The Low Down on Self-Publishing
Low Down on Self-Publishing
Why publish?
Where to publish
What to / What not to publish
How to Create Your Best Seller
How / Where to Market Your book
A Bit About me...
Pete’s Publishing
Why Publish??
Publishing has never been more
accessible than it is today...
Now anyone can leverage books to...
Gain instant authority, credibility and
Get more leads for their business...
or simply increase their sense of pride.
Explosive Growth
The Harry Potter Series
150 million copies sold
* Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 2012
The Hunger Games Trilogy
More than 50 million copies sold
* Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 2012
50 Shades of Gray
Best Selling Book in British History
* Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 2012
5/13 - 21 of top 100 Business books on Kindle
35 of top 100 Self Help on Kindle
Amazon Kindle introduced in 2007
By April, 1 2011, e-book sales outsold printed books...
(105 e-books for every 100 printed books)
It's now selling three times as many e-books
as it did a year ago.
Analysts estimate that Amazon
accounts for about two-thirds of U.S.
e-book sales.
* Huffington Post, May 2011
Bezos: ebook sales up 70% in 2012
CEO Jeff Bezos called out ebooks in particular: “We’re now
seeing the transition we’ve been expecting. After five years,
ebooks is a multi-billion dollar category for us and growing
fast — up approximately 70 percent last year. In contrast,
our physical book sales experienced the lowest December
growth rate in our 17 years as a book seller, up just 5
percent.”
Tablets
Cell Phones
iPad
Android
Windows 8
iPhone & iPod Touch
Android
Windows Phone
Blackberry
Kindles
Computers
Mac
Windows 8
Windows 7, XP, Vista
eInk
Fire
Paperwhite
Kindle DX
Why Amazon?
Why Amazon??
Over 200,000,000 credit cards of active buyers
320 million monthly visitors
Growing at 119% / year
Analysts estimate that Amazon accounts for about
two-thirds of U.S. e-book sales.
Dominates the eBook market
Why Amazon??
Amazon markets
Google rankings
Promotions
Easy Updates
eBooks for Business
Build Authority
Build Brand
Business Cards
Spread Your Message
Get Leads
Teach Expertise
If you want to leave a legacy
of published books,
as a best-selling author,
have a really great story to share,
or even just a great collection of recipes.
How To Create Your Best Seller?
Content
Publication
Marketing /
Best Selling Strategies
Content
Subject / Topic
What’s Selling / Hot Niches
What Your Audience Wants
Your Process or Expertise
Existing content
Legal considerations
Content Quality
Organization / Flow
Editing
Formatting
Not overly promotional
Reader experience
Building Your Book
Front Matter
Title Page
Copyright
Optional Pages: Dedication, Preface,
Foreward or Introduction
Back Matter
Cover
DIY vs Designer
Competition
Color
Thumbnail
Title
How to “Kindle-ize” a Book
Kindle Formatting
Text
Image Complexity, Color
Special : Bullets, Tables, Graphs
Guide Items: Table of Contents and Bookmarks
Conversion
Quality Check
Formatting Text for Kindle
“Look and Feel”
Use “Styles”
Title, Headlines/Chapters, Subheads, Body,
Paragraphs, Fonts, Hyperlinks etc.
Chapters / Pages
Spacing, Page Breaks, Page Numbers
Set Styles - Title & Subtitles
Set Styles - Headings
Set Styles - Paragraphs
Modify Document
With Styles Set, Modify document
Assign appropriate styles to all elements
Remove extraneous spaces
Insert page breaks between chapters
Double check and/or modify images, bullets, tables etc.
Add additional styles and/or spacing as needed
Formatting Images for Kindle
Original
Kindle
Formatting Images for Kindle
iPad App
iPhone App
Formatting for Kindle - Images
Insert vs. Copy/Paste
Color vs. Grayscale
Quality, Text Within
Size : < 127kb
Format : jpeg & gif
Quantity
Bullets & Tables
Keep as simple as possible
Bullets using html tags (<li>)
Simple tables
Bullets, Tables as images
TOC & Guide Items
Build Table of Contents
Link to Locations
Insert Bookmarks
Check locations
Build TOC
Set TOC Style
Insert Index & Tables
Insert TOC Links
Choose “Document” Tab
Select “Locate...”
Insert TOC Links (Con’t)
Choose Correct Location
Insert Bookmarks
Label Bookmarks
Conversion
Word > HTML filtered (PC) or display
only (Mac)
KindleGen - Command line, epub, html
Word (DOC or DOCX)
HTML (ZIP, HTM, or HTML)
ePub (EPUB)
Plain Text (TXT)
Rich Text Format (RTF)
Adobe PDF (PDF)
3rd Party tools
KDP Bookshelf - Word, .mobi, html, pdf
Kindle Previewer - .mobi, epub, html, opf
Convert to HTML
Quality Review
Kindle Device (Paperwhite, Fire, Kindle)
Kindle Apps
iPad, iPhone, Mac, PC
Kindle Previewer
All
Amazon will check on publication
Kindle Previewer
.mobi, epub, html, opf
Previewer for Multiple Devices
Check multiple formats
Page through
Font Size
Images
TOC
Review
Text
Images
Special : Bullets, Tables, Graphs
TOC & Bookmarks
Conversion
Quality Check
Questions?
Publication
Publication
Kindle Direct Publishing Account
http://kdp.amazon.com
Formatted book file
Cover
Can be done very quickly
Bookshelf
Publish in 7 Minutes or Less
ISBN
Description
Categories, Keywords
Book & Cover files
Pricing
Questions?
Marketing
Marketing Mix
eBook Factors
Pricing
Book
Amazon Pages
Launch Strategy
Ongoing Marketing
Amazon
Book Factors
Book Title
eCover
Content
Topic / Subject
Quality
Internal Links
Internal Offers
Best-Selling Strategy
Launch Strategy
Promotions / Advertising
Front Matter
Partners (J Vs, Affiliates / Sponsors)
Incentives
Ongoing Marketing
Launch Schedule
Select Online Promo Sites
Select Advertising Strategy
Create Marketing Materials /
Incentives
Coordinate w/ Partners
Define Launch Schedule
KDP
Sales
Downloads
KDP Bookshelf
Book Description
Category Selection
Keyword Selection
KDP Select
Pricing
Book Page
Description
Reviews
“Also bought”
Forums
Create A Guide
Notes/Highlights
Author Page(s)
https://authorcentral.amazon.com
Bio, User-Centric
Images
Videos
Links to Blog & Twitter
Book Description & Details
Inside Flap, Back Cover
Ongoing Marketing
Links & Cross-Selling
Products, Listmania, Create A Guide
Your Own Blogs, Social Media Sites & Profiles
Dedicated Book Site or Blog
Other Blogs
Article Marketing, Doc Sharing (Scribd, Slideshare)
Ongoing Marketing
Groups, Forums
Author, Reader Communities
Build Community
Video Promos
Speaking / Podcasting
Ongoing Marketing
Free eBook & Freebie Sites (Web & FB)
Advertising / PR
Off-line Marketing / Networking
Direct Marketing
SEO
Review
eBook
Pricing
Amazon Pages
Best Selling Strategy
Ongoing Marketing
Outsourcing
Research and/or Content
eCovers
Editing, Formatting
Publishing
Marketing
Whether you like to write or not...
Whether you think you “can” write or not...
Even if you don’t have time.
PUBLISH!
If this sounds interesting to you
I would love to invite you to connect with me at:
http://PetesPublishing.com
Questions?