“Mentoring Power: Key to Sustainable Economic Growth and Innovation" [Kindle Edition], at http://www.amazon.com/
Showing posts with label AMAZON. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AMAZON. Show all posts
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Mentoring Power: Key to Sustainable Economic Growth and Innovation" [Kindle Edition],
Hot listed on Amazon the first day of its publication, the short
Ebook is a
mere 547 KB packed with useful information including how to mentor,
career and vocational guidance directed to fields in STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), but the beauty of the
findings is that the principles of good mentoring can be applied to
any subject area.
“Mentoring Power: Key to Sustainable Economic Growth and Innovation" [Kindle Edition], at http://www.amazon.com/
“Mentoring Power: Key to Sustainable Economic Growth and Innovation" [Kindle Edition], at http://www.amazon.com/
Friday, November 7, 2014
Mentoring Power: Key to Sustainable Economic Growth and Innovation [Kindle Edition]
I uploaded an Ebook to Amazon.com's KDP in 5 minutes this morning which included correcting several typos which Amazon's system noted.
However, it took me another 3 1/2 hours to fix some HTML on the back end, which I chose to modify as I thought it might not render across all devices.
The 3 1/2 hours included making a simple cover of my book from a photograph that I own.
This short book was in Microsoft Word, I exported it (saved it) as a Web Page -filtered,
an .htm (HTML) file. I followed the directions exactly as posted in Amazon's easy to follow
directions, "Building Your Book For Kindle" at
https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A2MB3WT2D0PTNK
The book has a long subtitle, but the title is concise.
http://www.amazon.com/Mentoring-Power-Sustainable-Economic-Innovation-ebook/dp/B00P9GZ2LM
The photo on the cover is yours truly with my great-niece a most serious reader (photo was
about six weeks before her 2nd birthday in Dec 2013).
The 3 1/2 hours included making a simple cover of my book from a photograph that I own.
This short book was in Microsoft Word, I exported it (saved it) as a Web Page -filtered,
an .htm (HTML) file. I followed the directions exactly as posted in Amazon's easy to follow
directions, "Building Your Book For Kindle" at
https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A2MB3WT2D0PTNK
The book has a long subtitle, but the title is concise.
http://www.amazon.com/Mentoring-Power-Sustainable-Economic-Innovation-ebook/dp/B00P9GZ2LM
The photo on the cover is yours truly with my great-niece a most serious reader (photo was
about six weeks before her 2nd birthday in Dec 2013).
Monday, November 19, 2012
Walk Forward is #1
Walk Forward is #1 today and has been #1 in its category for a few days. Free downloads last Thursday and Friday moved the book to #1 and it has remained at #1 over the weekend.
Creating a paperback version has not significantly added readers when considering the book has been downloaded by more than 700 persons during its short life of almost two months as of this November 25, 2012, having been first published in ebook format on September 25, 2012.
The paperback version is available on two platforms, Amazon.com and CreateSpace a separate, but wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.
Although CreateSpace is owned by Amazon, the web interfaces for an author or reader differ from that of Amazon.com.
It may be of interest to information professionals and readers, that book titles are not searchable in CreateSpace as they are on Amazon.com. If I find a way to search a title on CreateSpace, as one would have to if one did not have the CreateSpace identification number for a book, I will post herein.
CreateSpace has some nice features including the option of setting up discount codes for a book. Up to 3 discount codes may be set up for a book, but not being searchable and not being able to search for a discount code, makes the feature useless to anyone, but authors of the book who discount copies to family and friends. An author has to give a potential reader the discount code and the URL (address) of the book on the CreateSpace website.
It was actually easier to create a paperback copy of the book on CreateSpace than it was to create the ebook on Amazon Kindle Select, because CreateSpace requires a PDF of the book (which Open Office is great in creating)!
Creating a paperback version has not significantly added readers when considering the book has been downloaded by more than 700 persons during its short life of almost two months as of this November 25, 2012, having been first published in ebook format on September 25, 2012.
The paperback version is available on two platforms, Amazon.com and CreateSpace a separate, but wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.
Although CreateSpace is owned by Amazon, the web interfaces for an author or reader differ from that of Amazon.com.
