Has anyone self-published an ebook on Amazon?
Discussion
As per the thread title - has anyone self-published an ebook on Amazon?
I'm just putting the finishing touches to a book and self-publishing seems at first glance to be a fairly straightforward provess.
I just wondered if anyone had any experiences they can share about the process? Any pitfalls? Tips? Any advice on pricing etc.?
All comments gratefully received!
I'm just putting the finishing touches to a book and self-publishing seems at first glance to be a fairly straightforward provess.
I just wondered if anyone had any experiences they can share about the process? Any pitfalls? Tips? Any advice on pricing etc.?
All comments gratefully received!
I have! I wrote a blog post for fellow author (and self-publishing best seller) Michael Grumley that you may find interesting: http://www.michaelgrumley.com/guest-post-andrew-mo...
R_U_LOCAL said:
Thank you! That's very helpful.
Not a novel in my case, but a book on advanced and performance driving. It's based on my PH posts but with extra content.
I'm just giving it a final edit at the moment, but I hadn't given a thought to the cover design or the blurb - thanks for the tip.
If you want it to have the best chance, taking time to make it inticing and professional is very important, and also something often overlooked. Look at traditionally published books for examples, and invest, if you can, in promotions as well. It's not going to sell if people don't see it, or, if when they do see it, it doesn't look appealing. Not a novel in my case, but a book on advanced and performance driving. It's based on my PH posts but with extra content.
I'm just giving it a final edit at the moment, but I hadn't given a thought to the cover design or the blurb - thanks for the tip.
Also, it's probably a good idea to pay a reputable editor to look through your work before publishing it too.
If you're using images and tables within the text then you're better off paying someone to format the whole thing for you. I don't have anything like that in mine and I still have to "nuke" it (copy it in to Notepad and then copy back to Word with lots of stuff disabled) just to make the Table of Contents work.
Mine are just a bit of fun that I write because I miss doing research and I like sharing what I've learned. If you're taking yours more seriously then, like Andy said, get someone proper to look over it and spend some extra money on getting the cover right.
If you're certain you want to format it yourself then Google the Smashwords guide, it's a big PDF document but it'll take you step by step through formatting your book. First time round it took me about 2 hours, and mine's a small book. Second time was an hour as I knew how to get parts right in the first place, but it's still time consuming. Best to set aside an entire afternoon for a big book!
Mine are just a bit of fun that I write because I miss doing research and I like sharing what I've learned. If you're taking yours more seriously then, like Andy said, get someone proper to look over it and spend some extra money on getting the cover right.
If you're certain you want to format it yourself then Google the Smashwords guide, it's a big PDF document but it'll take you step by step through formatting your book. First time round it took me about 2 hours, and mine's a small book. Second time was an hour as I knew how to get parts right in the first place, but it's still time consuming. Best to set aside an entire afternoon for a big book!
Thanks for the advice.
Firstly, this isn't a particularly serious project - I've been playing with it for a few months now, but its turned into a much bigger document than I was expecting.
It started a while back when a couple of PHers suggested that I put my previous PH posts in the advanced driving forum into an ebook format. I started by formatting the posts into more of a "book" format, put it into chapters, took out the obvious forum references and played around with the order so there was some chronology to the chapters.
I have now written a few new chapters and tidied up some of the others so the different subjects are well covered. I've still a bit more to write, but not much.
It's currently a Microsoft Word document, so the stuff above about formatting will be very useful.
I honestly have no expectations whatsoever when it comes to sales. It's a book on advanced and performance road driving, so it may have some appeal with enthusiasts, but on the other hand, people may think it's a stringback and wheel-shuffler's manual and give it a miss.
Searching the Kindle store, there seem to be very few ebooks on advanced driving, so I might get a few sales, but I'm really doing it as nothing more than a hobby at the moment.
I'll let you know how I get on!
Firstly, this isn't a particularly serious project - I've been playing with it for a few months now, but its turned into a much bigger document than I was expecting.
It started a while back when a couple of PHers suggested that I put my previous PH posts in the advanced driving forum into an ebook format. I started by formatting the posts into more of a "book" format, put it into chapters, took out the obvious forum references and played around with the order so there was some chronology to the chapters.
I have now written a few new chapters and tidied up some of the others so the different subjects are well covered. I've still a bit more to write, but not much.
It's currently a Microsoft Word document, so the stuff above about formatting will be very useful.
