“I want to write books that change people’s lives – change the way they think and feel – fully change them for the better in some way.”
-anon writer
“I really value words. I really try to illustrate and let people draw their own conclusions, which is how I feel. I never want to proscribe what people should think and feel,”:
Article Title: HOW to Create Your Own E-Book with Amazon
Author: Craig Lock
Category/(tags/key words): E-books, digital books, digital publishing, Amazon, Kindle
Web site: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4
The submitter’s blogs (with extracts from his various writings:
articles, books and new manuscripts) are at http://craigsblogs.wordpress.com
(Other articles are available at: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/user/15565 and http://www.ideamarketers.com/library/profile.cfm?writerid=981
Personal growth, self help, writing, internet
marketing, spiritual, ‘spiritual writings’ (how ‘airey-fairey’), words of inspiration and money
management, how boring now, craig)
Publishing Guidelines
We hope that the following article may be informative and helpful to your ezine
readers, or on your web site. If it helps others “out there in
cyberspace” , then we’re very happy.
This article (as with all my articles) may be freely published.
“We share what we know, so that we all may grow.”
#
CREATING AND PUBLISHING YOUR OWN E-BOOK
Here’s
how…
INTRODUCTION
Though
nobody really knows where the digital publishing model is headed, Amazon
already claim that they are selling more ebooks than traditional books. My
associate Bill and I believe e-books are the way of the future and this will
keep the “greenies” happy not having to cut down trees (see my
article ‘The Future of Electronic Publishing originally written about twelve
years ago).
*
Here
are some hints based upon my experiences as a “non-techno” in getting
my books published with Amazon (to the great consternation and surprise of my
“techno-geek” associate and good friend, Bill).
Firstly
a bit of background. Initially I was approached by Europe’s largest digital
publisher (XiiXin) to publish my books with them. I found the process so
simple, I thought, why not give the far more well-known Amazon Kindle a try.
But
HOW?
From
my experience, the Kindle publishing process is simple and way less-time
consuming than you might expect. The process is quite enjoyable and satisfying
too …even though I’m no “computer nerd”. And I hope that opening statement
encourages you to give it a try.
As
a first step, you create a your book in Microsoft Word doc. file. (Standard
font size, like New Times Roman, but Amazon use a default font anyway). (I
tried the Mobipocket Creator, free, getting my ebook ready for upload; but soon
gave up (as I have great difficulty following instructions – story of my life)
and simply uploaded “as is”. So upload your book file at
kdp.amazon.com and set your price (you get 70% of the sale proceeds). The
entire process won’t take long, even for a “non-techno”, like me. If
you’ve already published a print book, or use a PC and the internet regularly,
you’ll find the process “easy peasy”.
Amazon
will convert your Word doc automatically to a digital book format, that can be
easily read on the Kindle e-book reader.
You
can make amendments to your book at any time and republish it. I’m continually
updating my books and it’s really simple. In the meantime, the previous version
will remain available for sale on the Kindle store.
The
Kindle help files are brief and written in straight-forward English. Just
follow the instructions on the web site. Simple!
You
then upload a cover picture (it has to be at least 500 pixels quality on the
longest side).
Give
it an appealing (and short) title and also a table of contents, Then write some
“blurb” about your book.
‘What’s
it all about?” – so that readers on the web site are enticed to want to
read more of your “work of art, your unique creation”.
There’s
a Previewer to see what the text will look like being read on a Kindle, once
you’ve uploaded it (“nice and easy”).
However,
if you strike problems (as we inevitably do at times), just persevere and
you’ll find a way. “Presto!”
Then
SAVE and PUBLISH. Voila!
If
you are an unknown author, you’ll have to market your book online (and perhaps
off-line too). And that’s the hardest part, being found in the “vast realm
of cyberspace” (see my e-book on internet marketing for more
“info”). I might suggest that your e-book can be freely promoted
using Facebook, Twitter and your own web site, but there are many other
“freebie” avenues. My preference is writing articles in your chosen
area of expertise and publishing them online. Most effective!
Also join Author Central (authorcentral.amazon.com) and you can tell readers a bit about yourself and so market your books free.
“Cheapskate!” Having ONE website for all your books makes it far easier to market.
I’ve
been uploading my books (all 54 of them!) to Amazon over the past month and
made quite a few sales already… so that’s greatly encouraging. Though I
haven’t given up my “proper” day job yet. Ha ha! But am dreaming on…
Finally…
Good
luck * to you in publishing and promoting your digital book(s)
You
CAN do it
Craig
Lock (Eagle Productions)
‘Carpe
diem’ = “seize the moment” in this
new area of digital publishing and the “digital economy”
*
and didn’t someone once define luck as “where preparedness meets
opportunity”
PS:
If you want any help, or advice on the publishing process, please feel free to
contact me.
About the submitter::
Craig has been writing for the past fifteen years. He believes in (and loves)
helping others to find their passions and gifts… through encouraging people
to reach out for, then accomplish their “wildest” dreams. He truly
believes people can overcome obstacles, rise to any occasion, and accomplish
their dreams in life with enough FAITH and PERSISTENCE.
Craig’s book ‘Writing Into the Light” is available at http://www.amazon.com/Writing-into-Light-Ill-ebook/dp/B005HFA1FW/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322070467&sr=1-5
The various books that Craig “felt inspired to write” are
available at: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/craiglockwww.creativekiwis.com/index.php/books/74-craigs-books + www.lulu.com/craiglock
PPS:
Once you have published with Amazon
Kindle, you may want to try publishing a traditional paper book (soft copy)
with another Amazon associate company CreateSpace… but this
“techno-bunny” is not ready for that…YET!
This article may be freely published
Don’t worry about the world ending
today…
its already tomorrow in “little scenic
and tranquil “ New Zealand
“It is not so important to succeed as to persist.”
- inspiring words from the great South African writer, Alan Paton (author of ‘Cry the Beloved Country ‘ 1948)… and words that have sustained and greatly encouraged me over the years down “my untrodden path of writing into the light”
500th rejection slip? Upload your masterpiece to Kindle
By Nick Duerden
3:30 PM Saturday Nov 19, 2011
Tags: Books, literature, Amanda Hocking, Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Independent
Amanda Hocking’s books take between two and four weeks to write, and she sells them for between US99c and US$2.99. Photo / AP
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10767239
This week, an unknown American author called Amanda Hocking joins an elite literary club alongside just 11 others – including Stieg Larsson, James Patterson and Nora Roberts – by racking up her millionth Kindle sale. Unknown is of course a relative term in this case – no one can shift that many books by remaining anonymous – but Hocking is unusual because she has sold all her books on Kindle.
Entirely self-published, her first physical book doesn’t reach traditional bookshops until January.
A 27-year-old Star Wars fan from Minnesota, Hocking writes so-called “paranormal romances” for young adults, and is being hailed as the new Stephenie Meyer.
Since March last year, she has uploaded no fewer than 10 books on to Kindle, all of them about vampires and trolls and zombies, all playing out like sagas that mandatorily require multiple sequels. Why trolls?
“They kind of freaked me out at first,” she admits, “but I didn’t want to write about fairies. I don’t really like fairies.”
It was when she discovered, during her research, that they could sometimes be attractive, that she had her light-bulb moment. “They’re not so common, and I thought, no one else is doing this. Let’s go for it.”
Each book takes between two and four weeks to write, and she sells them for between US99c and US$2.99 ($1.29 and $3.90). In the past 18 months she has grossed about US$2 million.
“I’ve seen other authors doing the exact same thing as I have, similar genres and similar prices,” she told the New York Times, “and they’re selling reasonably well, but they’re not selling nearly as well as I am.”
Writing as a hobby since childhood, she completed her first novel at age 17 and sent it out to every agent and publisher in New York.
She received 50 rejections, and would receive many more over the next few years. Frequently toying with the idea of giving up writing altogether (“I was like, ‘this is horrible, I’m never going to be able to do it”‘), she instead took inspiration from an unlikely source: a YouTube clip of US pop-punk band Blink-182′s Mark Hoppus encouraging their legion of disaffected fans to make their dreams come true.
And so the young woman who has described her teenage years as “seriously depressed” did just that. She uploaded her first e-book, My Blood Approves – a 17-year-old girl falls for vampiric brothers; trouble ensues – last northern spring. Within a day, she had sold five books; by the end of the month, 36. Six months, and several sequels, later, that figure was at 100,000. She now sells on average 9000 books a day.
Hocking nevertheless decided to sign to a traditional publisher earlier this year.
Her deal with St Martin’s Press in the US (and Pan Macmillan in the UK) is worth US$2 million, and her first “proper” book, Switched: Book One in the Trylle Trilogy, arrives in the New Year. The film rights have already been snapped up by Hollywood, and this otherwise shy Minnesotan is now clearly driven by serious ambition.
“For me to be a billion-dollar author, I need to have people buying my books at Walmart.”
- INDEPENDENT
By Nick Duerden
Related Tags
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10767239
Shared by craig lock
Craig’s book ‘Writing Into the Light” is available at http://www.amazon.com/Writing-into-Light-Ill-ebook/dp/B005HFA1FW/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322070467&sr=1-5
“It is not necessary , not so important to succeed, as to participate and persist… in any endeavour, any quest one may choose along the river of life.”
- craig as inspired by the words from the great South African writer, Alan Paton (author of ‘Cry the Beloved Country ‘ 1948)… and words that have sustained and greatly encouraged me over the years down “my untrodden path of writing into the light”
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