It may be of interest to information professionals and readers, that book titles are not searchable in CreateSpace as they are on Amazon.com. If I find a way to search a title on CreateSpace, as one would have to if one did not have the CreateSpace identification number for a book, I will post herein.
CreateSpace has some nice features including the option of setting up discount codes for a book. Up to 3 discount codes may be set up for a book, but not being searchable and not being able to search for a discount code, makes the feature useless to anyone, but authors of the book who discount copies to family and friends. An author has to give a potential reader the discount code and the URL (address) of the book on the CreateSpace website.
It was actually easier to create a paperback copy of the book on CreateSpace than it was to create the ebook on Amazon Kindle Select, because CreateSpace requires a PDF of the book (which Open Office is great in creating)!
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Turning the Ebook into a Paperback
Some potential readers are asking me for a copy of my ebook, Walk Forward, as a paperback!
This means I must find a platform for publishing a hard copy of Walk Forward.
I checked out the following three platforms:
1. Espresso Book Machine
2. Blurb
3. Createspace
The decision as to which platform to use is not exclusive, I could go with all three.
However, I eliminated the first two per issues of either the information they requested, cost, or location.
We do not yet have an Espresso Book Machine in our area of Cleveland, Ohio. There is one in Austin, Texas, and my sister would gladly pick a paperback copy of the book to me from their location on the University of Texas at Austin campus, and check the book for me.
However, after looking at cost, prompts, and requirements, I decided to try Createspace which is fully owned by Amazon, where my ebook resides on the Amazon Kindle platform.
I hoped that since my book was an ebook on Amazon's platform that there might be an easy way to submit my Amazon contribution to their wholly owned subsidiary.
Unfortunately, there is no easy way my ebook for Kindle can be turned into a paperback without having me upload a manuscript to Createspace in their preferred format.
All three platforms, Espresso, Blurb, and Createspace use a print-ready PDF to make prints of the book, various formats are accepted, but they convert to a PDF for publishing. Createspace will do as much as one wants to do and offer various services, in addition to the free uploading of a PDF.Whether one creates a PDF, using the guidelines for each platform, or hire someone to do it depends on the time one has to spend on the project.
I chose to do everything myself using mostly free programs and read that Open Office makes an awesome PDF.
Per Open Office Writer one need only match the requirements of the target platform to options in making the appropriate PDF.
One obvious problem is that ebooks do not currently have page numbers. Pages in a book are also dependent on font size. I decided to make the font size in my book size 14, and in the 6" x 9" paperback,
my book turned into 226 pages.
After submitting a PDF with even numbers on the right side and odd on the left, Createspace emailed that my book is non-standard. A book must have the odd page on the right side! They suggested I add another page to the front of my book to make my text start on an odd page, on the right side.
It sounded simple, just add a page and all should be fine, right? No, no, no, it did not work. I could add a page by placing a page break before a heading on page 2, however, when I inserted the pagination, all the pages had numbers, or none of the pages had numbers. Should I use Roman numerals for the pages, such as the copyright and dedication pages, restart the page numbering process on the first text page, or what?
I called Createpace as was not sure I understood their directions and what the pagination should look like.
Createspace has great telephone help. I recommend them for their helpful telephone response system with a live person. All I had to do was type in my phone number and Createspace called me back immediately, with and very short waiting period, practically no waiting at all to speak with one of their knowledgeable representatives.
Createspace explained that they only allow one series of numbers, the front pages should not have numbers, but must be considered in the page count expressed on the first page of text of the book.
In my case, the first page of text would be page 5.
I could not get the text page to say page 5. Thus, decided to move my Open Office document to Microsoft Word which for some reason, allowed me to add the page numbers more easily. However, the page in back of the title page had a page "2" on it. I did not mind this and as long as it truly is page #2 and page #5 is labeled as page 5, Createspace would accept the manuscript as long as page numbers correspond to the actual number the page would have, counting blank pages or whatever pages one might include in the book.
Having had to redo my pagination many times, I quickly learned to understand the difference between changing properties of a paragraph versus a page.
