The DIY Guide to ePublishing
July 1st, 2011 by Mary DeMuthMary DeMuth is a Christian author and book mentor. Mary decided to ePublish a book and document it, and we thought it’d be very useful information to pass along. If the DIY path seems a little too difficult for you, you can also buy an easy ePublishing package from BelieversPress; give us your content, we’ll take care of the details. You can also hire help with any particular part of the process. From cover design to ISBNs to eBook file conversion, if you have a need, we’d like to help!
I never thought I’d self publish anything. Truly. I’m a traditionally published girl with eleven books under my author belt. I love my publishers, love what they’ve done. But there came a time when one of my book ideas didn’t fit within their needs.
The kernel of the idea to e-publish started when I pioneered my nonfiction and fiction proposal tutorials to help authors with the difficult process of writing a book proposal. Sure, they were simple e-documents I sold here from my site, but they weren’t made of paper, and they’ve proven to be a financial blessing. I don’t make a lot, but the amount helps me pay my taxes (and everyone knows the taxmonster needs fed.) (Side note: I use e-junkie in conjunction with PayPal to administrate my e-purchases. E-junkie isn’t expensive, and PayPal is free, except for the processing fees. Click on my store tab above to see how I’ve created buttons for these products.)
After this, I started to entertain the idea of publishing (via e-book readers) The 11 Secrets of Getting Published. I learned a lot along the journey. I’d like to save you the learning curve, so read on to discover the seven simple steps for publishing your e-book.
- Develop an idea, then write it. This is probably the hardest thing in the process. Some of you have short stories you’d like to compile. Some have novels in a drawer. Others have tons of blogs you could pull together to create a book. That’s what I chose to do. I had this idea to compile the most instructive posts from my former blog, Wannabepublished. What surprised me: when I added all the posts into a document, I had over 60,000 words! (Side note: a typical nonfiction book is 50-60,000 words. A typical novel is 80-100,000 words.) Of course, with an e-book, the rules have changed, but these numbers give you a ballpark to shoot for.
- Edit the document. I spent the the next few months editing the piece. I also hired Leslie Wilson, a mentor at the Writing Spa, to fine tune and organize it for me. If you’re not a writer (or even if you are), I highly recommend you hire an outside editor. You want to produce the best possible book, right? Keep in mind there are two types of edits, a substantive edit where the editor checks the big idea, flow, holes, etc. The second is a line or copy edit, where the editor checks for grammar and usage problems. Both are important. If you have an incredible critique group with big picture writers (substantive) and English teacher types (copy), you may be able to get away with not paying for an edit. But it’s always best to err on the side of professionalism.
- Transform the document into the correct e-format. You can’t just upload a word document and be done with it. You need specific files to upload to the Kindle (known as a .prc file), which are different than the Nook or iPad (known as the .epub file) format. Many people have successfully used SmashWords for this. I’ve been to the site, and it seems very user friendly. The only thing they ask is that you make sure your document is correctly formatted in Word before you upload it. They have a SmashWords Style Guide you can upload for free that helps you through the process. Since I work with Believers Press, I decided to pay to have them convert the files for me. They did an amazing job and quoted an affordable price.
- Although it’s not entirely necessary for ebooks, it is a good idea to buy an ISBN for your title. You can purchase these at Bowker. It’s cheaper if you buy more than one. 1 is $125.00. 10 ISBNs are $250, and 100 are $575. I bought ten. The process is fairly simple, and all the ebook uploaders have a box where you can place your ISBN.
- Pay a designer to create an amazing cover. Don’t scrimp on this. I happen to adore my friend George at Tekeme Studios. He is incredibly gifted at creating covers.
- Upload your document.
- Find the appropriate site and register an account. They’ll ask you for your SSN or EIN, your address, and your banking information. You can opt to have them send you a physical check or direct deposit the money into your account. I chose the latter option. If you’d like to upload to Kindle, click here. For Barnes & Noble’s nook, click here. For the Ipad, click here to start your account with itunesconnect. Here’s a FAQ for the iPad uploading. It’s a bit complicated (oddly). (The latter two were not easy for me to find initially, so I’m saving you time by giving you the direct link.) Happy note: IT DOES NOT COST YOU TO HAVE AN ACCOUNT OR UPLOAD YOUR BOOK. IT IS FREE! Yay!
