Please feel free to email me with questions, tips, concerns regarding your books. If you find any inaccuracies in my posts to assist authors, please contact me. Thanks :)
The In's & Out's of
Ebook Publishing
The first thing you need to know is that each ebook distributor accepts different formats and produces different formats. Why? Because Amazon produces Kindle E-readers. They want you to buy Kindle ebooks from them. Therefore they do not want Barnes & Noble's format or other retailers formats to work on their devices. Or you might buy from their competitor. As time passes however, there are apps you can download that will allow you to read Kindle on your PC, Mac, Phone.. and I have used PDF on my nook.
Ebook formatting can appear overwhelming so breath. You just wrote a 300 page novel. You can do this. The owner of Smashwords wrote a very long FREE book explaining the best ways to format ebooks. It has a ton of information in it about how text flows, about how you should only use certain fonts, and how to insert the bold, italics, page breaks, chapter headings and links to create a Table of Contents as well as direct readers to your social media page.
Read it, and don't give up. The information he provides can actually help you with not only ebook formatting on Amazon and Smashwords, but also help you layout your paperbacks. I actually write my manuscript using the Styles & Formatting Tools Mark Corker recommends. When I finish, the book is completely formatted for paperback upload. then I remove the headers and footers, create a Table of Contents and save one as a .doc and one as an html. This saves me a ton of time and prevents a lot of aggravation.
Read it, and don't give up. The information he provides can actually help you with not only ebook formatting on Amazon and Smashwords, but also help you layout your paperbacks. I actually write my manuscript using the Styles & Formatting Tools Mark Corker recommends. When I finish, the book is completely formatted for paperback upload. then I remove the headers and footers, create a Table of Contents and save one as a .doc and one as an html. This saves me a ton of time and prevents a lot of aggravation.
Mark Corker's Formatting Guide in a Nutshell
Toggle the funky looking P button
This inserts "invisible characters" - you will see Spacebar hits as one dot, a Return hit as a funky looking P, and Tab hits as arrows. If you format without using this option, you are going to add a ton of extra space to your document, it will look misaligned and very unprofessional.
This inserts "invisible characters" - you will see Spacebar hits as one dot, a Return hit as a funky looking P, and Tab hits as arrows. If you format without using this option, you are going to add a ton of extra space to your document, it will look misaligned and very unprofessional.
Fonts: Only use Times New Roman, Arial, or Garamound
Size: 12 pt for text, 14 pt for Chapter Headings
Size: 12 pt for text, 14 pt for Chapter Headings
Why? I like Courier
The short answer is that readers can choose their preferred fonts on many e-readers. You like what you like, the reader likes what they like. If you use something other than the recommended three, it is possible the e-readers will not recognize it. It may either distort your book and aggravate the reader, or it might not show at all. Just because you like Courier, doesn't mean your readers will. This is true for the size as well.
The short answer is that readers can choose their preferred fonts on many e-readers. You like what you like, the reader likes what they like. If you use something other than the recommended three, it is possible the e-readers will not recognize it. It may either distort your book and aggravate the reader, or it might not show at all. Just because you like Courier, doesn't mean your readers will. This is true for the size as well.
Do not use Tabs, Spacebar, or Returns to Create Empty Space or Indents
Using tabs, spacebars, and hitting return repeatedly will put lots of blank space in your ebook because it has something called flowing text. When you enlarge text, even on your phone, you see it moves or "flows" to the screen. This is the difference between an ebook format and a PDF-- a PDF is basically a photograph. When you enlarge it, you basically zoom in and can cut off the sides, which is why PDF is not recommended for ebook uploads.
Use the Styles & Formatting tools to align, indent, and place space above and below your paragraphs and chapter headings. You can also use this to insert a page break before the chapter heading to ensure your heading is at the top of your page. It is recommended that you also use this tool to format individual words and characters. Ex. Instead of selecting a word then hitting the BOLD button, it is better to create a "Character Style" or insert the BOLD into a "Paragraph Style". How would you feel if all of those thoughts of your character you took the time to put in italics disappeared when you converted it to ebook? Basically that is what CAN happen (doesn't mean it always does, but can) if you do not do it the Styles & Formatting way.
