Deborah H. Bateman | Deborah H Bateman - Author

Self-Publishing to the Amazon Kindle – A Few Tips

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Deborah H. Bateman

It is certainly possible to have a book published to the Amazon Kindle in less than an hour, and selling in just a couple of days. Unfortunately though, no one is looking over your shoulder to make sure you are doing it right. Not to mention, the typical self-published author is only making 4 sales a month, a rather dismal amount. To make sure you don’t fall among these unhappy masses take a second to follow a few crucial tips to ensure your success publishing to the Kindle.

Formatting – Your material needs to be well formatted for the kindle or it will look terrible and lead to bad reviews. Avoid any and all spacing wherever possible, understanding that the kindle is more like an unfurling scroll rather than a physical book. I do this by selecting the entire document and going to format => paragraph => spacing => after and selecting 10 pt. Now I go through the entire document and remove any extra spacing. I also always use Microsoft word, since it is the most compatible with the Kindle formatting engine. You should also add a clickable table of contents and various other small details. Google “Smashwords style guide” for more free information on how to format for the kindle and other eReaders.

Title – Possibly the most important component of your eBook. If you are a non-fiction writer this is even more crucial. People need to find your eBook in the wilderness called Amazon. Which means you need to know what they are searching for. I use Google’s keyword tool to research what people are searching for on the net. If I am writing a book on Kindle Publishing, I type this in and see what comes up. What I find is that people are searching not only for this combination of keywords but also “Kindle Marketing” “KDP publishing” “home-based business” etc. What Google is telling me is that people are searching for these particular keywords and they really need to be in the title of my book in order to get discovered. I will also research other books in a similar genre to figure out what kind of language (and cover) is selling the most books.

Cover – It is a really bad idea to be doing this yourself. If people are finding you from your title they are making a fast decision on the quality of your book based on the cover. The term “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is simply not true. If the cover looks excellent the reader is far more willing to pick up your book. The place I like to get covers done is called 99design.com, they are cheap and have thousands of designers. I like to harvest about 10 covers from Amazon that I really like and show them to the designers with my specific idea in mind.

Price – I have heard some pretty silly assumptions about the perfect price zone for a Kindle book, ignore this advice. Rather, leave the price of your book at.99 cents until it has some decent sales and is doing well in a few categories. After it doesn’t seem like it is going to sell much more we inch up the price. The next price point is 2.99, where you can receive a 70% royalty and make a decent amount of cash. If you don’t see a massive dip in sales, keep the price here for a little while. Once you feel sales aren’t going to change too much try bumping the price up a buck a month until you feel that you have maximized profit (not overall sales). Depending on the need for the material and how niche you are, the price can go as high as 9.99 but most likely it will do the best at 4.99.

Mike Masters self-publishes his work to the Amazon Kindle with excellent results. In less than two years of self-publishing Mike has sold thousands and thousands of books and is now happily well off. Mike share’s his knowledge on successful publishing to the Kindle in his best selling book Kindle Cash – The Beginner’s Guide to Creating, Marketing and Publishing on the Amazon Kindle. For more information on Publishing to the Kindle visit his website http://www.publishingforthekindle.net/ or pick up the book and like Mike join the thousands of happily self-published.

Author: Michael Craig Masters
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Jump-Start Your Self-Publishing Adventure in 10 Steps

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Deborah H. Bateman

These ten steps will help you painlessly jump-start your new adventure. Although most of these steps are very easy to accomplish, I believe that they will help you quickly lay the foundation for a successful first book.

1. Realize that this is a business
Self-publishing is a business. It can be your side-business, main business, or even be your hobby. But you still must run it like a business. That means you will need to learn the basics of management, marketing, sales, public relations, accounting, negotiation, etc.

2. Start your due-diligence
You must research what will be involved in self-publishing. Buy several of the most popular books about self-publishing, such as those by Dan Pointer. Visit the popular self-publishing blogs, such as TheBookDesigner.com. Visit the biggest websites that can sell your book, such as SmashWords, and Scribd.

3. Keep your current job
This will ensure that you will have a regular paycheck. It is also very important to keep building your resume. A good resume will help build your credentials and be your proof of your accomplishments. This will give you more credibility with your readers.

4. Discover your niche
In today’s terms, this means “micro-niche”. As a self-publisher you will most likely find the biggest success by narrowly defining your market niche. It is much easier to become an expert in a very specific market where it is much less crowded with big well-established writers and publishers.

