Tag Archives: KDP

Are you a New Author?

February 14, 2022authors, Important, InformationAuthor Brand Marketing, Author Consultant, Barnes and Noble, Book Covers, book marketing, Deposit photo, Draft to Digital, Editing, Fiverr, Formatting, Independent Publishing, Ingram Spark, Interior Book Design, KDP, Kobo, Lulu, Nook, Publisher Rocket, Research, SEO, Smashwords, Technology, vanity press, writers beware, wwebsitesclaire

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.

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.

Welcome to 2022

January 1, 2022authors, Important, Information2022, Author Consultant, business, Facebook Messages, Family, Graphic Design, Instagram, KDP, Kindle Unlimited, Marketing, New Clients, New Year, Positivity, Return to Work, Reviews, Up Skillingclaire

Picton, New Zealand looking out over Waikawa Bay

Hurray, 2022 is here, well in New Zealand and a few other countries… Looking forward to you all joining us and celebrating a brand new year where positivity will move us all forward in leaps and bounds. At least I hope so.

Lots to do and a business plan for this year to sort out before work commences on the 6th Jan 2022. We have five books to work on over the next couple of months with another touching down in April. It is going to be great fun working with these clients, they are awesome writers and people.

Business

Part of the plant this year is to take Monday’s off and do a course on Marketing. Though I have some marketing skills, I need to up my skills to move this business forward to the next stage. As many of you not, our business says Publishing House in the title. At this stage we don’t actually publish any client’s work, we only prepare work for distribution. I work as an Author Consultant and Formatter. This is due to the fact, USA business tax is complicated (to say the least) With saying this, we will eventually look into publishing in New Zealand, though the costs are much higher than KDP, Smashwords etc. This is because printers in New Zealand don’t understand the POD (Print on Demand) system or don’t use the system the same way as overseas. They have a single price for one book, it is set out… the more you buy the cheaper the books are. This means it can cost thousands to print books and is sadly out of many writers pockets, which is why we use places like KDP.

Sadly KDP can be tricky and terminate accounts and not pay-out royalties whenever they so choose. Considering those of us living outside an Amazon area/country, we only get paid after we’ve earned $100 USD, POUNDS, EURO etc. With this warning, please be careful out there and read all the policies of the places your distribute your work through.

As well as up-skilling my marketing, I am also updating my graphic art skills, mainly on GIMP, learning to do layers etc. I had a blast about ten days ago with a new client and their book cover. Slightly frustrating, though enhancing my skill.

New Clients

I have several new clients coming up this year, though will blog about them at a later date, when they are ready for publishing. An interview is a great way to introduce you all to new writers. Along with this I am hoping to have an Instagram day, where I will post about books once a week… first though, I need to learn how to use Instagram a bit better than I do. I’m not good with a phone and wish we could post via computer. I’ve heard some can, so will see what happens this year. We also need to finish updating this website and adding the links we are missing. If you see a broken link, please let me know.

Lots of learning. Weekends will be for family. We will have set hours, though we will also always answer Fb messages when we see them due to the time differences around the world.

Reviews

If you have books on Kindle Unlimited and they are in a genre we read, then please let us know and we will read and review. Reviews will be fair and only done if we can give 4 or 5 stars. Anything less and we will message you… the author, instead and let you know what issues we’ve found, be it formatting, or editing, etc.

KDP Hardbacks – Easy or Difficult?

September 29, 2021Children's Stories, Important, Information300 dpi, Amazon, authors, BETA, Binding, Book Cover Artists, Files, Graphic Designers, Hardback Books, How To, indie authors, Interior, KDP, Measurements, Page Count, Research, Templatesclaire

After hearing that KDP had Hardbacks in BETA, I thought I’d take a look at the setup and see how things worked, what was different.

The first page where you type in your information is the same as for the ebook and paperback, so if you’ve already done them, then page one will automatically be filled in for you. Still, it is best to check for errors or changes you may need. Save as a draft and go to page two. This is where the changes start.

You will need to have a different ISBN number for your hardback book. You can either use the KDP Free ISBN, which can only be used on Amazon, or you can buy your own. Next, you scroll down, picking your book size, page colour, ink colour etc until you get to where you upload your interior. Is it the same as for paperback?

NOT COMPLETELY

Though the pages are exactly the same sizes, the margins on the most popular size (6 x 9 or 15.24 x 22.86) are bigger, probably due to the extra width needed in the spine for a hardback. You will also need a manuscript of 75 pages or more to make a HARDBACK BOOK, which, of course, doesn’t bode well for young children’s picture books.

Once you’ve uploaded the correct manuscript, you get to do your HARDBACK COVER and yes, this is different. Unless you know the ins and outs of hardback books, you will need the TEMPLATE or you can use the KDP COVER CREATOR. Personally, we will use the templates until we’ve learnt how to size the covers correctly. Like many of those who may read this, we are learning to.

Click on the DOWNLOAD A TEMPLATE link just above the box where you upload the cover and it will open this page shown below.

