Publishing Your Book, Overview from Writing, to Kindle Book to Selling Online and on Your Website

This video is in response to a question in my How to Publish Your Book Facebook Group


Publishing Your Book, Overview from Writing, tp Kindle Book to Selling Online and on Your Website from Bruce Jones on Vimeo.

Hello. I am new to the group and looking for some advice. I’ve never published or sold and ebook and am trying to do both via my own web site. I’m hoping this is an appropriate group to seek help, if not, please let me know.

Here is my situation. I’m completing a draft of a short book or pamphlet. I envision writing 5-6 pamphlets over the next couple years. The pamphlet will likely end up less than 40 pages. The pamphlet is a very simple document, all text with 3-4 simple diagrams. From what I have read, I believe this process is this:

1. Once final edit is complete, I need to convert the document to an appropriate ebook format: pdf or others. What format is recommended? What software is required? How difficult is this to do?

2. I currently have a wordspress.com site, but I believe I need to move to a worpdpress.org site where necessary plugins are available to: upload document, handle e-pay and document release. Is this the correct process? What plugins are recommended?

Thanks, any advice is appreciated.

Connection and Learning
Bruce Jones is the author and creator of over 40 self-published books.

If you want to learn how to create your own book visit Publishing Mastery 101 and see my courses: https://bruce-the-book-guy.usefedora.com/

Come over and join my Facebook Publishing Group, ask me questions, show your books. Great place to connect with authors and self-publishers
Join at https://www.facebook.com/groups/HowToPublishYourBook/

Making and Drawing Images for a Coloring Book

Question on creating coloring books and drawing the art. I took this as an opportunity to flush out my thoughts on making coloring books. I think I kind of wrote out a course outline. This came from my Facebook group on Publishing, How to Publish Your Book

Question:  I am working on several coloring books and the art looks a bit unprofessional and not sure if I should hand draw them or not. I did some drawing on my iPad pro and tried saving it as a jpeg and the printer said it is not high res. I called Apple and they did not know which app I can buy to be able to save my art as a high resolution jpeg. And then I am not sure which publisher or print company to use to get my coloring book done. Maybe I need to hire someone to do this tech stuff for me. I am an artist not a tech person. I am trying the tech stuff is so difficult for me and I am stuck again so frustrated. Any ideas? I sent a recent illustration to a printer to publish my coloring book via email and they said it is not high quality enough to print my book. now what. No one knows how do do this Apple did not help the printer did not know. Would any one please help me get my coloring book done and published. Much thanks. – Jennifer J.

Printing
If you want to self publish your books and sell them on Amazon then CreateSpace.com is a fantastic place to be. They also have excellent author prices if you wanted to buy some of your own copies. I use them for all my coloring books as do most of us here. I am going to keep this simple and say just stay with CreateSpace to get this all going. Once you understand how to do it, then there are some other options, but stay with CreateSpace for the time being

Book Layout
You will need a program to layout the book pages. I use Adobe Indesign and Illustrator but for a coloring book, PowerPoint works just fine, set the file up for 8.5 x 11 vertical. The cover is a little more tricky but you could use the CreateSpace Cover Creator to do your first one and that would get you going.

Options for Creating Illustrations
If you have access to Photoshop and a drawing tablet then you could draw your illustrations that way, the key for CreateSpace and printing is that the illustrations should be 300 dpi in resolution. (dots per Inch). It is just a setting in Photoshop. You draw on the tablet and the images get drawn in Photoshop. Tablets are pretty affordable, Wacom is the main brand. PhotoShop is now rented $20/month

Adobe Illustrator
If you have illustrator style of images then that might be a way to go, but there is a learning curve and I don't think this is a good way for you to start. Illustrator also has image tracing but again there is a pretty steep learning curve, Illustrator is now rented $20/month

I Don't Have PhotoShop
You can also buy Adobe Photoshop Elements 15. It is kind of like photoshop light, it has all the basic features you would need, I use it on my laptops. They still seem to sell it, it is $70. You would just have to check with Wacom if Elements works with it, it should

Or pick up a scanner at Staples, they are pretty cheap these days, under $100. You scan your hand draw illustrations at 300dpi, it is just a setting, and a little touch up in Elements, like line contrast and such, and you have your artwork ready to go.

There are probably services that can scan your artwork, I just checked, Staples has them in their business centers.

You could also hire a freelancer to clean up and prep your drawings.

My recommendation to get started at a basic level
• Draw your images with a good black pen, decent line weight so that they scan well. Make them fit into a 8.5 x 11 page vertical with 1/2 clean margin
• Scan your drawings on a bought or rented scanner (Staples)
• Assemble your drawings in PowerPoint, page size 8.5 x 11 vertical
• Use the CreateSpace Cover Creator to make the cover.
• Publish on CreateSpace.com

Ok I think I just outlined a new course here, time to do some of this. Simple book and then a more complex coloring book

J. Bruce Jones is a best selling author and graphic designer with over 40 books. Bruce is also the creator of several online courses designed to get you publishing your own books.

To learn more about creating your own children's books for Kindle check out my course Learn How to Make Children's Picture Books for Kindle, Click Here.

Design Tips for Writing Your Own Autobiography Book

I had an excellent conversation today with a friend who is writing his own autobiography. We covered a lot of topics and I thought this would make a good video. An autobiography about your life is a great way to pass on your story for your family, friends and your legacy. It is also as he has discovered a way of going back and remembering and reflecting on your life and the journey you have been through. This video covers some of the design tips that you will need to consider

Topics covered in this video
• MS Word is a good place to write, set your page size up at the final size of your book. Sizes 6" x 9", 5.5" x 8.5", 5" x 8" work well

• Different binding options, perfect, saddle stitch, paperback, hard cover

• Adding pictures, resolution 300dpi, black & white and color

• Making a working, at size proof to see any issues.

