Tag Archives: Ingram Spark

Are you a New Author?

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DID YOU KNOW?


Writers Beware is one of the first websites all new authors need to read before they look for a publisher or at self-publishing. Along with this you should read ‘The Ultimate Author Checklist.’ an great PDF full of information from an excellent Marketing website.

Both websites are excellent resources for authors. Writers Beware informs and keeps us updated of things we need to be aware of. It lists Vanity Press and all the ongoing scams which are ripping us off due to writers not doing their research correctly. It is also continually updated. What a lot of writers do is Google publishing or ask in writing groups we belong to. The problem is Vanity Press know how to use SEO’s to their advantage and Writing Groups get a lot of Scammers in them or people who say they know what they’re doing when they don’t.

The Checklist is more about setting yourself up as an Author, getting social media working for you, making or paying for a website and so much more. We give this PDF out to our clients no matter how far along they are in their journey.

SEO’s (just in case you don’t know what they are.)

Search Engine Optimization. Part of this is keywords businesses use to get their sites and adverts in the top spots on Google and other types of search engines. Because it is at the top, you are more than likely to go and click on them, and they have you… unless you know the ropes of what they are offering, which is why research is important part of life.

Many of you will use your own keywords during your publishing and marketing days to help readers find and buy your books. Publisher Rocket is great for finding good Keywords for your genre. (It was formerly known as KDP Rocket.)

Costs

The first thing you need to be aware of is the cost of publishing. Many say it is FREE!  It isn’t. Uploading a manuscript and book cover to KDP and other distribution websites is generally FREE, though some do charge fees. (Ingram Spark and Lulu). All Vanity Press businesses will charge you large amounts of money. Not only that, they also charge BEFORE they do any work on your manuscript. You will also be asked to sign a contract which you need to read and understand. A lot of these contracts give them copyright of your manuscript in all types of publishing, be it eBook, paperback or hardback. Each one will cost you more money to produce. If you wish to get out of the contract, they can take ninety days or more to hand back copyright. You will need the associated paperwork to prove to distributors like KDP that the copyright has reverted back to you.

Vanity Press

The main worry about Vanity Press is they don’t do the work they promise. They don’t pay out the royalty; they charge you for storage of books they print, some expect you to buy copies in their hundreds and of course you pay for freight, which they charge more for than they should. I know of one person who did their own freight, and it came out $400 cheaper… This is why WRITERS BEWARE is a must read.

Another thing you all need to remember… When you have work done in your home, building a deck, car maintenance etc… You don’t pay them until they have finished the work. You pay AFTER the work is finished. NEVER pay a contractor in the writing world until you have approved the work they’ve done for you, unless it is a deposit, which many businesses use these days, so they don’t get scammed by clients. Sadly, this does happen and has happened to my business.

Research

Research every contractor you work with. Seek out the details you need by asking the right questions. Get to know what those questions are by reading blogs. Ask for sample edits from various editors and find which one you feel more comfortable working with. Do the same with graphic designers and illustrators for book covers and images you may wish to use. There are certain things contractors need to know to do their job correctly.

This is a post I wrote a while back about Fiverr and Graphic Designers...after all you get what you pay for!

Editing

Do they edit in the English Language you use—British, American, Canadian, Australian, etc?

Do they edit in your genre?

What type of editing do they offer?

Line Editing, Copy Editing, Beta Reading, Proofreading?

How much experience do they have?

Do they have qualifications, or have they learnt on the job?

Do they have good reviews (ten or more good ones)

Graphic Design

Do they buy stock photos?

What DPI do they work with?

What type of file do they save too?

Are the fonts they use for commercial usage?

Proof of purchase of any fonts and stock photos?

You can use photos you have taken as long as you can prove they are yours.

Reverse check any sample images they give you. (some lie or steal other peoples work)

Ask other Authors and check out their covers.

Check reviews (ten or more good ones)

The last thing you want is to be sued by a photographer or font designer for copyright infringement.