5. Start with an ebook
This is the smartest way to get started. It is fast and inexpensive. It is the perfect way to dip your toes into the water and see how comfortable it is. Starting with an ebook allows you to feel out your market. It also allows you to make any changes or corrections well before sending your book to a print-on-demand printer and distributor.

6. Set-up your blog
Once you figure out what your niche is, start your free WordPress blog right away. This will get your creative juices flowing. It will also establish an internet home for you where you will show the world your expertise in your niche.

7. Get your spouse/partner on board
It is important to keep your family involved with a decision like this. Keeping your family informed and involved will help keep all of you happy.

8. Join professional groups
This will help keep you informed of what is going on inside your market niche. These same people might also become the market for your book. Professional affiliations also give you more credibility with your readers.

9. Advocate for your target market/audience
Nowadays, especially because of the internet, you can immediately start to show the world that you are an expert. Start writing for industry publications and websites.

10. Start your next book
Now that you have accomplished the previous steps, keep the momentum that you have built-up going. Keep improving your business model. Never stop learning about marketing and promotion. Keep enhancing your blog. Keep improving your first book. Start your next book.

Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. is an author, publisher, educator, business manager, and entrepreneur. Life-long love affair with books and reading. Very excited about being part of the new media movement. Known for casual, easy-to-read writing style and ability to explain complex topics in an understandable way. “If you are serious about your work you should self-publish. Retain creative control. Retain the profits. Enjoy the satisfaction and status that comes with being published.” Visit Kunz’s website about all aspects of self-publishing at http://www.KunzOnPublishing.com/, for an insider’s guide to becoming a financially successful and happy self-publisher, and sign-up for his free newsletter.

Author: Joseph C Kunz, Jr
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The 10 Reasons That Convinced Me To Become A Self-Publisher

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Deborah H. Bateman

Here I share my favorite reasons for becoming a self-publisher. Some reasons are much more important to me than they might be to you. But I am certain that on this list you will find a reason that is important or intriguing to you. I hope that you find one that gets your internal capitalist into gear, and gets you onto a new path too.

1. Retain Ownership: As a self-publisher you retain complete control and ownership of the book – forever. I’m sure that for all of you reading this article, this is a very important reason – as it was for me.

2. Instant Credibility: The book will instantly give you credibility – and help boost your career or business. We all want this. The more professional your book is, the more credibility you will have with your audience. With self-publishing you can easily and quickly make improvements to your book – especially with an ebook.

3. Control Fate of My Book: As a self-publisher you control the fate of your book – not some publisher that has no interest in your book or subject other than how much money they can make from you. Self-publishers are writing and publishing books because we love our subject, and want to share our knowledge with others.

4. Speed to Market: Traditional publishers take way too long to bring your book to the market. A big publisher would think that you are a silly fool to believe that you could get your book into a world-wide audience within a few weeks. But of course, we now all know that we can – and do.

5. Plenty of Help Available: As a self-publisher you can choose to be involved with as much, or as little, of the creative process. Self-publishing is where you, the author, bypass all the intermediaries that are involved in traditional publishing. These intermediaries do the editing, designing, illustrating, marketing, promotion, etc., of your book. As a self-publisher these functions will typically be your job. Although, you can easily hire people to do these functions for you and still be considered a self-publisher. As a self-publisher you get to choose which functions you want to do, and which ones you need to hire someone to help you with.

6. Keep All Profits: As a self-publisher you keep all of the profits. A traditional publisher will keep almost all of the profits. Then, after several months, when your book sales start to slow down, they will dump you for someone else that is more profitable for them. Even if your book makes you just a few hundred dollars a year, these profits will come to you year after year after year. The more effort you put into making your book look professional, and into your marketing and sales, the more profit you will make. You have complete control as to how much success your book will have.

7. Low Entry Cost: It is much less costly to produce a book now than it has ever been before. You can get an ebook online with a big-name website for free within minutes. You can also get your book accepted by a big-name print-on-demand company that will distribute your book to the entire market for about $112. Additional expenses like ISBN fees, and CIP fees, will add about $100. Hiring a professional cover designer can be anywhere from $250 to $750.

8. My Knowledge of The Market: With some effort and study, you can do a much better job promoting your book than a traditional publisher can. This is especially true when your book is directly related to your career or business. You know your market, your audience, your customers, and your readers, much better than anyone else does. This intimate knowledge of their needs is what will help make your book and career a success.