• Have an editor review your book


Resources

Print On Demand Sites
If you want to release your book to the world you would probably sell it on Amazon using print on demand or ebook technology. The main place is Amazon.
https://www.createspace.com/

https://kdp.amazon.com/

Making a Hard Cover Book

If you wanted to just do a few hard cover books for your family you will need to find a printer that does short runs. I have created some hard cover books with a company called Acme Binding in Charlestown, MA, they have a division called Book Partners. Short run (25-1,000) in hardcover with a printed cover. 25 might be just right for you, they do a great job.

http://acmebinding.com

http://www.bookpartners.com/

http://www.bookpartners.com/service/thesis-binding/

Local Quick Print Shop
You can also create a book at your local copy shop or places like Staples. Just bring in the file and they can print it out and bind it. Usually they will spiral bind the book

You can learn how to create your own books by joining my Yes You Can Write a Book Membership site. In the site you have access to all of my courses for a low monthly investment. Leave any time. I cover all the different ways to create your own book in my courses.
http://bruce-the-book-guy.usefedora.com/p/yes-you-can-write-a-book

How Do I Write My Autobiography, or How to Start a Book

‪We had an excellent question come in from a member of the Facebook How to Publish Your Book Group:

"‬I need help writing an autobiography if anyone can help I would to make it my #1 goal in 2017"

Great question and one that many people struggle with and ask about all the time. My advice is to just start writing. I am not an educated writing person. I learned to write at 53 after struggling with being dyslexic my entire life. I had no understanding of how to write, but what I did was to just start and push myself and I just worked at it for years until one day I punch through and then words came pouring out and haven't really stopped

What Kind of Book Are You Writing
Here are a couple of thoughts. What kind of autobiography are you writing. Are you trying to tell a universal story through your own life journey or are you just passing on what your life was more or less to your children and family. On day one I did this and day two I did that.

I have an older friend who is currently writing his autobiography and he sent the first rough draft to me a couple of days ago. He is writing his story for his daughter. It is a wonderful gift that he is doing. It is rough but all the basic facts are there. When I was struggling with my writing one technique I used to free me up was to write my book to my sister as a letter. In fact I started off with saying Dear Katherine, and then I began. It takes some of the pressure off. Write to a specific person, tell them your story.

Top Ten Technique
Another technique I use with many people is my Top Ten Technique. Write down the most asked question you get, one sentence. Then the second most asked question till you have 10 or so questions. These become your chapters. Then write one paragraph for each question and then four or 5 paragraphs for each and you then have a book. You can also dictate the story. Many smart phones have voice transcriptions on them, they work great. This is a great thing to do in your car. You are quiet and alone. Then email the text to yourself.

The key here is to not go to far on any one question because you will burn out, but to write all the chapters all at the same level. What you write in chapter 6 will effect what you write in chapter 1 if it isn't to finished. For you I would make those questions, major points or milestones in your life. What is your number one defining event or moment in your life, then the number two and go from there. Remember you don't have to start at birth. In fact I wouldn't start at birth, that is kind of dull you haven't done anything yet, start with the big one, whatever that is. What defines you. It is probably not a job but is a moment of some growth or decision, then you can go forward and back to other defining moments. Your big moment will most likely be of more interest to your readers also. Then fill in the edges

You could sit down and take 12 post-it-notes and put down 12 defining moments, move them around until they make a story and then fill in the holes. Don't feel you have to get all of this at once, the story will evolve. You will get your voice as you move forward. Don't feel you have to have answers to every part of the story. Don't worry that you don't know where to go, just keep going and it will happen.


I have flushed out my Top Ten Technique in a longer post with more details. Click here to read about my 10 Steps to Write and Publish Your Book

One of the things that really really helped me was to publish my writing. I did this on blogs that I set up. I used Google blogger for most of this because it is so easy. This website is a Google Blogger Account, if you have an email address you actually have a Blogger Account. But one of the hardest things people writing struggle with is hitting the Publish button after they have written something. Is the text good enough? Am I saying the right thing? It needs to be edited. I am scared what people will think? There are a million reasons but a magical and trans-formative thing happens when you push the publish button and send it out to the world. On the other side of hitting the publish button you know what to say. Clarity comes and trans-formations comes and then you can move forward. With blogs as with word processing you can change the words and fix it. Nothing is permanent, you can remove it or update it. I am not saying your have to write your book in public but you do have to put the words down somewhere. This is just one technique that helped me. And remember to have an editor review what you have written when you are finished. It will improve what your wrote a lot. We don't have to do these things all our selves. That was a big moment for me when I realized I could have someone fix what I wrote. I don't have to be perfect.

I encourage you to start, I have seen people's lives change sometimes right in front of me from releasing and publishing their words. At the moment you have a barrier sitting in front of you that is stopping you, you have an entire life, how do I get a handle on it. Think baby steps, think telling your story small and then expand. Just Say Yes, sit down and start to write your story, it can be crappy, it can be wrong, it can be painful, it can be joyous but I guarantee it will be trans formative and your life will change because you are starting the journey. Thank you for asking and for trusting and we will be looking forward to hearing about your journey.


Resources
Steven Pressfield has an outstanding blog and books on writing, http://www.stevenpressfield.com/
Also check out the beginning of my Resource Page, http://brucethebookguy.blogspot.com/p/resources.html for a list of excellent books to get your started

Pre Release Book Marketing, Can I Release My Content to the World? and How Do I Get Google to See Me?

