Self-publishing Made Simple

A How-to Guide for the Non-tech-savvy Among Us

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Melinda Clayton

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Copyright Information 2013 Melinda Clayton

I recently unpublished my how-to guide, Self-publishing Made Simple: A How-to Guide for the Non-tech-savvy Among Us. The publishing world is forever changing, and I'm just not able to update it as it needs. I do, however, want to continue to share any knowledge I may have gained that others might find useful. For this reason, I'm offering it for free, as PDF, epub, or mobi. Please feel free to share at will, but please don't claim it as your own or try to republish it.

This work is offered for free distribution under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Under the CC BY-NC-ND, it may be downloaded and shared, but may not be altered or used commercially in any way.  The work is also registered in the U.S. Copyright Office. 

ISBN-10:  0-9895729-5-1

ISBN-13: 978-0-9895729-5-8

Cover Photo: Murder She Wrote by Randen Pederson available at http://bit.ly/181C1YM under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.  Full terms at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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Thomas-Jacob Publishing, LLC

thomasjacobpublishing@gmail.com

USA

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, a huge thank you to writer, artist and editor Smoky Zeidel for editing and proofing this booklet. Second, I’m indebted to the thousands of writers, bloggers, graphic artists, editors, beta-readers, and formatters who share their knowledge through blogs, support groups, and discussion fora. Thank you.

Self-publishing for the Non-tech-savvy Among Us

MAYBE YOU’RE HERE because you’ve finally written that family history your mother spent years begging you to write. Or maybe after querying dozens of agents without a nibble, you’ve decided to go it alone. Perhaps, like me, you’ve recently terminated contracts with a publisher and are eager to have your works republished even though you’ve not a clue how to do it. Whatever the reason, you now find yourself at the precipice of an exciting adventure, the first step just a mere tap of the fingers away.

And that’s where you’re stuck.

If, like me, you grew up with sporadic access to a rusty old Royal typewriter (with an e that always typed midway up the line) and a gummy bottle of Liquid Paper, the online world of choices, directions, templates, and opportunities can seem overwhelming.

While there are many guides available to address the various aspects of self-publishing, my experience has been that the majority of them start a good three steps ahead of my level of comprehension. Create a TOC by bookmarking is only helpful if first, you know what bookmarking is, and second, you know how to do it.

As I schlepped my way through pamphlets, websites, books, blogs, and discussion boards (all while quietly cursing at my computer late into the night) I took copious notes, translating, if you will, techy-speak into language even I could understand.

After a couple of blog posts of my own and a plethora of questions from other writers struggling with some of the same issues, I decided to pull my notes and information together in order to help those who, again like me, were born well before the age of online anything. Know upfront this is not a writing guide, nor is it a marketing guide or a promotional recipe.

Instead, it’s a plainspoken, nuts and bolts instruction booklet to help guide learning, non-tech-savvy authors through the maze of confusing information. While tech-savvy folks may find much of the information useful, the simplified instructions provided in the chapters on formatting will likely irritate anyone with an above-middle-grade working knowledge of technology.

The information provided within is based on the steps I took as I transitioned from having a publisher to self-publishing, and it includes everything from avoiding questionable publishers to registering for an Employee Identification Number, choosing publishing and distribution venues, registering copyrights, and formatting the previously mentioned TOC (table of contents, for those unfamiliar with the acronym).

My own books are published and distributed through Kindle Direct Publishing, the Smashwords Premium Catalogue, and CreateSpace Expanded Distribution. I provide specific manuscript formatting instructions for Kindle Direct Publishing and Smashwords, and provide tips, clarification, and links to free templates to use in preparing your manuscript for CreateSpace.

Additional publishing and distribution channels discussed are Google Play, AllRomance/Omnilit, Lulu, Penguin’s Book Country, and Lightning Source. In each case, I discuss the pros and cons, and for the curious, I also discuss the decision-making process I used when choosing some platforms as opposed to others.

Additionally, I’m working in Microsoft Word 2010 so my formatting instructions are specific to that program. If you’re working in an earlier version of Word the terms and commands will be the same, but the locations on the toolbar may be different. If you’re working in HTML code or using a Mac, the chapters on formatting your document may not be very helpful to you.

Finally, links to the websites discussed in the ebook version of this booklet are embedded into clickable words or phrases. In the print book, links to the websites discussed are available on the “Helpful Resources” page in the back of the book.

The world of self-publishing is rapidly changing and growing; information and links contained within this booklet were accurate on the day of publication, but may be subject to change at some point in the future.

Self-publishing or Traditional: When Not to Use a Publisher

If you’re still undecided about your preferred route to publishing, know there are many mid-sized and small publishing houses with stellar reputations and years of proven experience. Know, too, for each of those, there’s at least one that will eventually end up on a “scammers” list.

Google “publishing scams” and you’ll uncover pages and pages of warnings against publishers who mislead and steal from hopeful authors. Writer Beware, Absolute Write, and Preditors and Editors are must-read sites for any aspiring writer.

Some companies (according to one Absolute Write discussion) are allegedly designed to take advantage of not only authors, but readers, too.

Other companies (and I believe this number to be far higher) seem to have been established with the right ideas in mind, but failed for a number of reasons and ended up on the “scam” list just the same. A love of books does not a businessperson make.

Hopefully by now it goes without saying money should flow to the author, not from the author, so I won’t cover that here other than to say never, ever pay a publishing company—not a reading fee, not a publishing fee, and not a promise to buy a certain number of copies.

Certainly, some small presses are very upfront with what they do and do not offer. I’m only speaking about the ones who aren’t, the ones who tell you they’ll do things for you that you later discover they haven’t done.

That said, the following is a list of some of the signs to watch out for when querying small presses, those independent publishers not affiliated with the “Big 5” New York publishing houses. None of these warning signs should be taken as gospel, but when lumped together should be viewed as enough of a concern to warrant more research. I’ve divided potential concerns into three categories:  External, Internal, and Personal.

External:  Signs on the web

1. It goes without saying in any business one should do some research before signing a contract. Do an internet search and ask yourself the following:  How long has the business existed? Are there complaints against it?

There are many sites designed to protect authors, including the aforementioned Absolute Write, Writer Beware, and Preditors and Editors. Is the publishing company listed or discussed on any of those sites?

2. Are they listed anywhere (such as a state database) as a registered business? If so, what type? A sole proprietor (SP)? A limited liability company (LLC) or partnership (LLP)? Are they “doing business as” (DBA)?

The registration of a company (or lack thereof) is a good indicator of business knowledge. A company that throws up a website without registering as a legitimate business isn’t necessarily out to scam anyone, but it would raise a red flag for me and I’d certainly question their business acumen. For example, a business registered as a DBA or SP has left not only business assets but personal assets at risk in the event of a lawsuit. I want a company that knows to separate personal interests from business interests on all levels.

Internal:  Signs on the company front

1. The website: Are there misspelled words or broken links on the site? If so, do you really want your books listed with a publishing company that misspells words?

2. Books and authors:  There are several things to look for here. First, how long has the company been in business and how many books have they published? This is important, because getting a book ready for publication takes both time and money. If you’re thinking of signing on with a small press that churns books out on a weekly or monthly basis, this should serve as a warning sign.

Can a company publishing books so quickly really give your book the attention it needs to succeed? For example, are they taking time to ensure the book is properly edited and formatted? Are they taking time to find quality, relevant covers? Are they taking time to send books out for review, or to market before publication? If not, these are things that will negatively affect sales. Is this where you want your book?

