Read a Good Book Lately? : Amazon eBook (Kindle) by Bob Galinsky

not sure but I hear its the thing to do these days. I am thinking of doing the same.

Thanks Rose, I'll let you know how I get on, if I go ahead with this...

Well I have just done this! I wrote the book with a paper version ultimately in mind, and that version is about to roll off the printing presses very soon, but if it is a Word document you can convert to Kindle of course. There are a few challenges to this, you can convert it yourself or have someone do it for you as it isn't a simply case of throwing a Word doc into kindle and then sitting back. It is a 3 stage process that is a bit complicated to go into here, You also need to bear things in mind as the page numbers don't exist,as the size of the font can be changed in kindle, hence rendering the page numbers obsolete! So don't embed them into the page. I learned all there is I know from the internet or from kindle themselves, and the instructions are very good. You can put illustrations in, but most kindles are mono so a colour picture isn't ideal. I had some drawings made for my book. Also formatting changes , so don't use a fancy font, as it may not convert. You may want to download Singal and also Calibre software, they are both free. It goes 1/ Word doc convert to a notepad version which strips all the formatting away from Word, 2/ Save as a web page filtered (html version) the put that into Singal 3/ put book cover in and then slice text into contents and chapters. Save as e-pub 5/ Then put into Calibre to make sure it works. See what I mean? Having done it once or so and made a few initial mistakes, I hopefully know what I am doing now, but it does take some time to know what to do. If you haven't the time I would farm it out to someone who does it all the time. Writing the book is actually the easy bit..its all the publicity and website stuff that needs to be done afterwards, but once done its there and you can make money whilst you are sleeping. The ultimate goal really. Hope that helps John Keedwell www getthemessagenow.com

Thanks John, that's really helpful...

Pleasure, its not easy trying to find out,

Amazon is okay but it has its draw backs like getting paid every three months and have to make over $10.00 to get paid monthly by PayPal or get charged a check fee to be paid.

That's impressive Manda, could you advise on what marketing techniques to use?

Shared with Twitter there are lots of ebook printers there as well.

Thank you or your interest Katherine, but what do you know about ebooks?

Hello Bob...I use Amazon...and it's OK...however the secret to self publishing is really a company called LULU here is my Author site with many of my books...and you can see how it works...also the ROYALTIES (80% not 60 like Amazon) and payments are Better and Fast...yes ..sell a book 30 days EXACTLY you get paid not months put 30 days and BAM they transfer your royalties... here is my link for you to see and to then decide... all the best... http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Sirtony

@ RA ...hope it helps ...@ Bob PS no matter who is your self publisher...you will be the SALES company ...the Marketing Company..etc ...they will CREATE the Book and deliver it...and that is a Miracle...and you do not need a Board of directors or an Agent etc...to approve the book Nor do these sites APPROVE your work...that is a Miracle too...but you will need to PROMOTE...and Yes you will need to get someone to help you like a PUBLICIST ...that cost Money...but we live in a TIME where EVERYONE IS A FILMMAKER and NOW A BOOK WRITER ...so although now it is POSSIBLE...what is almost IMPOSSIBLE is to get the Kind of Publicity you really need...So hit the streets...and the Sites...and make sure you know who is your Market and make a PLAN and follow it up...Blessings...

There's no reason not to. I've written books and put them out on Amazon Kindle platform under a number of pen names. Most have done reasonably well. They can't all be doctors and lawyers, but they're worth the time they take. Just remember the time it takes to really proofread the project well and edit will be the best time spent on the project. The readers will turn on you if they don't feel like you took the time to give them a good product. Hope this helps. Best of luck.

Absolutely. Kindle is all the rage and self-publishing a very easy thing to do. If you're looking into audiobooks, as well, consider the ACX, or Audiobook Creation Exchange, where you can have professional narrators and actors read your work for Audible. One of my actors does this, and he loves it. Since he has such a knack for character and can mimic so many voices, it's like having an all-star cast read your work! Very cool. Best of luck!

From all I have read its great but you have to do lots of marketing and build your author platform first. Maybe read Michael Hyatt Platform. Also great blog here about self publishing http://www.copyblogger.com/professional-self-publishing/

Thanks Marysia, I will check this out...

Hi Bob - yes, I've published on Amazon. You can do a lot yourself, but the key to a good book is to make sure the final drafts are polished by a third set of eyes. I highly recommend hiring a proofreader in the final drafts, then a good copy editor knowledgeable about Create Space - the headers/footers, page numbers,gutters and margins have to be very specific, it's not just a regular letter with even margin all the way around. When the final Word doc is in the shape you want it to be, simply convert the Word to a PDF, then it's easy to upload. You'll also need a good book cover design. Hire someone for that if you're not skilled. It has to be a certain size and resolution. For my digital platforms, I went to eBook Architects, then went to Book Baby - 100% royalties, no split. You just pay a reasonable upfront fee. That's the path I took. Hope this helps. b.

Thanks Beverly, I will certainly need to do a lot of research before I'm ready to upload, just as well the work I'm looking at publishing is not a book in the conventional sense,, but lots of short pieces that I have written over many years, consisting of; Poetry, Short Stories, Comedy Sketches, Jokes and other bits of Madness, so I may not need to be quite as precise as with a regular format, as any obvious mistakes may be put down to being planned errors...

Speaking as a veteran self-publisher, I would not recommend publishing on Amazon or CreateSpace. There are many legal and ethical reasons why not, among which are loss of control over your content and also bad customer service for authors, pressures to lower your price below what you are willing to, and other doubtful and dangerous tactics designed to allow Amazon to gain monopoly status. Believe me, I have been there. If you really want to self-publish a printed book, I would recommend Lulu to start, then as you publish more, go directly to Lightning Source. Amazon and Barnes & Noble both buy books from Lightning Source and Ingram. For ebooks, get the latest version of Calibre and publish your own. It will allow you to create as many format versions you like for almost free. (Donate something to the developer, please.) Then use Smashwords to distribute your ebooks with Word or ePub files to as many as 10 different retailers, including Kobo and Apple, and you can reach libraries, too. With Smashwords you won't need your own ISBN. For information about ISBNs visit Bowker.com; and information about publishing with Lightning Source is freely available on its site at lightningsource.com. Do not be fooled by the notoriety of Amazon. It works hard to keep itself the dominant marketplace with ultrahype and other bells and whistles, but it will fail when it comes to selling your books.

I wonder if Google have been Salmon Phishing? And if the Good Laird has partaken in the afore mentioned ‘Nice Little Earner’? As for me, I believe I am unsullied from the so called Google plot and therefore have no grounds for Legal embellishment, but, will seriously look at approaching the EMI with my Comedic material....Much Appreciation and Thanks