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.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Friday, October 7, 2016
Products for running and broadcasting your own on line TV show
Below are some of my recommend media products for running your own Facebook or YouTube show
These are Amazon affiliate links which I will make a small amount of money on if you click and purchase the product.
Building a Book Press Release and Your Own Author Press Kit
Promoting your book to the world when it releases is super important to getting it started. One of the ways to do this is to release a press release to the different news services. These can be paid or free. You can also use this usually one page document in all your other media. A press release tells the who, what, where, why and how about your book.
Lulu.com on of the major print on demand book site has a two part article on their blog, Lulu.com/blog, on how to write the release. Pretty simple and right to the point.
Part 1 has to do with the overall idea of how a press release works.
PR Part 1: Ready, Set, Press Release!
Part 2 covers the details of the different parts and how to pull them together.
PR Part 2: Write the Best Press Release - EVER!
Along with releasing a press release for your book you should also have similar info on yourself. Every author needs an Author Press Kit. A page on your website that is about you. What you do, who you are, your books, your picture. I often recommend having several different length bios for different uses. Your About page is often one of the most read pages on your site. Think of it as a mini home page.
Lulu.com also put out a great article on how to do this and what you should include
Author Press Kit: How You Market You
I also cover this info in my on-line course, How to Market Your Book
Ok time to get your book marketing going.
Lulu.com on of the major print on demand book site has a two part article on their blog, Lulu.com/blog, on how to write the release. Pretty simple and right to the point.
Part 1 has to do with the overall idea of how a press release works.
PR Part 1: Ready, Set, Press Release!
Part 2 covers the details of the different parts and how to pull them together.
PR Part 2: Write the Best Press Release - EVER!
Along with releasing a press release for your book you should also have similar info on yourself. Every author needs an Author Press Kit. A page on your website that is about you. What you do, who you are, your books, your picture. I often recommend having several different length bios for different uses. Your About page is often one of the most read pages on your site. Think of it as a mini home page.
Lulu.com also put out a great article on how to do this and what you should include
Author Press Kit: How You Market You
I also cover this info in my on-line course, How to Market Your Book
Ok time to get your book marketing going.
Monday, July 25, 2016
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
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
Friday, July 22, 2016
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
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
Thursday, July 21, 2016
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
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
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
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
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
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
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
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
Monday, July 18, 2016
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
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
Saturday, July 16, 2016
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
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
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