best selling product on Amazon, and it looks set to dominate the market. But the principles are the same for other readers.

Putting it all together for publication

Writing your book for electronic publication is no different than for paper form. For example, a novel needs an effective plot and characters that the reader can recognise. A non-fiction ‘How-to’ book needs to be laid out in a way that readers can easily follow, with images as appropriate.

The first 10% of your eBook will be viewable on the Amazon site, as a sample, so make sure this is especially good, and tempts the reader to want to read more. In a novel, it’s good to have some mystery in here, which the reader will want to unravel. In non-fiction, make sure you have a good topic early on, and in the TOC indicate some other tempting topics later in the book.

If you have it, use Microsoft Word, as this is the easiest to convert later to Kindle’s format. But you can certainly write with other software. If you don’t have a good word processor already, you can download a superb free one from OpenOffice.org (and get a free spreadsheet and other software with it).

You’ll need to design a cover page at some point. If you were going the traditional route, the publisher would do this, but now it is you who are the publisher! There are free images that you can use for this at publicdomainpictures.net or you can take your own photos. Use Paint or similar programs to create an overall image about 600 wide by 900 high, pasting in any pictures you have, and finally putting your title and author name on there.

You’ll also need what Amazon calls the ‘product description’. Amazon say: “Write a compelling description of the book. The description of your book gives customers an opportunity to learn about your book before they make a purchase, so this is an opportunity to convince readers to buy your book.” This is yet another task usually done by the publisher, and is what goes on the back cover. The ideal length is about 100 to 140 words. Not too short, as the reader won’t feel they know enough to make a purchase. And not too long to be boring!

Amazon also recommends that you include a Table of Contents at the front of the book, after the Title page and copyright wording. For non-fiction this is usually straightforward, but novels often only have chapter numbers without titles. So consider splitting your novel into 4 to 8 major parts or sections, with titles, to make the TOC look good. NOTE: use the built-in TOC facility in the word processor – don’t type your own, as it won’t work in Kindle.

If you have kept things straightforward in your Word document, than that can be uploaded directly as your manuscript, and Amazon will automatically convert it to Kindle format. However, if it is at all complicated, or you want to monitor the whole process, you can convert it yourself, step by step as follows:

In Word 2003 or later save the document as Web Page Filtered. (If you have Word 2000, you can download free the ‘Office 2000 HTML Filter 2.0′ from Microsoft’s site, and install it. Then in Word you can use File-ExportTo-CompactHtml
Next you need to download free software called MobiPocket Creator from MobiPocket.com, and use this to convert the HTML file to the upload format ‘PRC’.
Yet another free download (from Amazon) is the Kindle Previewer. This lets you view the PRC file exactly as a Kindle would.

So now you are ready to publish.

Becoming a Publisher on ‘Kindle Direct Publishing’

You should have your cover image ready to upload, as well as your ‘product description’ ready to copy and paste, and your manuscript either in Word or PRC format.

Your first step in publishing is to get an account at Amazon.com, if you don’t already have one. Then you need to register as a ‘publisher’ with Kindle Direct Publishing at kdp.amazon.com. You can use your own name as the publisher, unless you’ve set up a company for this purpose. You can choose to publish to the Amazon.com site of course, but also to Amazon.co.uk (the UK) and Amazon.de (Germany). You’ll need to set up how you want to be paid your royalty, either by bank transfer or by check.

Now you are a publisher!

Publishing your eBook

Now it’s time to actually publish your first book. So in your home page in KDP, you click the button ‘add a new title’.

After that, you follow the guide to upload your manuscript, cover page and to past in the product description.

There are some other things they’ll ask you, as follows:

What commission do you want? 35% or 70%? This sounds like a no-brainer, but if you go for 70%, your minimum selling price has to be $2.99. As a new author, you might want to sell at 99c, in which case you have to settle for 35% Of course, if suddenly you become very popular, you can raise the price later. But it has to be said that most of the best-selling ‘Indie’ books (from independent authors) are priced at 99c
So choose your price. You can set prices too for the UK and German sites if you wish to sell there.
Confirm that you own the copyright.
Digital Rights Management. Yes or no? Basically do you want to restrict people from copying your eBook or not. It’s your choice.