9. Niche for Success: Your book’s subject might fit into a very small niche – one that is too small for a traditional publisher to even bother with. Filling a small, tight niche is where the money is for many self-publishers.

10. Creative Outlet: Self-publishing is a great way to satisfy your need to be creative – writing, designing, and illustrating – as well as being creative with marketing, advertising, and promotion. Self-publishing will force you to be creative in many areas.

Author: Joseph C Kunz, Jr
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The Art of Ebook Writing and Self Publishing

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Deborah H. Bateman

To write great eBooks, all you need to focus on is the content of your book. Write on the subject to keep it simple and interesting for the people who will benefit from reading your book. The most important benefits of self publishing your eBook is that there won’t be any rejections, no change in thoughts presented in the book as there won’t be any editing on the content, make big profits by selling lots of copies, build a list of readers who appreciate your work and best part is the information is your valuable contribution to everyone who benefits from reading it.

The creation of the book and publishing it on the web is easy, especially if you follow simple instructions and take guidance from authors of the many free books available online. The cost associated with this activity depends on the kind of audience you want to target and the promotional activity you want to undertake for your book.

To start publishing your book the first requirement would be to format the content of your book and for that you can either go for professional help or proceed to complete the task on your own. Give your book some time and perform the proof reading activity. If your book is in PDF format then the best option is to lock your book before sending out to the market. This would secure your book and only allow your customers to extract the content and will prevent others from copying your work.

Next you need to create a graphical image for your book as this will help increase sales. Creating an eBook cover with professional help is an expensive affair. The best way to go for cover creation would be to use the available software packages and minimize the cost.

Do you want to learn how I build a list and make money online? I’ve just finished writing a brand new FREE ebook called ‘7 Steps to Profits and List Building with Article Marketing’.

Download it FREE here: Free Ebook

http://www.mrarticlemarketer.com

Author: Jason A Osborn
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Self Publish E-Books – The Planned Approach

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Deborah H. Bateman

You probably want to know the planned approach that will work wonders for selling your writing (ebooks) on the Internet. Well, here are the steps for a planned approach:

1) You have access to the Internet and a computer.

Notice I didn’t say you’re paying to be connected or have a computer you own. I used the word “access” which means you could do your self publishing from your local library or even at an Internet Cafe with computers.

2) You have an idea for an ebook

Before you start writing your ebook, you want to determine if there is a market. Why waste your time writing something that isn’t going to sell? There are many, maybe thousands of writers on the Internet who did not research their market and are now suffering the consequences of zero sales.

Don’t you be one of them.

3) Once you’ve done your research, you write your ebook

You must have a finished ebook. Too many times writers jump to producing a web site first, then write an ebook. This will cause you to have problems with the next planned approach.

5) You buy a domain name

If you buy the domain name before you’ve named your ebook, you have less of a chance of getting targeted (meaning buying) customers to your web site. Your domain name should specify exactly what you’re selling.

For example:

My name “a good read” was acquired before I knew the above. Yes, it’s EZ to remember but it doesn’t spell out exactly what I do. Is it a bad name? No, but it’s not as good as if I chose “Makingebooks.com” for my domain name. It would have expressed what I do better. But hey, after 10 years, I’m attached to agoodread.com.

6) Set up your hosting company

You must have a domain name before you can buy hosting. The hosting company needs to have a valid address to put on their servers.

7) Next is building your website.

This can mean from one to several thousand web pages. But if you have one product (ebook), then you should have four pages.

These include:

Opt-In Page
Sales Letter
Order Page
Thank you Page

The opt-in page is extremely important and I’ll go into that in another post but, for now, simply understand and accept your customer will not buy from you the first time they visit your site.

8) An Autoresponder is an absolute necessity.

I didn’t know this when I first started. I let hundreds of thousands of visitors come to my site and did nothing to keep in further contact with them. Don’t you make the same mistake.

9) Another essential item in your Planned Approach is a Shopping Cart

Yes, you’ll need a way to process orders. It can be as simple as using PayPal or any other online merchant like 2Checkout which accepts credit cards.

10) Bring traffic to your site.

Now this is where most writers fall down on the job. You can have the best ebook on the Internet but if nobody knows about it, your sales will reflect this.

There are other parts to the Planned Approach but these will get you started on the right path to self publishing your ebooks.

Judith Tramayne’s “EBook Learning System” has (7) Videos which show you how to make your ebook (2) times better using free software at: [http://www.agoodread.com/makeebook.html]

Author: Judith Tramayne
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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