We had some excellent questions come in this week dealing with pre-publishing and pre-book launching. This author's book is coming out early next year and I thought I would share some of my answers. These have been edited a little to make them flow better.

1.  This author is developing a best of tips pdf to be used to start her marketing and to have a give away for building an email list.
 
The question is about the words in the footer of the pdf, and do these work.
If you would like to have a step-by-step guide filled with daily, practical tools to create greater joy and reduce stress in your life, you may enjoy my new book [book name here], coming out in the Spring.  Stay tuned!

Yes you should have a notice down at the bottom. I would also add to the footer, your web address, author name and a copyright notice.

XYX.com  •  Author Name  •  @Copyright Author Name 2016

Once your book launches you can change it to say the book is available at Amazon.com

You can also guide your readers to your website to sign up and receive something, this is called a lead magnet, something like a short video training or the first chapter, resources list. This is an easy item to change and update as you move through different stages of your book. Also remember to have your name or the title of the pdf in the header area up at the top.
"Ten Tips to Reduce Stress in Your Life  •  Author Name" something like that.

I worry about people stealing my Top Ten list and also wonder if people might print it out and give it away to their clients. It will have my name on it is that ok? I won't be getting any benefit from the reprints. Or is any publicity good publicity.

Yes, don't worry about people copying it, they very well might. This is a marketing tool, it is fine to have your marketing info on the page.

You might also make the footer notice very general with just the web address, name and copyright.

You can also get in front of people copying it and let them do that, in fact tell them to do that. "This guide may be photocopied and given to your clients, it may not be resold or freely distributed outside of your practice. Please retain the contact info and copyright notice on your reproduction." If you have people distributing your content that is pretty good. Let it fly would be my advice. The more the merrier

Remember nothing is permanent, it is easy to change a pdf and update with different info. Non of this is forever.  

2.  Do you ever get people to pre-order your books, or suggest that?  In other words, if someone liked this PDF, maybe they would be inclined to pre-order the book while it was right on their radar screen.  I'm not sure if there is any way to do this -- and also I would need to check with the publisher on this - but wanted to know your thoughts. [This author is working with a publisher instead of CreateSpace and self-publishing. The problem is publishers own the copyright instead of you owning the copyright. I am in favor of self-publishing but there are benefits to having a publisher. You have to figure the pros and cons.]

Yes people do pre-orders all the time. In fact Kindle is set up to do pre-orders. I am not a big fan of pre-orders. I want to reward people with the real stuff when they actually order a book. It is hard enough to get people to buy your book, but now they are buying nothing and then they have to remember to pay attention to the book when it shows up a month later in their Kindle Reader. People do use the Kindle pre-order to build some buzz and to also to sometimes produce a best seller, just one of the strategies for getting a bestseller and not have any book. Again I am not a fan of this. You have all these people hyped up for your book and there is nothing for them to read, I think it leaves a sour taste in the mouth. also with Kindle if you mess up the pre-order feature and don't get your book up in the specific timeframe they give you, you can get banned for a year. You have to be careful.

There is no pre-order feature in CreateSpace if you were going that way.

Personally I would put all my effort into getting the book done and marketed. I would look at running a promotion when you launch the book. You can set things up so that people will sign up to receive some additional bonus items for buying the book. They can use their Amazon receipt and sign up for a small video series or small email course on stress reduction or something like that. (this is called the Amazon Receipt Strategy) This is popular strategy to do and is a way of grabbing an email address of your buyers. Getting an email address of an Amazon buyer is one of the hardest things to get. Another reason why we put links in our books to get people to download or sign up for something.

But if your really did want to do something like this you could give away a pre-release pdf of the book. Like a special unedited writers edition. Not sure your publisher would like this

Now I don't know what your publisher is able and willing to do. You could talk to them. A lot of the internet marketing publishing strategies are not look at favorably by publishers. They have their way and we have our way. For them it is about selling books for internet marketers it is all about building an email list. The power is in the list. Books make great free gifts for getting an email address. You may also not really be ready to deal with what to do with an email list and selling books might just be the better way to go. On my internet marketing side books are often seen as just a path to get somewhere else, speaking gigs, email list for selling courses (meditation videos), consulting, professional positioning, etc. Selling books isn't the top of the pile. Just saying.

3.  How do I get a google search of my name to link my name to my website?

A lot of blogging. Basically what you want to do is trigger Google to see you as the author of all your content. This is often done by putting a good simple credit line at the bottom of every post starting with the words. About the Author.

I would have lots of blog posts on lots of different topic and at the bottom of each one have an About the Author footer. There is an author tag feature, but you are already on Blogger so Google knows you are the author but you have to tell it over and over. I would also try to do some guest post and again have a nice tight about the author footer. I would also make sure there are some links in there to your Facebook page and when the book comes out, drop in the name of the book and have a link right to the Amazon sales page

a footer something like this from ProBlogger.net

About Stacey Roberts
Stacey Roberts is the Managing Editor of ProBlogger.net: a writer, blogger, and full-time word nerd balancing it all with being a stay-at-home mum. She writes about all this and more at Veggie Mama. Chat with her on Twitter @veggie_mama, follow on Pinterest for fun and useful tips, peek behind the curtain on Instagramand Snapchat, listen to her 90s pop culture podcast, or be entertained on Facebook.

or this from SocialMediaExaminer.com
About the Author, Chris Tweten
Chris Tweten is a growth strategist working at HUBBA, the largest coworking space and startup academy in southeast Asia. He's worked in Canada, China and is now based in Thailand.


or this from Joan Stewart's Publicityhound.com blog on PR

About Joan Stewart
Publicity expert Joan Stewart, a PR mentor aka The Publicity Hound, works with small business owners who need free publicity to promote their expertise. She shows you how to establish your credibility, enhance your reputation, position yourself as an expert, and sell more products and services. To receive her free DIY publicity tips twice a week, subscribe here. See all the ways you can work with Joan. Or contact her and ask a burning question about PR, self-promotion or social media.

