Support for Indie Authors discussion

I have a question about book pages converting for CS. My novel is about 315-320 long, but being that it's double-spaced, etc. both paperback and ebook is being listed as 482 pages(I allowed CS to upload my original file to KDP), which I am certain is affecting my sales ability. Question is, should I reformat and upload to reflect the true amount of pages? If so, then how to explain a book that went from 482 pages down to 315 without people wondering what has happened. I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out why my book is not selling, even for FREE to kindle owners. It has to be the number of pages. Also, I had a book club approach me(my cousin had to beg them to read the book because a lot of them were leery of the page count - but once they read it(and saw the double-spaces in the paperback)they loved it and declared it a fast read despite the page numbers. Could it just be that simple to reformat the file? Advice please! I am trying to get my stuff in gear, because I am about to release a prequel novel for my novel(it's a 100 or so page novella)before the month is out and I want to be sure I don't make the same mistake. Thanks!

I don't think anyone is going to question the change in the page count. The biggest issue is going to be price. But, you'll also want to look at the font. If you had your book double spaced, but your font was small, single spacing it might make for a difficult to read page. Adjusting the font might also make the book larger.

Hi, Erica

Is "CS" Createspace?

When publishing a book (either in print or in e-book format), you will likely want to follow industry standards in book publishing. I looked at your novel in Amazon and noticed a few formatting things you could change so that your book adheres more closely to industry standards.

1) The pages of a book shouldn't be double-spaced - not in print and not in e-books. You should use just a little over "single space." I use "Multiple" spacing of 1.2 lines. (I write my novels in Microsoft Word.)

2) In an e-book, the first line of each paragraph should be indented, but not as much as yours are indented. I use .25". Some folks use .33 inches. You are currently using what appears to me to be about a half-inch (.5"). I recommend decreasing your first-line indent. In a print book, the first line of the first paragraph of a chapter is NOT indented, but all subsequent paragraphs do have their first lines indented.

3) You might want to consider using Times New Roman, size 12 as for your font. On Kindles, of course, readers can change their fonts. But the recommended font for reading is a "serif" font - and Times New Roman is the standard for serif fonts. You're using Arial, which is a "sans serif" font and not the most desirable for reading.

What software package do you write in? Microsoft Word? If so, you can easily make these changes if you're using the stylesheet function, which you should be using. Using a stylesheet makes converting to print and e-book formats super easy.

I hope this is helpful. If you have any questions, or need any help, let me know. I'd be happy to help you.

April

Create Space charges a minimum price to you and your readers by page count. It helps to make your book 6X9 in, to reduce the number of pages. CS charges by the page, not the amount of paper cut. It may help also if you go through and remove any waste in your book. This will pick up the pace and also reduce the overall print cost.

Wow....thanks so much for the great tips evryone. I knew something was wrong with my format, and it is so overwhelming to a first-timer I just didn't know where to start fixing it. I will look into the indent and font issues for sure. The book is already 6x9 and I actually used the word template that they had there. I know not everyone is a fan of the template and I think Joel had one on his website somewhere that works better, so I will look into that as well. I usually take his webinars, as I gain a lot of information from them. Guess I am going to be a busy bee with this for a day. I am sure the changes will give a positive result and again, I thank you

this is for CreateSpace, I meant to mention(sorry!)

Erica wrote: "this is for CreateSpace, I meant to mention(sorry!)"

Thanks, Erica. I'm getting ready to format my e-book for Createspace so I can print paperbacks. Woohoo! Exciting.

April

That's wonderful April! It IS exciting when you actually get to go through the steps of getting the book ready for printing.

In addition to the good advice given earlier, I strongly recommend not allowing CS to submit your file to KDP. That process uses the PDF to output a Kindle-compatible version, and produces absolute garbage (in my opinion).

Instead, format the file yourself (Joel Friedlander's articles that EJ linked are excellent) and submit directly to KDP. Good luck!

Ken wrote: "In addition to the good advice given earlier, I strongly recommend not allowing CS to submit your file to KDP. That process uses the PDF to output a Kindle-compatible version, and produces absolute..."

Ken, what about if you're preparing a print file for publishing paperbacks? Then you have to upload a properly formatted print document directly to CS?

April

Christina wrote: "I don't think anyone is going to question the change in the page count. The biggest issue is going to be price..."

