Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

So, you've written your latest blockbuster novel and have decided to self-publish it as an eBook. What do you do now?

Here's the answer in a step-by-step format: https://alkalarediting.wordpress.com/...

I am self published and I would like to give a line of advice to other authors.

Stay away from XLibris. You will regret it, just as I did. They have no care in the world about your hard work. :) thanks for reading.

Darkest Light

If you want to self-publish an eBook, do yourself a favour and format it properly so "Go To" actually takes the reader to a specific chapter.

It's so simple to DIY it costs nothing: it does mean you are more likely to get reviews needed to help publicise your work. How many people finish a book they've enjoyed with a fair idea of what they want to say and are defeated because something to which they want to refer occurred in chapter six or seven?

I usually fiddle, but how many others scrap bothering and use their precious time to read the next book that attracts them?

I found Amazon's publishing company CreateSpace very helpful. You can pay for as much or as little as you want and there is a team of people you can call and talk to whenever you have an issue. This was a good experience for me when publishing "Cutting the Soul."

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Of course it is not just about ebooks. I use the print on demand websites; Lulu.com and Feedaread.com. Their service has been great, the quality of the books brilliant and they are easy to use.

Sarah wrote: "If you want to self-publish an eBook, do yourself a favour and format it properly so "Go To" actually takes the reader to a specific chapter.

It's so simple to DIY it costs nothing: it does mean ..."

If you use "headings" for chapters (like an H3), your eBook chapters will link properly to the TOC. Some formats do this better than others.

Really good layout and blueprint of step by step what to dos that's for sure. Thanks for sharing Al!

I bookmark the chapter heading, and then use a hyperlink in the TOC to link to the chapters. It's quick, easy, and works for both Smashwords and Amazon. A guide available for free can be downloaded from Smashwords, and I find it invaluable.

By all means, read through the Smashwords "how to". Their "grinder" is a bit touchy (buggy?) and you can save a lot of trouble by formatting your book THEIR way before you upload it.

If you keep it simple, avoid text boxes, keep text 16 point or smaller, make sure all graphics are "in line" with text, and remember to include "Smashwords Edition" on your copyright page, it should work on the first try.

Al,

Lulu's converter is a bit twitchy as well, but your advice on heading styles and such is spot on.

Ebook and Print are two very different formats for containing the same stuff.

Now if I had more time to write...but alas poor author, the little demon's nap is about over.

I've heard various reports on Lulu. Mostly negative. What's your take on it?

Several PODs get good marks, including Amazon's.

I confess I've not tried any of them, but I'm toying with the idea for one of my books (probably Create Space?). The cover artwork looks like it's the biggest hassle. Many artists are getting on that bandwagon, so all you may need to do is give them the size info for the spine.

Al wrote: "I've heard various reports on Lulu. Mostly negative. What's your take on it?

Several PODs get good marks, including Amazon's.

I confess I've not tried any of them, but I'm toying with the idea fo..."

Lulu is actually fairly good if the author-publisher has reasonable expectations. I don't use their paid services so I have no knowledge about them.

The POD part is decent with either premium paper or economy. Remember the e-copies I sent you? The POD comes in at about $8.00 for premium and $4.25 for the economy / promo versions on their website.

You can upload a one-piece cover or your own front cover if you don't mind doing the spine and back. Or you can use the generic *gag wheeze cover templates.

There's one talented author / graphic artist who works with self-pubbers because he's tired of lousy crappy cover art.

If you do distribution the price for prints goes up to cover retail cost structures.

I would say anyone going the route of DIY needs to have good focus on their formatting, and that takes time and a bit of tweaking but it can be done.

I've heard people whine on the Lulu forum, but more often than not it's due to self-inflicted issues. There is a free replacement policy for problems that originate with the printers.

I spent a couple weeks doing my first self-pub with CreateSpace. Lots of work, lots of revisions, but finally got it nailed down so the next one won't be as difficult. The quality of the POD book was excellent. I used my purchased cover from the KDP ebook with one of the CreateSpace templates and it looks nice.

Formatting the ebook into print layout was no small chore--at least 40 hours of work. I'm on a shoestring budget and at least the next one will be easier now that I've done it once the hard way. I should disclaim that I've written a couple dozen tech books for a few publishers so I had an idea how the process worked already. Layout is so time consuming!

One bit of advice that might be helpful: I didn't bother with the print book until the ebook reached a certain sales goal. Maybe someone might feel that's backwards. If so, I'd like to hear if anyone experienced better sales going print edition first.

The Mandate of Earth