If you do a lot of blogging and give Google the tools, Google will figure it out and put the two together.

Bruce Jones
Bruce is the international bestselling author of over 40 books. His latest book is Book Marketing Checklist for Selfpublishers. Bruce also runs the Facebook group How to Publish Your Book with over 1,300 members.

How to Make an Amazon Best Selling Book

The theory for producing a best selling book is to drive as many people as you can to buy your book through the narrowest time frame in a book category that doesn’t have very many books in it. You also want to pick a category that doesn’t have a popular best selling author or big selling book at the top that you have to take on.

This is why building your platform is important; you need fans to do this. If you can do this it is very likely that you can create a bestselling book. Maybe even a #1 category best seller. It won’t last long so be sure to screen capture the Products Details area of the Amazon sales page for your marketing. Generally this technique works best with Kindle books because you can lower the price down to $.99. But I have also seen it work with paperback books but the per book price will by much higher.

Step 1. Research Your Categories.
• Look at your competitors books for category ideas

• Select specific book categories that have under 5-7000 books in them, better if you can find one with low thousands or even hundreds of books.

• Try to find a category that doesn’t have books in the top 2,000-5,000 overall Amazon sales rank. Also look for categories that don’t have a superstar writer or celebrity at the top. It is almost impossible to beat them, look for different categories

• When you upload your book, select the BASAC book categories as close as you can to the Amazon categories. Be sure to include in your description and keywords and even your title/subtitle the Amazon categories that you want to be in. You are helping Amazon figure out where your book should sit.

Step 2. Pre-Launch Your Book
Remember the goal here is to drive as many sales as you can through the narrowest time frame with as many people as you can.

• Prepare and send out your launch announcement or any articles that you might be releasing to your Blog and Influencers network.

• Send press releases out to PR sites free and paid.

• Try to build a street team around your book launch. These are fans that you have that support you and will buy the first copies and post though out their networks. This can be huge, even just a couple of people can make a huge difference.

• Set up a virtual book tour. A virtual book tour are articles and interviews that you have created about you and your book that are hosted on other people’s blogs and websites. Start early and build these relationships.

• E-mail your list that you are launching your book and would love to have their support. Give them the book link and instructions on when to buy.

• Lower your Kindle price to $.99. Have a few friends buy a copy of the book and write several positive reviews. You want to make sure everything is working sales wise. It is ok to have the book live, just keep it quiet.

• If released over CreateSpace lower your price as much as you can.

Step 3. Launch/Release Your Book.
Remember to create a best selling Amazon category book you want to drive as many people as you can to buy your book through the narrowest time frame in a book category that doesn’t have very many books in it.

• Announce your book is live on your social media sites, include a cover shot and the link to Amazon.com.

• E-mail your list that your book is now live.

• Announce your book is live on your blog, websites, make a book trailer video and host on YouTube and all your sites. Any and everyplace you have exposure to the world, announce your book is live.

• Get you street team announcing your book is live through all their social media sites with live links to Amazon

• If you are giving away a free bonus gift tell everyone how to get it.

• Conduct a Virtual Launch Party on Google Hangout.

• Release your Virtual Book launch and tour.

• This is key, post your progress in your social media accounts during the launch day about what is going on, how exciting it is. Make it an event. Encourage others to join in, get your fans involved to get you over the top to a #1 position.

• Be sure to screen capture your Amazon ranking as you climb, don’t try to guess the top, just keep recording the screen during the day. This information is located in the Product Details section of your Amazon book sales page.

• Amazon updates on an hourly basis but sometimes nothing happens for hours and then it starts to roll, you will have to pay attention for 24 hours. Having a few fans in other time zones can really help out with the watching.

Step 4. Re-Release/Announce the Book Release at the End of The Day
• Re-e-mail your list and repost in Social Media about your launch, be sure to not burn out this list.

• You can push books over the top during the night by letting readers know how close you are to #1.

• Watch what is happening the next day, some countries take a day or so to catch up to the #1 ranking.

• International best sellers can be done with as few as 3-5 book sales, build relationships with fans in other countries.  This turns you into an International Best Seller

• Remember to check your rankings and screen capture, #1s and Hot New Releases

Step 5. Thank Everyone for All the Support
• Thank everyone for the support and help. Especially thank your super fans and anyone that reposted through their networks for you.

• Update all your bios about your new best selling #1 status.

• Post the screen shots of the new rankings and the success. You will be surprised, people will still be buying. People like success.

• Have your book cover update with a best selling burst or banner.

This post is a companion to the Launch Case Study of my own Amazon International Best Selling campaign for my Book Marketing Checklist for Self Publishing release.
http://brucethebookguy.blogspot.com/2016/11/how-i-launched-my-book-marketing.html

Don't Have a Book? Read My Series on How to Easily Create Your Own Book

10. Launch and market your book though the popular social media channels

10. Launch and market your book though the popular social media channels; FaceBook, Linkedin, Twitter, Pinterest, your website, and YouTube.

Use your book in your office, give it away to clients. These lessons make great videos and blog posts. Give it out to potential and current customers. Make the book available on your website as a pdf download.

