Tag Archives: Copyright

How to UPLOAD to KDP Publishing

January 31, 2022How To, Images, Important, InformationAmazon Account, authors, banking information, Book Cover, book lending, Book Titles, Bookshelf, Contributors, Copyright, edited, Errors, Genre, indie authors, ISBN, KDP, Keywords, Language, Manuscript, market place, Marketing Skills, passwords, pre-order, previewer, Pricing, Publisher, Publisher Rocket, Publishing, Research, Royalty, Self-Publishing, Series, spellcheck, tax form, terms and conditions, Trigger Warnings, Uploading, user name, Wrap Coverclaire

USING KDP FOR EBOOKS

THIS BLOG POST IS FOR THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW HOW TO USE KDP. THE IMAGES I WILL EXPLAIN WHAT YOU NEED TO DO. IT IS PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD AND HOPE IT WILL ASSIST THOSE WITH LOW TECH SKILLS.

THESE IMAGES BELONG TO KDP WEBSITE AND ARE USED TO ASSIST YOU IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS.

THE FIRST THING YOU NEED IS AN AMAZON ACCOUNT. A LOT OF US BUY THINGS OFF AMAZON. IF YOU DO IT MEANS YOU CAN GOOGLE KDP PUBLISHING AND SIGN IN WITH THE SAME USER NAME AND PASSWORD. IN THE IMAGE BELOW IS SHOWS YOU SOME TABS IN BLUE WHICH YOU CAN CLICK ON. YOU WILL NEED KINDLE EBOOK.

WHEN YOU CLICK THE KINDLE EBOOK TAB AND SCROLL DOWN A LITTLE YOU WILL SEE WHERE YOU CAN START A KINDLE EBOOK. THERE ARE THREE PAGES TO FILL IN.

IT WILL TAKE YOU TO A NEW PAGE (SHOWN ABOVE) WHERE YOU CAN START FILLING IN THE DETAILS OF YOUR BOOK. THE FIRST FOUR ARE: LANGUAGE, BOOK TITLE, SUBTITLE. PLEASE NOTE WHAT LANGUAGES KDP/AMAZON SUPPORT.

KEEP SCROLLING DOWN AND FILLING IN THE INFORMATION: SERIES (IF YOU HAVE ONE) EDITION NUMBER AND YOUR AUTHOR NAME.

ADD CONTRIBUTORS YOU WISH TO ADD.

IF YOU ARE PART OF A MULTI AUTHORED BOOK THEN YOU CAN ADD UP TO TEN AUTHOR NAMES, THE REST WILL NEED ADDING VIA REQUEST ON AUTHOR CENTRAL.

NEXT PART OF THE ABOVE IMAGE IS TO HELP YOU MARKET YOU BOOK TO YOUR FUTURE READERS. FIRST IS THE DESCRIPTION, WHICH IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT TELLS YOUR READERS A BIT ABOUT YOUR STORY. THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN ENTINCE THEM IN. YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE IT’S INFORMATIVE, EDITED AND NO ERRORS, USE SOME OF YOUR KEYWORDS. IT’S ALSO A GOOD IDEA TO LET READERS KNOW IF THERE ARE ANY TRIGGERS AND WHAT ENGLISH (IF THIS IS YOUR LANGUAGE OF CHOICE) IT’S WRITTEN IN. REMEMBER THERE IS DIFFERENT SPELLINGS AND WORD USAGE IN THE VARIOUS ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES.

MAKE SURE YOU OWN THE COPYRIGHT FOR YOUR BOOK. KDP SOMETIMES ASK FOR PROOF.

KEYWORDS!

ANOTHER IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR MARKETING. YOU NEED TO FIND WORDS THAT REPRESENT YOUR BOOK. THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN CHECK WHAT WORDS OTHER AUTHORS IN YOUR GENRE... THIS RESEARCH IS ESSENTIAL IF YOU WANT READERS TO FIND YOUR WORK. CHOOSE CAREFULLY. ASK OTHER AUTHORS IN THE GROUPS YOU BELONG TO, IF YOU ARE UNSURE. ALSO THERE IS AN APP CALLED PUBLISHER ROCKET WHICH YOU CAN BUY WHICH IS GREAT FOR FINDING KEYWORDS. THE LAST PART OF THE IMAGE SHOWS HOW TO PICK YOUR CATEGORIES.