- Give your title, a book description, and the language you wrote the piece (presumably English).
- Create a bio.
- Identify yourself as the author. If there are contributing authors, you can add more authors in drop down menus.
- Verify Your Publishing Rights. You’ll have two options: “This is a public domain work” or “This is not a public domain work and I hold the necessary publishing rights.” You will typically choose the second option since you are the author of the piece and hold all rights. (If you are publishing one of your old books that’s been traditionally published, be sure you have ALL RIGHTS reverted back to you before you publish your book. Have a physical document from the publisher granting you all rights.)
- Decide about DRM (Digital Rights Management). You want to select Enable Digital Rights Management so people can’t send your file everywhere. This protects you from piracy.
- Provide your ISBN (if you have one).
- Supply keywords (words that relate to your book that will help them position your title).
- Click through categories and decide which ones best fit your book. For instance, my category had to do with publishing and authorship.
- Upload your book cover image. They usually have a file maximum size like 5 MB. A typical cover will be about 1.5 MB. Your graphic artist will already know this and will create the file in appropriate dimensions with web friendly colors.
- Upload your digital file of the text (in the proper format, though Kindle will do the transformation for you.)
- Set the price. Of all the research out there, $2.99 seems to be the magic number. It’s the least you can price something and still make a high percentage on royalties (for Amazon, that’s 70%).
- Decide on rights. Typically people choose worldwide.
- When you finish all this (It took me less than an hour), wait about 24 hours for the book to go live.
- Market your book!
- Message your Facebook and Twitter followers.
- Give books away for free for a short period of time to generate buzz, and ask that folks review and chatter about it.
- Send a note to your email distribution list.
- Give copies away to influential friends who would offer endorsement and/or tweet/facebook/blog about your book.
- Take out targeted Facebook ads.
- Pay to be a sponsor on Kindle Nation Daily. Here are their prices. Author James Scott Bell said he did this and more than paid back what he paid to advertise his books.
So there you go! I’ll admit that when I first thought of doing this, I felt completely inadequate and ignorant. The learning curve seemed too high. But as I chipped away at the process, I realized this was something I could do. It makes me happy, too, to know that I can simplify the process for you.
So get writing! Start publishing! Venture forward! Keep this post and share it with others who need the process demystified.
It’s a business. No, it’s a ministry.
June 17th, 2011 by Andrew MackayThere is a tension present nearly every time I talk with a fellow believer about self-publishing. The tension is found in the headline above. To put it in question form:
Are your publishing pursuits a business or are they ministry?
Of course, the answer is seldom that easy. Far more often, it’s a combination of both. The desire to publish is a desire to spread the message that God has laid on your heart to the people He’s given you a burden for. It’s a desire to do that in a way that allows your ministry / career / self to grow.
How do you do that?
As I teach self-publishing classes, I’m constantly reminded (and reminding people in my classes!) of the need to evaluate costs, likely sales, and the impact that those numbers will have on your ministry. If you’ve done the math, then even if publishing the book is going to be (by the math) a losing proposition, at least you were aware ahead of time. And that’s just good stewardship!
Celebrate your local Christian bookstore
June 3rd, 2011 by Andrew MackayRetail has long been a challenge for self-publishing authors. Local stores may or may not be willing to work directly with an author on carrying a book. You can make their lives easier by using a distributor they already purchase from (and know and trust), but even then, getting them excited about your book may be a challenge.
Maybe it’s time we stopped to ask ourselves if we are excited about their businesses. As Christian authors, we’re accustomed to viewing our work as ministry. Do we see our local Christian bookstores that way too? If not, it might be time for us to re-evaluate how we look at them.
It’s so easy to roll into your local bookstore and talk with them about your book. But do you already buy books there? Do they know you (or at least recognize you a little bit)? Are you praying for them?
I haven’t met many people who are in writing, publishing, or book sales in the Christian market for the money. What if we started to celebrate each other? What if we started to love each other and pray for each other? What a great opportunity to work together for our Savior! After all, He is the real reason we do these things.