I went between Open Office and Word and Open Office. Setting styles for a front page (termed a "first page" in Open Office) versus a "default" style for text, seemed easy, but for some unknown reason, the extra page I had to insert, stayed as a "default" page rather than being a unnumbered "first page." I started over
several times adding or deleting page numbers. I tried both Open Office and Microsoft Word and seemed to have issues as could not remove the default style from the page I added.
Certain tasks were easier to perform in Open Office, like making an awesome PDF, while it seemed easier to add/delete pages in Microsoft Word, and add page numbers using Word. Open Office's footer got larger and larger, Word's page number did not take up much space on the page.
I did not want to purchase software or hire someone to make a cover or put page numbers on my book, but I might hire someone in the future to do what I did as it was beyond time consuming! I am thankful that my first 6" x 9" paperback was no longer than its 226 pages!
I uploaded several copies to Createspace, as I had a few words in italics that hung into the margin. It was easy to cut and re-paste the few sentences that had italic words in the margin area.
The reverse side of the title page has a little number "2" on the bottom, as I could not
get that page number to hide, without deleting all the page numbers! The next two pages
have no page numbers (as I wanted and Createspace prefers), and no number on the Title page.
The text of Walk Forward starts on a page which is numbered "5" and it is page 5 if one counts every page included in the book from its front cover. Page 5 is on the right side, where convention dictates. CreateSpace will not
accept text starting on page 1, my text started on page 5 and it must be so numbered, 5.
CreateSpace wants the text to start with the real number, counting from the beginning of the book
and they do not allow Roman numerals, or another numbering style, for those early pages. Createspace does not allow two numbering systems in one book.
They said my cover converted properly and I ordered 5 proofs of Walk Forward as 5 is the maximum number of proofs one is permitted to purchase.
My book cover is brown to convey a serious feel of the nonfiction book, with yellow words on the back and front of the cover to signify "rays of sunshine."
This means I must find a platform for publishing a hard copy of Walk Forward.
I checked out the following three platforms:
1. Espresso Book Machine
2. Blurb
3. Createspace
The decision as to which platform to use is not exclusive, I could go with all three.
However, I eliminated the first two per issues of either the information they requested, cost, or location.
We do not yet have an Espresso Book Machine in our area of Cleveland, Ohio. There is one in Austin, Texas, and my sister would gladly pick a paperback copy of the book to me from their location on the University of Texas at Austin campus, and check the book for me.
However, after looking at cost, prompts, and requirements, I decided to try Createspace which is fully owned by Amazon, where my ebook resides on the Amazon Kindle platform.
I hoped that since my book was an ebook on Amazon's platform that there might be an easy way to submit my Amazon contribution to their wholly owned subsidiary.
Unfortunately, there is no easy way my ebook for Kindle can be turned into a paperback without having me upload a manuscript to Createspace in their preferred format.
All three platforms, Espresso, Blurb, and Createspace use a print-ready PDF to make prints of the book, various formats are accepted, but they convert to a PDF for publishing. Createspace will do as much as one wants to do and offer various services, in addition to the free uploading of a PDF.Whether one creates a PDF, using the guidelines for each platform, or hire someone to do it depends on the time one has to spend on the project.
I chose to do everything myself using mostly free programs and read that Open Office makes an awesome PDF.
Per Open Office Writer one need only match the requirements of the target platform to options in making the appropriate PDF.
One obvious problem is that ebooks do not currently have page numbers. Pages in a book are also dependent on font size. I decided to make the font size in my book size 14, and in the 6" x 9" paperback,
my book turned into 226 pages.
After submitting a PDF with even numbers on the right side and odd on the left, Createspace emailed that my book is non-standard. A book must have the odd page on the right side! They suggested I add another page to the front of my book to make my text start on an odd page, on the right side.
It sounded simple, just add a page and all should be fine, right? No, no, no, it did not work. I could add a page by placing a page break before a heading on page 2, however, when I inserted the pagination, all the pages had numbers, or none of the pages had numbers. Should I use Roman numerals for the pages, such as the copyright and dedication pages, restart the page numbering process on the first text page, or what?
I called Createpace as was not sure I understood their directions and what the pagination should look like.
