“Of all the
liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears.”
Rudyard Kipling
A
Control Freak’s Guide to Indie Publishing
Self-Publishing
Your Paperback using
Amazon’s
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
UPDATE 10-31-2019 --- Thinking it would look way more professional, I decided to change the interior of my book from "align left" to "justify" and also remove the indents from the first paragraph of each chapter and each new section. After a couple of hours of reformatting the book, I posted it on Amazon. What a mess. It was like Amazon's software freaked out. Needless to say, it didn't work.
All other changes I've made have gone through smoothly, but this format change was too much for Amazon to handle. SO, make sure you format your book the way you want it BEFORE you post your baby to Amazon.
UPDATE 5-28-2019 --- I changed the book cover and title. Bad news: Amazon will not let you change the title of your book after it's been published. Good News: I needed to upload the book like a new book. It only took 3 hours to upload paperback and ebook. Practice makes perfect. :o)
So your book is finished. Congratulations!!! Now it’s time to take the next step --- publishing. Perhaps my experience (and stumbles) with indie publishing my paperback will help. Let’s start with some suggestions.
All other changes I've made have gone through smoothly, but this format change was too much for Amazon to handle. SO, make sure you format your book the way you want it BEFORE you post your baby to Amazon.
UPDATE 5-28-2019 --- I changed the book cover and title. Bad news: Amazon will not let you change the title of your book after it's been published. Good News: I needed to upload the book like a new book. It only took 3 hours to upload paperback and ebook. Practice makes perfect. :o)
So your book is finished. Congratulations!!! Now it’s time to take the next step --- publishing. Perhaps my experience (and stumbles) with indie publishing my paperback will help. Let’s start with some suggestions.
Editing: First suggestion,
have a professional editor look at your book and help with layout, sentence
structure and punctuation. It can be pricey, but well worth it. Get their
opinion on story line, characterization, dialogue, etc. Next, start rewriting
things that need changing. If you honestly disagree with a recommended change (and
the editor’s reason why,) leave as is. After all, it’s your book, not the
editor’s.
Beta
Readers:
Next suggestion, round up a few Beta Readers. Beta Readers are avid readers,
not writers. The purpose is to see if readers like your book. Did they find the
characters engaging? Was the ending satisfying? Did your baby drag here and
there? And, maybe they’ll catch a grammatical or punctuation error. Rewrite if
and where necessary. Once again, this is your book.
Agent/Publisher: After the
professional editor and Beta Readers, with excitement, hope and joy in my heart,
I went to work looking for a Literary Agent and/or Publisher. Fast forward six months
later. I had sent out what I thought were perfectly phrased query letters and
jumped through numerous hoops. No takers. Time to give up? Nope!
I talked with self-published authors and Googled
“How to Self-Publish,” I read blogs and articles. Amazon’s free KDP program stood out for me. Being a control freak, the
thought of having control from beginning to end was enticing. Not having to pay
literary agent fees, and giving Amazon publishing and printing fees after
a reader purchases my book was more than appealing.
The
following is my publishing experience using KDP. Hope you’ll find some helpful
information.
Amazon’s
KDP (links near the end): Overall experience was very, very satisfying. That
being said, the first time uploading my manuscript was mind-numbing. It seemed
simple enough, but it was a bit like bumbling through a corn maze. Much of the
bumbling was my fault for not reading directions carefully…and my oft changed
manuscript.
The following will take you step-by-step
through the process. Don’t rush it. I did and paid for it…so many redos. Take
the time to read all the hints along the way. Expect to spend a few days on
this.
NOTE:
It took six weeks from the day I began this process until I had a saleable book
in hand.
Money: Have your bank
checking/saving information available. Amazon needs this to automatically
deposit your royalties 60 days after they receive payment from purchaser.
* * *
Let’s begin.
Book
Title & Subtitle: A unique title is important. The best titles
make the reader curious. I also Googled my idea to see if my title was one of
many. Subtitles give the potential purchaser more insight into your story. Unless
you are a famous writer, I think using a subtitle is a benefit.
Description: I took plenty of time on this. The words you
use will show up when a reader/purchaser searches for a cozy mystery, heart-stopping
thriller, vampire saga, WWII romance, etc. I wrote as though I was telling a
friend about my book. In my opinion, this is not the place for the so-called
“elevator pitch.” There have been cases where I did not purchase a book because
of a sketchy description.
Key
Words:
The more descriptive words, the better. Add genre, locations, and anything else
a reader would use as a search word. Let’s say your book is a romance novel set
in 1800s London. You might use any or all of the following: Romance, Historical
Novel, 1800s, Pirate Ships, London, Christian, etc. My book doesn’t fit in one particular
genre, so I used this section to good advantage.