Formatting or Interior Book Designer

As well as being an Author Consultant, bringing contractors together to build books, I also work as a formatter, and turn manuscripts into a professional files to upload on KDP and other distribution websites. There are many formatting apps around now, though many are not as professional as people seem to think. Pick up a paperback printed by a traditional publisher, and you will see what I mean. Look at how it is set out, how tidy it is. If you are contracting out for formatting, you will be paying more than $10 to get a professional finish. Note the differences between eBooks and print books. There are quite a few, including page numbers- which don’t start on the first page of the manuscript, header and footers, endnotes/footnotes, images and in eBooks Alt Text for images so people who are sight impaired can read the image.

Technology Growth

Technology is advancing in leaps and bounds, changes and updates happening all the time. If you’re not a techy person, then you do need to research every detail about producing a book. It is hard work if you want a professional outcome.

Always remember paperbacks and hardbacks need to be justified with a line spacing of 1.15 cm at the most. Indents shouldn’t be more than 0.5 cm. Learn how to use STYLES in WORD if you write in WORD. If you use an app, you still need to make sure these things are correct. This means you need to learn to use the app correctly, watch the videos, or talk to someone who knows what they’re doing. Keep yourself updated with the changes.

Websites and Social Media

Most authors have websites, though these only work if you use them, share the posts, and have a marketing plan. You need to know about SEO’s and keep your website relevant. Post at least once a week. Talk about your books and yourself, about your writing, how your muse helps or hinders you. There are plenty of ideas out there which you can write about.

Social media also seems to be slipping to the wayside, especially Facebook with all their rules and regulations, people getting banned for weeks or months. I’ve noted a lot now use Instagram and TikTok, if you’re not camera shy like I am. You can get Book Trailers made for YouTube or you could read one of your books on video and share the links.

Marketing

An excellent resource for Marketing is ‘The Ultimate Author Check List.’ It is brilliant, and even I still need to finish reading the document and put things into place. Marketing will cost more money and this should be the only one going cost with your books. If you are a techy person, you maybe able to make Teasers and Adverts to use, remembering each social media website has criteria your advert needs to fit.

Once again, be careful of scammers, especially from those who approach you! Most are dubious. I like to work with people who have reached out to me or have read a review. Word of mouth is a wonderful thing. Don’t forget to leave your contractor a review, especially if they fulfilled all the criteria of the contract.

We welcome questions in the comments area. We are happy to help new authors find the right way to go for their needs. Meanwhile, be careful out there.

Price Increases from Ingram Spark

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Dear Publisher, 

Amidst significant uncertainty in the global supply chain, IngramSpark is committed to supporting the book industry with the best possible service through the busy holiday season and into 2022. Over the past several months, the publishing industry has seen several cost increases for consumables, such as paper and packaging materials, as well as an increase in the cost of labor. Operating safely during the pandemic also has required additional resources and investments in manufacturing and distribution centers. 

As a result of these industry-wide challenges, effective November 6th, 2021, IngramSpark is increasing print pricing as follows: 

  • US (United States) market: 6% increase 
  • UK (United Kingdom) & AU (Australia) markets: 3% increase 

These changes do not apply to freight, handling, or title setup related fees. 

View our updated rate card.

To help you assess any increases you may need to make to your retail pricing, we will be adding the future pricing view to our online pricing calculators. You should expect to see that view appear within the next two weeks. As a reminder, you can update your retail pricing through the IngramSpark website, with changes going into effect every Friday at 12:01 AM US Central Time. 

We will also be identifying titles that will move into negative publisher compensation because of these price changes and will communicate that title information to you within the next two weeks. 

We will continue to monitor and report on changes to the supply chain to ensure we provide the service you count on us to deliver. 

Thank you for your continued business as we help your titles reach readers worldwide. 

Your IngramSpark Team 

Happy New Year and Welcome to 2021

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Happy New Year to all our followers and friends. It has been a wow of a year with many of us working from home. The toll on the human race is still growing though with vaccines, perhaps we can beat this virus and the many strains. Please be safe and take care of each other so we can grow and help each other. We are lucky to be based in New Zealand, where though we are on level one, our lives are closer to normal than it is for many other countries around the world. Be careful out there.

Thank you for continuing to be with us over 2020 and on into 2012. We look forward to sharing your work, books, interviews, educational articles and helping out clients – past, present and future. Let’s get those manuscripts built into books and uploaded to distribution platforms.