THIS IMAGE ASKS YOU TO TELL THEM THE AGE BRACKET FOR READERS AND ALSO IF YOU WISH TO RELEASE YOUR BOOK STRAIGHT AWAY OR HAVE IT ON PRE-ORDER. AFTER YOU HAVE CHOSEN YOU CAN HIT SAVE AND CONTINUE AND IT WILL TAKE UP TO PAGE TWO.

THE ABOVE IMAGE IS WHERE YOU CHOOSE DRM (IT IS MEANT TO PROTECT YOUR BOOK THOUGH CAN BE EASILY BROKEN) AND UPLOAD YOUR EBOOK MANUSCRIPT. AS YOU CAN SEE, ONCE MY MANUSCRIPT IS LOADED, AMAZON WILL TELL YOU IS THERE IS ANYTHING MISSING OR ANY SPELLING TO CHECK. ON THIS ONE I HAVEN’T PUT IN THE LINKED CONTENTS PAGE WHICH IS SOMETHING ALL EBOOKS NEED. I WILL ALSO CHECK THE SPELLING, HOWEVER THESE TEND TO BE FOREGIN WORDS OR DIALECT ISSUES. AFTER YOU’VE AMENDED THE MANUSCRIPT, RE-UPLOAD IT AND THEY WILL PROCESS THE FILE WITHOUT FURTHER ISSUE, WELL UNLESS KDP ARE HAVING A BUGGY DAY OR YOUR MANUSCRIPT IS STILL INCORRECT.

IN THE IMAGE ABOVE IS SHOWS THE AREA FOR UPLOADING THE EBOOK. YOU ONLY NEED THE FRONT COVER TO UPLOAD. IT NEEDS TO BE A JPEG OR TIFF AND FIT THE CRITERIA SIZING KDP REQUESTS. I ALWAYS USE A JPEG FILE. IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE DOING A PAPERBACK OR HARDBACK BOOK THEN YOU WILL NEED A COVER TEMPLATE TO GET THE CORRECT SIZING, WE CALL THE FINISHED COVER A WRAP COVER AND THEY ARE USUALLY UPLOADED AS A PDF.

AFTER YOU HAVE UPLOADED THE BOOK COVER YOU CAN CLICK ON SAVE AND CHECK YOUR EBOOK OUT ON THE KINDLE PREVIEWER. YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD FROM THE LINK SHOWN IN THE IMAGE. IT IS ALWAYS WISE TO ALSO DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE HTML FOR ARC READERS.

YOU CAN ALSO PUT IN AN ISBN NUMBER (IF YOU OWN ONE) OR LEAVE IT WITH AN ASIN NUMBER PROVIDED BY KDP. YOU MAY ALSO ADD A PUBLISHER, BE THIS YOUR OWN BUSINESS OR ONE YOU’VE USED TO ASSIST YOU. SAVE AND CONTINUE TO PAGE THREE

THE LAST FEW IMAGES WILL BE ABOUT PRICING AND HOW THE ROYALTY WORKS AND HOW YOU GET PAID FOR ANY SALES YOU MAKE.

THE FIRST IMAGE SHOWN BELOW IS ABOUT KDP SELECT, THE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS YOU HOLD AND WHICH AMAZON STORE YOU’LL SELL MOST OF YOUR BOOKS FROM. READ THE INFORMATION ON THE LINKS IF NEED BE OR ASK IN A GROUP. MOST GO FOR ALL TERRITORIES AND AMAZON.COM, THOUGH IF YOU LIVE IN ONE OF THE OTHER COUNTRIES LIKE UK, EUROPE, THEN YOU CAN PICK THEM AS YOUR STORE OF CHOICE.