To do further research, check on Novelrank to see if the publisher’s books are selling. While Novelrank shouldn’t be used as an absolute, I’ve found their numbers to be fairly accurate. If a quick search indicates the company’s books aren’t selling, that’s a major red flag.

3. Book blurbs, previews, and excerpts:  If you’re thinking of going with a small publishing house, check out their book blurbs, previews and excerpts on Amazon, Goodreads, Smashwords, etc. Have the books been properly edited? Are they riddled with misspelled words and grammatical errors?  Is the writing clunky? If so, this is another red flag.

4. Are the company’s books available on Barnes & Noble? This might seem like a strange question, but it’s actually quite important. Over the past year or so more and more small publishing houses are using CreateSpace as their printer. As most probably know, CreateSpace is affiliated with Amazon, so upon hitting “publish,” the book is automatically listed on Amazon.

But up until November 2013, unless a publisher paid for Expanded Distribution (a one-time fee of $25.00 per book), the book was not listed with Barnes & Noble or any other major retailer. That’s fine, if the publisher was upfront about that to begin with. Unfortunately, some publishers led their authors to believe their books would be sold through “all major book stores.” If they aren’t even listed on Barnes & Noble, you can bet they aren’t listed in any of the large book databases used by retailers, schools, and libraries. What does this mean? It means the books are virtually invisible.

Plug one or two of their titles into GetTextBooks.com to see where their books are sold. Look for new editions, as used editions will pop up everywhere.

5. Are their books copyrighted? I don’t mean do they say they’re copyrighted; I mean are they listed in the U.S. Copyright Office? Again, some small presses are upfront about letting their authors know they don’t file copyrights. I have a friend whose publisher informs authors they won’t be filing for copyright, but the author can pay the $35.00 to file if they so choose. That’s fine, if that’s known upfront. But it’s something to know before signing. Common belief is that simply by publishing, your work is protected, but that’s not necessarily the case. According to the U.S. Copyright office, courts will not automatically recognize your claim if it isn’t filed in the copyright office.

6. Are their books listed in the Library of Congress (LOC)? As with filing copyrights, some small presses are upfront about not listing with the LOC. But again, it’s something to know before signing because it affects where your books might be listed. For example, some public libraries and schools won’t stock books that aren’t registered with the Library of Congress.

Personal: Signs noticed—hopefully before, but more likely after—signing

1. Does your contract match the statements made on the website? A friend originally agreed to a contract with her previous publisher partially because their site stated they would put books on local shelves and would send copies out for review. She had found information during previous searches to support that claim. She had also been pleased to find that some of their authors had placed in various contests and competitions. Those were all good signs.

Unfortunately, those policies changed just as she signed. She was told books would no longer be sold in brick-and-mortar stores because the return fees were too high. She never received any official word regarding reviews, contests, or copyrights, but could only assume review fees (such as Kirkus) were also too high, as were fees for entering contests and competitions or for filing copyrights, as these things were also not done.

Two red flags here: one for not following through with previously promised/advertised services, another for the subtle (or not so subtle) indication that the company was struggling financially.

She also discovered her books weren’t listed with the Library of Congress, although prior to her signing, books through that publisher had been. This is a free service for publishers who’ve published the work of at least three authors and been accepted into the Cataloging in Publication Program (CIP), so it’s difficult to understand why that changed, but because of the change, her books were not eligible for placement on the shelves of her own hometown library.

Had she known these policies would change, she’d never have signed on. Unfortunately, she didn’t make sure those items were specified in her contract. Lesson learned. Make sure your contract specifies all the promises listed on the website.

2. Royalties:  It seems to be almost expected (and accepted) in the writing world that royalties will arrive late. There’s a lag between when the book sells, when payment is made to the publisher, and when the publisher pays the author. Most publishers, in my experience, pay either semi-annually or quarterly.

The date of payment in your contract should be specific, and payment should arrive on that date accompanied by a detailed statement. If even one pay period passes in which you don’t receive a statement (even if you haven’t sold enough to make payout, you should still receive a detailed statement), that’s a huge red flag.

I can’t emphasize this point enough. If your payment is late and/or isn’t accompanied by a detailed statement, that’s a problem. It’s amazing how many excuses we can both accept and make for late/missing payments or statements.

Bottom line: It doesn’t matter if the publisher fell ill, had a computer crash, misplaced the checkbook, is moving homes, had to open a new bank account, got hacked, lost the mail, or any other number of excuses. Your contract with your publisher is a business agreement. It doesn’t make you heartless to expect payment when payment is due. It makes the publisher manipulative (not to mention criminal) to avoid paying you by plying you with excuses.

There you have it—hard-won knowledge shared in order to assist others in avoiding some of the pitfalls. As stated above, I think the majority of small presses who fail start out with the right intentions, but due to mismanagement end up on scam lists. In the end, the reasons don’t really matter, and your choice is clear:  Either continue querying reputable agents and publishers, or strike out on your own. This booklet is for the latter category.

Self-publishing:  Business Odds and Ends

When I first decided to republish my books I made a list of the basics, a very specific, literal list of steps I needed to take. While the majority of that list consisted of information specific to publishing, there were some business-oriented tasks that had to be completed. Self-publishing is, after all, a business, even if that business consists of only the author.

Disclaimer:  These are the steps I took, but they may not be the appropriate steps for you. I am not an attorney. My goal isn’t to steer in one direction or another, but to provide a point of reference from which others may start. Keep in mind it’s always a good idea for any self-employed person or new business owner to contact the appropriate professionals to discuss options.

Business information

1. Setting up as a business:  If you’re simply self-publishing with no plans to expand, this first step may not be necessary for you. If, however, you think you might eventually want to publish the work of other authors, you’ll need to contact a professional to discuss options that will best protect your legal interests.

After weighing my options, I chose to establish a Limited Liability Company (LLC). I went with this option because my family and I chose to form a small publishing company in order to republish our work after terminating various contracts. At this time I have no immediate plans to expand and publish the work of other authors, but if I ever change my mind, I want my personal assets to be protected.

I could have approached my attorney to help with this process (as I did several years ago when establishing my psychotherapy practice), but after learning my attorney would charge $3,000.00 to fill out the paperwork, I decided to explore other options. There are several reputable legal sites online, and I chose to go with NOLO.

It bears repeating:  This is the option that worked best for me, but it may not for you. It’s always advisable when forming a business to consult with the proper professionals (one of whom I am not) before taking action.

2. No matter which avenue you choose for publishing and selling your books—Amazon, Smashwords, CreateSpace, or any of the others—you’ll be required to provide information such as would be found on a W-9. After all, any company paying you has to report to the Internal Revenue Service, who in turn will expect you to pay taxes on income earned. If you’ve earned $600.00 or more from a particular publishing/selling platform, you’ll receive a 1099-MISC towards the end of January.

As a self-employed person you certainly want to get paid, but you may not feel comfortable putting your Social Security number on W-9 forms or other paperwork. One option is to obtain an Employee Identification Number (EIN) to use instead. It’s quick, free and easy, and can be done through the Internal Revenue Service.

With those first essential steps out of the way, I was ready to focus on publishing.

Ebooks:  What Are the Options?

Perhaps the first question to ask yourself is, “Do I want ebooks, print books, or both?” Many authors just starting out see ebooks as a cheaper, faster way to publish their works. Others, however, want the added benefit of having their books in print.

The following section serves as an introduction to some of the different platforms for publishing ebooks, discusses the pros and cons of each, covers payment rates and schedules, and provides specific information for formatting for both Kindle and Smashwords.

