You've worked on your masterpiece for the last three years: writing, editing, sleeping on it, taking an extended break for BioShock Infinite, more polishing, taking occasional breaks to work on your next book because you're so very, very tired of this one, and fielding questions from your family -- haven't you published yet? What's stopping you?. At last, you head for Amazon's KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) entry page. You upload that puppy and use Amazon's preview feature, and OMFG WHAT HAPPENED? THIS LOOKS LIKE STEVE BUSCEMI AT THE END OF FARGO.
Congratulations! You've just bungled the fundamentals of e-book formatting.
This is part two of my series on e-book publishing. Part one dealt with the basics of how to improve your writing, network with other authors, and find an audience. This diary will focus on:
* Which e-book venue to use
* How not to set yourself up for a formatting nightmare (and conversely, a discussion of what goes down between the .doc and the e-book), AKA Don't Do What I Did
* Some helpful notes on book covers
If you missed part one of the series, here's a quick disclaimer: I'm new to this. I'm working out my stupids. I'm sharing what I've learned because it might help others, and I'm hoping that more experienced Kossacks might chime in to offer me (and everyone else) some helpful tips.
Good. Let's get started.
Where will I sell my e-book?
When I first asked myself this question, I hit The Google, thinking there would be an easy answer. I need only learn where most people buy their e-books, and sell through that marketplace, right? But I have not been able to find that kind of market share data. I'm not saying the data doesn't exist; I'm saying I can't find it. I suck at this kind of research.
So imagine my gratitude when I discovered David Carnoy's CNET article, How to self-publish an ebook. Carnoy covers the basics (e.g., "It's gotta be good") and has a few words about pricing strategy, but he devotes most of his time to a discussion of several popular publishing options. I read this article a few times and ultimately decided I would publish first through Amazon's KDP Select program. Amazon is the big boy in this game (as best I can tell -- I would really like that market share data), so it seemed wise, or at least not blatantly stupid, to run with them first. I chose KDP Select in particular because this program makes it easy to offer free promotional days. You're allowed five such days for each ninety-day contract with KDP Select, and the only downside is, you have to sell exclusively through Amazon.
I'll do this for ninety days, then drop the Select program and publish through KDP instead. Amazon's exclusivity requirement will pass, and I can then upload to the not-quite-so-big boys like NookPress -- formerly PubIt (Barnes and Noble). The tricky part is getting my novel into the iBookstore for all those iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch users. It's kind of dickish that the iBookstore requires their users to own a Mac. To get around this, folks who don't own a Mac usually resort to an e-book aggregator like Smashwords to worm their way into the iBookstore and many other markets.
I haven't used Smashwords yet, so I can't give an experience-based opinion, but if you compare the Smashwords formatting guide (link below) with the information provided by KDP, Smashwords clearly has an edge in professionalism. Even though I published to KDP Select, I adhered to the Smashwords guide and came up with a clean-looking e-book. Amazon's requirements are more lax, and it shows. Sample a few of their self-pubbed e-books and you'll see what I mean.
On the face of things, Smashwords has great promise. Format your book once using their step-by-step instructions, and their "Meatgrinder" software will process your file into all the formats necessary to list with the iBookstore and every other major vendor, except for Amazon. Use Smashwords and Amazon KDP, and you're hitting every major market. Smashwords also allows users to create coupon codes to facilitate free promotions, but you run the risk of Amazon KDP not following suit. (Unless you're using KDP Select, you can't drop your price to zero. You're hoping Amazon will price-match, but I've heard this can be hit or miss.)
Smashwords has its critics, however. While they've been around since 2008, serious formatting and customer service issues were mentioned by one blogger in 2011. One writer commenting upon Smashwords this year had significantly less criticism for them, but still noted some of the same things. If you're a bit OCD like me, you'll want the ability to upload a new version of your book and have the new version available instantly. "Instantly" is a dream, sadly, but Amazon manages a twelve-hour or less turnaround. With Smashwords, apparently the turnaround is weekly. That could be a full week that your work is being sold with major formatting, grammar, or spelling errors.
Yes, yes, you should finish editing BEFORE you publish. But I suspect everyone continues to pick nits from their novels post-publication.
You can find a great discussion of the Amazon/Smashwords pros and cons in this article by Sarah Rexman in The Independent Publishing Magazine. Don't neglect to read the comments, where several Amazon KDP and Smashwords users have updated Rexman's comparison.
Moving on . . .
E-book Formatting for Dummies
I think I must have done everything wrong with my first novel. I began writing it in WordPerfect, converted it to OpenOffice and did some more work, then finished up in Microsoft Word. Trust me, when you pull a stunt like that, there's nothing for it but to use what Smashwords calls "the nuclear option": Copy your entire document (ctrl-A) and paste it into Notepad. That strips out ALL formatting (so if you're an italics junkie like me, you're already contemplating seppuku). Copy and paste back into Microsoft Word. Only now are you ready to format your document for e-book markets.