NEXT…

AS SHOWN BELOW IS YOUR CHOICE OF ROYALTY. YOU CAN DO 35% OR 70% THOUGH THERE ARE CRITERIA TO ADHEAR TO DEPENDING ON WHAT YOU PICK. IF YOU PICK 70% YOUR BOOK HAS TO BE PRICED AT $2.99 OR ABOVE. ONCE YOU PUT YOUR PRICE IN IT WILL SHOW YOU YOUR ROYALTY FOR EACH SALE AS WELL AS LISTING ALL THE OTHER COUNTRIES.

ONE THING I HAVE LEARNT IS THAT IF YOU DON’T LIVE IN ONE OF THE COUNTRIES WHERE THERE IS AN AMAZON STORE, THEN YOU WON’T GET PAID MONTHLY. INSTEAD YOU GET PAID WHEN YOU REACH 100 IN THE CURRENCY OF THAT COUNTRY. THE REASON I KNOW IS DUE TO LIVING IN NEW ZEALAND AND HAVING TO WAIT FOR PAYMENTS.

I HAVE ADDED IN THE WHOLE LIST OF COUNTRIES SO YOU CAN SEE WHICH ONES ARE AVAILABLE TO YOU.

THE LAST PHOTO IS ABOUT BOOK LENDING WHICH IS LOCKED SO WHY THEY ASK I HAVE NO REAL IDEA. JUST BELOW THAT IS THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS YOU ARE AGREEING TO. IT ALSO STATES HERE THAT IT CAN TAKE UP TO 72 HOURS TO MAKE YOUR BOOK AVAILABLE ON AMAZON. PLEASE REMEMBER IT TAKES A WHILE TO GET THROUGH THEIR SYSTEM AND INTO THE OTHER STORES AROUND THE WORLD.

IF YOU ARE HAPPY WITH HOW EVERYTHING LOOKS YOU CAN NOW HIT PUBLISH. IT WILL EITHER GO TO PRE-ORDER (IF THAT IS WHAT YOU CHOOSE) OR IT WILL SUBMIT THE MANUSCRIPT TO GO LIVE ONCE KDP ARE HAPPY YOU’VE FOLLOWED THEIR PROCEDURES CORRECTLY.

THERE IS SO MUCH TO LEARN, UPLOADING IS ONLY ONE OF MANY AREAS. IF YOU ARE UPLOADING FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH A NEW ACCOUNT, YOU’LL NEED TO FILL IN THE BANKING INFORMATION AND THE TAX INFORMATION.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, YOU WILL FIND THAT KDP HAS FILLED IN THE AREAS FOR PAPERBACK AND HARDBACK IF YOU GO BACK AND WISH TO PUBLISH THOSE TYPES OF BOOKS AS WELL.

I WISH YOU ALL GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR WORK AND PUBLISHING.

My Journey into Creating a Publishing Company…Part One

April 28, 2018Information2012, 2014, 30 clients, Agents, assisting, authors, blog, business, Company, contract out, Copyright, discover, Distribution, earning, editors, Formatting, Helping, Historical company history, History, How I started, improving, indie authors, Journey, Learning, limited company, Logo, Manuscripts, part one, Publishing, rejection, Royalties, websiteclaire

If I go back to when I first started writing in 2012 I didn’t know squat about publishing, never mind needing lessons in grammar, and the person’s voice. Like many others out there I tried traditional publishing. You remember the first publisher of Fifty Shades? It was an Australian Publisher – Yeah I tried them and was rejected, though I’ll say even now, my work was no worse than … I also looked for an Agent who thought they were Editors. No…they weren’t or if they were, they didn’t understand the historical genre of my novel. Since that time this same agent sent work to a UK Publisher who was iffy to say the least. In fact they closed down without paying anyone out and their bookstore was still going…probably still is.

Side tracked…sorry.

Anyway I found out that manuscripts needed setting out a certain way to be accepted by a traditional publisher. While I set out to learn I bumped into self-publishing and decided to go that way instead.

