Recently, my friend Pradita over at The Pradita Chronicles pointed out that I was missing a reblog button on my site. Since I often don’t notice things when I can’t see them, I hadn’t noticed this issue. On a typical WordPress.com site, this isn’t a problem, but I use a self-hosted WordPress.org site. The reblog button is simply not available to me.
As is often the case, when I searched around the net for help on this, I had to search a lot and wade through a lot of useless information. Because of that, I thought I would post something simple about it here. Here’s the WordPress blog about it all… it’s well written, but I still found it all confusing. Sometimes I’m like that.
Simply put, if someone has a WordPress.com site, you can reblog something from their blog on your WordPress site, simply by clicking their reblog button (at the end of their post). If the reblog button is unavailable, it either means they don’t want you to reblog their site or it means they are self-hosted (like I am) and as such do not have this feature available for their site.
The way around this for you (the person trying to reblog a site) is to use a feature called, “Press This.” That’s a creative name! Can you guess what you do with this feature?
Here’s what you do:
1. Go to WordPress.com and log in to your account. 2. Click “My Site” (top left-hand corner of the screen) 3. Scroll down to Settings on the left-hand side and click it 4. In the center of the screen, you’ll have four menu options: General; Writing; Discussion; Traffic. 5. Select the “Writing” menu and scroll down to the bottom of the screen 6. Read the little description about “Press This” and then either drag the “Press This” button up to your favorites bar and drop it there (Chrome or Internet Explorer) or add the button to your favorites (right-click in Internet Explorer)
Now, Pradita found the “Press This” button in Settings-Writing was unresponsive. I think the reason for this is because the internet is often irritating. So, she kept digging and found the solution was to head over to her dashboard and the “Press This” button could be accessed through “Tools.” So if the above steps do not work, check out “Tools” in the Dashboard.
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 ISBNfor 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 theX
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 LULUCover 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 Digitalwhere 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.
We all know that KDP Print is likely to be taking over from Createspace when they finally close their doors (after all we’ve seen go on in the last 12 mth) I thought it would be good to do a presentation for those who wish to use KDP Print.
In the early days, I heard a lot of complaints. Their book cover wrap kept rejecting book covers which Createspace always accepted. There were no Author priced copies, the author was paying the same as any other customer… etc.
Needless to say they have slowly improved as the last 12 mths progressed. People are happier with their service. I have just put up my first book to see what all the fuss is about and so I can give this presentation to you all.
How it Works
PAPERBACK DETAILS
As you can see from the above image you need to select what you wish to do. For this presentation is it the Paperback. Click on this and you will go to the next image shown.
Following the details, you need to pick the language, put in your book title and any subtitles it may have along with any series information. As you scroll down you’ll see more area’s to fill in. What is the edition? Who is the Author? Are there any contributors?
Now for the description or synopsis. These are difficult to write and need to be in about 500 words. It needs to give a brief glance into your story. Who are the main characters? What is the story about?
Next you choice your copyright and Keywords. I will talk about the keywords below the image. They can be really tricky.
KEYWORDS You need to use short phrases, make a list on a piece of paper about your story, narrow down the words, think of different words you can use or what readers may search for to find your book. The smaller the category the bigger your chances of being in the top 100.
Categories – I really dislike these. They aren’t brilliant. In my opinion they’re too vague. You still need to pick two which you think are closest to your story. If it has adult content then make sure you put in YES.
CONTENT DETAILS
On the second page of KDP Print you get to choose a FREE ISBN or use one you already own. There’s also a publication date…However I’ve never used this either here or on Createspace.
The next part is the same as LULU – though as you can see it is at a later stage in the process. Below are the details where you can pick what you wish the interior of your book to look like. The ones you see highlighted are the ones generally used by most paperback distributors. The costs will vary to what you pick in size and page count.
After you have chosen the interior details, you can upload your formatted manuscript. Make sure your manuscript matches the above details – margins, paper size etc. You will want it to look professional and like any other book you may find in your local bookstore or library.
The second part of the above image is all about your cover. Many Authors have covers made for them, 95% of the time they will be wrap book covers which fit the page count. This means they are front, back and spine. They will be delivered to you from your graphic artist as a PDF and you or your publisher will upload it.
If you don’t have a print ready PDF Cover then you will need to launch the Cover Creator. Of course I forgot to get images of this process. However it is rather simple. You get to choose a book cover template and upload the e-book cover to it. Next you will need to type in or copy and paste the synopsis on the back cover and add any logos, profile image, bio…etc. Next you will review the cover.
The above image shows the book cover and interior so you can check it is what you wanted. As you can see I have missed a few things on mine. Page numbers at the bottom. copyright page and author name/book title in the header. I did this to show everyone that mistakes can be made. I will be updating this book Later. If they pick out any errors you will need to fix them.
PRICING YOUR BOOK
Since the site is American you will need to pick a price for the book which is higher than the Min. The List Price shows the book needs to be above $3.58 So depending on how much royalty you wish to make on your book is how you price is. As you can see i priced at $3.99 – It is a novella in length. After the American pricing you can then sell it on the other 6 market places. Once again you can price it what you want or base it on the American price. You can use which marketplaces you wish.
In the next image you can see the Japanese Price List. I’ve never sold on there, though I know a few who have. Make sure you read the terms and conditions, especially if you are a first time author. Once done you can purchase your proof copy. Some authors like to get the paperback in hand prior to pressing PUBLISH…which you can see on the bottom right of the image.
Of course once you hit PUBLISH you get the Congratulations notice along with being asked if you have yoru story as an ebook.
Once you go back to your BOOKSHELF you will find your book will be under REVIEW, just like in Createspace. Now is the time to wait for your email to see what you’ve missed or if you’re in the clear and it can go LIVE