In the Image it asks you for your book details. For those who are sight impaired or blind, the list consists of:-
BINDING, INTERIOR TYPE, PAPER TYPE, PAGE-TURN DIRECTION, MEASUREMENT UNITS, INTERIOR TRIM SIZE and PAGE COUNT. Once this is filled in, as shown below, you can Calculate Dimensions.

This opens a new page! As shown below.

This image gives you all the information you need and what everything means. Don’t worry about what this image shows too much because now that the dimensions have been calculated, you can DOWNLOAD THE TEMPLATE to your computer and open the ZIP file. Inside, you will find three files. A PDF and PNG version of the TEMPLATE with instructions on what is what in the image. The THIRD file shows you HOW TO USE YOUR TEMPLATE. The instructions are shown below.

*HOW TO USE YOUR TEMPLATE*

1. Open the PDF or PNG file for the Paperback Book Cover Template in your image editing software.
2. Create a new layer in your image editing software. This layer will serve as the design layer.
3. Design your cover in the design layer, using the template PDF or PNG file as the guide layer. The artwork should extend to the outside edge of the template’s pink zone to ensure a white border will not exist within the printed work. Do not move the guide layer, as it is properly aligned for our printing specifications.
4. Ensure text and/or images that are intended to be read do not appear in the pink zones of the template.
5. The barcode area is indicated in yellow on the template. Do not place important images or text intended to be read in the barcode location. We suggest filling in this area with your background color or design. KDP will automatically generate a barcode representing your title’s ISBN when printing copies of your book.
6. Once your design is complete, you will need to turn off the guide layer so that it is not printed on your final product or rejected during the review process. If you are unable to turn off the guide layer, then you will need to format the artwork so that it completely covers the guide layer.
7. Flatten all layers, save the file as a press quality PDF with CMYK color profile, and upload the file via KDP.

Message from my Illustrator

My advice is that when you are creating ANY image for any template, always use the template as a guide, I will make an image for you to use, that includes your cover, and the faded template. You need to keep everything inside the red walls 🙂 and remember to set your DPI @ 300+ when working with printed covers as opposed to digital (e-book) covers. The below image shows you the cover and template and how everything sits.

On the last page for KDP the pricing is done the same way as will paperbacks and ebooks. Choose a price and approve to publish. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to buy some Author Copies to check over. Sadly, with living in New Zealand during Covid, it isn’t possible for me to do so.

PLEASE ALSO REMEMBER KDP HARDBACK IS IN BETA AT THIS TIME AND CHANGES AND UPDATES MAY OCCUR AS WE ALL START TO LEARN TO USE HARDBACK INFORMATION

Happy New Year and Welcome to 2021

January 1, 2021authors, Important, Information, Rambles, readersAmazon, Anthologies, Barnes & Noble's Nook, Children's Books, Content Writers, Draft to Digital, Editing, Educational Posts, Family History Books, Fiction, Genealogy Research, Graphic Design, Ingram Spark, Interior Book Design, KDP, Kobo, LULU :), Magazine, Marketing, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Picture Books, Plaisted Publishing House, poetry, Smashwords, Technology, Weblinksclaire

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

Draft to Digital – POD

November 5, 2018ImportantBeta Testers, Createspace, Draft to Digital, Excited, Hopeful, indie authors, Ingram Spark, KDP, Kobo, LULU :), Paperbacks, POD, Print Ib Demand, Sign Up Inviteclaire

YES, YES, YES…DRAFT TO DIGITAL ARE TESTING PRINT ON DEMAND…

I could dance, clap my hands in glee and jump for joy. Though I won’t mainly because I’ve no idea how good POD with Draft to Digital is going to be yet. I’m just excited about there been another company is going through the paces.

No we all know KDP have gone to PRINT and closed Createspace down. We all know they made a mess of things AND considering Createspace worked perfectly, KDP Print has not taken off as it should’ve. A perfect system gone to…Well, I’m not quite sure. I do know they are still having issues and authors are looking for other distributors.

Up until now, we’ve had LULU and Ingram Spark. Both good, both different and using different colour codes.

DRAFT 2 DIGITAL

What are they going to do and offer? At present they are inviting authors to sign up to BETA test their system once they are ready. Did KDP do this? Maybe someone can answer this. I for one am looking forward to testing their POD.

Now for eBooks which they already do quite successfully. They have good templates, though I do wish they would tweak them a little. The paragraphs seem to disappear. As a formatter, this irritates me a lot. I like my stories to look nice. Here is hoping they get great feedback from Beta Testers and get the Paperbacks perfect.

Good luck Draft to Digital it’s great you’re joining the paperback world.

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.

Createspace – Closing their Professional Services. Is this another step to closing their business?

January 26, 2018authors, Important, InformationAmazon, Blogging, Closing Down?, Copyright Permission, Cover Design, Createspace, Customer Services, Delivery, Distribution, Draft to Digital, Editing, Emails, Formatting, Formatting Professionally, indie authors, Interior Design, KDP, KDP Print, LULU :), Marketing, Paperback to Mobi, Paperbacks, Perma Free, Postage, Professional Services, Skill Set, Tracking Numbers, Training, writersclaire

WE all know I don’t like Createspace anymore due to their Customer Service debacle and how they treat their customers. They are so not with it. I’m glad to get out now rather than when they close their business down for good…To me this is what it looks like and I’ll tell you why.