Finally, you ‘Save and Publish’, and that’s it. In about 24 hours, your book will be on sale on the Amazon site. And if you’re lucky, it might get featured on their special section Amazon.com/kindleindiebooks.

Otherwise, any publicity is up to you. Tell friends, use Facebook or whatever you can.

And the best of luck as an author and publisher!

Copyright Michael S Mitchell

I published my first novel “Pit of Corruption” this way, on Amazon.com. It’s got crime, corruption, murder, romance, and more… so you may even want to buy it! If you do, I’d welcome your comments on the Amazon ‘reviews’.

You’ll find my author webpage at MikeMitchell.me with some useful tools and notes for aspiring authors.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_S_Mitchell

Shining the Book Promotion Spotlight on Alan Leverone

admin — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:42:18 +0000

Allan Leverone is a three-time Derringer Award Finalist as well as a 2011 Pushcart Prize nominee for his short fiction. He has been hailed by bestselling author Vincent Zandri as “the successor to Michael Crichton,” and New York Times bestselling author Debbi Mack calls his work “suspenseful and well-written.”

Allan lives in Londonderry, NH with his wife of nearly thirty years, his three children, one beautiful granddaughter, and a cat who has used up eight lives. Learn more at www.allanleverone.com or at www.facebook.com/allan.leverone

Welcome to Book Marketing Buzz, Allan. Can we begin by having you tell us a little about your book?

The Lonely Mile tells the story of Bill Ferguson, a man who stumbles upon the kidnapping of a teenage girl at a highway rest area. He does what we all like to believe we would do, stepping in and breaking up the crime, saving a young girl from a horrific fate. The kidnapper escapes, though, and immediately sets his twisted sights on Ferguson’s own daughter.

When the high school senior disappears soon after, the frantic Ferguson must battle his own feelings of guilt as he forms an uneasy alliance with the beautiful FBI investigator assigned to the case. There is much more at stake than just a kidnapping, though, and Bill Ferguson may find neither he nor his daughter will escape with their lives.

What is the first thing you did to promote your book once your publisher accepted your manuscript?

The most daunting challenge facing any relatively unknown author is the question of how to get your work in front of the reading public. I’ve developed a fairly extensive social networking presence on Facebook, and I’ve tried to use that presence effectively, while also working to expand my presence at Goodreads and on the Kindle Boards.

This blog tour is another method of introducing my work to readers who may not be familiar with it. Through guest blog posts, interviews and reviews from enthusiastic and knowledgeable book bloggers, I believe The Lonely Mile can begin to develop traction with thriller lovers.

After that, what happened?

Building a fan base is a long-term process. My goal is to develop a steadily increasing readership, which means, ideally, The Lonely Mile outsells my first thriller, Final Vector, and the next book outsells The Lonely Mile, while also cross-pollinating each other. If someone enjoys one of my books, hopefully they go out and buy another.

What did your publisher do to promote your book?

Unless you sign with a major traditional publisher and your name is Dan Brown or Harlan Coben, you’re probably going to be expected to do most of your own promotion. StoneHouse Ink is limited in terms of finances, so beyond featuring my book on their website and Twitter posts, there’s not much they can do. A major national promotion is beyond their scope, just as it is beyond mine.

What’s your opinion on blogging? Do you see that it is helping sell your book or is it not making much difference in terms of sales?

It’s really hard to know what is or isn’t making a difference in terms of sales. In some ways for an author, getting your name out there is cumulative, so while I may not see any direct relationship right now between blogging and sales, that doesn’t mean there won’t be an effect over the long term.

I understand using the social networks to promote your books is also an effective marketing tool. Do you find it is or isn’t?

It’s never a bad thing for an author to interact with readers, especially avid readers within that author’s genre. The other advantage of social networking is that it provides an opportunity to learn from other authors what may or may not be working to generate sales, as well as to help celebrate their successes when they occur.

Besides blogging and using the social networks to promote your books, what other ways are you promoting your book?