(Just a note, I use the Page Styles settings to make my paperback books as well. It is an easy way to put page numbers on certain pages and not others and to put the chapter headings halfway down the page to make it look more professional. Also, it makes it easy to put the Title in the header on one side and the Author on the header of the other page).
Corker inserted photographs to show you how to do this.
I use the FREE Apache Open Office instead of MS Word. So my pictures may look different from yours.
For Body of Text: Use "New Times Roman, 12 pt, Justified with expand, First line indent of .30 and be sure the "above & below text" is set to 0.
For Chapter Headings: For Chapter headings use: New Times Roman, 14 pt, Centered, Insert Break BEFORE (this ensures your chapter heading will be at the top of a new page.
(Just a note, I use the Page Styles settings to make my paperback books as well. It is an easy way to put page numbers on certain pages and not others and to put the chapter headings halfway down the page to make it look more professional. Also, it makes it easy to put the Title in the header on one side and the Author on the header of the other page).
Corker inserted photographs to show you how to do this.
I use the FREE Apache Open Office instead of MS Word. So my pictures may look different from yours.
For Body of Text: Use "New Times Roman, 12 pt, Justified with expand, First line indent of .30 and be sure the "above & below text" is set to 0.
For Chapter Headings: For Chapter headings use: New Times Roman, 14 pt, Centered, Insert Break BEFORE (this ensures your chapter heading will be at the top of a new page.
"Nuking" to remove formatting
IF you followed the above guide (and Mark Corker's instructions) then you won't need this step. If you didn't, then guess what.. you have to do it. THEN go back and do it the way it is above.
First, open your document and hit EDIT>SELECT ALL>COPY
First, open your document and hit EDIT>SELECT ALL>COPY
Inserting Links & Table of Contents
You can insert hyperlinks to take the reader to the internet, such as your Facebook page or Twitter, but you also use them to create the Table of Contents-- which is a must for ebooks, and readers will complain without one.
Hyperlinks to Internet -- Why?
This is a great way for the reader to check you out while you are fresh in his/her mind. You can direct them to all of your social media-- Facebook, Twitter, blog/website, linkedin, etc. The more links you have directing to your sites and landing pages, the easier you will be found by others on Google and other search engines.
BE AWARE: Do not connect to book sales links, only author social media. Retailers will not approve a book that directs a link to their competitor-- especially Apple. If you have a book link to an Amazon Sales link, then Apple will reject your book.
Hyperlinks within the Document
This is how you create a Table of Contents. You should not only add your Prologue, Epilogue and Chapters, but insert FREE chapters of your other books, an Author Bio page (insert all your social media here), and a page for upcoming books. It is really nice to put a couple lines in there to thank the reader for reading your book and to ask for a review.
Type "Visit Author's Facebook Page HERE"
Then select and highlight
INSERT>HYPERLINK
In the dialogue box, click the top icon that says WEB (or Internet)
On the line that says TARGET, insert your Facebook link, then hit okay
The words "Visit Author's Facebook Page HERE" will be highlighted as a blue hyperlink
You can run your mouse over the words and a notification will pop up with the link address
If you click CNTRL+RTRN it will take you to that site
Creating a Table of Contents
This can be time consuming, and although my program has a TOC builder, I cannot seem to get it to work. The following instructions are from Smashword's Corker.
Insert Bookmarks:
Click the cursor in front of the word Prologue
Click INSERT>BOOKMARK
A dialogue box will pop up and you type in "Prologue" Hit OK
(you just created a destination point. Now we have to create an origin point.)
Go to the place in your book where you want your Table of Content to be and type the word "Prologue"
Then Highlight Prologue that you just typed
Then INSERT>HYPERLINK
A dialogue box will pop up and on the left it will ask you if you want to go to Web, Email, Document
Click Document
Then on the right you will see a bullseye, which is the target of where you want your link to land within the document. (what you are doing is connecting the word Prologue in the Table of Contents to the word Prologue in the body of the document). Click the bullseye.
It will give another dialogue window where you hit Bookmarks.
Then you will get a drop down box where you will see the "Prologue" you first typed.
Hit Apply on BOTH dialogue screens.