A. Announce your book through the popular social media channels.

B. Give your book out to potential and current customers.

C. Make your book available on your website. Produce a pdf for use as a lead magnet to bring people into your email list.

Time to get your book out to the world. Use social media to highlight the book and to distribute your key tips.

Use an email management company like AWeber or MailChimp to manage your mailing list. Save your new book as a pdf file and use it as a lead magnet to give away in exchange for someone signing up to your email list.

Signup email list box

Autoresponder

Drop in the tip list

Blog posts

I have an entire book on how to launch and market your book called Book Marketing Checklist for Self-Publishing, Available on Amazon if you want to learn more.

Click Here to Read a Bonus Chapter: How to Make Your Book an Amazon Best Seller

9. Publishing Your Book. Three different options for creating a book.

9. Publishing Your Book. Three different options for creating a book.

1. E-Book, two files need, the book insides saved in html and a cover saved as a jpg file. Upload both files to KDP.Direct/Kindle/Amazon. MS Word works great for creating the book. To create the cover use Fiverr.com or Canva.com.

2. A print book, use CreateSpace.com, they are the print-on-demand self-publishing side of Amazon.com. Two pdf files required, one for the interior and the other for the cover. Find a local freelancer to lay your book out for you. Usually created with Adobe InDesign but PowerPoint can work also.

3. A Quick print book, usually stapled. Create two files, the interior usually done with MS Word and a cover, Fiverr.com or Canva.com or a local freelancer.  Create two pdf files and take them to a local quick print shop for printing. Instruct them to run them out and staple to make a book. For the interior of the book, set your page setup to 5.5” x 8.5”. This works really well.  The cover will be 8.5” x 11” landscape if your book is under 32 pages.

If hosting on-line at Amazon, add descriptions, author bio, categories and keywords.

A. Set up your free accounts at Amazon, Kindle KDP, CreateSpace

B. Upload your book to Amazon or take the files to your local print shop

C. Fill in all of the description copy, pricing, categories and keywords.

D. Review the books using the Amazon proofing features.

E. Push the book live or get it printed. Because of print-on-demand you only need to print limited amounts. No need for a garage full of books.

Click Here to Read Chapter 10: Launching and Marketing Your Book

8. Formatting Your Book For Kindle

8. Formatting the Book for Kindle If sending your book to Kindle then save it as an html file for the web. If you are going to print, export or save as a pdf file. Also export your cover file.

A. Decide where and how your book is going to be published. Local, ebook/Kindle/Amazon, paperback/CreateSpace/Amazon, pdf

B. Format the book insides for the appropriate platform or platforms

C. Format the cover for the appropriate platform or platforms


Kindle Formatting Guidelines

Basic Guidelines for Kindle Books
• Keep your formatting simple
• Produce a clean, basic document
• Use Paragraph Formatting for global layout and spacing
• Work in a standard 8.5 x 11” document

Formatting Guidelines
• Avoid tabs and spaces for indenting paragraphs
• Use Paragraph Formatting to adjust indents
• No headers or footers
• No page numbers

Formatting Guidelines
• Do not use Returns between paragraphs
• Use Space Before and Space After for spaces between paragraphs
• Use Page Breaks between chapters
• Insert images “from file” do not paste

Formatting Guidelines
• Format Chapter Heads with MS Word style features. Use H1 Head and H2 Subheads
• 12 points for text, 14-18 points for heads
• Use Arial/Helvetica, Times Roman or Georgia for fonts

Formatting Guidelines
• Bold, italic or underline use format font menu, the format palette or the tool bar
• Turn charts and graphics into artwork
• Add live http web links to your book

Image Guidelines
• Every Kindle is a different size
• Use color images
• Author pays for download, be efficient with images sizes
• Avoid charts and tables, turn them into .gif graphics

Image Guidelines
• Amazon recommends a picture ratio of 9:11
• Pictures 900 x 1100 pixels, 9:11, old standard was 600 x 800 pixels, 3:4
• Kindle Fire HD 8.9 display 1920 x 1200, 16:10
   • At 72 dpi 12.5”  x 15.77” inches
   • At 300 dpi 3” x 3.66” inches
• Kindle processes, .gif, .png, .bmp, jpeg files
• Kindle book format suports .jpeg and .gif
• 300dpi or 72dpi or 96dpi image resolution
• Up to 5mb per image, I find this way to big, keep under a megabyte

Bottom Line for Picture Sizes
• Pictures 900 x 1100 pixels, 9:11
    Old standard 600 x 800 pixels, 3:4
    300dpi or 72dpi, gif format

At 72dpi, 12.5” x 15.75”
At 300dpi, 3” x 3.66”
Color
.gif or jpg format

Cover Guidelines
• Longest side must be minumum of 1000 pixels, shortest side 625 pixels, or 13.8” x 8.7” at 72 dpi and rgb jpg format.
• I like building covers at 6” x 9” at 300dpi or 1800 pixels x 2700 pixels

Click Here to Read Chapter 9: Publishing Your Book, Three Options: Print, eBook, PDF

7. Creating Your Book Cover for eBook or Print

7. Book cover. Create a separate file for the cover. For an ebook/Kindle, front cover only and save it as a jpg. For a printed book on CreateSpace, set up a full cover spread, back, spine and front. Both Kindle and CreateSpace/Amazon have online tools you can use to make a cover. If you are using a local quick print shop like Staples you can leave out the spine.

A. Review books on Amazon and in store for covers that you like, they can be used for inspiration and to guide the cover designer. Look at the sample ideas.