Kindle Direct Publishing: Pros, Cons, Royalties and Payments

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is often considered the premier place for publishing ebooks. KDP is an extension of Amazon, after all, a company often cited as cornering the market on books.

Pros:

1. KDP offers the ability to create your book cover for free using their Cover Creator tool. This is a particularly nice feature, given that the creation of book covers is often one of the most expensive aspects of self-publishing.

2. KDP also offers a free downloadable application to use to check your manuscript once you’ve submitted but before you’ve published. Check for formatting errors, typos, alignment, correct display of graphics, etc., before publishing. If errors are found, simply correct them on your manuscript and resubmit.

3. Publishing on KDP does not require that you provide your own International Standard Book Number (ISBN). We’ll discuss ISBNs later in more detail, but as you’ll see, free ISBNs are a big deal.

Instead, of an ISBN, Kindle assigns your book Amazon’s own (free) specific identifier, the ASIN, a series of letters and numbers used to identify your book in the Amazon system.

4.  Directions for uploading your manuscript and book cover on KDP are straightforward and easy. Your manuscript can be uploaded as a Microsoft Word document (more on formatting requirements later), and your cover as a JPEG. Once you hit “publish,” your ebook typically shows up on Amazon within twenty-four hours (and often much sooner).

5. You can make changes to your cover and/or manuscript at any time. Simply resubmit the new version when ready. Although your new version will show as “in process” for twenty-four hours or so, your previous version will still be available for purchase on Amazon until your newer edition goes live.

6. You can change your prices at any time, but unless you’ve joined the KDP Select program (more on that later) you cannot set your price to “free.”  

7. If you own the rights to your work in all territories, you have the potential to sell in the following countries:

US Kindle Store

UK Kindle Store: United Kingdom (including Guernsey, Isle of Man, and Jersey)

AU Kindle Store

DE Kindle Store: Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland

FR Kindle Store: France, Monaco, Belgium, Switzerland, and Luxembourg

ES Kindle Store: Andorra, Spain

IT Kindle Store: Italy, San Marino, Vatican City, and Switzerland

Japan Kindle Store: Japan

BR Kindle Store: Brazil

MX Kindle Store: Mexico

CA Kindle Store: Canada

8. Kindle Direct Publishing Select (not to be confused with plain old KDP):  A couple of years ago KDP began offering KDP Select, a ninety-day program that provides additional benefits for those enrolled. While the program has changed some over the years, authors who’ve currently chosen to enroll in KDP Select benefit in several ways.

First, KDP Select gives the author the ability to price books as “free” for five days. The free days can run consecutively or they can be spaced out over the ninety day period. Some authors have found the exposure gained by offering a book for free for a limited time to be beneficial.

Next, books enrolled in KDP Select are available for lending through the Kindle Owners Lending Library, a digital library enjoyed by Amazon Prime members. Authors receive royalties when their book is checked out. Royalty payment is based on the number of participants, but seems to hover around $2.00 or more per checkout.

Additionally, KDP Select authors are eligible to earn 70 percent royalties in countries that typically only pay 35 percent. These countries currently include India, Japan, Brazil, and Mexico. More information about KDP Select can be found on their website.

Finally KDP recently added another incentive to join KDP Select. According to the KDP Select announcement, authors who enter their books into KDP Select will now benefit from time-bound promotions. KDP Select authors can discount their books for a chosen length of time. During that time, a countdown feature will be visible on the Amazon book page to “help generate excitement for the price discount.” Authors will also retain a 70 percent royalty rate on those books even if the sale price drops below $2.99 (more on this later).

Cons:

1. There are very few cons to publishing through KDP, but the biggest is debatably the KDP Select program. If an author chooses to sign up for the ninety day enrollment, the author’s book cannot be sold through any other retailer. To do so will result in expulsion from the KDP Select program, and in extreme cases, may result in expulsion from KDP altogether.

Royalties and payments:

1.  Although royalties are somewhat complicated, in the majority of cases KDP pays 70 percent royalties in most countries for books priced between $2.99 and $9.99. Books priced below $2.99 may only earn a 35 percent royalty, and some countries have a royalty rate of only 35 percent. Details can be found on the website.

2. If you choose direct deposit into your bank account, payment will be made sixty days after first publication provided you’ve earned at least $10.00. Payment from other countries will be made separately and is dependent upon meeting the threshold for the close equivalent of $10.00 in that country. If you choose to be paid by check, the threshold for payment is $100.00.

Before we walk through formatting for Kindle, let’s take a look at Smashwords, arguably the second most popular ebook publishing venue.

Smashwords: Pros, Cons, Royalties and Payments

Smashwords, an online ebook publishing and selling site created by British author Mark Coker, started out as a place to sell ebooks compatible with virtually any platform, but has quickly evolved to offer even more.

Pros:

1.  Smashwords offers the opportunity to sell your ebooks directly from the Smashwords site in a format compatible with virtually any e-reader.

2. If your ebook qualifies for inclusion in the Smashwords Premium Catalogue, you’ll have the opportunity to sell your ebooks in a variety of places: Sony, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Diesel, Page Foundry, Baker and Taylor, Baker-Taylor Axis360, Flipcart, Oyster, and Library Direct. Mr. Coker has even published a free Smashwords Style Guide to assist with obtaining Premium Catalogue status (more on this later).

3.  Smashwords assigns an ISBN to your ebook for free.

4. As with KDP, directions for uploading your manuscript and book cover on Smashwords are simple and direct. Your manuscript can be uploaded as a Microsoft Word document (more on formatting requirements later), and your cover as a JPEG. As soon as you publish on Smashwords your ebook will be available for purchase on the Smashwords site. It will automatically be submitted for review to determine eligibility for inclusion in the Premium Catalogue. The review process for the Premium Catalogue can take up to two weeks. If approved, your ebook will then be shipped to the previously discussed Smashwords affiliates.

5. As with KDP, you have the ability to make revisions to your covers or manuscripts as needed. Simply upload the new version when ready. Your revised version will be available immediately for purchase on Smashwords; however, it will have to go through the Premium Catalogue approval process again before Smashwords affiliates receive the new version.

6.  Like KDP, Smashwords allows you to change your prices at any time. Unlike KDP, you’re allowed to set your price to “free.”

7.  Smashwords provides the opportunity to create coupons for each of your books. The discount can be as much as 100 percent. This is extremely helpful when querying book reviewers, because you can generate a coupon for a free download of that specific book and email it to the reviewer who’s agreed to review your book. They’ll be able to conveniently download a free review copy onto the e-reader of their choice.

Cons:

1.  The major drawback of Smashwords seems to be that KDP has the biggest market for books. More customers visit Amazon; therefore more books are sold on Amazon. Even with entry into the Smashwords Premium Catalogue and all the subsequent affiliates, most authors with whom I’ve conversed agree sales through Amazon tend to be higher. Inclusion in the Premium Catalogue allows one the opportunity to sell through Smashwords affiliates, but it doesn’t guarantee a sale.

Royalties and payments:

1.  When you sell directly from Smashwords you’ll receive 85 percent in royalties. If you make it into the Smashwords Premium Catalogue and make a sale through one of their affiliates, the affiliate will, of course, take a cut of the profit. Instead of 85 percent, you’ll typically earn 60 percent (though they do clarify some retailers may vary).

2. Smashwords pays quarterly, thirty to forty days after the conclusion of the quarter (March, June, September, December) if $10.00 is accrued. Payment is via PayPal.

Kindle vs. Smashwords vs. Others:  A Comparison

Kindle vs. Smashwords:

To recap:  Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is an excellent venue for publishing your ebook. Books published through KDP benefit from the wide Amazon market, easy upload, good royalty payments, and excellent support. Publishing on KDP does not require an ISBN.

