5 Steps to Develop Your Publishing Plan

1. Clean up your manuscript

Go through and look for idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies. For example, I know I’m a huge fan of starting sentences with conjunctions (and, but, so, yet) and I have an over abundance of phrases in parenthesis. These are my personal writing idiosyncrasies. I don’t want to get rid of them all, but I make sure that each use either furthers the writing or is needed to keep the writing in my “voice”.

I also clean up any inconsistencies. For example, in the cookbook I’m currently editing I find that I’ve used the following:

  • tablespoon
  • Tbs
  • TBS
  • Tbsp.

That’s four different ways to say the same thing! I decided on one standard format and will be keeping it the same throughout the book. (And using the same format for cup, pound, and teaspoon!)

When I edit for clients, this is one of the main areas in which I focus. I don’t really care if you want to say fig. or figure but I want it to be the same throughout the book!

Keep Reading!

, ,

Amazon KDP Available for Mexico!

082913-MexicanFlag

¡Bienvenidos a México!

Amazon announced today the addition of Mexico to the list of countries available for eBook sales.

Amazon Launches Mexico Kindle Store with Over 70,000 eBooks in Spanish and 1,000 titles at Special Prices Starting at MXN$9 (www.amazon.com.mx)—Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite Now Available at Gandhi Stores in Mexico

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. 29, 2013– (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon today launched the Mexico Kindle Store (www.amazon.com.mx), offering Mexican customers the largest selection of the most popular eBooks, the most Spanish-language best sellers, over 1,500 free books in Spanish and a broad selection of titles from leading Mexican authors and publishers. In total, the Kindle Store offers over 2 million titles, hundreds of thousands of which are exclusive, and more than 70,000 in Spanish, including titles from authors such as Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Isabel Allende and Paulo Coelho, among other Mexican and internationally known authors. In addition, Amazon announced that Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite are now on sale locally in Mexico at Gandhi stores. For more details, visit www.amazon.com.mx.

Keep Reading!

Free Publishing Advice

I’m sure we’ve all experienced it: we spend hours learning a skill or process, invest thousands of dollars in the education, given up free time and sleep. At the end of it all, we have a deep understanding of the complete process.

Then somebody comes along and asks to pick our brain. If that wasn’t bad enough, they want it for free.

I’ve been guilty of this myself! Now that I understand a little bit more about what somebody may have invested in their knowledge, I don’t expect information for nothing.

Before I got started in independent self-publishing, I spent years working on my writing craft. In fact, I have a degree in Creative Writing. And I’ve invested two years learning everything I could about self-publishing. I’ve spent upwards of $10,000 on classes; fought my way through every in and out of formatting; and figured out how to get titles noticed on Amazon.

Why should you care, though?

Because I want to give you some publishing information for free.

Keep Reading!

,

Words Tell; Pictures Sell

If you read or write a blog, you know that images can make all the difference in engaging readers, attracting their attention and conveying the message. And if you read traditionally published books, fiction or non-fiction, you know that they don’t have many images in them.

081913-images
This was to keep publishing costs as low as possible, both in ink and in number of pages used. With self-publishing books, both print and digital, the rules of including images are changing.

Why do you want to have images in your book?

Humans are visual creatures. We are attracted to bright images. They keep our interest and our focus. And in an eBook, they break up the monotony of page after page of print.

When you’re thinking of adding images into your book there are five factors you need to keep in mind:

1. Limit your image file size
Amazon.com charges authors a file delivery cost (70% commission structure only) that goes up based on the total file size of the eBook manuscript. Adding in images will increase the total file size and increase the file delivery cost.

Your images should be clear and recognizable, but also optimized for minimum file size.

Keep Reading!

,

Review Karma

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-five-stars-quality-product-illustration-image30594258

One of the really cool things about Amazon.com is their reviewing system. For any product that you’ve purchased (from Amazon or elsewhere) you have the ability to write a review of that item.

This is true for eBooks as well.

There is mixed statistics about the impact reviews have on book sales. Many indie authors swear that reviews lend credibility to a book and directly increase sales. Other authors aren’t so certain.

Keep Reading!

In The News: POD Publishing Is A Game-Changer

How Print-On-Demand Is Transforming Self-Publishing

By Natalie Burg

These days, everyone’s an entrepreneur. That includes creative professionals, such as artists, musicians and authors, who used to be considered nearly the vocational opposite of businesspeople. Not anymore. Thanks to the advent of self-publishing, crowdfunding and e-commerce, indie artists of all kinds are launching their creative careers as solopreneurs.

Keep Reading!

Pick The Right Name – 5 Name Websites

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-stack-name-tags-badges-blue-red-hello-my-image32351935

We all know how tough it is to get just the right name for a character.

  • Does the name convey the subtle meanings we want?
  • What does the name mean?
  • Where in the world is it from?
  • And in the case of some names, How do I pronounce it?

One of my first sales of a short-story, back before I got OFF the Dead Tree Publishing hamster wheel, featured a Japanese character. Not to put too fine a point on it, the story really isn’t about Japanese culture at all; it’s a sci-fi story that blends computer programs and origami. All I really wanted was a name that I could verify as being Japanese and male and I was off!

But for most of my main characters, I take just as much care and effort into their name as I do into crafting any other aspect of my story.

Keep Reading!

«< 69 70 71 72 73 >»