By the time I had learnt enough to make paperbacks and ebooks I had written four books. I bought some copies and was delighted with the results (now I just groan at my obvious need to learn more). I took them to the local writers group which showed little interest. Few of them were authors even less were published. This is where my company came in.
“Can you publish my books for me?” said one man.
“I can give it a go.” And I did. That journey though, is another story.

This all happened in May 2014. My company Plaisted Publishing House became a Limited Company on 1st August 2014. I filled out all the forms, set up a bank account registered for GST (VAT) etc. After paying or getting a refund on GST over three months I discovered I didn’t need to pay any until my business earned $60K NZD which won’t happen anytime soon due to the fact I have no investment other than what I earn and put back into the company. My aim was to start slowly and build gradually and make sure I wouldn’t fail or should I say close my company. It’s worked too.

Now you’ll note that even though I’ve published my own books, I stated I still had much to learn. My journey was only at the beginning. Over the last four years I’ve developed my business, building my professionalism, sharing what I know with the Indie Author Community. I’ve assisted over Thirty Indie Authors. If I included the Anthologies I could say I’ve assisted over one hundred.

As I’ve improved my learning (which I am still doing today) I have increased my prices, however, they’re still lower than most. You see I work in a different way. The aim of my company is to work with small businesses to contract work out to them and create packages for clients. All clients keep their copyright, all royalties and receive at least four formatted manuscripts for the different distribution websites. A client pays once. There is no profit made from continual book sales. A client could become a best seller…a millionaire…YOU STILL WON’T PAY ME ANYMORE….well unless you want too…LOL.

Uploading your Self-Published eBook to Lulu

April 26, 2018ImportantAge Range, Amazon, Apple, Approval, Author, Author Page, Book Cover, Category, Contents Page, Copyright, Cover Design, Createspace, Creator Guide, Delete, Description, Distribution, Docx, Download, Draft to Digital, ebook, Edit, Formatting Tips, FREE ISBN, Global Distribution, Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, Headings, image, Image Gallery, Images, Individual cover template, Ingram Spark, ISBN, KDP, Keywords, Kobo, Language, Live Chat, LULU :), Lulu Shop, Manuscripts, Marketing, PDF Wrap Cover, Pricing, Print, Print Cost, Professional Help, Project, Proof, Publisher, Publishing, Review, Royalty, Sales, Save, SELL, share, Sizing, Standard License, Title, Uploadingclaire

Welcome to the world of LULU Uploading. As promised here is the second installment about UPLOADING…This time it’s for eBOOKS.

WE start with picking what we wish to publish, of course this time it is the ebook we wish to do. So follow the images and I’ll explain what is what as you scroll through them.

You picked the ebook now it is time to think about if you wish to do this for FREE or need to ask for help. This of course depends on how proficient you are at formatting and if you can format the way LULU need you to.

One think I have noticed with ebook distribution sites, they all have their own styles of formatting. Some are easier than others. Once in the know…it becomes easy.

This blog is about how to publish your book for FREE and we would hit ‘MAKE YOUR EBOOK’ Tab to continue.

Meanwhile. If you need any assistance and a guiding hand you can ask for some professional support from LULU – who will handle the heavy lifting for you.

The choice is made and you are starting a NEW PROJECT. It’s time for the TITLE and AUTHOR NAME. It also asks what you wish to do with your project. Most people want to sell their books and this is the recommended route to take. After your choices are made click save and continue.

Next you get to choose your ISBN for your book. You can pick the FREE LULU ISBN which can only be used on books you distribute via LULU.

If you are uploading to another site, it is likely they will offer their own FREE ISBN. If you have already purchased a set of ISBN then use them. There is a link on the below image on how to purchase your own numbers.

If you don’t wish to use an ISBN then you WON’T be able to distribute through LULU retail channels.

Below is shows the FREE ISBN for my book which they will email to me. Since you haven’t yet uploaded your manuscript, now is the time to add the ISBN to your copyright page and save it again.

DO NOT UPLOAD YOUR MANUSCRIPT UNTIL YOU HAVE SET UP YOUR CHAPTER HEADINGS IN ACCORDANCE WITH LULU RULES. YOU CAN ALSO DELETE YOUR CONTENTS PAGE HYPERLINKS…LULU WILL MAKE THIS FOR YOU.