They offer an upgrade, if you will, in the form of a ninety-day enrollment in KDP Select. Benefits include five days to list your book as free, inclusion in the Kindle Owners Lending Library for Amazon Prime members (complete with a royalty payment per loan of around $2.00), the ability to earn 70 percent royalties in a handful of countries that otherwise pay 35 percent, and a new promotional deal that allows authors to discount their books for a chosen amount of time (while still accruing royalties at 70 percent), complete with a “countdown” clock on the Amazon book page.

Anyone can publish on KDP and still publish on other venues, unless an author chooses to enroll in the ninety-day KDP Select program. When enrolled in KDP Select, the author cannot sell books on any other platform for the entire ninety-day period.

The question authors have to weigh is, “Do the benefits of enrolling in KDP Select outweigh the benefits of selling on multiple platforms for that ninety day period?”

Smashwords, on the other hand, allows authors to publish immediately on the Smashwords site and includes downloads available for virtually all e-readers. If one meets the standards needed to be included in the Premium Catalogue (more on that later), one also has the ability to sell through multiple venues, including Apple, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, and Barnes & Noble, among others. Smashwords provides a free ISBN for those venues. Direct sales through Smashwords result in an 85 percent royalty payment for authors, while sales through their affiliates typically earn 60 percent (though that can vary).

The question authors have to weigh is, “Will I make enough on Smashwords to offset the cost of publishing on those affiliate venues on my own?”  Because, of course, there is a third option.

A writer can publish through KDP (without enrolling in KDP Select, allowing that writer to also publish elsewhere), publish through Smashwords (without inclusion in the Premium Catalogue), and sell books independently through other distributors (such as Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, etc.) without the help of Smashwords.

One reason for doing this, as mentioned previously, is that when you sell through the Smashwords Premium Catalogue the retailer takes a cut of the profit, so instead of 85 percent, you’ll only earn 60 percent.

The drawback to this third option is that some distributors require an ISBN to sell your product. ISBNs must be specific; the same ISBN cannot be used for more than one format or distributor. While ISBNs seem to be relatively cheap (or even free) in parts of Europe, here in the U.S., where ISBNs are purchased through Bowker, they’re quite expensive. If you buy them one at a time the cost is $125.00 per ISBN. Or, you can buy in bulk. For example, you can purchase ten ISBNs for $250.00. Not a small chunk of change.

The Others:

There are multiple other venues for selling ebooks, some fairly well-known, others not, and each with its own set of pros and cons. The following are ebook stores not affiliated with Amazon or Smashwords. There are no doubt others; these are the ones with which I have some working knowledge.

1.  One that seems to be gaining traction is Google Play. Google Play sells ebooks downloadable for Android devices. The first step toward selling through Google Play is uploading your ebook into Google Books via the Google Books Partner Program. In Google’s words, “By matching the content in your books with user searches, Google Books connects your books with the users who are most interested in buying them.” Viewers get a 20 percent preview (that’s the default setting; you can increase it, but not decrease it), and buy links are included on the side of the page. If you sell from your own site, your link will be listed first. Another bonus:  Google Play provides a free ISBN if your book doesn’t have one.

That’s the good news. The bad news is their instructions for submitting books leave a lot to be desired. I submitted all four of my novels and can share some of the stumbling blocks that gave me pause.

Once you have an account (if you have gmail that’s the information you use to sign in), it seems relatively simple to “Add Book.” The first page takes you to general information you have to fill in, such as title, number of pages, blurb, bio, BISAC....

Wait...what?

Chances are, if you haven’t yet published on CreateSpace, you may have never even heard of it. BISAC:  Book Industry Standards and Communications. Basically, all the categories and subcategories in which a book will fit. A complete listing is on the Book Industry Study Group website.

On the Google Books form you’ll see “Subject,” then a drop down menu from which you’ll choose the appropriate system for categorizing your book. For those of us in the U.S., it’s BISAC. From there you’ll be prompted to add your categories. Luckily, when filling out the form, if you begin to type in a category a dropdown list will appear—but only if it’s an exact match to an existing BISAC category, so it might be helpful to keep the link above handy.

The next snag I experienced was directly under that:  Language. The instruction was to list the language in which the book was written in ISO 639-2/B code. I had no idea what that meant, but after some searching, I found a listing of codes through the Library of Congress.

Once finished with that page, find “Google Books Settings” on the menu to the left and click. This takes you to the page that allows you to choose the percentage you want viewable, as well as where you verify your rights (if you have rights everywhere, just enter “World”). 

When finished there, go back to the toolbar on the left and click “Content Files.” Google Books needs either an ePUB or PDF file of your entire book, along with a JPEG of the cover.

Once you’ve uploaded everything, hit “Publish.” If everything is accepted, your book will be listed in Google Books. From there, it’s a simple click to enroll your book in the Google Play store; however, a word of caution:  Google Play reserves the right to change the price of your ebook without explanation or warning. If you also have your book published through KDP, remember that Amazon price-matches. This means if Google Play lowers the price of your ebook, Amazon will follow suit.

Another point worth mentioning:  The Google Play site states that authors will receive the majority of their royalties, but nowhere (at least nowhere I could find) does it state a specific percentage.

For these reasons, I chose to keep my books enrolled in Google Books (hopefully increasing online visibility) but bypassed the option of selling through Google Play. More on that later.

2. AllRomance.com/Omnilit.com is another site on which you can list your ebook(s) to sell. The submission process is quite simple and requires only an upload of a PDF file of your book and a JPEG of your cover. If you don’t want to purchase an ISBN you can contact AllRomance/Omnilit and they will provide you with their own free identifier. Set your price, and your book will be immediately available.

One benefit of selling your ebook on the AllRomance/Omnilit site is the variety of promotional activities they offer. They maintain a very active, reader-friendly site. There really is no negative side to selling on AllRomance/Omnilit other than that in comparison with other ebook platforms, their audience is rather small.

3.  Lulu is another online publishing and distribution option for both print and ebooks. Once published on Lulu, ebooks may be distributed through the Apple IBooks, Barnes & Noble, and the Lulu site. Lulu provides the ISBNs, and the author keeps 90 percent of the profit.

Because my previous publisher had sold my books through Smashwords and affiliates (which includes Apple IBooks and Barnes & Noble), I wasn’t initially familiar with Lulu and opted, upon republication, to relist with Smashwords. After subsequent research, I’ve decided to remain with Smashwords in spite of the fact that Lulu offers higher royalties.

The reason for this is twofold:  First, my ebook covers, which were designed for KDP, also work for Smashwords but will not work for Lulu. Lulu has specific requirements that differ from those of KDP. Not having the necessary skills and resources to make the adjustments myself, I opted not to pay my graphic artist extra to create a separate ebook cover.

Second, Lulu requires an ePUB file in order to distribute to retailers. While they do offer a free converter for files uploaded as a PDF or DOC, a cursory glance at Lulu discussion boards would seem to indicate some issues with the conversion process. Lulu does offer for-fee services such as assistance with converting files, the lowest starting at $99.00.

As previously stated, each author has to make decisions based on what works best for that author. Given that my books are already for sale through Smashwords and affiliates, and recognizing that sales through Lulu (including distribution through Barnes & Noble and Apple iBooks) would need to be relatively high in order to pay for a new cover and assistance with converting files, I opted to bypass Lulu and continue with Smashwords.

4.  Penguin Book Country is a subsidiary of Penguin Group, one of the “Big 5” New York based publishing houses. Book Country is their foray into the world of self-published and small press authors, although they’re careful to specify Book Country is a separate legal and practical entity. Book Country offers a wide variety of services and packages including online discussion and feedback groups, beta reading, and self-publishing. Their self-publishing packages range from a free do-it-yourself package to their most expensive at $399.00.

Book Country will accept ePUB or DOC files and will provide a free ISBN. If you go the free do-it-yourself route you’re responsible for your own cover, which can be uploaded from your personal files, or they offer an online cover-designer to assist in building one. With the do-it-yourself package you’ll earn 85 percent net royalties.

Authors who purchase the $399.00 package earn 100 percent of net royalties, a custom-designed cover, and twenty free BookStubs (gift cards).

With all packages, the authors choose the distributors they’d like to use:  the Book Country store, Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, Google, and Scribd.

Although I’ve only recently discovered Book Country, I do plan on taking a closer look at their do-it-yourself package, particularly because they sell through distributors neither Smashwords nor Lulu offer:  Google and Scribd. If as described, this might offer an author the opportunity to sell for Android devices without worrying about the arbitrary price-changes Google Play is known to make when signing with them directly.

As noted in the beginning of this chapter, there are undoubtedly other ebook publishing and distribution options not covered in this booklet. The ones I’ve discussed are the ones with which I’m most familiar. My goal is not to encourage any particular choice, but rather to share information I’ve gathered since diving headfirst into the world of self-publishing, and to provide new authors (and/or publishers) a starting point in a journey that can at times seem overwhelming. Throughout the process, I’ve chosen the options that work best for me; you may very well decide differently.

Formatting in Microsoft Word for Smashwords and Kindle Direct Publishing

Now we get to the fun stuff (although believe me, I wasn’t calling it that my first time through). The good news is, once you get the hang of it it’s really not that difficult. Plus, with a couple of tweaks your manuscript for Smashwords can not only get you included into the Smashwords Premium Catalogue, it will also work for Kindle (although I didn’t know that the first three times—yet another hard lesson learned). For that reason, we’ll start by formatting for Smashwords.

Because Smashwords formats your manuscript to be downloadable to all e-readers, they have very specific instructions for formatting. In a nutshell, they want you to strip your manuscript of all formatting to ensure there isn’t any corruption (which can result in odd symbols, strange aligning of text, etc.), and take you through the proper formatting process step-by-step.

As I mentioned earlier, Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, has a free publishing guide available for download on Smashwords. While I’m sure most people have no problems following his directions and formatting accordingly, I’m inadequate enough at these things to find his elementary directions difficult to follow (sorry, Mark—it’s not you; it’s me). Unfortunately, I’m more at the preschool level, hence the following.

I’m working in Microsoft Word 2010, so as mentioned previously, all my instructions are specific to that program. If you’re working in an earlier version of Word, the terms and commands will be the same, but the toolbar may be designed differently. If you’re working in HTML code or on a Mac, these instructions may not be as helpful for you.

Manuscript:

1. First (and very important) save an extra copy of your manuscript. Just click on “File” on the upper left of your toolbar, click “Save as,” name your manuscript something simple such as “Manuscript 2,” and save. This will be your working manuscript as you learn how to format.

2.  Using that extra Manuscript 2 copy, select your entire document. The easiest way to do this, again in Word 2010, is to hold the “Control” button and then the “A” key.  Or an alternative:  From the “Home” page, on the far right of your tool bar, on the bottom of the column, you should see the “Select” option. Click on it. A dropdown bar will appear. From that bar, you’ll click on “Select All.”

3.  Once you’ve selected all, go to “Change Styles” up on your tool bar. In Word 2010, still on the “Home” page, this is up on the right, slightly to the left of where you found “Select.” Click the tiny, almost-invisible arrow on the bottom right of that tab, and that should bring up a list of “Styles.”

4. From that list of styles, select “Normal.” Warning:  When you do this, it will remove all formatting from your document. Everything will be single spaced, left justified, un-bolded, un-italicized, etc.

Don’t panic; this is what’s supposed to happen (this is also why you’re using a copy of your original manuscript—if you make a mistake, your original will still be fine). Aside from removing every speck of formatting you worked so hard to achieve, this will also remove any corruption in your file.

5. From there, we’ll go chapter by chapter and use the “Paragraph Settings” on the “Home” page to reformat. Never use tabs for indents or multiple returns between chapters because they won’t format correctly for most e-readers. Instead, we’ll format through Word settings.

I like to see my formatting as I go to make sure it’s what it’s supposed to be, so from the “Home” page I click on the little paragraph symbol towards the middle of the tool bar (it’s officially known as the pilcrow, for discerning wordsmiths). All the symbols that pop up on my manuscript after clicking the pilcrow drive me nuts, but at least I can see what I’m doing.

6. We’ll start with the copyright page. Mine looks like this:

Appalachian Justice

Cedar Hollow Series, Book 1

Melinda Clayton

Published by Thomas-Jacob Publishing, LLC, on Smashwords

thomasjacobpublishing@gmail.com

Copyright 2013 Melinda Clayton

Also available in print through most online retailers

Cover Art: Clarissa Yeo, Book Cover Art

Title is centered and bold, 14-point font. I use 14-point; you may choose otherwise, but both Kindle and Smashwords are known to rebel at fonts larger than sixteen.

Space down once using “Enter” and type your subtitle, if there is one; I use 12-point font.

Space down twice for author name.

Space down twice for publishing company, and this is important:  You must include the phrase “on Smashwords” to qualify for inclusion in the Premium Catalogue. If you don’t have a publishing company name and are using your own, put “Published by (your name) on Smashwords.”

Space down twice for copyright information.

Space down twice for print book information, if that applies.

Space down twice if you want to credit cover art.

7. The next important step:  Space down twice and insert a page break. To do this:

First make sure you’re on your “Home” page on the toolbar.

From there, click on “Insert.”

Then click on “Page Break.” This should automatically take you to the top of the next page.

You have to do this because hitting “Enter” or “Return” repeatedly leaves lines and lines of blank space on e-readers. You want a little bit of space between chapters or sections, which is why at the end of each chapter or section we’re spacing down twice using “Enter.” But you don’t want too much. The page break takes readers directly to the next chapter without more blank spaces in between.

8. Once you’ve inserted your page break, you’re on your second page. This page is the Smashwords licensing agreement, which has to be there to make it into the Premium Catalogue. Here’s mine, handily provided by Smashwords:

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Again, center and bold the title, space down twice using “Enter,” and insert the licensing agreement with no indent. Space down twice and...

9. Insert another page break.

10. My next page is a disclaimer:

Disclaimer

This book is a work of fiction. While some of the place names are real, characters are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Same deal—centered, bold, space down twice, single spaced disclaimer with no indent. Space down twice, and...

11. Insert another page break.

12. I have a Dedication Page (formatted the same as the above pages—title centered and bolded, space down twice, insert dedication single spaced with no indent). Whatever you choose to put on this page, make sure at the end you space twice and insert a page break.

If you have nothing else, leave this page for your Table of Contents (TOC). We’ll come back to the TOC later. For now, just leave it as a blank page, spacing down twice and inserting a page break.

13.  Now you’re ready for Chapter 1. Because ebooks require a TOC, you need to label each chapter, even if your labels are non-specific and are nothing more than “Chapter 1.” Your chapter heading should be centered, bold, 14-point font.

14. Space down twice by hitting “Enter.” Select ALL the content of Chapter 1 by placing your cursor on the first letter of your Chapter 1 content, left-clicking your mouse, holding the button down, and dragging it all the way to the last word in Chapter 1.

15.  Next, from your “Home” page, click on “Page Layout” on the tool bar.

In Word 2010, the “Paragraph” section is in the center (and somewhat hard to spot, since the word “Paragraph” is at the bottom of the section). Click the tiny, nearly invisible arrow in the bottom right corner of the “Paragraph” section.

On that screen, under “Special,” select “First Line.”

Next to that, under “By,” set it at no larger than .03. This will indent the paragraphs in Chapter 1.

Next, on the same little screen, under “Line Spacing,” set it at 1.5.

“Before” and “After” should both be at “0.”

“At” should be blank.

This will space your lines right for publishing. Single spaced is too close, double is too far apart, but 1.5 is perfect.

At the end of Chapter 1, space down twice using “Enter,” and insert another page break.

16. Use the directions for Chapter 1 to format all the remaining chapters in the book.

17. If you had italics or bold print in your original document, you’ll need to go thorough and re-italicize or re-bold, since setting it to “Normal” wiped all that out.

18. If your manuscript includes pictures, they must be embedded. Don’t use copy/paste. Instead:

Save the picture(s) you plan to use to your computer.

Place your cursor in the location within your manuscript you want the picture to appear.

Remember, you’ve just used paragraph settings to automatically set the first sentence of every paragraph to indent. This means that at the beginning of a new paragraph or section, your cursor is not flush with the left margin, but is instead spaced over .03 to indent the beginning sentence of a new paragraph. If you want your picture centered, backspace until your cursor is flush with the left margin, then from the “Home” page, go to the “Paragraph” section and click the graphic that stands for “Center.”

Back on the toolbar, click “Insert.”

From there, click “Picture.” This will take you to a screen that allows you to browse through your pictures and double click on the picture you want to insert.

If you backspaced to remove the paragraph indent and center your picture, you’ll probably have to reset your indents by going back to “Page Layout” on your toolbar.

Click on “Paragraph.”

Under “Special” click on “First-line.”

Under “By,” Select .03.

This will reinstate your paragraph indents for the rest of the manuscript.

19. If you have links to web pages in your document it’s not required that they be embedded in words. For example, instead of embedding the link to CreateSpace into the word “CreateSpace” in the ebook version of this manual, I could have simply copied and pasted the URL, but that wouldn’t have looked as nice. If you want clickable words, do the following:

First, highlight the word(s) you want to contain the link.

Next, go to the webpage you want the link to lead to.

Copy the URL.

Come back to your manuscript and right-click on the highlighted word(s).

From the dropdown menu, click “Hyperlink.”

A little box will pop up.

Within that little box, click on “Browsed Pages.”

Paste the URL into the “Address” bar.

Close the box.

Your word(s) should now indicate an embedded link (they usually turn blue or show an underline). Test it by placing your cursor on part of the word(s), holding “Control” down on the keyboard, and left-clicking the mouse. This should lead you to the desired webpage.

Table of Contents:

Smashwords requires the TOC to be established by the use of Bookmarks. I’m not sure why, but they state very specifically not to use the Word “Insert TOC” feature. So, bookmarks it is. The good news is, this also usually works for Kindle (more on that later).

1. To start the process:

Go back to the page in the front of the document you left blank for your TOC, and centered in bold, type Table of Contents. I use Times New Roman 14-point font, but that’s a matter of personal preference.

Space down twice to begin your list of chapters. This can be either left-justified or centered; it’s completely up to you.

Type the name of your first chapter (which might simply be Chapter 1), space down once, type the name of your second chapter, and so on until all of your chapters are listed.

I usually use Times New Roman 12-point font, un-bolded, for this section, but again, it’s completely up to you with the exception that Smashwords won’t accept 18-point font or larger.

2. Once you’ve typed in your chapter headings:

Highlight the “Table of Contents” heading you typed at the top of the page.

Up on the toolbar, click “Insert.”

Towards the center of that toolbar you’ll see the word “Bookmark.”  Click on it.

A small screen will appear. At the top of that screen you’ll see the words, “Bookmark name.” 

In the blank space provided, type the following:  ref_TOC

Once you’ve typed ref_TOC, click “Add.” The small screen will then disappear.

3.  Now you’re set up to begin bookmarking your chapter titles.

Scroll down to the Chapter 1 heading in your document and highlight it.

Look back up to your toolbar (you should still be on the “Insert” toolbar, but if not, click on “Insert” again to get back to it). Once again, click on “Bookmark.”

This time when the small screen pops up, you’ll enter the name for your first chapter. The line in which you enter text may still show “ref_TOC” from your previous entry, but that’s okay. You can backspace to clear the line of text, then type in your first chapter title.

Very important:  You can only use letters, numbers, or underscores. No odd characters or spaces are allowed. If you have long chapter titles, you may want to shorten them (otherwise you’re going to get really tired of typing). For example, the first chapter in this booklet is “Self-Publishing for the Non-tech-savvy Among Us.”  But in the little screen that popped up, I listed it as “Ch1Savvy.”

Once you’ve entered your first chapter title, click “Add.” Again, the small screen will disappear.

4. Scroll back down in your document until you reach your second chapter heading and repeat. Highlight, click on “Bookmark,” type your chapter name, click “Add.”

5. Repeat this process through all the chapter headings.

6. Once you have all your chapter headings bookmarked, you’ll begin to link them to the TOC page.

Scroll back up to your TOC page.

Highlight the name of your first chapter in the TOC.

Right click on the name, and a small dropdown list will appear.

From that list, click on “Hyperlink.”

The same screen you saw when embedding hyperlinks to webpages will pop up.

Click on “Place in this document.” This will bring up all of your recently created chapter title bookmarks.

From the box, find the chapter title that matches the chapter title you just highlighted in your TOC. Click on it. Then click “Okay.”

If you’re properly linked, you should see the chapter title in your TOC turn into a clickable link. To make sure it’s working correctly, place the cursor somewhere within the title, press the “Control” button on the keyboard, and left-click the mouse. It should take you to the appropriate chapter.

7.  You’ll repeat this process for each chapter title in your TOC. Highlight the chapter title in your TOC, right click the mouse, choose “Hyperlink,” select the matching chapter title from the box and click it. Finally, click “Okay.”

You should now have a manuscript formatted properly for Smashwords, complete with a working TOC.

Converting your manuscript to Kindle:

If you also want to publish on KDP, converting your Smashwords manuscript to work for Kindle is incredibly easy.

First, remember we initially named this document Manuscript 2? This time, save it as whatever the title of your manuscript is, followed by the word Smashwords. For example, my saved Smashwords manuscript for this booklet is Self-publishing Made Simple Smashwords.

Next, without changing anything in the document, save it again as Your Title Kindle. For example, mine is Self-publishing Made Simple Kindle.

I know that sounds like an odd thing to do, but now you have your completed Smashwords manuscript safely saved, and you’ve got a new document named Your Title Kindle to tweak for Kindle. Make sure this is the document you’re working in for the following sections.

The first order of business is to go to your copyright page. Remember how we had to add “on Smashwords?” Delete it. After all, we’re on KDP now.

Scroll farther down to the Smashwords licensing agreement. Delete it. You can just remove that entire page, unless you’d like to replace the Smashwords licensing agreement with one of your own.