How to Avoid the Self-Publishing Stigma
May 26th, 2011 by Andrew MackayDiscussing the state of the self-publishing world recently, someone asserted that the stigma of self-publishing was gone. Someone else said, “Well, maybe it shouldn’t be.” I had to push for a clearer explanation. When I got it, I thought, Yeah, he may have a point. Here’s how:
The stigma of self-publishing wasn’t related to just one characteristic. It related to quality issues, sales issues, and the general perception that someone who self-published didn’t have what it took to make it in the commercial publishing world. Looking over that list, some of those issues have changed:
- The sales issue was tied up in the lack of access to good distribution. Today, authors can find all kinds of great distribution options. Brick-and-mortar access is still tough (unless you have a budget to play with the big boys), but you can be available and connected with readers in ways that publishers aren’t nimble enough to rival.
- the “not-good-enough” issue is being stood on its head as more than just a few commercially published authors are slipping away from their publishers and beginning to publish themselves. Some of them are going eBook only, while others are using a combination of eBooks and POD technology to be available to their readers where-ever the readers want them. However they accomplish it, they’re taking control of their own publishing endeavors — they are self-publishing.
But, here’s where my conversation partner had a point: the quality issue. Commercially published books aren’t perfect. In fact, if you’re the kind of reader I am, you may get a little bit of glee over catching errors. (I know, I know, how tremendously petty!). But, they do attain to a certain standard of quality. Even if it’s not the type of book you usually read, there is a bar set for quality that the vast majority of the titles will meet or exceed.
Compare that to self-publishing. If you ordered 10 random self-published titles from your favorite distributor or retailer, you’d get a mixed bag of results. You might get a few with great covers and a few with covers so bad they’re practically criminal. As you read, you might find that some of them were tremendously well edited. More of them, however, would be barely edited at all, leaving you to wonder about the author’s own ability to concoct a brilliant sentence. The interior design of some will be up to industry standards. Others will use all the wrong fonts and be completely illegible.
So, consider this an open challenge: If you’re going to self-publish, it’s up to you to ensure that you don’t deserve the stigma of self-publishing. You can choose to do great work (and hire the right people) and have a high-quality book. Do it. Don’t let yourself wind up with a book that gets in the way of your message. Don’t deserve the stigma!
Publishing for a Cause
May 19th, 2011 by Andrew MackayLast week, we covered 5 good reasons to self-publish. There’s an even bigger one, though, that we didn’t cover. This one isn’t just a good reason to self-publish, it’s a good reason to publish.
Publishing can not only serve your cause, it can help you further your cause. How?
- Comprehension. There’s still no better way to communicate a message than a book. Publishing can help people to understand your cause.
- Growth. Publishing for your cause can help you reach people that otherwise wouldn’t be able to reach.
- Funding. Selling your book can help you raise money to further your cause.
At BelieversPress, we love working with authors and ministries who are part of a cause – the Cause, taking the good news about Jesus to the world. Maybe it’s time for your cause to start publishing.
5 Legitimate Reasons to Self-Publish
May 6th, 2011 by Andrew MackayIf you hang out in publishing circles, you’re bound to hear about the stigma of self-publishing. You may hear that the stigma is gone. You may hear that the stigma is still strong. The rationale goes something like this: Authors self-publish because they aren’t good enough to find a “real” publisher. (Of course, pick two people and ask them to define a “real” publisher, and see how close their definitions are… but that’s another blog post).
The reality is, sure, some self-published books aren’t “good enough” to get picked up by a traditional, commercial publisher. But other books are self-published for totally different reasons. Here are six good reasons an author might self-publish.
- Creative Control
Some authors want to be able to make all the decisions for their book — from title to release date to cover design to editorial changes. You may have heard a cynical Golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules. When it comes to commercial publishing, the reality is that the publisher has the gold and makes the rules. That’s okay — they’re running a business. But if an author decides to run their own business in order to keep themselves in the driver’s seat, that should be okay too.
- Niche Market
It turns out that commercial publishers need to sell a certain quantity of books in order to be profitable. They can’t afford to publish books written to small niches. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t still a business case to be made for someone to publish to those niches, though! An author who doesn’t have the ongoing overhead of a large publisher can make money and be successful by publishing to a niche market. Why miss that opportunity?
- Financial Opportunity
Some authors self-publish as a business decision. I’ve often heard 15% of net sales bandied about as the royalty that a Christian author can expect. An author might look at the numbers and decide that they want to keep a higher percentage of their sales. If they can sell their book, that’s a good decision!