The Lonely Mile was featured at Kindle Nation Daily as Thriller of the Week a couple of weeks ago and interest spiked immediately, allowing me to set a personal best for sales that week. It’s a crowded market, though, especially for thrillers, and as an author I’m constantly seeking out new ways to get my book in front of avid readers.

If you had to pick just one book marketing tool that you’ve used to promote your book, which would you say has been the most effective?

I’m interested in building a career over the long term, so I won’t necessarily be able to answer that question effectively for perhaps several years. The most immediately successful promotional tool by far has been the Kindle Nation Daily feature, but it was also one of the most expensive promotional efforts I’ve made.

What are your experiences with offline promotions such as booksignings?

Both my novels have been released, at least for now, only in ebook editions, so obviously a booksigning would be impossible. I question the efficiency of booksignings, anyway, unless the author is a well-known name who will draw lots of people to a personal appearance. Sitting at a table hoping someone will stop by doesn’t sound like a very effective marketing tool to me, but I can’t say I won’t ever give it a try.

Thank you for this interview, Allan! We wish you much success!

Thank you very much for having me; I really appreciate the opportunity to connect with your readers!

Shining the Book Promotion Spotlight on Jaime McDougall

admin — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 01:49:50 +0000

Jaime McDougall is a citizen of the world, currently loving life in beautiful country Victoria in Australia. She loves eating sushi, kidnapping her husband and naming her pets in honour of science fiction authors. She has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: High School: The Real Deal and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Campus Chronicles. She has also enjoyed writing a column called ‘The New Australian’ in local newspapers as well as various articles online.

So You Want to Write a Guest Post is her first ebook and is available on Kindle and at Smashwords. You can visit her website at InkyBlots.com

Welcome to Book Marketing Buzz, Jaime. Can we begin by having you tell us a little about your book?

‘So You Want a Guest Post’ is a guide for anyone who would like to get started promoting their book online but isn’t quite sure how to get started. However, it’s not limited to authors. The advice found in this guide can be used for anyone wanting to guest post.

What is the first thing you did to promote your book?

I told Dorothy Thompson about it. Haha! The very first thing I started doing was casually (I hate spam) mentioning its progress every now and then on Facebook even though I hadn’t completed it yet. That way, when I announced that it was available on Amazon and Smashwords, people already knew what I was talking about.

If you had to pick just one book marketing tool that you’ve used to promote your book, which would you say has been the most effective?

Given I am typing this before my online tour, I can’t really say. However, having connected to a lot of friends on forums and Facebook, I have to say that simply making friends and getting to know both readers and authors is the absolutely best thing you can do.

Do you do more promoting online or offline and which do you prefer?

Definitely online. The ease of use and savings in my wallet speak volumes.

Do you own a blog and how often do you update it? Did you set up your blog solely to promote your book and what is its effectiveness?

Yes, I do own a blog. A few, in fact, but www.inkyblots.com is where I prattle on about my writing. I try to update at least once a week to keep in touch with friends I have made there, but I usually update more often than that.

I didn’t set up my blog for any other reason than to talk about writing and meet other people who like to do the same. I have another site – http://www.thehotauthorreport.com – specifically for promoting books. When it comes to InkyBlots, I’m more about making friends – authors and readers alike. I believe those connections are more important than outright promotions.

Do you recommend authors getting publicists to help them promote their books? Do you have one?

I don’t have a publicist because I have been working as a publicist long enough to handle it all on my own (haha). However, I do recommend authors connect with someone who can help them promote. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a publicist, per se, but online promotions and blog tours can be incredibly helpful. Time is such a precious thing and having someone on your side for promotions – in whatever capacity – is a worthwhile investment, especially if you’re not sure what to do.

If an author prefers to do it alone rather than hire a publicist, where should they start?

As I mentioned before, I personally believe making connections – as real connections as you can make online – are the most important things. Go out there online and make friends, not with the sole purpose of selling them your book(s) but with the purpose of connecting. Facebook, your blog, forums… Get out there and start talking!

Thank you for coming, Jaime! We wish you much success!

Thank you for having me.

Book Marketing Buzz’s Sunday Tweet Roundup: Snooki, ebook sales and Facebook sponsored stories

admin — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 15:06:17 +0000

We’ve gathered the most interesting tweets recently related to book publishing, marketing and everything in between that will help you learn more about what’s going on in the land of books. This will be an ongoing feature at Book Marketing Buzz posted every Sunday:

Snooki ‘A Shore Thing’ not selling: maybe she needs a different approach?
http://bit.ly/gzRMNR

SEO Is a Writer’s Profession Now | Search Engine Journal
http://t.co/loKo2yb

Amazon’s ebook sales eclipse paperbacks for the first time
http://t.co/BBtQKHz

Facebook Sponsored Stories turn you into the ad
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2011/01/facebook_sponsored_stories_tur.html

How Videos Go Viral
http://on.mash.to/hOueSh

FREE OPPORTUNITY FOR AUTHORS: Submit Your Book Trailer
http://t.co/CwAWlV3

Interview with Book Publicist Charlie Barrett
http://t.co/5iMa9tY

Virtual Book Tours: A New Trend in Publishing
http://look.ac/fip1hA

Collected John Lennon letters to be published
http://t.co/bhmzQCC

For Publishers, Who Are the Gatekeepers of Social Media?
http://bit.ly/i0QS70

Twitter Hits Nearly 200 Million Accounts
http://t.co/pWnPZFs

How To Make A Million Dollars From Writing eBooks : I Sold 44,334 Kindle Books In December
http://t.co/u5T7Eto

Why Online Retailers Will Squeeze Out Publishers In The Book Business
http://tinyurl.com/6ekh9yt

Why do ebooks cost so much?
http://tinyurl.com/4kkmc8a

First Amazon Took Down Booksellers…Are Publishers Next?
http://t.co/SKN8Vye

Hollywood Book Publicist Charlie Barrett Kindle Book Giveaway at Facebook Party TONIGHT

admin — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:03:58 +0000

Hollywood, CA – - Award winning national book publicist Charlie Barrett (www.thebarrettco.com) will guest in a “Face Book Party” hosted by the leading book promo Internet firm Pump Up Your Book on Thursday, January 27^th, 9-11pm EST. A free Kindle ($189 value!) will be given away during the session. Those interested can log on to http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=494281102448 to participate in this Net event and have a real time chat with Mr. Barrett, who heads The Barrett Company based in the nation’s creative center, Hollywood.

During the two-hour session Thursday evening with Pump Up Your Book, Mr. Barrett will take questions from those participating such as how to get your book marketed in the evolving publishing marketplace, how authors can get booked on top market radio and TV shows and overall tips on creating a best seller book by using creative publicity techniques.

Mr. Barrett was voted Book Publicist of the Year by the Southern California Book Pub Society and is a member of the Publishers Association of Los Angeles. His book publicist credits range from Carla Malden’s upcoming book Afterimage to Ben Berkley’s Before You say I Do Again to many, many others in the non-fiction and fiction genres. The Barrett Company also represents personalities and companies involved in both film and television production. Earlier Mr. Barrett served with NBC as the publicist for Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. His new website may be accessed via www.thebarrettco.com

* * * * *

WE’RE HAVING A FACEBOOK PARTY!

WIN A FREE KINDLE ($189 VALUE)!!!!

Full details at http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=494281102448!

Amazon says ebook sales to overtake paperbacks by next year

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:31:01 +0000

Amazon has told Pocket-lint that it expects Kindle ebook sales to eclipse paperback sales by the end of 2011, and to eclipse combined hardback and paperback sales shortly after that in the US.

“I think we [Amazon] will sell more Kindle books than paperback books in the next year [2011]“, Steve Kessel, the man tasked with making the Kindle the number one ebook reader in the world, told Pocket-lint in an exclusive one-to-one briefing.

“Sometime after that we will start selling more Kindle books than hard covers and paperbacks combined”.

Read rest of article here.

For readers who love their e-readers, this is exciting news but for authors, it gets even better. Now this gives the author another way to sell their books and they’re raking in the dollars in ebook sales because of it.

And not only that, it also opens up the opportunity to become bestsellers. Not too long after Vincent Zandri’s new book, The Remains, went up on Amazon in Kindle edition, it became a bestseller.