An important note:  Earlier, I mentioned that using bookmarks for the TOC in Kindle usually works just fine. However, strange formatting issues occasionally crop up—not always, but often enough to be annoying—on Kindle when the TOC is created using bookmarks. Specifically, the headings sometimes mysteriously justify left instead of center when the manuscript is uploaded to KDP. If you’re okay with left-justified headings, this won’t be an issue and you can follow the directions immediately below. If you want to be sure your headings are centered, skip the following section and head directly to the Converting to Kindle with Word’s “Insert TOC” feature section below this one.

1.  Converting to Kindle with TOC created from bookmarks: To begin, make sure you’re in the Your Title Kindle document. If you’re not, open it, because that’s the one we’ll be using.

Scroll to your TOC, look back up at your toolbar, and click “Insert” to take you back to the “Insert” toolbar.

Click on “Bookmark.”

The small screen you used before should show up again. Remember how you named the TOC in the Smashwords manuscript “ref_TOC?”  Well, for some reason Smashwords requires that name, but KDP doesn’t like it. I have no idea why that is, but multiple blogs and discussion boards insist this is true, so I’ll go with it since I have nothing to lose and it’s easy to fix. 

Inside the little box, click on “ref_TOC.”

Then click on “Delete.” 

Your TOC will still work, but you’ve now removed the for-whatever-reason-offending “ref_TOC” and KDP will love you.

Save the changes to your Your Title Kindle document.

Also save Your Title Kindle document as a PDF. That way, if you decide to upload your book on Google Books through the Google Books Partner Program, or to sell on Google Play or AllRomance/Omnilit, you’ll already have the required PDF copy (with working TOC) to upload on those sites.

2.  Converting to Kindle with Word’s “Insert TOC” feature:  If you’re comfortable uploading your manuscript to KDP with the TOC created by bookmarking, skip this section. If, however, you prefer to use Word’s “Insert TOC” feature instead of bookmarks, this is the section for you. Again, make sure you’re working in the Your Title Kindle manuscript.

Scroll to your “Table of Contents” page. Leaving the “Table of Contents” heading intact, highlight all of the other entries in your Table of Contents by left-clicking on your mouse and dragging it to the end of the TOC.

Delete the entries in the TOC by hitting “Backspace” on your keyboard. Remember, if you make a mistake, your Smashwords manuscript is safely saved, so don’t panic. Also, if you ever want to “undo” an action, find the “Control” key on your keyboard, press it down, and press the “Z” key. This will undo your latest action.

Once the TOC content is deleted, scroll to your Chapter 1 heading in the manuscript and highlight it by left-clicking on your mouse and dragging it to the end of the heading.

Leaving the Chapter 1 heading highlighted, from the “Home” page toolbar, look to the far right to find “Change Styles.” Click on the tiny arrow underneath to pull up a variety of heading styles.

You can choose one from the list, or, as I did, you can create your own heading style by hovering the mouse over “Heading 1,” then clicking on the little dropdown arrow. This pulls up a screen that gives the option to “Modify.” Click on that and a small screen will pop up that allows you to change font size, justification, bold, italics, etc. I chose 14-point font, bold, centered. 

Once you have the heading set the way you want it, click “OK,” and your highlighted Chapter 1 heading should now show that formatting.

You’ll need to format each of your chapter headings the same way. There are several ways to do this, but perhaps the simplest is to scroll to each heading in turn, highlight it as previously described, then access the “Change Styles” menu again and select the same heading you used for Chapter 1.

Once all of your chapter headings have been formatted, scroll back up to the blank page that still has your “Table of Contents” heading, place your cursor under “Table of Contents” and space down once.

From the toolbar, click on “References.” This will bring up a new toolbar. On the far left, you’ll see a “Table of Contents” tab. Click on that.

A dropdown will appear. Scroll to the bottom of it and click “Insert Table of Contents.” Another screen will pop up offering several options. Because in this tutorial we only have one level of heading, select “1” under the “Show Level” option. Next—and very important—uncheck the “Show Page Numbers” box. Kindle does not use page numbers; therefore, the TOC shouldn’t have them. Then click “OK.”

Your “Table of Contents” page should now show a linked, working Table of Contents created by Word’s “Insert TOC” feature.

Again, make sure to save your document not only as a Word DOC, but also as a PDF. The PDF is what you’ll upload to Google Books, Google Play, and AllRomance/Omnilit if you decide to use those platforms.

And just like that, you’re formatted for Smashwords and affiliates as well as KDP, Google Books, Google Play, and AllRomance/Omnilit. Next, let’s talk about a couple of print book options and formatting issues.

Paperbacks:  What Are the Options?

The advent of ebooks in conjunction with self-publishing has given authors an amazing opportunity to publish and have their work seen by people who otherwise might never have been afforded the opportunity. For many, the publishing of ebooks is the perfect platform:  a way to reach potentially thousands, if not millions, of readers without the expenses often incurred by the publication of print books.

For some readers, however (such as this writer), print books are still the preferred method of reading. Luckily, the ever-evolving world of self-publishing now offers several choices for publishing print books, as well.

CreateSpace vs. Lightning Source

As with ebooks, there are certainly more paperback printers/publishers than the ones with which I’m familiar. The two we’ll cover here, however, are two of the most well-known:  CreateSpace and Lightning Source.

CreateSpace pros:

CreateSpace is known as Amazon’s do-it-yourself paperback publishing platform. With easy to follow directions and distribution to multiple countries in which Amazon has a market, CreateSpace is possibly the most popular U. S. site for self-publishing paperback books. In addition to identifying as a publisher, CreateSpace also prints and distributes books.

1. Publishing through CreateSpace is free for the do-it-yourself author, although they do offer a variety of for-fee services for those not comfortable with the do-it-yourself platform.

2. CreateSpace staff and discussion boards are quick to reply to requests for information and assistance.

3. The publication process is outlined in several easy-to-follow steps.

4.  CreateSpace has a free online cover-creator. If one of their many templates doesn’t meet your needs, they also provide specifics for both trim sizes and spine widths to ensure the cover you provide will work with your manuscript.

5. Paper choices are either cream or white, and paperback cover finishes are either matte or glossy.

6. CreateSpace provides free downloadable templates to ensure your manuscript is properly formatted for printing (more on this later).

7. CreateSpace offers the option of using your own purchased ISBN, or using one they provide. The downside to using a CreateSpace generated ISBN is that your book will be listed as published by CreateSpace. As much as we may not like to admit it, the sad truth is that listing CreateSpace as your publisher may, in some cases, cause stores, libraries, and schools to think twice before purchasing your book. The world of self-publishing has come a long way in a few short years, but unfortunately there are still stereotypes to overcome.

If, however, you provide your own ISBN, your imprint (or your name) will be listed as the publisher.

8.  As of November 2013, CreateSpace offers free expanded distribution (a service that used to cost $25.00 per book). Expanded Distribution means your book will be available not only on Barnes & Noble, but in widely-known book distribution catalogues such as Ingram and NACSCORP. Retailers rely on book databases and catalogues such as Ingram when ordering books. As an idea of where your books may be listed, mine are now available not only through all Amazon markets, but also through Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Walmart.com, and a host of other stores both national and international. 

Worth noting:  Expanded Distribution will get you listed in catalogues, but it won’t guarantee retailers choose to stock your book.

Another notable mention:  If you choose to use your own ISBN instead of a CreateSpace provided one, Expanded Distribution for your book will not include a listing in Baker and Taylor, a catalogue widely used by libraries and academic institutions. It’s only by using the CreateSpace generated ISBN—which lists CreateSpace as the publisher—and selecting Expanded Distribution that you’ll be listed in Baker and Taylor. Again, a listing does not guarantee a purchase; it’s simply a listing.