Prologue in the Table of Contents is now highlighted blue as a link
If you run your mouse over the link, it will tell you PROLOGUE
If you hit CNTRL + ENTER it will take you to the PROLOGUE heading in the start of the story.
Tnen you repeat this for each chapter, the Other Books, Author Bio, etc.
Hyperlinks to Internet -- Why?
This is a great way for the reader to check you out while you are fresh in his/her mind. You can direct them to all of your social media-- Facebook, Twitter, blog/website, linkedin, etc. The more links you have directing to your sites and landing pages, the easier you will be found by others on Google and other search engines.
BE AWARE: Do not connect to book sales links, only author social media. Retailers will not approve a book that directs a link to their competitor-- especially Apple. If you have a book link to an Amazon Sales link, then Apple will reject your book.
Hyperlinks within the Document
This is how you create a Table of Contents. You should not only add your Prologue, Epilogue and Chapters, but insert FREE chapters of your other books, an Author Bio page (insert all your social media here), and a page for upcoming books. It is really nice to put a couple lines in there to thank the reader for reading your book and to ask for a review.
Type "Visit Author's Facebook Page HERE"
Then select and highlight
INSERT>HYPERLINK
In the dialogue box, click the top icon that says WEB (or Internet)
On the line that says TARGET, insert your Facebook link, then hit okay
The words "Visit Author's Facebook Page HERE" will be highlighted as a blue hyperlink
You can run your mouse over the words and a notification will pop up with the link address
If you click CNTRL+RTRN it will take you to that site
Creating a Table of Contents
This can be time consuming, and although my program has a TOC builder, I cannot seem to get it to work. The following instructions are from Smashword's Corker.
Insert Bookmarks:
Click the cursor in front of the word Prologue
Click INSERT>BOOKMARK
A dialogue box will pop up and you type in "Prologue" Hit OK
(you just created a destination point. Now we have to create an origin point.)
Go to the place in your book where you want your Table of Content to be and type the word "Prologue"
Then Highlight Prologue that you just typed
Then INSERT>HYPERLINK
A dialogue box will pop up and on the left it will ask you if you want to go to Web, Email, Document
Click Document
Then on the right you will see a bullseye, which is the target of where you want your link to land within the document. (what you are doing is connecting the word Prologue in the Table of Contents to the word Prologue in the body of the document). Click the bullseye.
It will give another dialogue window where you hit Bookmarks.
Then you will get a drop down box where you will see the "Prologue" you first typed.
Hit Apply on BOTH dialogue screens.
Prologue in the Table of Contents is now highlighted blue as a link
If you run your mouse over the link, it will tell you PROLOGUE
If you hit CNTRL + ENTER it will take you to the PROLOGUE heading in the start of the story.
Tnen you repeat this for each chapter, the Other Books, Author Bio, etc.
Saving the Document
Once you have the formatting down, it's time to save. Save it as both a .doc file and an .html... saving as a PDF isn't a bad idea either. I actually save my work to both Dropbox and SkyDrive clouds. This are automatic backups that will allow you to recover your work from ANY computer. So if yours has a meltdown, all is not lost.
You just need an email account to set them up FREE. There is a space limit, but I have tons of stuff and have plenty of room. Plus, with Dropbox, if you refer friends, you can "earn" more space. They do offer that you can buy space as well.
I believe the SkyDrive was part of my Windows 8 so that was automatic.
To save as an .html you can hit FILE>SAVE AS WEB PAGE or it might be FILE>SAVE AS HTML
You just need an email account to set them up FREE. There is a space limit, but I have tons of stuff and have plenty of room. Plus, with Dropbox, if you refer friends, you can "earn" more space. They do offer that you can buy space as well.
I believe the SkyDrive was part of my Windows 8 so that was automatic.
To save as an .html you can hit FILE>SAVE AS WEB PAGE or it might be FILE>SAVE AS HTML
The Major Players in Ebooks
Keep in mind, each of these sites pays different percentages and pays at different intervals. Smashwords pays after every quarter through Paypal, while others pay monthly. Some pay every 60 days. Read the Terms & Conditions
- Amazon
- Nookpress (Barnes & Noble)
- Apple Store
- Kobo
- Scribd
- Google Books
- Oyster
Ebook Aggregators (These distribute to several places, not just one store).