Pricing: I checked other
books in similar genres with the same/approximate page count. You can always
come back here and change your price. However, if you wish to lower the price,
do so before the first purchase.
Categories: Pick two from the
eight categories provided: fiction or non-fiction and genre.
ISBP
Number:
I used the free option. This can always be changed at a later date if you
decide to purchase your own numbers.
Uploading
Manuscript (Book Content): Amazon has a wonderful form to use to copy and paste.
It works perfectly. Not so perfect was my manuscript which I had worked on for
over a year. After adding chapters, making corrections, moving paragraphs
around, changing fonts, etc., it was a mishmash of formatting and spacing. It
took four days of teeth grinding and copious cups of coffee. But I managed to
get it in sensible order, chapter by chapter. Note: I have an older version of
Word and Windows 7 operating system. The Amazon form accepted it easily.
Fonts
& Sizes
– Times New Roman, font size 12, seems to be the most common font/size used. Consider
your target market. My target market is middle-aged and older men and women. I went
with Times New Roman, size 12, but increased the spacing between lines to help
older readers. When it comes to children’s books, you’ll want a font and size
that will capture a young person’s imagination.
Book
Cover Creator: I fooled around with free covers at Canva.com, but ended up
going with Amazon’s Cover Creator. There are plenty of options for the first-time
creator. You are able to upload a photo or artwork of your own. I used a
photograph I took of an old tree. The photo had its drawbacks, but I was able
to live with them. If you truly feel over your head, ask an artsy friend to
help or pay for a pro. There are plenty of book cover artists online. Many are
quite reasonable in their pricing.
Book
Preview:
Use this option to check for obvious things, such as, forgotten or unintended page
breaks, inconsistent looking chapter heads, etc.
Order
Proof Copy:
OMG – this was important!!! Everything looks different when you see your
manuscript in book form. I found so many things I wanted to change. One unexpected
thing I noticed was the gray font color on some pages. I made changes on the
original form, renamed it by adding (a) at the end of the file name, and re-uploaded.
Pricing
and Royalty:
This section lists the book price, Amazon’s rate, printing costs and your royalty.
I was OK with my royalty. But, if you don’t think your royalty payment is appropriate,
go back and change the book price.
Save
as Draft or Publish:
Definitely save as a draft. Sleep on it overnight. I woke up at 2:00 a.m.
thinking of changes.
I made my changes, held my breath and
clicked “Publish.” The book takes up to 48 hours to appear on Amazon’s website.
An email arrived hours later stating: Congratulations
your Paperback Book is Available in the Amazon Store!
I DID IT! I am now a published author!
Next I ordered author copies (cost is price
of printing, taxes and shipping) for my Book Launch Party, poured a glass of
Champagne and relaxed. Author copies take approximately 14+ days to arrive. It
was the same length of time when I ordered 50 copies as when I ordered 10
copies. Note: being a member of Amazon Prime gets you no break on this.
* * *
Want to give it a try?
To start at the beginning, begin here…
Have an account and read to jump in? Begin
here...
* * *
Look
Inside option:
I highly suggest this option. It gives readers a look at your writing style and
a glimpse of what the book is all about. My Look Inside included a number of
pages from the first chapter. I emailed Amazon and asked that they eliminate
two of the pages because they included a spoiler. They responded within an hour
to tell me they had removed the pages from the Look Inside option. I was
impressed.
Author
Page:
Always a good idea to add a photo and some background. You don’t have to have a
long list of published works. Readers want to know about you as a person.
Think of the book signings you’ve attended.
During the question and answer session, did anyone ask for a list of the
author’s published works and their literary awards? I rest my case.
People want to know where your ideas come
from, how you find time to write, etc. Do you write late at night after the last
sleepy child is tucked in.? Are you a retired truck driver who finally has the
time to write about the life lessons learned on the highway? Write that. Truly,
people are interested. This is a good place to add your current author email
address…someone may want to contact you.
Making
Changes After Publication: Easy Peasy. Go to KDP’s Bookshelf. Scroll down to
“Promote & Advertise.” To the right is an icon with three periods. Click on
that icon, and you will see the edit options. In addition, this is where you
order author copies and start a promotion campaign, if you so desire.
KDP Reports: This page shows
how many copies of books have been shipped and your royalties. My favorite
page.
Reviews:
Ask your readers to give reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, etc. These help.
I hope my self-publishing journey
helps you on your own journey. It was
stressful, but oh so amazing. Wish you luck and success.
* * *
See you January 1st right here where I’ll discuss New Year’s Resolutions & Setting Goals for 2018. And, thank you
many times over for taking time to read my blog and for checking out my new book.
Other places to find
me:
