Making the Cover for Your Createspace Picture Book

Figuring out the size of the BMM Photo Book, 16.307" x 10.25"

In the second video for the Boston Media Makers paperback picture book we are going to make a book cover. Print covers include the back, spine, front and bleeds all around. In this video I show you how to set your book cover up using Adobe Indesign.


How to Make a Createspace Book Cover for the Boston Media Makers Book from Bruce Jones on Vimeo.

Resources:

The challenge will be held in the Facebook Group: How to Publish Your Book

Want access to all the templates, storyboards and video content, visit the companion course InDesign for Authors 

Post #1 The Picture Book Challenge, Create and Publish a Book on Amazon
Post #2 Start Collecting Your Images for the Picture Book Challenge
Post #3 Creating a Picture Book, Live Presentation

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/

Create Your Own Picture Book, Live Presentation with Bruce Jones

I recently held a live presentation at the Boston Media Makers April get together on creating and publishing a picture book using PowerPoint and Kindle Create. I though this would make a good companion example of the Picture Book Challenge.


Creating a Picture Book Using PowerPoint and Kindle Create, Live Presentation by Bruce Jones from Bruce Jones on Vimeo.

Resources:

The challenge will be held in the Facebook Group: How to Publish Your Book

Want access to all the templates, storyboards and video content, visit the companion course InDesign for Authors 

Post #1 The Picture Book Challenge, Create and Publish a Book on Amazon
Post #2 Start Collecting Your Images for the Picture Book Challenge

Start Collecting Your Images for the Picture Book Challenge

The Picture Book Challenge is underway. The first step is to start collecting your images, photos, drawings, illustrations. Whatever you need to create your book. We are creating a 24-32 page book, so you probably need a few more than the number of pages. It all depends on how many images you will be putting on each page. You also want to start to edit down the photos to your best collection for the book.

Be sure to join the How to Publish Your Book Facebook group for the regular lessons, videos and any questions.
In the File area in the Facebook group is a free storyboard pdf so you can start to sketch out your book.


Collecting your Pictures for the Picture Book Challenge Video 2 from Bruce Jones on Vimeo.

Resources:

The challenge will be held in the Facebook Group: How to Publish Your Book

Want access to all the templates, storyboards and video content, visit the companion course InDesign for Authors 

Post #1 The Picture Book Challenge, Create and Publish a Book on Amazon


#PICTUREBOOKCHALLENGE

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/

Picture Book Challenge, Create and Publish a Book on Amazon

We have begun. Start taking or collecting your graphic images, pictures, drawings, photos. I am running a picture book challenge where we will be creating and publishing a picture book on Amazon, print and Kindle.

We will be building a 32 page book because that is the standard size for a children's book, but you can do less. Min for print is 24 pages. There will be a variety of templates available in the course site.

The challenge will be taught with InDesign and be hosted on the How to Publish Your Book Facebook Group. There will also be a companion course as part of the InDesign for Authors course on PublishingMastery101.com. The companion course will hold all the templates, worksheets and video content for the challenge. For the challenge  you can use any program you want such as: InDesign, PowerPoint, Illustrator, Apple Pages, Google Slides, but we will be focusing on InDesign.





Introduction to the Picture Book Challenge Video 1 from Bruce Jones on Vimeo.


ROADMAP for the Challenge
• Collecting all your images, photos, illustrations, drawings, etc.
Added a story board pdf to help you design your book

• Processing images for print-300dpi and ebook 72-120dpi

• Setting up our InDesign print book templates, 3 sizes available

• Placing images and adding text, working with grids

• Editing and adjusting our designs

• Create a cover template

• Design and creation of our cover

• Creating a printed proof for review

• Final corrections

• Preparing our PDF print files, creating our ebook files using Kindle Create

• Uploading our books to CreateSpace and Kindle

• Ordering a printed proof, review, PUBLISH!!

• Marketing and launching our book

• Sharing our success

Resources:

The challenge will be held in the Facebook Group: How to Publish Your Book

Want access to all the templates, storyboards and video content, visit the companion course InDesign for Authors 

#PICTUREBOOKCHALLENGE

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/

The Road to AUM, by Sandra Powers Murphy, Un-boxing the Hard Cover Book

I help produce a new book recently called The Road to AUM by Sandra Powers Murphy. It is a marketing book for the financial services industry and asset growth. It was a cool project that covered pretty much all aspects of self-publishing. Not only did we do the paperback book using CreateSpace but we also did a hard cover with book jacket on IngramSpark and a Kindle e-book. Sandra also created an audio version and she is producing 12 workbooks to go along with the main book. All around we did it all. I love being able to do one action and then repurpose it for many other products.

Sandra works in the financial services area as a marketing and sales consultant. She is the founder and CEO of ARK Global LLC. This book celebrates 10 years of marketing and sales knowledge in helping firms look for money and market their services.

The Road to AUM in paperback and hard cover

Along with her book, Sandra also created an excellent author/book blog to help market it. Noble Ark Ventures.com. The website layout info on the book, resources, speaking opportunities, she is really taking advantage of all aspects of this book. The website builds out your backend for sales and the opportunities that having a book brings you. Your book may not be where most of your money comes from when you self-publish. It might come from the course your develop, consulting or speaking.

Author/Book website for The Road to AUM, https://www.noblearkventures.com/

The Road to AUM is a great example of all the different things you can do around one idea. The book was written using MS Word. I created the printed versions in Adobe Indesign then copied out the final text back into Word and used Kindle Create to create the e-book Kindle version. Sandra actually hired a recording studio to create the audio version which will use ACX.com from Amazon for hosting.

Sandra Power Murphy's book The Road to AUM is available on Amazon in paperback, hard cover, Kindle and Audio

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/

Learn How to Make a Picture Book Using PowerPoint and Kindle Create, Presentation by Bruce Jones

Had a lot of fun at the Boston Media Makers with Steve Garfield monthly meet-up this past Sunday, April 1, 2018 on how to make a picture book that you can sell on Kindle. I used PowerPoint to create the picture book, but you can really use any program that can create a pdf file. We created the pdf and used the new Kindle Create app from Amazon/Kindle to convert the file for publishing on Kindle. It was fun and got quite a few people excited about creating their own books.



Steve Garfield recorded the presentation live and hosted it on YouTube. The new Kindle Create is super easy to use and it is a fantastic program for publishing your pdf files. It also works great to create a regular book such as a novel or non-fiction.

Learn More:
Boston Media Makers
Kindle Create from Amazon for creating e-books

Bruce Jone is the author of over 40 books. His latest is I Want to Publish My Book But I Don't Know How. Takes you through all the steps for creating your own book

I Want to Publish My Book But I Don't Know How: Everything You Need to Know to Create an E-book or Print Book

Available on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Want-Publish-Book-Dont-book/dp/1985322250/


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/

Some Nice Comments on the Release of My New Book and Releasing

My new book "I Want to Publish My Book But I Don't Know How" has released and I have had some comments on it. Grahame Rees from Australia gave me some nice words on the book and the Publishing Mastery 101 course.

And Al Snyder left a very nice comment on Amazon.

Presenting my book at the Business Accelerator Group meeting last week in San Diego

I Want to Publish My Book But I Don't Know How: Everything You Need to Know to Create an E-book or Print Book

Available on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Want-Publish-Book-Dont-book/dp/1985322250/


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/

Creating an Audio Version of Your Book

I had a good question come in to the How to Publish Your Facebook Group on creating an audio version of your book. They were stumped on where to start. Do you start with the intro? The main paragraphs of the forward or chapter 1?

HI Great question. I would say just do each section individually, Intro, Sections, then chapters, do it all. They can then all be put back together as the project pulls together, but treat each section individually and record everything even if you don't think you are going to use it.

A movement that is gain great traction is creating an audio version of your book. Going along with the growth of podcasts, audio books are also exploding. Audio books can be sold on Amazon through their Audible service and they get matched up with the printed or e-book version. Very often on Amazon you will see the audio version being sold for quite a bit more than the printed or definitely the Kindle version. Once you have the recording you can do a lot with it; make an audio book, a podcast, sell mp3 files on your site, or use the files and create videos for a course. You have a lot of options.

Each chapter is an separate recording, including the intros, forwards, really the complete book. Depending on where what you are doing with it you can record the book yourself, record in a recording studio or hire a narrator.

Record your book and turn it into an audio or video version of your book. Create a podcast for iTunes, SoundCloud or Sketcher. Each chapter is an episode. Your book is a readymade series just waiting to be broadcast. Each chapter can be recorded using a video camera and you now have the material for an on-line course, with a PDF bonus book. It can all be the same content just in different formats. Turn each chapter into a blog post and include the audio or video. One advantage of blogging a book is that Google will bring you an audience and by looking at your stats you will see what part of the book is resonating. Once you know this you can start expanding that chapter into the next book.

• ACX.com is like CreateSpace but for audio. It is a division of Amazon and handles their audio books. The books themselves are sold through Audible.com. You can create your own or hire a professional reader for your book.

Resources:
• ACX.com, where you go to create an audio book for selling on Amazon, http://www.acx.com/

• Findaway Voices, an alternative to ACX and a way to create and distribute audio books to multiple retailers. Great for indie authors.
https://findawayvoices.com, they have an excellent Help page which describes the process, https://my.findawayvoices.com/help-and-resources

The key here is to deliver your book in as many formats as you can to as many readers as you can. How does your audience want their books delivered? Figure out how and do it. Primarily though it is usually an e-book with Kindle and a print paperback book with CreateSpace.

Resource Articles:
Yes You Can Record Your Own Audiobook Heres How by Robert Dricks
http://robdircks.com/yes-you-can-record-your-own-audiobook-heres-how/

Joanna Penn is fantastic and here is an article from her blog
https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2015/04/20/record-your-own-audiobooks/

https://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/speak-easy/6-tips-nail-your-audio-book-recording/

I Want to Publish My Book But I Don't Know How: Everything You Need to Know to Create an E-book or Print Book

Available on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Want-Publish-Book-Dont-book/dp/1985322250/






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/

Thank you Becky for the Support for I Want to Publish My Book But I Don't Know How

Thank you to Becky for your support for my new book I Want to Publish My Book But I Don't Know How: Everything You Need to Know to Create an e-Book or Print Book

I Want to Publish My Book But I Don't Know How: Everything You Need to Know to Create an E-book or Print Book

Available on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Want-Publish-Book-Dont-book/dp/1985322250/


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/

Video 1 Writing Your Book from I Want to Publish My Book But I Don't Know How

Video 1: Intro to Writing Your Book and Publishing Your Book.


The steps to writing your book can be varied, there are no strict rules of thumb. There are a million ways to write a book. The one you choose will be the one that fits your style. Questions you might consider asking yourself is: Is your book all text or all pictures or a combination of both? Are you writing a novel, creating a children’s book, a how-to book, cookbook, or poetry book? Whatever it is, begin by put your ideas down on paper or in a computer, creating an outline or a slurry of generated ideas. You can also dictate or record yourself speaking your ideas and then transcribe and edit. Let the creative ideas flow and build one on top of the other. You will begin to see the magic of your writing abilities take form.

However, this book isn’t about the mechanics of writing it is about publishing what you have written. There are many resources available to help you with your writing.

My advice is to write your book using a standard word processing program like MS-Word or Google Docs and keep the formatting simple. Whichever freelancer or software you work with to create your project can take that text and the images and create the book.


I Want to Publish My Book But I Don't Know How: Everything You Need to Know to Create an E-book or Print Book

Available on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Want-Publish-Book-Dont-book/dp/1985322250/

To learn more about PublishingMastery101 and all the courses please click
https://bruce-the-book-guy.usefedora.com/p/publishingmastery101/

Some of the book writing resources that I like:• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, this is a classic
• One of my favorite resources is Steven Pressfield’s blog and his books. He is a wonderful writer of fiction, non-fiction and the process of writing. Check out “The Series” area of his blog. http://www.stevenpressfield.com/ He has an entire series of excellent how-to books on writing; The War of Art, Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative.
• On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft, Steven King
• On Writing Well, William Zinsser
• The Writing Life, Annie Dillard
• How to Write Bestselling Fiction, Dean Koontz
• The Elements of Style, Strunk and White
• Write, Publish, Repeat, Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant, this book is a must on how to manage your writing and build a career and income from your books. This is one of the best I have read on how to structure your books to lead your readers from one book the next. I highly recommend reading this book.
• Joanna Penn and TheCreativePenn.com blog and books. Joanna is a British best-selling thriller author. Along with her novels she writes on writing, marketing, publishing and making a living as an author. Her book How to Market a Book is excellent. https://www.thecreativepenn.com/

Resources:One of the easiest ways to get the word down is to dictate your them. You can just speak it into your phone or computer; audio or video. A great way to do this is to create a series of questions and have someone interview you. Record it, transcribe and edit. A great place to do this is while you commute in your car. You do it every day and there is no one to bother you. Both of the services below can take audio, video or just link from a video.
• Rev.com, a fantastic service for transcription, very accurate, $1.00/minute, https://www.rev.com/
• Temi.com, audio to text transcription, uses speech recognition software, $0.10/minute, https://www.temi.com/

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/