We have a great team here at Plaisted Publishing, our contractor list just keeps growing. If you know a small business contractor who works in Editing, Graphic Design or Marketing, please contact us. We’d love to help you help our clients and grow each others businesses. 

This year we will be introducing you to our contractors, each with their own expertise in a certain area of publishing. You will get to know them and what they can do for you if you are planning to publish a book. We do Interior Book Design in house and have over six years experience in Fiction, Non-fiction, Anthologies, Memoirs, Poetry, Children’s Picture Books and Family History Books/Family Reunion Books.

We also off help with Family History Research and have twenty years experience gathering information for various books we’ve made over the years for reunions and birthday celebrations. If you’d like to talk to us about Family History, please contact us here or email at plaistedpublishinghouse@gmail.com

We are also looking for Content Writers within the publishing world. If you write educational material for Independent Authors, please contact us, we’d be delighted to hear from you. It is important for us all to continue to learn and grow in the publishing world with the ever changing technology we use.

We will also be opening a page to favourite weblinks for educational purposes. If you know of a great website please email us the link and we’ll check it out prior to posting the link on the page.

At present we are updating out website. We will have a library of all the books we’ve assisted with over the last six years along with a list of Author Names. Eventually we hope to also add a profile of each author as well and send those links out to each client so they can share and celebrate each others work.

Our magazine has been on hold for the just over two years now. We hope to re-establish the magazine with a new title, new and easier layout with less formatting work involved. We hope this magazine will be every two months. Here is hoping all this scheduling will work. By the end of this year, we may need a PA…

Distribution Platforms we use
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
Lulu
Ingram Spark
Smashwords
Draft to Digital

Looking into using
Kobo
Barnes and Noble (Nook)

Here is hoping for a wonderful year. Take care and be safe. 

Claire Plaisted
Business Owner

Publishing Confusion – Part Two. Author Brand

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Author Brand! What is it?

Who likes Nike, Adidas? Who’s your favourite Movie Star, Poet, Author?  The first two are BRANDS which people love. The Second are people who can be turned into BRANDS and generally are. So, how do they do this? What does it mean to have a BRAND? 

If you get a big enough BRAND you can sponsor others, the same way Nike and Adidas do. They are MARKETING MACHINES, but how did they do it? How did they get so big and noticeable? It’s a bit of give and take. The big businesses sponsor the big names in sports and movies. If a movie star loves the shoes, clothes, drink…whatever the business sell, then the public will buy and support the person being sponsored which in itself supports the MARKETING MACHINE. It continually circles around, making money. 

As authors and publishers we need to do something similar. The trouble is getting your foot in the door. How is this achieved. Well it’s time to ask some of the Independent Authors who’ve made a success of their books. There is one lady I know you’d all love to chat with. Sadly she is busy heading for a deadline right now though Jami Albright has given me permission to share how she went about her first book launch, which also shows how she used her BRAND to her advantage.

Find Jami’s Podcast HERE. Other details are below. This Podcast is mainly about a Book Launch, though it shows the process she went through to get SALES and REVIEWS, both an important part of how we use our AUTHOR BRAND.

 

This article was written by Jami Albright in 2017. Jami has since released another three books in her series.

The minute you decide to sell your book it stops being your baby and becomes a product. A product that needs to be launched into the world. Which, frankly, is a dubious task when you consider that there are millions of books on Amazon alone, not to mention the other platforms such as, Kobo, Apple iBooks, Google Play, and Barnes & Noble’s Nook.

Did you hear me, people? Millions!

So how do you launch your book so it will sell, but also stay sticky in the Amazon rankings and therefore, continue to sell? We have to have a plan. A launch plan.

On April 11, 2017, I released the first book in my Brides on the Run series into the top 3000 in the Amazon paid store and had 50 reviews within the first three days. Eleven weeks later (as of this writing) my book is still ranked in the top 5000 and has over 200 reviews. It’s sold 1100 copies, and has 700K pages read in Kindle Select/Kindle Unlimited.

My little book has made over $5000, y’all! (I’m a Texan. We’re excitable.)

