08-20-2013, 12:11 PM | #1 |
Wizard
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Advice for a writer friend...
This is for a family friend. He is older and not that tech-savvy, at least where eBooks are concerned, but he is looking to self-publish.
It is kind of a memoir about his adventures in mountain-climbing, boating, and building a life and community in the Discovery Islands. What is the best venue for him to self-publish with and how would he go about publishing it as an eBook? |
08-20-2013, 12:22 PM | #2 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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I tell ya, the easiest thing I've seen is Amazon/Kindle publishing. Particularly if the book/ms is in MS-Word format. It's just a matter of uploading that Word file, a cover image (or not even that) and filling out the information. You do have to sign up as an Amazon author first, but easy-peasy.
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08-20-2013, 12:24 PM | #3 |
eBook Enthusiast
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Agreed. Amazon totally dominate the market and have by far the best publishing tools.
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08-20-2013, 12:28 PM | #4 |
Wizard
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Thanks, guys! I figured that but wanted to make sure.
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08-20-2013, 10:13 PM | #5 |
Grand Sorcerer
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If you sign up to publish through Smashwords doesn't it trickle down to Amazon as well as the other big ebook sellers?
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08-20-2013, 11:56 PM | #6 |
Surfin the alpha waves ~~
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Not to Amazon, although there's always hope that might change.
I do like Smashwords, and you can always publish on both Amazon and Smashwords, although that rules out Amazon's KDP Select program. |
08-21-2013, 06:30 AM | #7 | |
Wizard
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Quote:
Only currently for top sellers. I forget the cut off, but Amazon does not want to let Smashwords do a large bulk up load so they have to limit to a small piece of their catalog. Really for American E-Books, no one touches Amazon currently. They own the market. |
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08-21-2013, 07:49 AM | #8 |
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08-21-2013, 07:52 AM | #9 |
Wizard
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08-21-2013, 07:58 AM | #10 |
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08-21-2013, 08:03 AM | #11 |
Wizard
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I have no facts to back this up nor any sites to link... but I highly doubt that. They did at one time, but over the last 1-2 years they have really fallen and fallen hard.
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08-27-2013, 10:29 AM | #12 |
Groupie
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90% of my sales are through Amazon. The other 10% are split between Apple and B&N and I think Apple takes the lead between the two. On my soon to be published #3 it'll be a boring winter day when I upload it to B&N.
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09-02-2013, 04:21 PM | #13 |
I write stories.
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I'm with everyone else: Amazon has the best distribution and a very intuitive user interface.
If the family friend is not tech-savvy, and if he is not short on money, he might wish to hire someone to professionally format and upload the book for him. I know there are people who offer services like that, although I don't know what they charge. You can probably find some on the yellow pages at kindleboards. |
09-05-2013, 09:04 AM | #14 |
Wizard
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Thanks, Nancy. I need to let him know. I am pretty good at using technology and a librarian but I have not formatted an eBook before. I do how to do things like insert jpgs and save a Word document as a PDF (which isn't a great format for an eBook) but someone professional would obviously know a lot more.
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09-05-2013, 01:34 PM | #15 |
Award-Winning Participant
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I concur with the group.
I'd add: Get a professionally designed cover. |
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