publish ebook – Nicole Munoz Consulting

9 Steps to Publish a Kindle Ebook

Use this guide as a slightly more than a checklist for your Kindle publishing project. Going through all the steps will help you plan it and fit it into our schedule.

It will also alert you in advance to steps you may find especially time consuming or just not up your alley, allowing you to plan for, find and hire the correct outsourcing contractors to complete these particular modules.

Step 1. Write Your Book

Lots of people talk endlessly about writing a Kindle ebook: Not so many do it. If you are writing non-fiction, you need to come up with a hot topic. Checking out magazine stands, best seller lists and the Amazon marketplace itself will help you get an idea of what people are looking for nowadays.

Discount books written by celebrities. Those will be heavily promoted and subsidized, and won’t give you a true picture of what’s currently in demand, topic-wise.

Narrow your topic down to specific Kindle book categories. Come up with a dynamic Title if you can. (Don’t get too hung up on that, however: You can change it later. It just helps you get a feel for the character of your book, if you come up with a strong title at this stage.)

Write an outline. It will help you stay on topic and produce a much tighter, more focused book that feels professional and reads clearly.

Then sit down and start writing.

The Secret to Writing – and Finishing – Any Book

Schedule it. Don’t wait for inspiration. Ruthlessly put aside your feelings. Just give yourself a minimum word count per day that you have to write: Then stick to that minimum.

That’s the magic formula that published authors the world over have discovered.

(The real secret? If you make yourself do this every day, and turn off your Inner Critic, it soon becomes a habit. And that’s when you suddenly catch the wave and learn to surf!

And what a high it is, when you can’t wait to sit down at your computer in the morning (or evening, if that works better for you) and get started.

That’s how books are made.

Step 2. Proofing and Editing

Writing your book is a huge accomplishment for many, but it’s just the raw bones of your finished product. Put the book aside for at least a week if you can, and then come back to it and begin the process of proofing and editing.

Spell-check first, then proof it again for readability. Then proof it again for consistency. Then proof it again for flow. And run the spell checker a final time.

If you’re new to writing and have the budget, hiring an editor at this stage can free you up to continue with other projects and get the book ready for print a lot faster.

Step 3. Create your Ecover Image/Have it Created

Your ebook’s cover image is one of the most important components to getting your book approved by Amazon, being taken seriously as an author – and inspiring people to buy.

If you do not have solid art skills, don’t waste time or cut corners here: Hire an artist experienced in creating Kindle ecovers to produce a polished, vibrant product.

If you do have artistic experience, you still need to be totally familiar with ecover formatting for Kindle. Here are the requirements:

Your cover image has to be in .JPG or .TIFF format
Resolution: 72 D.P.I.
Minimum size: 500 pixels wide X 1,000 pixels
Maximum size: 1,250 X 2,000 pixels
Maximum file size (interior photographs): 127k

Don’t use black and white photography for your Cover unless it is an essential part of your cover photo’s statement and enhances the book’s mood and premise. Your interior photographs will display in black and white on older Kindle versions, but your cover will always be competing with other richly-colored covers on Amazon’s Kindle book site.

Your cover photo should be 100% original. If you hire an artist to produce the artwork only (as opposed to producing the entire ecover) make sure she signs a “work-for-hire” clause, ceding all rights to you. Do this also if you hire a photographer to produce a photograph.

If you outsource through Fiverr, perform due diligence to make sure the artist is not using improperly licensed stock photos. This is the sort of risk you take when you outsource through abnormally low-priced sites – but it can also help you unearth great talent.

If you purchase an image from a stock photo company, make sure you also purchase the correct commercial license. But original is always preferable.

Step 4. Do Your Own Formatting for Kindle/Have it Formatted for Kindle

So your book is ready to upload. Your ecover is also ready. You have a variety of options available as far as formatting tools go, but since you most likely created your ebook in MS Word, let’s take the easiest route – publishing it with KDP Select. Before we even begin to worry about the actual formatting process, however, you have to make sure your manuscript is Kindle format-ready.

If you don’t already know how to format for Kindle and you don’t want to outsource, download Kindle’s own Building Your Book for Kindle guide.

And before you upload your book, make sure you have created and thoroughly tweaked:

Your Cover photo for the book
Your Description

Research and know your keywords too, as well as the categories you’d like associated with your book. Finally, decide on a price for your book.