- Smashwords (has it's own store, plus distributes to others--except Amazon if you have less than 4000 downloads)
- Draft2Digital (Sends to Apple, Nook, Kobo, Scribd-- does not have its own store)
- Bookbaby (with a coupon it costs $249 to publish-- I laughed and left)
- Vook (says they pay 85% of royalties after the other retailer take their cut).
The most user friendly?
Draft2Digital by far.
They will create most of the front & back matter for you after you upload an MS Word .doc
Draft2Digital by far.
They will create most of the front & back matter for you after you upload an MS Word .doc
KDP.com is the Kindle Direct Publishing site which could put your ebook in the hands of (hopefully) millions of readers. But Amazon has rules and options you need to learn before you publish.
MYTH: You must be in KDP Select to get 70% royalties
On the second page of your book details, Amazon gives you the choice of 35% or 70% - REGARDLESS of whether you are in KDP Select or not. So why is it there? Doesn't everyone want 70%? Well if you read the fine print, even if you select 70%, in some countries you will still only get 35%. I believe it is Japan, Brazil, Mexico, and India. I haven't had any sales at all there in a year, so I'm not concerned about it.
YOUR BOOK MUST BE PRICED BETWEEN $2.99 - $9.99 USD
TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR KDP SELECT
YOUR BOOK MUST BE PRICED BETWEEN $2.99 - $9.99 USD
TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR KDP SELECT
FACT: KDP Select Requires Exclusivity
The Amazon KDP Select Program requires your E book to be exclusive to Amazon for a period of 90 days
You are NOT permitted:
Amazon can keep your royalties from this and other books if you do not comply. Don't believe me?
Scroll down past Item 10.3 and you will see Item 5 Your Commitment
You are NOT permitted:
- To give your ebook away for reviews, not even to email it to a friend
- To hold giveaways other than the KDP Select "Free" Promotions
- To sell your ebook on your own website
- Unpublish your ebook with Amazon and publish it elsewhere before the 90 days are up (If you unpublish, you still cannot publish that book elsewhere)
- Run a FREE promotion and a Kindle Countdown Deal during the same 90 day period
- Run a Kindle Countdown Deal for the first 30 days of your INITIAL 90 day period
- Change your list price 30 days before or 14 days after a Kindle Countdown Deal
- Roll over unused sale days into the next 90 day period
- Hold a Kindle Countdown less than 14 days before the end of your 90 day period.
Amazon can keep your royalties from this and other books if you do not comply. Don't believe me?
Scroll down past Item 10.3 and you will see Item 5 Your Commitment
Kindle Unlimited & Kindle Lending
Your ebook must be enrolled in KDP Select to enroll in Kindle Unlimited. When you enroll in KDP Select, your ebook will be automatically enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. This is a $9.99 per month subscription service that allows readers to borrow up to 10 books at a time, for as long as they want. Once they reach 10 books, they must return a book to borrow another. Unlimited borrows are not considered "purchases" because the book is removed from the reader's device once it is returned. For that reason, reviews provided by KU readers do not appear as "Verified Purchases". Some audiobooks also qualify for KU.
If the book is FREE to KU subscribers, how do I get paid?
Amazon takes the monthly subscription income and then divides it up. Because of this, the price you are paid for each borrow fluctuates. One month it might be $1.20, the next $1.80.
In order to get paid, a NEW reader to your book who checked it out must read at least 10%. Therefore, if the person has it on their device for a month, but only got to the second page, you are not getting paid. Once they read the full 10% you will get paid. Also, if the person returned it after reading it, but decides a few months later to "borrow" it again, you will not get paid a second time.
If the book is FREE to KU subscribers, how do I get paid?
Amazon takes the monthly subscription income and then divides it up. Because of this, the price you are paid for each borrow fluctuates. One month it might be $1.20, the next $1.80.
In order to get paid, a NEW reader to your book who checked it out must read at least 10%. Therefore, if the person has it on their device for a month, but only got to the second page, you are not getting paid. Once they read the full 10% you will get paid. Also, if the person returned it after reading it, but decides a few months later to "borrow" it again, you will not get paid a second time.