Book Formatting | Self-Publishing Review

Lessons Learned from Creating a Fantasy Box Set

Your first book is probably the most important story of the collection, but if you are a new author, it will not be as well-written as the later books. Like most new writers, I stumbled along and changed my mind about story arcs, improving my writing skills as I went. After publishing the first two stories of my series, it occurred to me it might have been wise to withhold publication and release the series all at once so I could change characters’ backstories or names if it made sense for later stories.

I waited to release the last three […]

SPR2022-01-11T04:05:03+02:00January 11th, 2022|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: Book Formatting|

What Amazon’s Slowing of Book Deliveries Means For Authors

Amazon has announced via Seller Central that they will be slowing book delivery to prioritize medical and food delivery in the US and EU markets. Amazon says, “We are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and ship these products to customers.”

What does that mean for authors and book sales during the COVID-19 crisis?

1. Amazon Customers will be heading for Kindle eBooks instead of paperbacks

There are no health risks for digital downloads. So, many readers will prefer this method in the […]

Cate Baum2020-03-18T11:38:28+02:00March 18th, 2020|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon, Book Formatting|

Ten Steps to Format Your eBook

When it comes to uploading your eBook for KDP or even for selling it yourself from your author website, it seems like a really fiddly job. But there are ten easy steps to getting it right.

This is a very basic 101, and there are many other fancy things you can do. But these are the bare minimums you should aspire to.

You can click the images if you wish to see them bigger.

1. Use Word

1. There’s no point in using a PDF because it’s counter-intuitive to Kindle. Amazon’s system will automatically recognize chapter headings and paragraphs if […]

Cate Baum2020-02-21T03:45:36+02:00July 10th, 2019|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Book Formatting|

Self-Publishing: What Not to Do

There is some degree of impatience that goes along with self-publishing. Why wait around for a publisher when you can have a book now? That’s one of the bigger fallacies of the industry, because if you choose to do everything yourself it can (and should) be more work. Writers are still driven to cut corners because it can be so difficult to handle every side of the business. So long as you understand there’s difficulty every step of the way, you will hopefully give each step in the process the attention it deserves.

Here’s a primer on the common […]

SPR2020-02-21T03:47:02+02:00April 18th, 2019|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Book Cover Design, Book Editing, Book Formatting, Book Promotion, Writing|

How To Fix Your Ingram Spark PDF – With Free PDF Fix Download

For many reasons, some authors decide to forgo the most popular path of publishing with Amazon’s Createspace and use the popular service at Ingram Spark/Lightning Source. However, guidelines given do not fully prepare an author for troubleshooting, and state that each time an author has to re-upload the file because it’s not correct, they will be charged $25. So it’s really important to get this right first time.

Update 2020 – LS/IS provide a full guide to preparing your PDF here.

There is in fact nothing wrong with the way that Ingram Spark needs you to present your file. The […]

Cate Baum2020-10-19T03:10:24+02:00March 3rd, 2016|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Book Formatting, Ingram Spark|

Self-Publishing Starter Kit

We get a lot of questions here from writers just beginning to self-publish who have little to no idea about the process. They’re all asking about the most basic nuts and bolts: how do I self-publish? We’ve gathered together the best services currently running (and have been running for a while) to publish a book quickly and professionally.

There’s still a fair bit of DIY involved with the services listed below, but you’ll have a more professional book and keep a larger share of the royalties.

So here’s a basic starter pack for the novice self-publisher who wants more of […]

Henry Baum2022-04-22T08:49:42+02:00January 28th, 2015|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Book Cover Design, Book Formatting, Book Marketing, Book Promotion|

Get 10% off at BookBaby

I was just contacted by a BookBaby rep who offered SPR visitors this code to get 10% off on premium services: Springbk10

It expires March 31, 2012.

About BookBaby:

Upload your eBook and pay as little as $99.

Signing up on BookBaby.com is fast and easy. You set the selling price, supply eBook descriptions, author bio, and even list out keyword search terms so that readers can find your eBooks online. You’re in control from start to finish and retain all publishing and ownership rights. Want to make it even easier? Choose our Premium Publishing Package that offers eBook

[…]

Henry Baum2020-02-21T03:48:13+02:00March 9th, 2012|Categories: Resources|Tags: Book Formatting|

Formatting your book with OpenOffice – Part 1

Although I’ve got a great publisher for the e-book edition of Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite, I decided to self-publish the paperback. Since I was already familiar with OpenOffice and unable to afford Adobe InDesign, I decided to invest some time to see if using OpenOffice was feasible.

The first step, always, is make a backup and put it somewhere you can’t mess it up.

Preliminary Cleanup

Editing always seems to inject typographic and formatting errors. So my first step was to insure that I didn’t have any tabs, double spaces, extra hard returns, or other debris in […]

Lianne Simon2020-02-21T03:25:02+02:00February 28th, 2012|Categories: Resources|Tags: Book Formatting|