Step 5. Sign Up or Log Into KDP Select

You may see a message like the one below in the upper, right-hand corner. Click on the anchor text: “Update Now”.

You will be taken to your account screen. Fill in any missing information. Put your real name. You will be able to choose a pen name later, if you’re planning to write for different niches or genres under different pen names.

Step 6. Upload Your Book

If you don’t see the “Update Now” message, simply click on “Add New Title”.

Don’t be intimidated about uploading your first Kindle ebook. You will be able to “Save it as Draft”, and no one will see it until you are ready to publish.

When you click on “Add new title”, you’ll be taken to section # 1, “Your Book”. Beside it, you’ll see # 2, “Rights and Pricing”.

You will also see a window for the KDP Select program. Decide whether or not you want to be enrolled, and either check or uncheck the box accordingly. And if you need to find out more about it before making a decision, click on any of the anchor text links or visit KDP Select FAQs. (You can always enroll later, if you prefer.)

Next, start entering your book details…

As you can see, this phase is extremely easy and self-explanatory. Clicking on the little “What’s this?” anchor text brings up simple pop-ups explaining each step.

If this is a new book, enter “1” for edition number and if you don’t have your own publishing company (something you should definitely explore once you’re comfortable with the Kindle publishing process) enter your own name as Publisher.

Don’t skip clicking on each anchor link: None will take you away from your page.

Don’t enter an ISBN number or Publication date for now.

Notice that Amazon also offers you the option of setting up a series. (And in this screen shot, you can see how the pop-ups work.)

Verify that you have the right to publish your content. If it is in the public domain, you cannot include it in the KDP Select program, and you must disclose its status here.

Otherwise, go ahead and select “This is not a public domain work…”

Next, enter up to 7 keywords (single words or phrases); then click on the “Categories” button to choose the 2 main categories in which you want your work to be located.

When you click on the Categories, a pop-up will open up.

If you can’t find the exact categories you want, you can either enter “NON-CLASSIFIABLE” and contact support while your book is being reviewed, letting them know the exact categories you’d like the book placed within… or pick a similar two categories for now. (You can always change it later.)

Next, upload your book cover. It should be “camera-ready” – meaning all text should be in place, rather than just uploading the photograph alone.

Select “Browse for image” if your cover is ready and waiting on your hard drive.

An alternative is to use Kindle’s brand new Cover creator: However, since your cover is one of the most important selling tools for your book, careful pre-design is recommended.

Once your image is selected and you see your filename in the pop-up, press the “Upload” button.

Next, upload your book. If it contains images, upload it as a zip file.

IMPORTANT: While your book is being uploaded, you will see message asking you to click “Save and Continue”. Resist the urge to click “Save and Continue”, and instead select “Save as Draft”. (This enables you to thoroughly review your book before publishing it.)

After your book is saved, you will see a green “successful” notification, just as you did with your book cover.

You may also see a notice alerting you to possible spelling errors.

Step 7. Preview The Formatted Version

Next, you will be offered the chance to preview your book. If you have prepared it in MS Word, go ahead and preview it online. If you have used formatting tools or prepared it in HTML, you may prefer the second option: To preview it by downloading one of the suggested tools. Once again, pop-ups are there to help you choose the right one.

If you preview online, you will be able to move back and forth between pages. If there are image errors, you will see them.

Since you have saved it as Draft (and even if you didn’t) you can simply go back, correct the errors in MS Word, update your TOC if you need to an re-save as “Web page, filtered”. (Remember to right-click on this file and “Send to” a zip file format after doing so.)

Once you close your Online previewer, press “Back to the Bookshelf”.

You will be taken back to where you started. You will see it displayed as your first Title, along with the status and the option to enroll it in KDP Select.

This gives you plenty of time to troubleshoot any glitches that showed up in the previewer or explore KDP Select further.

Step 8. Rights and Pricing

Once you’ve corrected your uploaded book and are ready to “Save and Continue”, do so. You will then be directed to continue on to the next page, # 2 Rights and Pricing.

Here you will be able to set your preferences for:

Publishing Territories
Price
Royalty Rates

Here’s what Amazon offers you…

In other words, if you’re charging up to $2.98, you are locked into a 35% rate.

If you are charging $2.99 or more, you can choose a 70% royalty rate.