Choose you manuscript and upload. You will see the BAR below turn and orange-yellow.

Once it has uploaded it will show the document as below. If you have to make amendments later make sure you delete this file first on the X

Remember back to when you organised the HEADINGS in your manuscript. Well this is what LULU do. They show you the list for your contents table which you can adjust by changing the headings. When you do the HEADINGS you can use HEADING 1 – 3 ONLY You will also need to change the style to what you wish to see, making sure you embed the fonts as well.

Most Authors will also have their own BOOK COVERS by this stage in the process. If you do then you will need to upload the cover during this next stage. Having your own BOOK COVER means you can use any Theme, they are technically irrelevant though you still need to choose one. As you can see I stayed with the gold one with my name in the bottom right corner.

Click onto Backgrounds & Pictures. You can see where you can change the colour and edit the image. If you have a BOOK COVER already made you will need to EDIT the IMAGE. If you need to build your own you can ask for professional help from a LULU Cover Designer.

Once again LULU have a criteria for the BOOK COVER. This is where you will USE A DIFFERENT FILE – as shown below. Or you can accept this image and proceed to building your own cover.

Since you have clicked ‘Use a different file’ this new box will appear asking you to either upload your cover from your computer or browse the LULU GALLERY. When you upload your own file make sure the sizing is correct or….

Before the ‘OR’ The file will upload the same way as the manuscript did…One the bar has finished loading you will be asked to ACCEPT or TRY AGAIN due to sizing requirements.

As show here…The first time I uploaded my BOOK COVER the requirements weren’t met, meaning they rejected my file asking me to alter it and upload it again.

Once the BOOK COVER file meets their criteria you will see the image – like shown below. Now you can ACCEPT the file and move on to the next stage.

Now you can see your cover you will need to click on TEXT. If you have a ready-made cover you will need to take out the TITLE and AUTHOR information as shown below.

If you have built your cover here then you can now edit your TITLE & AUTHOR name, give them the font, size and colour you wish them to have.

Once you have done, click SAVE and CONTINUE to go to the next stage.

You’ve nearly finished now. Unlike Kindle, Createspace & Draft to Digital where you describe your project at the beginning. With LULU you do this towards the end

Fill in the blanks. On my children’s book this is what I choose to go with. You can change this at any stage.

My children’s story is all about adventures in the Insect world in a Country Garden. It is suitable for ages 3 upwards though parents, grandparents, siblings etc would need to read to the younger children.

Fill in the description which you would usually find on the back of a PRINT Book. This will show on your AUTHOR PAGE and in the LULU Shop. I choose the Standard Copyright License though there are quite a few you can look through and choose from.

YES YOU MADE IT…IT’S TIME TO REVIEW, DOWNLOAD THE INTERIOR, CHECK THE FORMATTING, SEE IF IT ALL WORKS CORRECTLY. IF NOT THEN YOU HAVE SOME WORK TO DO, OTHERWISE IT IS TIME TO PRICE YOUR BOOK

DISTRIBUTION TIME – PLEASE REMEMBER IF YOU HAVE UPLOADED YOUR EBOOK ELSEWHERE THEN UN-TICK IT HERE. ALSO REMEMBER YOU CAN GET YOUR BOOKS DISTRIBUTED VIA INGRAM SPARK WITH LULU

Make sure your LULU website is in the country where you live. Then pick the price and how much royalty you wish to make. Tick the boxes you need and hit REVIEW PROJECT.

Next is the eBook Distribution Terms and Condition. Read them and ACCEPT if you wish to publish.

The next slide shows your REVENUE excl taxes. Once you are satisfied you have what you wish go to the last TAB – SAVE and FINISH.

CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE PUBLISHED

This is all from me for now. I hope it helps. I will be making a post on how the HEADINGS work next week. Meanwhile enjoy the read and please SHARE.

Ending my Association with Createspace

January 8, 2018Important, Information, UncategorizedCopyright, Copyright Permission, Createspace, Customer Service Specialist?, FAKE?, LULU :), Phone Call, Time Zones, Unprofessionalclaire

To me this is sad news. I really enjoyed working with Createspace and their great customer service folks…well until it took a downturn from daft to damn right stupid. I’m over it totally after a phone call last night which didnt’ change anything. In fact it was a repeat on what they put in their first email to me.

Does Henry Exist as a Customer Service Specialist or NOT

Now two days later I am wondering if this Customer Service Specialist even exists. The person who sent the original email was called Mike. After my reply it took two days for them to reply. It was Henry who replied…or was it. I’m actually starting to wonder if this guy exists at all. Why? Well he certainly didn’t come across as over professional. He also supposedly working in various time zones but couldn’t work out the time difference between USA and UK…He also repeated the previous email though with different wording. I personally don’t like playing games.

So anyway I was meant to get a call at 2.30pm. First they apparently tried to ring and didn’t get an answer…My phone showed no incoming calls and I told them so. I also told them to take the 0 off the mphone nuber i gave…which if you worked in different time zones it would be something you knew. I mean I knew and I work worldwide.

The call finally came through 2 days later at about 7.30pm. Guess who it was? MIKE apparently HENRY had stepped out of the office. HOW BLOODY CONVIENT IS THAT…NOT.

I didn’t think about this until later of course. Mike wouldn’t listen, Mike was unprofessional. I called Henry a coward prior to wondering if he was an actual person working with createspace. Now I am wondering if he was FAKE along with his emails. Not sure how to find out. However I sure as hell won’t be having anything more to do with CREATESPACE.

I emailed Henry thirty-six hours ago. No reply. I doubt they will ever reply. How sad is this. Please double check everything when you use them or better still use a different distributer like LULU. One thing these big corporations shouldn’t be able to do is walk all over the people who are their clients and make money out of them, which is sadly become more of a thing with each passing year.

Meanwhile I had a lovely email from LULU who don’t need me to prove copyright permission though ask that we have some paperwork (this will be a link in the Anthology groups from now on which each author will need to agree or sign) They did mention though that Amazon may still not publish the Anthology distributed via them.

So we’ll see how it goes and get this sorted. Thank you LULU

Createspace Supressed My Anthology Again

December 30, 2017Important, Information, UncategorizedAnnoyed, Anthologies, Copyright, Copyright Permission, Createspace, Multi Authorsclaire

COPYRIGHT PERMISSION

Perhaps the mission at Createspace is to close down so we all go to use KDP Print. I have no real idea except they are getting bloody stupid with all the hoops we have to jump through just to publish a print book.

Ghostly Writes Anthology 2017 was suppressed when they wanted copyright proof from authors i work with. I managed to sort this issue out…You’d think they’d know to not do it again..BUT THEY DID AND I’M PEEVED OFF.

They have now suppressed A Treasure Chest of Children’s Stories…in PRINT. This time they won’t budge. I’ve sent them another email saying how idiotic this is and what i am prepared to do if this continues. In fact i gave them 24 hours to sort it. What will I do.

Well many of you know I have pulled together 8 anthologies (including the last two) the first six didn’t need copyright proof (I wonder why?) The last two do. Obviously this issue isn’t sorted and will continue with each and every anthology unless we change distributer…. Meanwhile….

I will ask every author to reply in email to the one i received to say how annoyed they are and fill his inbox…petty yes..might work, probably not. I am also prepared to contact the CEO and blast him if need be. Createspace has gone down the tubes, which is why i am now wondering if they are annoying as many authors as possible to use KDP Print. Sorry mate if we jump ship it wont’ be to KDP Print it will be LULU. I could probably also print via DRAFT TO DIGITAL, who work with createspace…funny that…NOT.

I am willing to fight this for those who work with me. It is over the top and they should be chasing those who do steal work not Publishers who help others to get their work out there.

Where will this go…I have no idea. Keep your fingers crossed. Why can’t they have a tick box to say you have copyright permission like D2D do….