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)!
Showing posts with label publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label publishing. Show all posts
Monday, November 19, 2012
Friday, August 3, 2012
Editing the Book
O.K. I made mistake #1 by sending out my first completed draft. The idea was to get comments from close family and friends and do one major edit! Guess I was more than a little naive?
After my Israeli cousin's edit, I did my first major rewrite of the entire book and wondered if my work was worthy to go forward?
Mistake #2, I revised the entire book quickly and immediately sent the next version to family members who kindly replied, they would keep editing the first draft! Not only was I adding to their reading load, I was filling up their email program with my short book, yet too long a file for daily correspondence.
The same cousin that reviewed the heck out of the book, was the most encouraging as she had gone through the same process. She had written a book about our family, her inspiration being a long letter that my father and his brother wrote to her mother, their first cousin.
Yes, her book is in a foreign language with a few captions in English. My book includes both my parents, not just my father. My book is in English with the hope for translations.
My advice is to keep encouraging persons and other writers around you, as you continue to write, rewrite and edit your book.
If you wish, include a hook at the end of your book for the sequel!
I am getting advice from my college adviser of 40+ years to publish a few hard copies in addition to the ebook.
-- Yes, one of the best kept secrets is to never lose connection with your college adviser.
He just emailed me to consider CreateSpace and Blurb for hard copies. I had read about both but no time yet to compare!
If your adviser is as incredible as mine, he or she will continue to be at least one step ahead of you, like in days gone by when you were the student.
I love mine, hope you at least keep in contact with yours!
Keep on writing.
After my Israeli cousin's edit, I did my first major rewrite of the entire book and wondered if my work was worthy to go forward?
Mistake #2, I revised the entire book quickly and immediately sent the next version to family members who kindly replied, they would keep editing the first draft! Not only was I adding to their reading load, I was filling up their email program with my short book, yet too long a file for daily correspondence.
The same cousin that reviewed the heck out of the book, was the most encouraging as she had gone through the same process. She had written a book about our family, her inspiration being a long letter that my father and his brother wrote to her mother, their first cousin.
Yes, her book is in a foreign language with a few captions in English. My book includes both my parents, not just my father. My book is in English with the hope for translations.
My advice is to keep encouraging persons and other writers around you, as you continue to write, rewrite and edit your book.
If you wish, include a hook at the end of your book for the sequel!
I am getting advice from my college adviser of 40+ years to publish a few hard copies in addition to the ebook.
-- Yes, one of the best kept secrets is to never lose connection with your college adviser.
He just emailed me to consider CreateSpace and Blurb for hard copies. I had read about both but no time yet to compare!
If your adviser is as incredible as mine, he or she will continue to be at least one step ahead of you, like in days gone by when you were the student.
I love mine, hope you at least keep in contact with yours!
Keep on writing.
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!
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