If you have decided to go with KDP Select, check their terms also. You may need to charge a different rate.

Step 9. Get Approved

Once you have made your pricing decisions and published your book, you will have 24-72 hours to wait for Amazon to review it and approve it. (Your actual book will appear for sale after 12 hours – but wait before promoting, because other approvals may not yet be in place.)

Use that time to implement your marketing and promo plan – and be ready to roll when you get the green light!

Top 10 Digital Publishing Tips

by Nicole Munoz

Turning an idea for a book in your head into a successful digital publication requires co-ordinating a whole lot of different steps to create that one hit. Tens of thousands of digital books are published every month, but only a fraction of them will sell more than a thousand copies.

How do you make sure your book is on
e of the few that succeeds? How do you hit the top charts? How do you sell and sell and sell your books, even if you don’t have a brand or a reputation to rely on now?

These ten digital publishing tips will help you do just that.

Tip #1: Everything You Need to Know About Pricing

How you price your book makes a big impact on your sales and your ultimate profits. Here’s what you need to know about pricing.

Most first-time authors should price their books at around the $2.99 price range. Go a little higher if you’re in a high end market or if your book is especially thick.

On the other hand, if you’re a well known author or if you’re publishing highly specialized knowledge for which there are no other alt

native titles, then price your book more towards the $9.99 range.

If you’re looking to use your book to get as many readers as possible without much care for how much profit you actually make, then by all means go ahead and publish it for $0.99 cents or for free.

Tip #2: More on $0.99 Cent Books

It’s very difficult to make a profit on $0.99 cent books. The commissions you’ll have to pay to the bookstores will cut your profits down even further until the amount you make per sale is completely negligible.

If you plan on making a living selling books, this price point just doesn’t work. For example, on the Amazon Kindle store when you price your books at $0.99 you’ll only get paid a 35% royalty. That means that when all is said and done, you’ll only be making around 30 cents per download.

However, the one notable exception is if you want to use this price to get more people into your sales funnel or brand umbrella. For example, you might sell your primary book for $8.99, then publish 5 much smaller books on specific topics all priced at $0.99. People who buy your cheaper book who want to learn more can do so by purchasing your more expensive book.

Use the $0.99 price point as a marketing tool, rather than as a profit strategy.

Tip #3: Hire a Professional Proofreader

Proofreading your own books is not a good idea. Neither is sending it to your friend to see if they spot any mistakes. A professional proofreader can turn a good piece of content into something truly phenomenal. If you’re serious about your book’s success, hire a great proofreader to look your work over.

There are a few different ways to find proofreaders.

For one, you can use a service like Proofreading Pal to do it. These kinds of companies hire dozens of proofreaders and make them available for projects for a small markup.

Alternatively, you can head over to a freelancer marketplace like eLance and find a proofreader to hire. Make sure you look through their before and after samples before making a decision.

Tip #4: Read it on the Digital Device

If you’re publishing your book on the Kindle, read it on the Kindle. If you’re publishing it on the Nook, read it on the Nook. The same goes for an iBookstore book.

Just because your book looks great on screen doesn’t mean it’ll look good on a digital device. Make sure you read your book the way your audience will be reading it.

Both Barnes & Nobles and Amazon have basic devices you can purchase for under $150. If you don’t care to own the devices, you can just buy the device and sell it on Craigslist or eBay immediately after testing your books. The difference between purchase price and sale price usually won’t be more than $40.

Tip #5: Plant a Teaser for Your Site

Put a teaser for your site in your book. For example, let’s say you’re publishing a book about fishing. Your book goes in depth into details on everything from rod selection to actual fishing techniques.

However, there are a few things you don’t cover. You don’t cover how to choose a fishing boat. You don’t cover how to predict the best weather for fishing.

Instead of putting these things in your book, you tell them you’ve put them in a separate report that’s available for free on your website. People who read your book will then go to your website to get those freebies.

You can require people to give you their email address before they receive the freebies. Because they’ve already paid for your content and already have a level of trust built in for you, your opt-in rate will be very high.

Tip #6: Make Your Samples Pack a Punch

It’s not uncommon in physical books for people to spend the first few pages ramping up. You might talk about fundamental concepts or use the first few pages to get your readers in the right mindset to learn.