B. Find a local freelance designer to design and layout out your cover.

C. Test several ideas and titles with associates. Facebook is a great place to do this.

D. If you are going to publish your book on Amazon then reduce your cover to thumbnail size and be sure it is readable. If you are going to print at a local quick print shop have a mock-up made for review.

We do judge books by their covers. Your reader should know at a glance what your book is about. I follow the “Don’t Make Me Think” philosophy of usability author Steve Kruge. Your book cover should have a title and if you need to give more clarity a subtitle. Subtitles are a great way to add in some important keywords to your title. Also add your name to the cover. To help with design and layout ideas look at similar books in your market. Amazon is the perfect place to do this. There are many services that can help you produce a compelling cover. You contact a local graphic designer, on-line services like 99Designs.com and Fiverr.com and most of the book publishing sites offer design and editing packages.

Click Here to Read Chapter 8: Formatting Your Book for Kindle

6. Formatting Your Books Insides for Kindle or Print

6. Book Insides. Format your book in MS Word or some similar word processing application such as Google Doc, Pages, or Scrivner. If you are going to print your book, create an original document that is the page size of your book. 5 ½” x 8 ½” is a great size and is easy to get printed at a quickie print shop for those first copies. If you have access to Adobe InDesign that works very well. A local designer can help with this stage.
A. Set up a page template that matches how you are going to produce your book. Print local, ebook/Kindle, Print on Demand CreateSpace/Amazon, or pdf for your web site. Review books you like for design ideas.

B. Design and layout all the book’s pages, a local freelance designer can help with this stage, though you can do it yourself in a program like MS Word.

C. Print the book out and do another round of edits.

D. You are striving for a 28-36 page book. Remember we aren’t doing a manifesto, this is a quick short book.


Layout your edited book, add in photos and or graphics. A good size if you are using print-on-demand is 6” x 9”. If you are printing your book at a local quick print shop then 5 1/2” x 8 1/2” is a good size because it is based on standard 8.5” x 11” page size. If international one half of A4 works well also. Margins should be 5/8” of an inch.

We are looking to create a book in the 28-36 page length. If you are printing your book using a local quick print shop and binding the book with staples then you want your page count to be a unit of 4. Something like 20 to 24 pages works very well.

There are many ways to publish your book, but I highly recommend putting it up on Amazon as a print book using CreateSpace.com or an ebook through their Kindle program.

If you are setting your book up for print, add in a header with the book name and in the footer add in page numbers and maybe your web address.

Click Here to Read Chapter 7: Creating Print or eBook Book Cover

5. Have your Book Edited and Proofed.

5. Have your book edited and proofed. After your book is formatted and laid out have it printed out and re-edit again.
A. Print out your book on paper and read through. You will see things on paper you never see on the computer screen

B. Locate someone who can edit your book and send a copy to them. Could be a local freelance editor, teacher or someone on-line at a site like Fiverr.com or ODesk.com

C. You can have just a copy editor for spelling and grammar or proof reader or you can go deeper with a development editor. But all books need editing.

D. Update your book.


All books need to be edited to fix spelling and grammar. Editors can also fix continuity between all the sections. Edit before you have the book layed out and then again after it is layed out and almost ready to go. It is amazing how many things we don’t see when the book is just sitting on our computer. Give the editor a printed copy to work from.

Click Here to Read the Chapter 6: Formatting Your Book for Kindle or Print

4. Flush Out the Balance of the Book, Author Bio, Resources, Services

4. Flush out the balance of the book.
Add an author bio along with a photo and contact info at the back of the book. Add a resource list at the back of the book, an intro for the front, a table of contents and any additional info that might apply to your book. If you offer programs or consulting, drop that in also, give readers a call to action. We are talking 28-36 pages when done. This isn't a manifesto.

A. Add your author bio including photo, contact info, resources, introduction, front matter, table of contents (the 10 points), legal info, copyright, title page.

B.  Add in any products, consulting, programs, or additional info that your reader might find useful. Add in back cover copy

C. Add in your book title and subtitle, make this one of the last thing you do. Don’t fall in love with the working title.

How long should this book be? This isn’t a manifesto but here are some guidelines.

• Kindle/Amazon e-book shoot for around 8,000-12-15,000 words.

• CreateSpace/Amazon, you need to be a minimum of 24 pages, 36 works pretty nicely and 50-70 makes for a decent size book.

• A quick print book, local printer kind of book, your book needs to fit into a unit of 4 so 24, 28, 32 pages, etc., even 12 can work very nicely.

If you are a consultant, a tips book can be an essential part of your marketing. In the back highlight your programs and services. Make this section very clear so readers can find it. Add in a nice photograph and be sure to have a Call to Action. You want your reader to do something, contact you, higher you, invite you to speak at an event, or just make things clearer. The goal of a book like this isn’t for big sales, though that might be nice. The goal is to support your marketing and help develop leads. Customers love getting a free book, so be very open to giving them away. Sometimes you are selling this book, sometimes it is a free giveaway for signing up to your mailing list.

Click Here to Read the Chapter 5: Editing and Proof Reading Your Book

3. For each lesson expand the 1 paragraph to 3-5 paragraphs, flush out the concepts.

3. For each lesson expand the 1 paragraph to 3-5 paragraphs, flush out the concepts.

A. Expand each lesson to 3 or 5 paragraphs

B. Again no editing, just writing

C. The cooking timer method can be very effective here for getting done text.

In Step 3 we fill out each of the 10 lessons. Write 3 or 5 paragraphs for each one. Personal stories and experiences can add a great edition to your book. We go deeper. We aren’t writing a manifesto but quick lessons about our topic. We want our reader to come away with some great actionable lessons based on our experience.