Createspace has great telephone help. I recommend them for their helpful telephone response system with a live person. All I had to do was type in my phone number and Createspace called me back immediately, with and very short waiting period, practically no waiting at all to speak with one of their knowledgeable representatives.
Createspace explained that they only allow one series of numbers, the front pages should not have numbers, but must be considered in the page count expressed on the first page of text of the book.
In my case, the first page of text would be page 5.
I could not get the text page to say page 5. Thus, decided to move my Open Office document to Microsoft Word which for some reason, allowed me to add the page numbers more easily. However, the page in back of the title page had a page "2" on it. I did not mind this and as long as it truly is page #2 and page #5 is labeled as page 5, Createspace would accept the manuscript as long as page numbers correspond to the actual number the page would have, counting blank pages or whatever pages one might include in the book.
Having had to redo my pagination many times, I quickly learned to understand the difference between changing properties of a paragraph versus a page.
I went between Open Office and Word and Open Office. Setting styles for a front page (termed a "first page" in Open Office) versus a "default" style for text, seemed easy, but for some unknown reason, the extra page I had to insert, stayed as a "default" page rather than being a unnumbered "first page." I started over
several times adding or deleting page numbers. I tried both Open Office and Microsoft Word and seemed to have issues as could not remove the default style from the page I added.
Certain tasks were easier to perform in Open Office, like making an awesome PDF, while it seemed easier to add/delete pages in Microsoft Word, and add page numbers using Word. Open Office's footer got larger and larger, Word's page number did not take up much space on the page.
I did not want to purchase software or hire someone to make a cover or put page numbers on my book, but I might hire someone in the future to do what I did as it was beyond time consuming! I am thankful that my first 6" x 9" paperback was no longer than its 226 pages!
I uploaded several copies to Createspace, as I had a few words in italics that hung into the margin. It was easy to cut and re-paste the few sentences that had italic words in the margin area.
The reverse side of the title page has a little number "2" on the bottom, as I could not
get that page number to hide, without deleting all the page numbers! The next two pages
have no page numbers (as I wanted and Createspace prefers), and no number on the Title page.
The text of Walk Forward starts on a page which is numbered "5" and it is page 5 if one counts every page included in the book from its front cover. Page 5 is on the right side, where convention dictates. CreateSpace will not
accept text starting on page 1, my text started on page 5 and it must be so numbered, 5.
CreateSpace wants the text to start with the real number, counting from the beginning of the book
and they do not allow Roman numerals, or another numbering style, for those early pages. Createspace does not allow two numbering systems in one book.
They said my cover converted properly and I ordered 5 proofs of Walk Forward as 5 is the maximum number of proofs one is permitted to purchase.
My book cover is brown to convey a serious feel of the nonfiction book, with yellow words on the back and front of the cover to signify "rays of sunshine."
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Ebook Covers
I am editing my first ebook and wondered what to do about the cover. I tried making a simple cover by taking a photograph, bringing it up in Microsoft Paint, adding my book title and saving as a .jpg file. The problem is that when I made a tiny thumbprint of the cover or exploded it, the letters of my title were not readable. I read whatever I could find on the subject and realized that I need to use a graphic program based on vectors rather than pixels.
The ebook publishers, like Amazon, include requirements for ebook covers, such as the size should be 800 pixes in height and 600 pixels in width.
I searched for free graphic and file converting programs. I took Photoshop classes years ago but thought it too complicated for me at this point. I have little experience in the graphic arts but am a bit persistent. I am however, not at all artistic.
I tried a few programs and quickly realized that it would be easier for me to take another picture than play around with the graphic programs. I decided the less I have to rely on any program the better.
I reduced the size of my photograph and cropped it using Faststone. I saved it as a .png and brought it up in Inkscape where I added my title words. I saw the similarity of Inkscape to Photoshop per layering. After having to name my layers a few times, layering became routine. I added text words, the title of my ebook to the photograph using Inkscape and saved the file as a .png. I then put the .png product back into Faststone to create a .jpg for the ebook vendors. I double checked my final .jpg file size per publisher requirements.