With digital books however, this is a bad strategy. Your first few pages are going to be your preview pages, which means that for first few pages have to pack an emotional punch. People who read just your first few pages should feel inspired or excited. They should want to get the rest of your book.

Don’t write your first 5 pages for people who’ve already purchased your book. Instead, write them for people who’re considering buying your book. Consider it a sales-oriented piece of high quality content.

Tip #7: Outsource the Formatting Cheaply

If you’re not great at formatting your books, why not just have someone else do it for you?

Head over to Fiverr or eLance and look for people who offer to format digital book. You can easily find someone who’ll format your digital book for under $20. In fact, on Fiverr you’ll often be able to format your books for just $5.

They’ll insert the page breaks, create the Table of Contents, make sure your chapter headings appear correctly, so on and so forth.

Formatting eBooks is one of the most common obstacles writers face in getting published. There are people who specialize in doing just this. Why not let the specialists handle it (cheaply) so you can focus on writing and marketing?

Tip #8: Target Peripheral Markets

One great way to get more people to read your books is to target peripheral markets.

For example, let’s say you have a primary book about weight loss that’s selling for $8.99. Instead of just continually publishing books about weight loss, why not target a few peripheral markets?

For example, publish a book about weight loss over 45, publish a book about weight loss for people with diabetes and publish a book about weight loss for mothers who’ve just had a child.

Each of these books can help build your brand, as well as get more people to purchase your main product.

Tip #9: Participate in Platform Communities

Each platform has a community. For example, there are many places where Kindle authors can go to network with other authors. Be an active member of these communities.

There are a few powerful ways that these communities can help you:

You can learn a lot from past questions and posts. If you have a question, chances are someone else has already asked that question at some point.
You can ask questions. If you ever get stuck in the publishing or marketing process, just reach out for help.
You can ask for feedback. Not sure if your book, your cover or your marketing strategy is up to snuff? You can just ask.
You can find partnership opportunities. If you and another author are in the same market, why not pool your resources so you both come out ahead?
You can ask for reviews. Ask other authors to purchase your book and review you, and you’ll do the same.

The list of potential benefits goes on and on. Participating in these communities is a key to success on any platform.

Tip #10: Watch Your Reports and Optimize for What’s Working

Watch your sales reports carefully. Track all your marketing activities and try to draw links between your sales and what you did to generate those sales.

If you go on several internet podcasts to market your book and see no spike in sales, you probably won’t want to spend time doing podcast interviews in the future.

On the other hand, if you write a few guest articles for industry websites and suddenly see a flood of sales, that’d probably be a good avenue to focus on in the future.

Watch for unexpected stats. For example, if you’re publishing your book primarily for the US market but suddenly notice an influx of sales from the UK, ask yourself why. Did someone in the UK pick up and promote your book? Did it strike a cord among an unexpected audience?

Try to figure out what’s working and do more of that. Also, try to figure out what doesn’t work and stop doing it.
If you follow these ten tips, you’ll be one of the few self-published authors who knows both how to write a great book and how to run a great book business. Follow these tips and you’ll create a fantastic product that generates sales, month in and month out.

How to Be on iBooks Digital Shelf

by Nicole Munoz

Apple’s iBooks platform is one of the three largest online bookstores. Publishing to the iBookstore will make your digital book available to anyone who has either an iPhone or an iPad. To date, over 500 million iOS devices have been sold – Putting the number of iOS users at higher than the United States population.

If you’re serious about publishing a digital book, the iBookstore is simply a platform that you can’t afford to ignore.

Unfortunately, publishing to the iBookstore on your own can be quite a difficult task. For one, you must have a Mac, not a PC. Even if you have a Mac, Apple’s procedures for publishing to the iBookstore are not crystal clear. Perhaps the best (and fastest) way to get your book into the iBookstore is to use an approved third party publisher.

This publisher will help format your book for you, then submit it to Apple. They’ll screen your book for any errors and let you know if there are any issues before your book is submitted, so you don’t risk getting rejected.

Lulu is one of the largest approved publishers in Apple’s network. They publish over 20,000 books every single month. Founded in 2002 by Bob Young, to date they’ve helped publishers from over 200 different countries get their works into the world.

Here’s how to use Lulu to publish your digital book on the iBookstore platform.

Step 1: Getting Started

Go to http://www.lulu.com

Click “Publish.”