Writing Tips
Use the cooking timer method. Set the timer for 10 minutes and just write with no editing. You cannot stop until the time goes off. No correcting, no editing, no stopping. If you don’t have anything to write, start writing gibberish until something pops in. Write today, edit tomorrow.

Again searching on top 10 tips on our topic is a great way to flush out our lessons. YouTube videos, related blogs and books. Look at the book’s reviews, remember we are looking for experience lessons here. Amazon book reviews are an excellent way to see what other books on our topic might have missed or subject that need to be included.

Click Here to Read Chapter 4: Adding Your Author Bio, Resources and Services

2. Write out one paragraph for each tip or lesson, just one paragraph.

2. Write out one paragraph for each tip or lesson, just one paragraph.

A. Write one paragraph for each tip, not two, just one.

B. We are not concerned with editing here, just writing out the paragraph

C. Use some of the sites that you used to find your ideas, to flush them out to full paragraphs.

This is a key part of the process of creating your Tips book. For step two just write out one paragraph based on the tip or question. In step three we will expand it but the goal here is just get down some expanded ideas. The tendency at this stage is to start writing out the entire book, don’t do this. It is pretty easy to get bogged down and never complete it. We want to keep everything moving. So just one paragraph.

Writing Tips
This is a good step to also look at the sites you pulled up yesterday on Google from the 10 Ten Tips search. If you are a little low on ideas, see what others have written. You should be able to write at least a paragraph.

Click Here to Read Chapter 3: Expanding Your One Paragraph to 3-5 Paragraphs

1. Write down the 10 best tips or lessons on or about your business, or your expertise.

1. Write down the 10 best tips or lessons on or about your business, or your expertise. Keep these to one or two sentences each. #1 is your best then follow with 9 more.

A. Write down your #1 best business or experience tip or lesson.

B. Now write down nine additional lessons. Keep these to a sentence or two. No paragraphs just the lessons.

C. Use the Google Top Ten tips in search technique, Amazon Book Table of Contents or the Book Review technique to find and flush out your ideas.

These are the main tips or lessons about your experience or expertise that you want to pass on to the next person or might be useful to a customer. This is the core of your book. This first pass is a quick exercise. You most likely know all of these right off the top of your head. I usually start this process by asking, “what is your number 1 tip?” Don’t do a lot of thinking on this, just write down your number 1 tip. Ok now write 9 more and you are done. You can always change these later, but these tips are usually the things you tell people all the time.

Tips to come up with your list
Collect customer comments over a period of time. This is a great way to pull together a list of a Frequently Asked Questions that can be converted into a book for your business. Look for the common questions and summarize them.

Google the phrase, Top 10 Tips on XYZ, with XYZ being your subject. You will have a good list of search results that you can use to fill in your own list.

Using the Amazon See Inside feature you can easily look through similar books on your topic. Look at the Table of Contents for additional tips ideas. Add in some ideas from the Book Reviews and you can create a business lessons book pretty quickly.

Making a How-To Book, photograph the steps for completing a process, write captions and longer descriptions, add your bio and any additional info and you have a book.

Click Here to Read Chapter 2: Write One Paragraph for Each Tip

Overview: The Top Ten Tips Technique Quick Steps

Welcome back to my series on Yes You Can Write a Book. In this series of posts I take you through and overview of the steps needed to create your book.

1. Write down the 10 best tips or lessons on or about your business, or your expertise. Keep these to one or two sentences each. #1 is your best then follow with 9 more.

2. Write out one paragraph for each tip or lesson, just one paragraph.

3. For each lesson expand that 1 paragraph to 3-4 paragraphs, flush out the concepts.

4. Add an author bio along with a photo and contact info at the back of the book. Add a resource list at the back of the book, an intro for the front, a table of contents and any additional info that might apply to your book. If you offer programs or consulting, drop that in also, give readers a call to action. We are talking 28-36 pages when done. This isn't a manifesto.

5. Have your book edited and proofed. After your book is formatted and laid out have it printed out and re-edit again.

6. Format your book in MS Word or some similar word processing application such as Google Doc, Pages, or Scrivner. If you are going to print your book, create an original document that is the page size of your book. 5 ½” x 8 ½” is a great size and is easy to get printed at a quickie print shop for those first copies. If you have access to Adobe InDesign that also works very well. A local designer can help with this stage.

7. Create a separate file for the cover. For an ebook/Kindle, front cover only and save it as a jpg. For a printed book on CreateSpace, set up a full cover spread, back, spine and front. Both Kindle and CreateSpace/Amazon have online tools you can use to make a cover. If you are using a local quick print shop like Staples you can leave out the spine.

8. If sending your book to Kindle then save it as an html file for the web. If you are going to print, export or save as a pdf file. Also export your cover file.

9. Upload your book files to Kindle, or CreateSpace.com, CreateSpace is the print-on-demand, self-publishing side of Amazon.com, or take the two pdf files to a local quick print shop. If hosting on-line at Amazon, add descriptions, author bio, categories and keywords.

10. Market your book though the popular social media channels; FaceBook, Linkedin, Twitter, Pinterest, your website, and YouTube. These lessons make great videos and blog posts. Give it out to potential and current customers. Make the book available on your website as a pdf download.

Click Here to Read Chapter 1: Writing Down Your Best Ten Tips 

Use your experience and knowledge to create a leave behind or lead generating book to build your business.