Inkscape does not have the bells and whistles or the precision of Photoshop but if you are starting with a graphic and need only to add the title of your book, you can create an acceptable cover in a few minutes. After about 5 covers, I created one that my husband likes. He is my most difficult critic. I don't know how to use either program very well, but think I assembled an acceptable cover in a few hours.
If I hire a graphic artist to make a better looking cover, at least I have an idea of what may be involved in the process. I still have a "homemade" website!
If anyone has any great free programs for making an ebook cover for Amazon, Smashwords or any other ebook publisher, please respond to this post or send me an email at rosaraskin@gmail.com and I will be glad to add to this blog.
One of my favorite "how to author" blogs to date is Copple's Writing and Coffee Blog. If you are interested in ebook publishing. I highly recommend Copple. His blog is the best kept secret in the blogsphere of ebook creation. I tried many graphic programs in trying to make an ebook cover today, as well as several file converters. Copple's suggestions work and I ended up with what I think is more than an acceptable, free, ebook cover!
Please stay tuned as I will be posting more about my journey into ebook publishing live, as it happens!
The ebook publishers, like Amazon, include requirements for ebook covers, such as the size should be 800 pixes in height and 600 pixels in width.
I searched for free graphic and file converting programs. I took Photoshop classes years ago but thought it too complicated for me at this point. I have little experience in the graphic arts but am a bit persistent. I am however, not at all artistic.
I tried a few programs and quickly realized that it would be easier for me to take another picture than play around with the graphic programs. I decided the less I have to rely on any program the better.
I reduced the size of my photograph and cropped it using Faststone. I saved it as a .png and brought it up in Inkscape where I added my title words. I saw the similarity of Inkscape to Photoshop per layering. After having to name my layers a few times, layering became routine. I added text words, the title of my ebook to the photograph using Inkscape and saved the file as a .png. I then put the .png product back into Faststone to create a .jpg for the ebook vendors. I double checked my final .jpg file size per publisher requirements.
Inkscape does not have the bells and whistles or the precision of Photoshop but if you are starting with a graphic and need only to add the title of your book, you can create an acceptable cover in a few minutes. After about 5 covers, I created one that my husband likes. He is my most difficult critic. I don't know how to use either program very well, but think I assembled an acceptable cover in a few hours.
If I hire a graphic artist to make a better looking cover, at least I have an idea of what may be involved in the process. I still have a "homemade" website!
If anyone has any great free programs for making an ebook cover for Amazon, Smashwords or any other ebook publisher, please respond to this post or send me an email at rosaraskin@gmail.com and I will be glad to add to this blog.
One of my favorite "how to author" blogs to date is Copple's Writing and Coffee Blog. If you are interested in ebook publishing. I highly recommend Copple. His blog is the best kept secret in the blogsphere of ebook creation. I tried many graphic programs in trying to make an ebook cover today, as well as several file converters. Copple's suggestions work and I ended up with what I think is more than an acceptable, free, ebook cover!
Please stay tuned as I will be posting more about my journey into ebook publishing live, as it happens!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Statistics on the Sales of the Book You Authored!
I have had this question more than once from authors interested in the sales of their books.
For book authors who wish to double check sales of their books, in addition to the figures given to them from their publisher, Nielsen Bookscan is one possible source, accessed free for those authors registered with AMAZON.
A recent article in the LA Times (Dec 9, 2010) details how and when authors may obtain the information they seek per the sales of their book.
Please note the LA Times article says the data is free for authors --
Authors, link to the LA Times web site article and let me know if the information is helpful:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/12/amazon-gives-nielsen-bookscan-to-authors.html
Thanks in advance,
Rosa
For book authors who wish to double check sales of their books, in addition to the figures given to them from their publisher, Nielsen Bookscan is one possible source, accessed free for those authors registered with AMAZON.
A recent article in the LA Times (Dec 9, 2010) details how and when authors may obtain the information they seek per the sales of their book.
Please note the LA Times article says the data is free for authors --
Authors, link to the LA Times web site article and let me know if the information is helpful:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/12/amazon-gives-nielsen-bookscan-to-authors.html
Thanks in advance,
Rosa
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