- Group/Event related
Consider the typical commercial publishing timeline: 18 – 24 months from the time the contract is signed until the book hits the market. If an author’s book targets a specific event, they may not have 18-24 months to wait. In those cases, the quicker timelines possible in self-publishing will make a great opportunity actually come to pass.
- Well-developed Platform
This one is only beginning to take place. It may become a tidal wave. Seth Godin is the perfect example: he has a tremendous platform. They know where to find him and he knows where to find them. He doesn’t need the support of a publisher. In fact, he can do better on his own. He realized it, and he’s doing it.
So there you have it… 5 legit reasons to self-publish. Do you see some holes? Any problems? We’re always trying to refine our thinking — we’d love to hear yours!
Did you feel the earth shake?
April 19th, 2011 by John DePree
Today Bethany Press and Anchor Distributors launched OnDemandplus. Why is this important?
Well, there used to be multiple barriers that made self-publishing less desirable to authors. Some of the largest of those barriers included the following:
1. Affordable industry quality covers and editing
2. Upfront costs for development and production
3. Multi-channel distribution to retailers
4. Effective sales/marketing representation to retailers
In the consumer driven publishing world it’s about being in the right place at the right time, and royalty publishers traditionally gave authors a better chance of seeing this magic moment happen.
In a word, royalty publishers provided “access” for authors through placement on store shelves and through sales/marketing exposure. If readers can’t access an author’s content, then no sale happens. Pretty simple right? But today, readers need to be able to access a book through their preferred provider which is increasingly online and in their preferred format, which is increasingly eBook, or a sale is missed. Unfortunately for self-published authors, this need for broad placement and multi-format access has been the exclusive realm of large publishers from which self-published authors have been excluded.
Until now…
OnDemandplus was created to tear down most of these barriers, and to give Christian self-published authors access to
1. Quality covers and edits through the industry professionals at Believerspress.com
2. Multiple content formats
3. Multi-channel retail opportunities
OnDemandplus Overview
This leaves one last hurdle self-published authors to conquer…effective sales representation to retailers; and I have some ideas….
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Follow @BethanyPress and @BelieversPress on Twitter for the latest OnDemandplus news.
Do you remember the book that hooked you?
April 13th, 2011 by Andrew Mackay
I do. I was blessed to grow up being encouraged to read. I read a lot, too. I remember a lot of the books that I read along the way, but the book that hooked me and made me a fiction reading adult was The Maestro by Davis Bunn (he was T. Davis Bunn at the time).
I was 13 or 14, and The Maestro connected with a lot of the angst I felt, it connected with my love of music, and it just worked for me. The reading experience was engrossing. I loved it. I loved the cheesy parts (and there were some), I loved the serious parts. I loved that it talked about real characters living their faith in sometimes trying times. It made me want to write.
I could seriously wax poetic about what that book did for me. But enough about me… was there a book that cemented your status as an aspiring writer?
Everyone needs an editor (or, Read your own headlines)
April 7th, 2011 by Andrew MackaySo, a couple of weeks ago, I sat at my desk preparing the BelieversPress blog and social media updates. My practice is to do those things once or twice a day, and it’s generally a good practice. But, I was in a hurry, so I “powered through,” got everything scheduled, and moved quickly about my day.
But… I skipped a key step. I didn’t edit. I didn’t check my headlines. And boy, could you tell. I ended up posting “How are you approaching the changes in the publishing industry? Here’s one example from one author” to Facebook and Twitter.
I saw the posts in the evening. I sat there with my head in my hands, asking myself what exactly I meant. Did I mean as opposed to one example from many authors? Or, as opposed to many examples from one author? Why did I repeat one? Why didn’t I read it over? Ergh. (That’s like Argh, but with a little Err thrown in)
All that to say, make sure you’re at least taking the time to edit your work. Read it over. Make sure you’re not missing the obvious. Make it as good as it can possibly be. And if you know yourself to have persistent issues, get an editor!
I’m off to write another bad tweet.
Essential characteristic of a great novelist
March 28th, 2011 by Andrew MackayI read a quote this morning that made me think about the personality traits that I need to work on in order to be a better writer. These words were both an encouragement and a challenge:
Essential characteristic of the really great novelist: a Christ-like, all-embracing compassion.
Arnold Bennett
How does your writing reflect Christ’s compassion?