Agreed. Almost no indie authors see big print sales anyway. But just to echo everyone else, double spaced text in a printed book just isn't done.

Double spaced is used for manuscripts to be submitted to agents or publishers. But look at any print book you can find: none of them are double spaced.

Take a look at the templates provided by Amazon for whatever page size you select. They use Word styles that have the paragraph formatting pre-done. Just use those. Quite simple and ends up looking good.

Personally, if I'm going to buy a book from a writer I don't know, it's decided by the cover and the quality of the blurb. In fact, once that's done I don't even look at the page count.

If you're sure that's what it is though, I'd suggest making the changes you mentioned as nobody will question why the book has "shrunk." In truth, I doubt anyone will even notice.

Do whatever will make your book look like the real deal. That way, you're always giving yourself the best chance.

Jx

Hey gang! Thanks again for all the solid advice. I am working on the file now. As for the KDP version, the first time I did an upload ever, I allowed them to create the KDP file which is what threw the page count. I am checking my stats and I am getting lower and lower by the hour and day by day. I am almost afraid to put out another book. But I will anyway. I guess this is how you learn lol. I am stripping all the bad formatting by doing a copy/paste to notepad(which incidentally is the same way that I did it to format for smashwords)and then start from there. I am going to concentrate on margin, font size and spacing and see if that does it. Here's hopin'!

Erica wrote: "Hey gang! Thanks again for all the solid advice. I am working on the file now. As for the KDP version, the first time I did an upload ever, I allowed them to create the KDP file which is what threw..."

Erica, the best thing you can do to promote book #1 is to publish book #2, and so on. One book's success adds to another's. It's very much a numbers game, so keep going! One usually has to have quite a few books out to make any significant headway. I'm looking at the longterm... looking toward the day when I have eight books out. So far, I have just one (and am working on two more right now).

I wish you the best!! Hang in there. Did you update your cover on Amazon.com? Last time I checked, it still had the old cover, but I know updates can take a few days to show up.

April

Erica, never mind. I just checked Amazon again, and your new cover is showing up there. Yay!

April

Erica wrote: "Hey gang! Thanks again for all the solid advice. I am working on the file now. As for the KDP version, the first time I did an upload ever, I allowed them to create the KDP file which is what threw..."

Don't let your ranking going down discourage you. I know from experience that it doesn't take much for it to change, although in some genres it's more evident than in others. A few sales could bring you back up substantially so you can easily experience highs and lows. Just know that it's the same for many of us, yet, we're still here. :P

So I've been told(plenty of times but I still hate how long its taking). I've never been really patient lol. I am a results driven type. I will hang in there. Thanks April!

Erica brings up a good question, though. Does a larger book get fewer sales just because it is longer? Do kindle readers look at page-count and second-guess the purchase just because it is a long book?

Mine is 472 pages, 1.3 spacing, a rather hefty read.

There may be, but I doubt it. First of all, page count means very little in the world of ereaders. I've seen authors give the word count on shorter works and have done that myself simply to avoid the "this isn't a book, it's a short story" type review that used to crop up on shorter works.

Genre is going to factor in as well, but before yoy write off long books, remember that the Harry Potter series was aimed at the demographic with the shortest attention span. :)

Denae wrote: "Erica brings up a good question, though. Does a larger book get fewer sales just because it is longer? Do kindle readers look at page-count and second-guess the purchase just because it is a long..."

Denae, I think page count comes into play in purchasing decisions when the page count is very LOW. If I see a book that looks good, but the page count is very low, I'll pass on it. Unless it's marketed as a short story or a novella... that's a completely different story. But if it's marketed as a novel, and it has 78 pages, then I'll pass on it. Then I know it's a serialized novel - no thanks.

I've never passed up a book because it's too long. Diana Gabaldon's books are often over 900-1,000 pages. I think the longest one is around 1,400 pages, and I devoured every single page! So no, a high page count is not likely to matter to readers. They will probably feel like they're getting their money's worth (as long as those pages are filled with good writing, and not filler).

April

April wrote: "Ken, what about if you're preparing a print file for publishing paperbacks? Then you have to upload a properly formatted print document directly to CS?"

Yes, that's what you need to do--upload a print-ready PDF formatted according to their specs. My comment referred to the option that CS gives you, after that point, to submit your book to KDP. That's what you should avoid.