Lots of things we do as writers are deadly to e-books. Do you tab to create your paragraph indents? Do you like to place several returns to create space between your chapter heading and the first paragraph? Are you fond of text boxes, multiple fonts, uncommon paragraph styles? All of that is deadly for e-book formatting.
As I noted above, I haven't made up my mind about Smashwords, but their style guide rocks. (Have I mentioned yet that all of this is FREE? Unless you have to purchase Microsoft Word, you can do it all with sweat equity. I chose to pay for editing and a cover, but this is optional.) The style guide gives step-by-step instructions on how to reformat your disastrous mess of words. It provides a number of tricks which are probably well known to experienced Word users, but were a revelation to a casual user like me. Mark Coker even throws in two free ebooks, The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success and Smashwords Book Marketing Guide.
If you're not an italics addict, or if you were smart enough to use Word in the first place, then you can work through all of the necessary steps in an hour or two. Much of that time you'll spend creating a hyperlinked Table of Contents.
The best thing to do is to use Word from the start, and really learn to use Word. Take a look at the Style Guide, and follow their formatting advice to the letter. If you do that, the only work you'll have left is Table of Contents creation -- assuming you're writing fiction. Numerous images, tables, and footnotes/endnotes will require more effort.
For the last stage, I can only speak to my experience with Amazon KDP Select. After uploading my .doc, I had the opportunity to preview the entire document and make changes. Once I was satisfied, I clicked the button that told them I was ready to publish. Previewing is a good thing -- no one wants to have their name attached to a miserably formatted e-book.
Some Notes on Cover Design
Amazon KDP has a do-it-yourself cover designer you will encounter during the uploading process. You'll also have the option of browsing for and uploading a previously designed cover. Covers generated by the Kindle Cover Creator don't look bad at all, but they don't stand out, either. You may want to consider designing one yourself, or hiring a graphic artist to do it for you.
If you decide to do it yourself, first review Amazon's cover image recommendations. Also, here's a good list of tips for first-time designers. Make sure the images and fonts you use are yours (as in, really yours, public domain, or licensed to you). Use your graphic design software to shrink your image to typical thumbnail size. Are the title and image recognizable at 80 x 115 pixels? This article provides graphic examples of good and bad design; the author recommends viewing your image at 100 px height (thumbnail) and 300 px height (medium) to ensure you have an eye-catching appearance at all sizes.
You'll need some software, and unless you're a graphic designer, you probably don't want to pay six hundred dollars for Photoshop. Fortunately, you can find some great freeware that will do everything you need. My favorite is Gimp (see the PC World review here). If you invest some time in their tutorials, you will quickly be competent enough to get the job done. Remember to use public domain fonts if you don't want the licensing hassle. (Not sure if they're any good, but this site caters to public domain fonts.)
If your requirements are simple, myeCoverMaker offers online cover creation for $14.95/month. I haven't used them.
What if you want a catchy cover that looks professional, and you have no talent for design? You can shell out $599 to Amazon createspace's "professional design team," but there are less expensive options. Various designers offer their services for under a hundred dollars. If you're able to pony up a little more cash, however, 99designs is a great option -- and it's what I used.
It's a simple but brilliant idea. You describe your book and provide ideas regarding what you would like to see on the cover. Then you offer a prize ($299 is entry level for book cover design), and graphic artists compete to see who can best satisfy your requirements. The contest runs for seven days, and this is divided into a qualifying round, final round, and winner selection. During this time, you interact with your designers to tell them what you like or dislike about their designs. You can do this in an "open" fashion so that all designers see your comments, thus encouraging them to modify their designs, too. 99designs encourages users to browse other contests and contact designers who might be interested in their project. This is a great way to find designers whose work appeals to your own aesthetic sensibilities.
There's a money-back guarantee; if you don't like any of the designs, you can bail out of it during the qualifying round. Alternatively, you can guarantee your contest. This means you have agreed to select a winner (you won't bail out). Since the prize is guaranteed, you'll attract more designers to your contest.
Here is the link to my e-book, Shark & Gator Save the World. I'm holding a free promotion, so you can pick this up for $0.00 through midnight PST tonight. The image you see would be considered medium-sized; to see the full-sized image, click on the cover. (While you're at it, read the sample!)
I love the cover, but YMMV. My editor was indifferent to it. She has a "no faces!" attitude: she thinks faces on the cover interfere too much with the reader's imagination. The "no faces!" attitude seems common among SF novels, but is most definitely not the prevailing wisdom for Young Adult or Romance novels. Since I'm trying to appeal to a YA audience, faces should be fine.
Coming soon: what I've learned so far about e-book promotion, or, painting lessons from a blind man.
D.