I have worked in several businesses which have closed down and slowly but surely they get rid of things they no longer need. If your observant enough…you notice and it makes you wonder. Are they closing? Is this why customer service is so bad? Do they really want to work with Indie Authors or are they just money hungry and we’re not bring in enough profit for them anymore?

If I follow my instinct the first thing Amazon rolled out was print on KDP! Why did they do this? Createspace was excellent at the time and I loved using their website. From authors around the world I heard scathing comments about KDP Print and how bad they were, rejecting book covers continually. One author had her cover rejected 37 times where as on Createspace it was accepted straight away. I decided to stay away. I hated the thought of even trying to use them at that stage.

Then suddenly I was having issues with Createspace. Their customer service was all over the place, moving from one to another person, not reading emails, getting things wrong…totally incompetent. In my company they would be reprimanded and given training to upgrade their skill set. Then it was the turn of the ordering area of Createspace. Books disappearing, Tracking number telling authors their books were going somewhere else. They couldn’t even tell the difference between the Northern and Southern hemisphere. Astounding mess. Though this one incident had a happy conclusion in the end nearly five months later. I know for a fact this author won’t order though Createspace again.

Next it ws Copyright Permission. Their policies stated you’re only allowed to upload documents you own or have copyright permission of. Yes there have been a hell of a lot of stolen manuscripts out there, however there are many ways this is done and most have nothing to do with Createspace. So here they are demanding proof…Something new they’d never asked before. If you know your business law (mine was New Zealand) then you can’t share private and confidential information with another party without permission from the person it involves. I never have and never will share contracts, emails or anything else without permission. Saying no to Createspace turned them into …well i’m not sure what. On top of this the book was published as an ebook and is for sale on Amazon, but they wouldn’t publish the paperback. Guess who went to LULU. They’ve been excellent by the way.

What else can happen? Oh yes PERMA FREE. Due to all the fuss I stopped uploading to KDP and started to use Pronoun – who we all know closed this month. With Pronoun you could make a book FREE and no problems. I wish they hadn’t closed. Then Draft to Digital had distribution rights to send to Amazon, however, in their deal you couldn’t mark a book as FREE. So I did the usual request and the second time they said no because it wasn’t uploaded to KDP only distributed. (They accepted the first…meaning they can’t even get this right) They told me to contact D2D and get them to send a request. I’m sure this is more work which D2D don’t really want! Much to my joy they did so but, I can still see a price on it on Amazon. Though this could be me having a New Zealand Account.

Now the reason for this blog. Createspace are no longer going to be offering professional services to authors. They don’t wish to work one on one with you. No Book Cover Design, No Marketing and No Editing (I didn’t know they offered Editing.) This info comes from a friend I sometimes work with. The original blog was from Book Baby who like me offer all the service to Indie Authors. They found the information in a newspaper in the USA/

ARE THEY CLOSING DOWN? WHAT DO YOU THINK?

If you do need services for Editing, Cover Design, Formatting and some Marketing (I’m looking at taking a course in Marketing this year) Then please consider using Plaisted Publishing House. We love working one on one.

KDP & Permafree

January 3, 2018Anthologies, authors, Children's Stories, Important, Information, readersAmazon, Draft to Digital, Going Overboard, KDP, PermaFREEclaire

When you wish to have an ebook FREE forever on Amazon you have to ask and show proof that your ebook is already FREE with other distributers. Well if you are publishing through KDP then use the APPLE links (worldwide) when you contact them. Of course they will never guarentee they will make it FREE…after all they love to rock the boat and make your life as difficult as possible.

Now what happens if you wish to have Permafree but you publish with another distributer? Good question and one they keep changing their minds on. As you may have noticed in the past Pronoun used to distribute to Amazon and you could have the book up for FREE from the word go. Bloody brilliant…except Pronoun have closed down. Just when you thought it was all over Draft to Digital started to distribute to Amazon…Sadly it was for miminum price. Their deal for some reason won’t do FREE like they did with Pronoun. As yet I have no idea why.

Now in October Plaisted Publishing House released it’s sevenths Anthology called Ghostly Writes Anthology 2017. WE distributed via Draft to Digital, thinking it would be easy to sort out. It took several emails to get them to do Permafree. YAY I thought…until we released our next Anthology ‘A Treasure Chest of Children’s Tales.’

Nope they won’t make it free because they are not the publisher even though they did the Ghostly Writes one. I protested and they won’t budge coz we used Draft to Digital. Even when I told them about the deal they made with Draft to Digital won’t let ebooks be free from the word go…still sorry no go. They told me to ask Draft to Digital to contact Amazon to ask for Perma FREE. Fine more hoops to jump through now I wonder if D2D will assist.

I have emailed Draft to Digital and hope they can help. I just wish KDP would simplify things for themselves and their clients. They have certainly put me off publishing via them. Meanwhile, a book which should be free…isn’t..well only if you buy off Amazon. All the other distributers including Apple where you can download all our Anthologies for FREE.