When I was asked to write this article about my book launch, my first thought was, Surely, there’s someone more qualified than me to talk about this subject? Because, while I’ve done well, other indie authors are knocking it out of the park with their numbers. But like most of you, I’m a part-time writer with family responsibilities, and a day job, who’s doing everything I can to figure out this indie publishing thing. What I’m trying to say: If I can do it, you can do it.

My launch plan began months before I put my book on Amazon. I started by understanding my genre and making sure my book met the expectations and conventions of that category. How did I do that? I read books like the ones I wanted to write. I familiarized myself with the tried and true tropes that readers want, and then worked very hard to make sure I delivered on those expectations. You can choose to write outside of the parameters of a genre, but know that you are going out on a limb to do it. And you might find yourself alone on that limb with your determination to be unique and no audience. Readers come to a genre knowing what they want. If you disappoint them because you decide to break convention, they will not be happy. They’ll then share their displeasure by leaving a nasty review.

The same is true of covers. When choosing a cover for your book, check out the top one-hundred best sellers in your genre. Are there themes, colors, and fonts that are used to signal that the book is a YA fantasy or a cozy mystery? I’m not telling you to copy those covers, but you should use them as guidelines for your own design.

I write romantic comedy. In the rom-com sub-genre there are three camps as far as covers go. One camp is full of sexy, shirtless guys. The second is illustrated covers with quirky characters, and third features women in flirty skirts, that only show their legs. My book didn’t fall neatly into any of those styles. It’s kind of a combination of all of them. It took several iterations, but I came up with a compromise that I think works. It’s flirty, quirky and sexy, just like my book.

A reader should be able to look at your cover and tell immediately what kind of book it is. If your cover and your content don’t match, then you’ve confused the reader. And a confused reader is one that moves on to the next book by another author.

In addition to a great cover, you also want a blurb or book description that hooks the reader. If you don’t know how to write good copy, learn, or pay someone to do that task for you. Bryan Cohen’s How to Write a Sizzling Synopsis is an excellent resource on the subject. If done well your cover and blurb can sell your book for you.

Before we move on, one more quick word about covers. Put down the mouse and step away from Photoshop. Now! You should not be making your own covers unless you have an extensive background in graphic design. There, I said it. Someone had to.

Hire a professional cover artist. A good cover can cost as little as $25 for a pre-made all the way up to $3000 for an artist commissioned cover. Mine cost me $200, it would’ve been less, but much to my designer’s annoyance, I kept changing my mind. The two most important things you will spend money on are the cover and editing. You should have someone other than your mother or your high school English teacher edit your books. You need a professional editor. Period.

I know these things cost a lot of money, and if you’re like me, that money isn’t in your budget. But it’s important, so important that I worked odd jobs to make extra cash and, ultimately, sold plasma to pay for it all. Was it hard to travel thirty minutes to an unfamiliar part of town, sit for hours in a small room filled with people I didn’t know, and get stuck with a needle twice a week? Yes. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. I have a book I’m proud of. A book that looks professional on the inside and out. A book I paid for with actual blood, sweat, and tears. Damn right, I’d do it again.

Now that I’m off my do whatever you have to do soapbox, I should say that you can sometimes barter with an editor to get the services you need. Or find a graphic design student that has experience and wants to build their portfolio. Or just wait and save up until you have the money.

I know you want your book out yesterday, but we’re playing the long game. Smart, professional authors don’t rush something to market that isn’t ready because it will hurt them in the long run.

To re-cap, we need to know our genre expectations, have a fantastic cover that we don’t make ourselves, a well-written blurb that hooks readers, and professional editing and formatting.

Finally, I can’t encourage you enough to get involved with the indie community. Once I realized that indie publishing was the route I wanted to take, I immersed myself in learning everything I could about the business of self-publishing. I listened to podcasts, I got involved with Facebook groups geared toward publishing and marketing, I went to the Smarter Artists Summit, and I tried my best to be a good community member and make meaningful connections with other indie authors. Little did I know how those connections would be a driving forces behind my successful launch.

In the beginning, I had very little to offer other writers other than encouragement. I could share posts, give moral support and be a friend. So can you. It requires a little effort, imagination, and courage, all things you have because you’re a writer.

How do you feel? Do you think you’re ready to release your baby… um… product into the world?