I honestly have no expectations whatsoever when it comes to sales. It's a book on advanced and performance road driving, so it may have some appeal with enthusiasts, but on the other hand, people may think it's a stringback and wheel-shuffler's manual and give it a miss.
Searching the Kindle store, there seem to be very few ebooks on advanced driving, so I might get a few sales, but I'm really doing it as nothing more than a hobby at the moment.
I'll let you know how I get on!
Finished it!
http://tinyurl.com/kx7cjby
Thanks for all the tips - it was much easier than I expected it to be. Any (constructive) criticism will be gratefully received. I'm happy to admit it is an extremely amateur attempt, but I'm quite proud of it nontheless.
http://tinyurl.com/kx7cjby
Thanks for all the tips - it was much easier than I expected it to be. Any (constructive) criticism will be gratefully received. I'm happy to admit it is an extremely amateur attempt, but I'm quite proud of it nontheless.
Reading through it at the moment and it does read very well 
The only issue I have is that the normal Kindle e-readers aren't the best at displaying the images. A couple of the circles used to point out things in the "Limit Point" section are quite tricky to see. On the iPad Kindle app they're perfectly fine though, and the "Linking Corners" section has much better circles (circle connoisseur that I am).
Otherwise, it's great so far. I like your writing style and the content is great. I wouldn't say it's very good "for a first attempt". It's very good in its own right.
The only issue I have is that the normal Kindle e-readers aren't the best at displaying the images. A couple of the circles used to point out things in the "Limit Point" section are quite tricky to see. On the iPad Kindle app they're perfectly fine though, and the "Linking Corners" section has much better circles (circle connoisseur that I am).
Otherwise, it's great so far. I like your writing style and the content is great. I wouldn't say it's very good "for a first attempt". It's very good in its own right.
Thanks very much for your comments - much appreciated.
I previewed it on a laptop and on my iPad, but I no longer have a kindle, so I didn't get the chance to view it on one.
I appreciate the comments about the pictures - they are quite old now and if I were to do a second edition I might look to take some better ones. In the meantime, I might just see if I can thicken the lines on the circles to make them easier to see.
Thanks again.
I previewed it on a laptop and on my iPad, but I no longer have a kindle, so I didn't get the chance to view it on one.
I appreciate the comments about the pictures - they are quite old now and if I were to do a second edition I might look to take some better ones. In the meantime, I might just see if I can thicken the lines on the circles to make them easier to see.
Thanks again.
I haven't bought it I'm afraid, but I've had a scan through the first few pages on the Amazon preview.
Content looks good, but the paragraph layout is inconsistent which can be a distraction to a reader.
Some paragraphs have an indented first line, some don't. Most paragraphs have a single blank line between them, but occasional ones have two or none at all.
I know it sounds pedantic, but I'll often read the first couple of pages of a book in the preview and things like this will put me off pressing "buy".
For general guidance on self-publishing, I'd strongly recommend a visit to the Kindle Boards forum, www.kboards.com.
The Writer's cafe is populated by a lot of Kindle writers - some professionals, but mainly self-publishers like yourself.
HTH.
Content looks good, but the paragraph layout is inconsistent which can be a distraction to a reader.
Some paragraphs have an indented first line, some don't. Most paragraphs have a single blank line between them, but occasional ones have two or none at all.
I know it sounds pedantic, but I'll often read the first couple of pages of a book in the preview and things like this will put me off pressing "buy".
For general guidance on self-publishing, I'd strongly recommend a visit to the Kindle Boards forum, www.kboards.com.
The Writer's cafe is populated by a lot of Kindle writers - some professionals, but mainly self-publishers like yourself.
HTH.
The Crack Fox said:
Looks good! I'll digest it in full this week.
Can I ask how many you've sold? I've a book I always wanted to publish and wonder if it's worth the faff.
Thanks! A grand total of 18 copies so far! I don't think I'll be booking my round-the-world cruise just yet!Can I ask how many you've sold? I've a book I always wanted to publish and wonder if it's worth the faff.
To be honest, I really didn't do it for the money. I suppose the biggest motivator was to do it for my own personal satisfaction, and to put all my years of Pistonheads posts together and just see what it looked like. If I make a few sales off the back of it, that's a bonus. I deliberately kept the price low on the understanding that it is an amateur book and £2.99 isn't too bad if people think it's crap!
It's quite exciting checking the sales dashboard every day though!