Interesting to watch what happens to other authors looking for that big break!

How to Promote Your Self-Published eBook (for free!)

admin — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:18:16 +0000

One of the most-asked questions I get from writers who have never written and published an eBook before is, “How would you promote a self-published eBook? Where would you go to even begin selling a product that hasn’t the backup from a traditional or otherwise publisher?”

Well, that’s two, but many writers balk at attempting to play publisher. If they only knew it’s not as hard as they think it is, not to mention all the profits are theirs, I feel more writers would be comfortable to take on a project like this. Not only is self-publishing eBooks a profitable venture, but it also can be used as a valuable tool to gain expert status. Plus, eBooks are really simple to promote as long as you take a no-nonsense guerilla approach to marketing.

As long as you have a market, and have a quality eBook that is free of errors, your eBook can become a success, thus give you that added income. You won’t be sharing the profits with anyone. There is no overhead except for website expenses, which you should already have if you’ve been published before. If you haven’t been published before and don’t want to set up a whole website for this, use one of the free blogging platforms such as Blogger.com or Wordpress.com to talk about your new money-making e-Book.

I have successfully promoted several eBooks for myself getting those eBooks into the #1 position in the search engines for basically nothing other than my time.

How?

That’s where your guerilla marketing plan comes in.

Here are a few simple ways I have used to promote my eBooks and get them to the top of the search engines:

Using key search words throughout my selling page and on every single piece of promotional literature I send out.
Using free press release sites frequently, keeping in mind to use those key search words not only in the title, but also throughout the release.
Using free content ezines as vehicles to get my selling page’s link on hundreds upon hundreds of websites (being careful to put the title of your article into google alerts so your article doesn’t get reworded like this to make it sound like another business wrote YOUR article).
Using online storefronts (this is a suggestion; a search in google will find you more) who will list my eBook for free.
Using writer forums and websites that will let you announce your eBook.
Using blogs to announce your eBook and promote it.
Using virtual book tours, thus using other people’s blogs to promote your book.

The secret to selling self-published eBooks (or any kind of eBook or print book, for that matter) is to get your link on as many websites and blogs as you can (an added bonus to this is that it raises your PR ranking in the process).

You have to remember, you have an electronic book. You can’t go on book signings so you have to rely on the Internet to get the word out. But, by following those seven examples above, I’ll guarantee you’ll get the sales you need if you have a market for your book.

So what if you’ve done everything above, and your eBook still isn’t selling?

Where some authors go wrong is that they fail to remember the most important thing you need in order to sell any kind of books—a market.

No amount of promotion is going to do you any good unless you have an audience who is willing to fork out the money.

Before you even put down that first word, you have to ask yourself these following questions:

Who is going to buy my eBook?
Why is my eBook any different than Joe Blow’s eBook on the same subject?
What will my audience gain from my eBook?
Can they already find this information readily on the Internet?
Will my buyers gain something from my eBook, or is it simply to entertain?
Pique your potential buyer’s interest.
Post an excerpt on your website so they can judge for themselves whether your eBook will be something they need.

Once you get into the mindset of your buyer, things start falling in place, and you’ll get those sales you want.

Zero in on your market, do the steps I’ve outlined above, and I’ll guarantee you’ll be selling ebooks like flies on to honey.

Happy promoting to you!

Dorothy Thompson is CEO/Founder of Pump Up Your Book, an innovative public relations firm specializing in online book promotion and virtual book tours for authors who want maximum exposure online. Visit us at www.pumpupyourbook.com.

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The Story Behind ‘Read an eBook Week’

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:45:03 +0000

For one week each year, Rita Toews, 61, a soft-spoken mother of two and grandmother of one, sits at the center of the ebook universe.

Operating from a spare bedroom in her home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with her cat Lola by her side (“Every author needs a cat,” she says), Ms. Toews is the creator and chief ringmaster of Read an Ebook Week, an annual international celebration of ebooks that kicks off its seventh season this Sunday.

Read rest of article at Huffington Post.

I personally know Rita and she is one of the nicest women you’d ever want to meet. I applaud her for all her efforts!

- Book Marketing Buzz