Jami Albright

Running From A Rock Star
www.jamialbright.com
jamialbright1@gmail.com


Please continue to read our blogs for the processes about Author Brand and Book Launches, and please remember the first step to building your book is RESEARCH

Our next article will cover Social Media and Website Building. What to expect, what you need to do and learn. Much of this also depends on your budget. Can you afford it or are you willing to LEARN what’s needed to get your BRAND working for YOU.

 

Print on Demand – Publishing a Book!

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As a Publishing House, we watch technology to see how it changes relevant to Self Publishing. We are now getting more and more choices for Print on Demand Books.

Here are some distributors who can help you self publish your book. Do remember there is a lot of work involved after you’ve finished writing. Plaisted Publishing House has an Author Assist Program to help you get your manuscript in the best shape for Publishing with any of the companies below. You can find the Submission Guidelines HERE

Distributors of Print on Demand

One of the most popular was Createspace which closed it’s doors and re-opened as KDP Print. Fair enough they still do Print on Demand, though it seems there are still a lot of hassles for KDP Print to get it right. This seems strange considering how good Createspace used to be. I’d like to know how they’ve messed it up so much. It is one I now choose not to use as a Print on Demand Distributor, though we still use KDP for eBooks.

Then we have LULU. They also do Print on Demand and eBooks. It takes a while to learn all the ins and outs, not quite as simple as KDP Print. However, they print on cream paper…YAY, They have LIVE CHAT along with up to 50% Discounts.  The only downer to many Independent Authors is you have to buy a proof before they will distribute WIDE whereas with KDP Print you can approve with a digital file at no cost. 

SMASHWORDS only do eBooks and it is still tricky. The layout for uploading is pretty easy to use, however, to get the document ready for their site is another matter. They are probably the fussiest of all distributors. The ebook cover has to be a certain size. For the uninitiated, it can be a nightmare of complications. On top of this, your manuscript has to be saved as Doc 97 which very few use anymore. We’ve been waiting for them to update for years.

Ingram Spark is a distributor of Print on Demand. We use this company with several of our clients. They do cost so it is up to the author if they wish to have an account with them.  On top of this, they also do Book Covers differently. Instead of RGB colours, they use the CMYK which you use at home with your printer. You also need to download their templates for the book cover size and make sure you add the 5mm on the top, bottom and the unbound edge of the cover and the interior. Make sure you use margins or your file can be rejected.

Draft to Digital is a great distributor for ebooks. They have templates you can use, however, I’m not overly keen on them when I see the files. Some looked pushed up and without the correct spacing. To us this is annoying. They do a good royalty share.  Today they ran out their Beta Print Book for testing Print on Demand for Authors to try out. We may well try. We’ve already heard about issues…They don’t do wrap covers…yet. We also noted in the email we received that the royalty share was 40% of the list price and they still take off print cost.  Where does the other 60% go?  We haven’t seen or read about this yet and will keep our eyes peeled to find this information. Confused? We are too.

These are the Print on Demand distributors most of us know about. However, Europe is digging in their heels with their own companies. Do you want your Self Published Book for sale in Europe? One site we were introduced to also do translations on a royalty share scheme. I suppose this would be a bit like with ACX and Audiobooks.

There you go…Information on ‘How to Self Publish a Book.’ Don’t forget we are here to help you. 

Thanks for Reading. Please SHARE

Uploading your Self-Published eBook to Lulu

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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.

Book Reviews with Amazon…Yeah Right!

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Why oh why is Amazon making it even harder to put up reviews for authors.  First they curtail your reviews because you supposedly know the author or you publish the author or help them publish.  Now Amazon is telling you to spend over $50 to actually put a review in place. That would be a years worth of books to me.

WHAT….  Yep you head me right. It seems they don’t want Indie Authors to be reviewed. If this really is the case then why are we all still selling through them?  Why aren’t we using Lulu or Ingram Spark. Why aren’t we using Draft to Digital or Smashwords…they both do Mobi aka Kindle files. I’ve not seen or heard of Barnes & Noble or Kobo refusing your reviews so why is Amazon? What is their problem?

