Tips & Tricks for self-publishers (formats, services, etc)

[matthewcplourde]

I posted a few tips on each of the major self-publishing services, including Amazon's Createspace, Smashwords, Lulu, iBooks, PubIT. Complete with screenshots and links!

I hope my fellow self-publishers find this info useful:

http://matthewcplourde.wordpress.com...ks-printebook/

[Luke King]

That's an interesting article, and well laid out, but you really ought to keep in mind that you're writing to a world-wide audience and not just the U.S. You have no idea how frustrating this is to people from other English speaking countries -- perhaps half of your potential readership -- to constantly read information written as though the only English speaking people in the world are American. It simply serves the perpetuate the view that Americans are inward looking and unaware of the wider world. Create space will not pay me into my bank account, and we don't have Social Security numbers in Australia. I haven't tried using PUBIT. Is it U.S. authors only?

[matthewcplourde]

The article was written from my personal experiences. Since I've only spent 1 month of my life living in a foreign country, I have no experience with publishing from across the borders.

To assume I'm an "inward-looking American unaware of the wider world" is quite the leap - you don't know anything about me.

If I come across any info about international self-publishing, I would gladly share it.

Do me a favor next time, before assuming someone is a snotty American -- read about them. Read my "About" page on my blog and then come back here and tell me if you still think I'm "unaware of the world around me".

The internet is a funny place... you can lend a hand to someone who was maybe just hit by a car and they'll ask you: "Why didn't you stop the car?"

EDIT: Sorry if I was a bit harsh above, I shouldn't have risen to the bait. Luke - you are entitled to your own opinion. Like I said, if I come across useful international advice, I would gladly share & link it. (I didn't edit anything above)

[Steven Lake]

Originally Posted by Luke King

It simply serves the perpetuate the view that Americans are inward looking and unaware of the wider world.

lol. You only need to watch the nightly news or read one of our hundreds of tabloid magazines to see that. lol.

As for "only writing for the American audience", yes, many of us do that because we have little or no experience with things outside of our own little sphere of influence. So we write from what we know.

[Luke King]

Originally Posted by matthewcplourde

The article was written from my personal experiences. Since I've only spent 1 month of my life living in a foreign country, I have no experience with publishing from across the borders.

To assume I'm an "inward-looking American unaware of the wider world" is quite the leap - you don't know anything about me.

If I come across any info about international self-publishing, I would gladly share it.

Do me a favor next time, before assuming someone is a snotty American -- read about them. Read my "About" page on my blog and then come back here and tell me if you still think I'm "unaware of the world around me".

The internet is a funny place... you can lend a hand to someone who was maybe just hit by a car and they'll ask you: "Why didn't you stop the car?"

EDIT: Sorry if I was a bit harsh above, I shouldn't have risen to the bait. Luke - you are entitled to your own opinion. Like I said, if I come across useful international advice, I would gladly share & link it. (I didn't edit anything above)

The only point I was trying to make is that your information is on the World Wide Web. It can be read by anyone in the world. If the information it contains is only relevant to one country in that world, then you aren't writing for your audience, but for a small section of it.

I read your about page a couple of weeks ago. And I'm sorry if I came across as rude. That wasn't my intention.

[DavidRM]

Here's a random tip:

If you are planning to release your book as both an ebook via Amazon DTP and print-on-demand (POD) via CreateSpace: "Publish" the book to Amazon via CreateSpace *FIRST*. Then, when the POD edition shows up on Amazon (even if the listing is still incomplete) publish via DTP. Why? Because it seems to take Amazon no time at all to join the two editions of the book together if they have the POD version first, then the Kindle version. In the other order, it can take a week or more for Amazon to join them properly.

-David

[Keryl Raist]

Here's a somewhat random tip:

When you are doing your final edit, the find function is your friend. By your final edit you should know what your problem areas are: commas, homonyms, apostrophes, whatever. Use the find function to check each instance. By going through semi colon by semi colon (if that's your pet issue) you'll have a much cleaner copy.

[JulieMack]

Originally Posted by Steven Lake

lol. You only need to watch the nightly news or read one of our hundreds of tabloid magazines to see that. lol.

As for "only writing for the American audience", yes, many of us do that because we have little or no experience with things outside of our own little sphere of influence. So we write from what we know.

This is an interesting post - well the "American" response was. I try to think about that when I write, but truthfully we write from our perspective. Steven - good point! We write from what we know. If someone does not find it useful, they can move on. It is not always easy to reach every audience, nor should it always be required! Take what you can and apply it to your own circumstances. Just my $.02.