Morf said:
I haven't bought it I'm afraid, but I've had a scan through the first few pages on the Amazon preview.
Content looks good, but the paragraph layout is inconsistent which can be a distraction to a reader.
Some paragraphs have an indented first line, some don't. Most paragraphs have a single blank line between them, but occasional ones have two or none at all.
I know it sounds pedantic, but I'll often read the first couple of pages of a book in the preview and things like this will put me off pressing "buy".
For general guidance on self-publishing, I'd strongly recommend a visit to the Kindle Boards forum, www.kboards.com.
The Writer's cafe is populated by a lot of Kindle writers - some professionals, but mainly self-publishers like yourself.
HTH.
Thanks for your comments. The edit looked fine on the previewer but there seem to be a couple of minor issues n translation to some of the other formats.Content looks good, but the paragraph layout is inconsistent which can be a distraction to a reader.
Some paragraphs have an indented first line, some don't. Most paragraphs have a single blank line between them, but occasional ones have two or none at all.
I know it sounds pedantic, but I'll often read the first couple of pages of a book in the preview and things like this will put me off pressing "buy".
For general guidance on self-publishing, I'd strongly recommend a visit to the Kindle Boards forum, www.kboards.com.
The Writer's cafe is populated by a lot of Kindle writers - some professionals, but mainly self-publishers like yourself.
HTH.
My intention is to update the book regularly as I continue to post on PH, so I'll take the opportunity to address some of these issues as I go along.
All my future updates will be made available free of charge to anyone who has already bought the book.
I'll update in here and the AD forum each time I update.
Now the 12th best seller in the "Automotive" section of the Kindle bookstore!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-...
R_U_LOCAL said:
Now the 12th best seller in the "Automotive" section of the Kindle bookstore!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-...
I had a quick look on the link when I logged in you were actually number 5 in the list !!.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-...
Im in the process of writing a book totally different subject but I want mine in print rather than ebook so its more of a reference book rather than an online book as Im starting from scratch as in ive got the idea behind a book just need to put the idea into reality now.
The research that im doing is going well and im getting good feedback from another forum with suggestions of subjects I had overlooked which is always good.
My problems lie with my grammar and spelling so will need some help with before I get going in actually writing.
andyroo said:
Going to download now and have a look. First impressions are that the cover looks a bit, well, amateurish! If you'd like me to put something together for you, just give me a shout.
I'm happy to admit that the whole book is a bit amateurish! To be honest, I hadn't given the cover any thought before I uploaded the book to Amazon. The uploader allows you to design your own cover using either your own photographs or a limited series of stock pictures. I didn't really have any suitable pictures of my own, and I didn't want to fall foul of any copyright stuff, so that picture of an old V8 engine was probably the least worst option.My plan is to update the book regularly with my latest Pistonheads posts and to make the updates available free to anyone who has already bought the book. I'll be giving it it's first update in a couple of weeks, so if you want to design me a better cover I'd be extremely grateful!
Oh, and it's number 3 now!
R_U_LOCAL said:
I'm happy to admit that the whole book is a bit amateurish! To be honest, I hadn't given the cover any thought before I uploaded the book to Amazon. The uploader allows you to design your own cover using either your own photographs or a limited series of stock pictures. I didn't really have any suitable pictures of my own, and I didn't want to fall foul of any copyright stuff, so that picture of an old V8 engine was probably the least worst option.
My plan is to update the book regularly with my latest Pistonheads posts and to make the updates available free to anyone who has already bought the book. I'll be giving it it's first update in a couple of weeks, so if you want to design me a better cover I'd be extremely grateful!
Oh, and it's number 3 now!
I've started reading and the content, save the odd grammar niggle, is engaging and enjoyable to read. It deserves a little polish! Have you considered what you'd like to achieve with the book, ie how you want to invest in its performance etc? Advertising is surprisingly affordable and widespread, and could give your book a welcome nudge up the charts if you wanted to. My plan is to update the book regularly with my latest Pistonheads posts and to make the updates available free to anyone who has already bought the book. I'll be giving it it's first update in a couple of weeks, so if you want to design me a better cover I'd be extremely grateful!
Oh, and it's number 3 now!
I'll have a look at a cover design or two for you. Are you happy for me to use an istock image or something like that? They can cost fifty-odd quid, but it's worth it for the professionalism in my opinion. See what you think I suppose!
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