I have heard about biased reviews – nope I won’t give one to anyone let along an author I would call a friend.  In fact I’m more inclined to be harsher on them than someone I don’t know. I’ve heard about paid reviews and farmed reviews. I wouldn’t use either. So coming down on people who are in the same social media group, chat on the odd occasion doesn’t mean they are great friends, after all social media is all about making connections. I mean you chat with your fans don’t you?

HERE IS THE ELIGIBILITY

Eligibility

To contribute to Customer features (for example, Customer Reviews, Customer Answers, Idea Lists) or to follow other contributors, you must have spent at least $50 on Amazon.com using a valid credit or debit card in the past 12 months. Promotional discounts don’t qualify towards the $50 minimum. In addition, to contribute to Spark you must also have a paid Prime subscription (free Prime trials do not qualify). You do not need to meet this requirement to read content posted by other contributors or post Customer Questions, or create or modify Profile pages, Shopping Lists, Wish Lists or Registries.

Maybe it is time we all left reviews about Amazon
and how bad they are getting!

 

Uploading your Self-Published Paperback to Lulu

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LULU has been publishing books since 2002 with over 2 million titles published. Lulu has developed into an outstanding company with many advantages over both Createspace and Kindle which in recent years caused to many hassles for me personally to want to use them any longer.

One of my favourite parts of Lulu is the LIVE CHAT which helps you through the process of uploading your manuscript if or when you get stuck.  It is a bit of a learning curve and I have gathered the images of the process for everyone to use for any paperback publishing with Lulu.  I will eventually do eBooks as well.

First of all you need to create an account using your email address and finding a unique password. After you sign in you’ll  need to click on CREATE to find the image below.

In Image 1 (above) you will find two tabs PRINT BOOK and EBOOK. For this presentation you need to click on PRINT BOOK and it will open to image 2 shown below.

In image 2 you get to choose how you would like to publish your print book.  If you look at the selection you will find they also do hardback covers. Most authors use the Standard Paperback and the US Trade size (6 x 9)

In image 3 it gives you the details of what your paperback will be. It also gives you the manufacturing costs.  In the box it says 100 pages will cost $3.25 USD.  Obviously the more pages the more the cost. This cost is also what the author will be able to buy their own paperback copies at.  You can download the Template, look at Volume discounts and Spine measurements. To proceed to the next stage you click on MAKE THIS BOOK

Image 4 tells you what Binding you have chosen, what Size your book is and what the Interior will be like.

Image 5 is the start of making your book. As you can see you need to put in your BOOK TITLE and AUTHOR NAME and then tell them what you wish to do with your project. The choose depends of what or who the book is for.  Some people may do memoirs or family history books which they like to keep private. Most fiction authors tend to pick the RECOMMENDED so the book is distributed worldwide.  

In Image 6 you get to choose what kind of ISBN you want or even if you want one. Some authors buy their own ISBN and those on a budget generally pick the ISBN from Lulu.com, which can only be used on Lulu.com.

Most distribution/publishing websites you upload your paperback manuscript to will offer their own FREE ISBN to you. You may have your paperback on several sites and they will all have their own ISBN…that is unless you bought your own which cost quite a lot.  Also note if you chose not to use and ISBN then you will be restricted with what you do with your book.  

In Image 7 we have decided to get the FREE ISBN which gives you the barcode for the back of your book and you can also put this number inside your book. You need to download and save your BARCODE to a safe place on your computer.

Now we are getting to the interior of your book.  In Image 8 (above) you need find your manuscript. Click on CHOOSE FILE, hunt down your story (we find PDF is best) and then click UPLOAD and wait for the file to load.  Fight at the bottom you will find the Filename once it is loaded. Make sure there is only one file there and delete any extra or old ones in the instance you have to upload again.

Image 9 shows you your manuscript uploading.

Image 10 Shows the file finally uploaded. It is at this stage you can download the new file to review it at your leisure and check for issues.

Next comes the BOOK COVER. Your graphic artist will have sent you a full wrap PDF book cover or the individual front and back images for you to upload.

In the Image 11 is shows the old cover system. This is where you can upload a front cover and back cover jpegs. Lulu will make the Spine for you. You will need to pick a book style, remove the writing on the cover because it should already be on your images. This is unless you are going to use their template and build your own book cover. As you can see above your barcode is already set. You will only need to add it if you are NOT using their template. You will also need to choose a colour for your spine to match the images you uploaded and put in the book title and author name etc. Remember all images need to be 300 dpi.