Then scroll down to “eBooks” and click “Start your eBook.”

Finally, click “I’m ready to publish” to begin the publishing process.

Step 2: Create Your Membership

Fill out the membership profile. Creating a membership is free. Lulu makes money from publishing your book, not from memberships.

Step 3: Title and Author

Write your book’s title and the names of the authors. If you want to add more authors, click the “+” button next to “Author.”

The title you enter will be a working title. Unlike other book publishing platforms, you can save your progress and not publish right away. If you want to change your title later, you can.

Your title should be carefully thought out before you launch. Try to brainstorm at least 25 potential titles before you settle down on one. Your title should pack an emotional punch. Someone who reads your title should be compelled to check out what the rest of your book is about.

Step 4: Check Sell on iBooks

You’ll be asked what you want to do with the project. If you’re ready to submit right away, click the third option. If you want to work on the book for a while before submitting, select the first option.

Keep in mind that you need to have everything right before you submit your book. About 50% of the books submitted to Lulu get disapproved because they did something wrong. If you’re not 100% confident in your book yet, wait until you’re ready before submitting it for approval.

Step 5: ISBN Number

You’ll be asked whether you want a free ISBN number, to use your own paid ISBN number or to use no ISBN number at all.

By and large, most people can get by with Lulu’s free ISBN numbers. However, if you really don’t want to list Lulu as the publisher for your book, you can choose to buy your own ISBN number from ISBN.com.

If you choose the first option, your new ISBN number will be displayed on the very next page.

Step 6: Upload Your Book

Upload your DOC, RTF or EPUB eBook to Lulu. Before you upload, make sure that your book is formatted properly. Make sure your chapter titles are preceeded by a Page Break and that your images are centered. Follow the guidelines on Lulu’s formatting page to the letter before uploading your book.

Once your book is uploaded, you’ll see the file on the bottom of the page. Click “Save & Continue” to continue the publishing process.

Lulu will then begin formatting your book for you. Go get a cup of coffee while you wait for Lulu to finish this process.

Step 7: Create Your Marketing Image

Create the image you want to use as your marketing image. Your marketing image is what people see as the preview for your book in the bookstore, as well as what people see as your front cover.

Your marketing image is not actually inserted into your book as the cover. Your cover page inside your book is. The marketing image, as the name suggests, is used purely for marketing your book.

You can customize the background and the text to a great degree. Once you’ve created your image, Lulu will turn the graphic you created into a real graphic to be uploaded to the various bookstores your book is being uploaded to.

Step 8: Enter Your Description

Write the description for your book. Try to add as many credibility builders as you can, such as reviews from well known people or high quality testimonials from people who’ve read your book. Try to also highlight the best things that your book has to offer.

Download the iBooks app on an iOS device and take a look at how other people are writing their descriptions. How are they catching attention? How are they demonstrating credibility? How are they getting people to buy?

Your description is one of the most important selling tools you have in your arsenal. Don’t let it go to waste.

Step 9: License and Edition

Enter the name of the person who should hold the copyright to the book. Choose what kind of license you want the book to be published under. Choose what edition your book is currently in.

Step 10: Digital Rights Management

Lulu offers Digital Rights Management (DRM) services to its customers – For a fee. If you want to protect your book from being sent to others or from being “ripped” and uploaded to pirating sites, you’ll have to pay $0.25 cents per download to protect your book.

Step 11: Set Your Price

Set the price you want to sell your book at. Lulu will tell you what you’ll receive in royalties when someone buys your book on Lulu and anywhere else.

Step 12: Review, Save and Finish

Finally, you’ll be presented with all the options you’ve selected so far. You’ll be able to edit your working title, as well as preview how your book currently looks.

Look over everything on this page and make sure that everything looks the way it should. Once you hit “Save and Finish,” your eBook will be submitted to Lulu.

Once your book is submitted, you’ll need to wait a few days while Lulu manually reviews your book. If there are any errors in your submission, you’ll have to re-do your book and re-submit your book before it goes live.

One of the great things about Lulu is that you actually get real people you can interface with about your book submission process. If your book is having trouble getting approved, with Apple it’s very hard to get in touch with anyone. With Lulu however, you have a dedicated customer service team at your beck and call.

What are you waiting for? If you have a book ready for submission, getting it up and running on Lulu takes just a couple hours.