In this series of posts we will be using the lessons you have learned in your career and business and now want to pass on to your employees or customers. A great way to do this is to create a book which makes for a great leave behind, introduction to what you do or lead magnet for your business. Treat it as if it is your business card. This book is simple for you to make and easy to produce. To do this we will use a techniques I have developed called the Top Ten Tips Technique. This series takes you through all the steps from creation to publishing to marketing.

1. Using the Top Ten Tips Technique to create your book

2. Writing, design, editing and formatting your book

3. File prep, Kindle, CreateSpace/paperback, or quick print, Re-editing

4. Uploading to Amazon or quick printing for publishing

5. Marketing with your book

Click here to Read an Overview of How to Start Creating Your Book

Series: Yes You Can Write a Book. If you would like to dig deeper I have developed an online video course that you follow to help make your book.
http://bruce-the-book-guy.usefedora.com/courses/7-steps-to-publishing-your-book

Creating a Book Using The Top Ten Technique and Building Products

Today I did a follow up interview with Gale Turner Brown about how she is writing her new book, How to Run a Blab TV Show, which is on creating and managing TV shows on Blab.im. Gail is becoming one of the top experts on developing and running Blab.im shows. Using the Top Ten Technique from my Yes You Can Write a Book program, we developed the initial book outline. We then moved to using an interview based on those questions to generate the text for the book. Today's interview dug into the process and how we did it. Gail can now move on to finishing up her first book. In today's interview we also talked about using your book content to make products and selling them on Gumroad.com and Teachable.com. Books are great ways to develop content that you can later use products. It was a fun, active interview today on writing books, creating content and making products. This video is almost a mini course all by itself.

The Top Ten Tips Technique Quick Steps 

 
1. Write down the 10 best tips or lessons on or about your business, or your expertise. Keep these to one or two sentences each. #1 is your best then follow with 9 more.

2. Write out one paragraph for each tip or lesson, just one paragraph.


3. For each lesson expand that 1 paragraph to 3-4 paragraphs, flush out the concepts.

4. Add an author bio along with a photo and contact info at the back of the book. Add a resource list at the back of the book, an intro for the front, a table of contents and any additional info that might apply to your book. If you offer programs or consulting, drop that in also, give readers a call to action. We are talking 28-36 pages when done. This isn't a manifesto.

5. Have your book edited and proofed. After your book is formatted and laid out have it printed out and re-edit again.

6. Format your book in MS Word or some similar word processing application such as Google Doc, Pages, or Scrivner. If you are going to print your book, create an original document that is the page size of your book. 5 1⁄2” x 8 1⁄2” is a great size and is easy to get printed at a quickie print shop for those first copies. If you have access to Adobe InDesign that also works very well. A local designer can help with this stage.

7. Create a separate file for the cover. For an ebook/Kindle, front cover only and save it as a jpg. For a printed book on CreateSpace, set up a full cover spread, back, spine and front. Both Kindle and CreateSpace/Amazon have online tools you can use to make a cover. If you are using a local quick print shop like Staples you can leave out the spine.

8. If sending your book to Kindle then save it as an html file for the web. If you are going to print, export or save as a pdf file. Also export your cover file.

9. Upload your book files to Kindle, or CreateSpace.com, CreateSpace is the print-on- demand, self-publishing side of Amazon.com, or take the two pdf files to a local quick print shop. If hosting on-line at Amazon, add descriptions, author bio, categories and keywords.

10. Market your book though the popular social media channels; FaceBook, Linkedin, Twitter, Pinterest, your website, and YouTube. These lessons make great videos and blog posts. Give it out to potential and current customers. Make the book available on your website as a pdf download.


I have a companion book that I have been working on that goes with this technique,
Click Here to Download Yes You Can Write a Book, Top Ten Tips Book

To learn more about Gail Turner Brown please visit her site
https://smallbizshowtv.blogspot.com/p/shows.html

Start Writing Your Book by Listing the Biggest Question You Get Asked

Announcing the beginning of my new book writing program Yes You Can Write a Book. We begin with the first step which is getting down a list of the top ten questions you get asked the most. These can also be the top tips, lessons or ideas you have on a topic. Watch the video to get started.

I also have a companion workbook that goes along with the program. The workbook is available at the companion membership site, YesYouCanWriteaBook.com




1. Write down the 10 best tips or lessons on or about your business, or your expertise or your knowledge. Keep these to one or two sentences each. #1 is your best then follow with 9 more.

A. Write down your #1 best business or experience tip or lesson.

B. Now write down nine additional lessons. Keep these to a sentence or two. No paragraphs just the lessons.

C. Use the Google Top Ten Tips in search technique, the Amazon Book Table of Contents or the Book Review technique to find and flush out your ideas.

These are the main tips or lessons about your experience or expertise that you want to pass on to the next person or might be useful to a customer. This is the core of your book. This first pass is a quick exercise. You most likely know all of these right off the top of your head. I usually start this process by asking, “what is your number 1 tip?” Don’t do a lot of thinking on this, don’t self edit, just write down your number 1 tip. Ok now write 9 more and you are done. You can always change these later, but these tips are usually the things you tell people all the time, or the things people ask you about.



Step 1
Write out your #1 best business or life experience tip or question you get asked. If you had to give one piece of advice on your topic this would be it. Don’t think to hard about this, just get it out.

And then write out nine more of your best tips or questions. Keep these to one or two sentences each. I have include work sheets in the book that you can print out or fill in in pdf and save.

Be sure to download the free Workbook, it is in the course preview area in the membership site
YesYouCanWriteABook.com 

After you have written your Top Ten List come over and post them in the FaceBook How to Publish Your Book Group Page