I WILL DO A PRESENTATION FOR THE OLD BOOK COVER STYLE IN ANOTHER POST.

Image 12 is the one piece PDF book cover. Like with your manuscript you CHOOSE FILE and UPLOAD. This cover must have the exact measurements of the book it is covering. 

All cover images need to  be 300 dpi images

Image 13 is showing your book cover being uploaded to Lulu. As you can see it works the same way as it did for your manuscript.

 

Image 14 shows your Print Cover is ready to be downloaded and be reviewed prior to proceeding to the next stage.

Now it is time to describe your project. In Image 15 (above) you need to fill in the category, if it has explicit content and also the keywords for future readers to find you book to buy.

In Image 16 – it is a continuation of the page. Every book needs a synopsis or a book blurb. This is a description of what your book is about. Make sure it entices your readers in. Like with the first line in a book, the first line of your book blurb is important to your SALES.

Underneath the description you pick your language, copyright notice, license, the edition of your book and who your publisher is.  The copyright notice will generally use your name. Many Indie Authors also use their name, and small publishing house name (depending on how much work the said company does for them) or make their own company to use as Publisher.

Now it is time to work out the cost of your book. In Image 17 it shows you three columns. In the first one is SET YOUR PRICE. They show you a minimum price (£8.00) and a price they choose of £15.50. In the next column it shows what your revenue would be if you abide by their pricing. From Lulu you would earn £7.73 and from extended distribution you would get £3.00.

£15.50 is a bit high for a book. This particular client chose £10.00 which meant their revenue ended up lower.  The good thing to remember is you can change your prices at any time.  

Also in column one is the DISCOUNT Tab. It is here you can run a SALE with whatever Discount you wish.  Many authors do this type of thing with a new release or during special holidays they celebrate.

In image 18 it is generally for first time customers. You will need to sort out your payment and tax records. For authors not in the USA you will need to fill in a W-8-BEN .  Once the tax info is filled in, email it to the company.  Lulu pay via PayPal which means you end up getting paid once your sales hit a certain target.

Time to REVIEW your PROJECT in Images 19 & 20

This is your final opportunity to check out and review your book cover and book interior online. Download the PRINT READY FILES. It reminds you what your BOOK PROPERTIES are. Also check the DESCRIPTION – usually on the right, for spelling errors and grammar.

Image 20 with the final details. Note you can change the PRICING and LICENSE here as well as who can see the book. Once you hit the next SAVE & CONTINUE it will PUBLISH to LULU and YOUR AUTHOR PAGE.

YOU HAVE PUBLISHED YOUR BOOK TO LULU

What else do you have to do?  You need to decided if you want to extend the distribution to Amazon, Ingram and Barnes & Noble. To do this you have to purchase a PROOF COPY from LULU.

GLOBAL REACH FOR YOUR BOOK

You want to go for GLOBAL REACH? You’ve ordered your PROOF COPY? Then you can move forward. You click on the Global Reach tab in the below image and it will take you to another page.

Your submission will be pending until you have received and proofed your paperback. Once you have approved the book you will be able to GO GLOBAL.  Please remember if you have to make any changes to your book you will have to upload a new copy and order another PROOF COPY.  This is why it is imperative to make sure the PDF copy you download in REVIEW YOUR PROJECT is correct.  

As an Author I have had to order three PROOF COPIES due to something I missed. Triple check if you must.

 

 

FINAL APPROVAL OR CREATE A REVISION. TO GIVE FINAL APPROVAL GO TO YOUR PROJECTS PAGE AND YOU CAN APPROVE IT THERE. oVER THE FOLLOWING WEEKS YOUR BOOK WILL BE DISTRIBUTED WORLDWIDE TO ALL ONLINE STORES.

ALSO REMEMBER YOU CAN BUY IN YOUR OWN COPIES TO ON SELL AT BOOK EVENTS, SIGNINGS ETC.

 

THAT IS ALL FOR NOW. I DO HOPE THIS HELPS. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS

PLEASE ASK.

THANK YOU!