9. CreateSpace will provide a free barcode. Barcodes can also be ordered from Bowker for $10.00, but there’s no need, since CreateSpace provides one. Just make sure, if you hire a graphic artist to design your cover, that she/he leaves the back bottom right corner vacant to accommodate the barcode.

10. CreateSpace allows you to order books, including a proof copy, straight from CreateSpace for the cost of printing and shipping. For example, my book, which retails for $12.99, is available for me to order through CreateSpace for just $7.53. In addition, CreateSpace provides authors the ability to create discount coupons to be used for selling directly through the CreateSpace site.

11.  You can make changes to your cover or interior and re-upload the new editions for free at any time.

CreateSpace cons:

1. For those not comfortable with the do-it-yourself option, CreateSpace fees for various packages range from $248.00 to a whopping $5,070.00. Unfortunately, a browse through the CreateSpace discussion forum reveals a number of authors who were left dissatisfied after purchasing one of the packages.

2. CreateSpace does not allow book returns. This has historically been one of the markers that sets self-published and small-press books apart from books published through bigger houses. Stores are reluctant to stock books that cannot be returned if they don’t sell.

3. CreateSpace Expanded Distribution does get your book listed in Ingram, but with a wholesale discount of only 25 percent, most bookstores will not be interested. A standard wholesale discount is widely considered to be 55 percent. 

4.  CreateSpace only allows for the publishing and printing of paperbacks; it does not provide resources for publishing or printing hardback books.

CreateSpace royalties and payments:

CreateSpace pays electronically thirty days after initial publication if at least $10.00 is earned. If a paper check is desired, the threshold is $100.00.

Royalties are complicated, but the general explanation is that the author receives 60 percent net of retail after printing costs are deducted if the book is sold through Amazon U.S. If the book is sold through Expanded Distribution, the author receives 40 percent net of retail after printing costs are deducted. If a customer orders directly through CreateSpace, the author receives 80 percent of net after printing costs are deducted.

Amazon Europe distribution channels will earn British pounds (GBP) and Euro (EUR). Payments will be issued separately for each currency according to the above schedule, once the author has met the minimum threshold per currency (usually the close equivalent of $10.00 or $100.00, depending on the method of payment selected). While royalties accrue in separate currencies, payments will be issued in the author’s bank currency.

Lightning Source pros:

Lightning Source is a subsidiary of Ingram Content Group Inc.; yes, that’s the same Ingram that, according to their website, provides “books, music, and media content to over 38,000 retailers, libraries, schools and distribution partners in 195 countries.” Unlike CreateSpace, Lightning Source does not identify as a publisher, but rather as a printer and distributor of books.

1.  Like books entered into the CreateSpace Expanded Distribution program, books printed through Lightning Source will be listed in catalogues such as Ingram and NACSCORP and will be available for order through all major retailers. Unlike with CreateSpace, all books printed through Lightning Source will also be available in Baker and Taylor.

2.  Lightning Source has historically had a reputation for providing better quality books then CreateSpace, crafted of higher quality materials with a wider range of choices. Like CreateSpace, Lightning Source paper choices are either cream or white, and paperback cover finishes are either matte or glossy. But unlike CreateSpace, Lightning Source also offers the option to print hardback books. These covers may be matte, glossy, or fabric-covered.

3.  Lightning Source will provide a free barcode.

4. Lightning Source gives the author/publisher the option of accepting returns. This is important, because most stores will not stock unreturnable books.

5. While CreateSpace sets wholesale discounts for the publisher/author, Lightning Source allows the publisher to set the wholesale discount. The standard is usually considered to be 55 percent, a number that pleases bookstores and makes placement on shelves more likely.

Lightning Source cons:

1. Publishing through Lightning Source is not free; not even for the do-it-yourself author. At the time of this printing, the price for uploading your cover and interior on Lightning Source is $75.00.

2. Lightning Source is not for those who need guidance through a new process. While CreateSpace has a reputation for walking first-time authors through with instructions and free templates, Lightning Source has a reputation for leaving you to figure it out on your own.

3.  Although I’ve read on various blogs that authors can purchase an ISBN through Lightning Source for a reduced price, according to their Lightning Source U.S. Publisher Operating Manual Version 6.2, authors must provide their own ISBNs from Bowker.

4. There is a $12.00 U.S. distribution fee per year, as well as a $12.00 U.K. distribution fee per year.

5.  The proof copy of my $12.99 book from CreateSpace was $7.53. A proof copy of the same book would cost $30.00 through Lightning Source.

6.  There is a $40.00 charge to change either your cover or interior with Lightning Source.

Lightning Source royalties and payments:

1. According to their website, payment is made within ninety days of the initial report date and can be either paper check or direct deposit. There is a $25.00 threshold.

2. It is very difficult to get a “royalty rate,” because Lightning Source allows the publisher to set the wholesale discount. A standard wholesale discount of  55 percent will obviously mean a lower profit margin, but also makes it more likely bookstores will be willing to stock the book.

Printing costs are also higher through Lightning Source. According to their calculator my $12.99 book, which cost $3.94 to print through CreateSpace, will cost $4.22 through Lightning Source. That’s money that comes directly from the author’s profit.

Using CreateSpace in conjunction with Lightning Source: 

Some authors choose to purchase their own ISBN(s) and use both CreateSpace and Lightning Source for distribution. Because initial publication on CreateSpace is free—as are revisions—some authors feel it’s better to begin with CreateSpace until the author is familiar enough and experienced enough to have quality products without having to pay for each revision needed. They simply upload the cover and interior on CreateSpace, check a proof copy, and make revisions as needed. Once the manuscript is in perfect order and no further revisions are needed, they then publish on CreateSpace without choosing Expanded Distribution, and also publish through Lightning Source.

In this way, the book is available on CreateSpace for Amazon as well as on Lightning Source for inclusion in Ingram, Baker and Taylor, and NACSCORP and a better chance of being sold in brick-and-mortar stores. Leaving the book on CreateSpace has the added benefit of providing lower printing costs should the author need print copies for book signings, etc.

Formatting for CreateSpace

As mentioned in the previous chapter, CreateSpace provides free templates for formatting your manuscript; however there are a few issues not addressed by the template.

1. First, if you’re working in Microsoft Word the template tends to open to two pages per screen. This can be confusing, because the page you’re seeing on the left of the screen will actually be on the right in the finished book.

For example, scroll through the template past the title page, copyright page, etc., until you reach Chapter 1. This page is numbered “1” on the template, and is on your left on the screen. In the book, however, all odd pages will be on the right. If you pull any random novel off a shelf and look, the odd pages are on the right.

This can be confusing, and is something to keep in mind as you proceed.

2. Next, the CreateSpace template includes odd- and even-number page headers. The header on odd-numbered pages will be your book title, while the header on even-numbered pages will be your name.

To enter your headers, click on “Insert” on your toolbar.

From there, towards the middle of the “Insert” toolbar, click on the label, “Header.”

This will bring up a dropdown screen. From that screen, click on “Edit Header.”

Your manuscript will then show the cursor placed in the odd-number header spot. Enter your book title here.

Next, click in the even-number header spot and enter your name.

On the toolbar, click “Close Header and Footer.”

On the screen it will look as if your book title is on the left hand page while your name is on the right hand page. In the finished product, your title will be on the right hand page, and your name will be on the left.

3. From the many authors with whom I’ve conversed regarding the CreateSpace template, one issue of consternation repeatedly arises:  page numbers. Obviously, the book needs page numbers, but how to get them to start on the right page? You don’t want page numbers on the copyright page, for instance, or on the title page.

There are discussions and threads on the CreateSpace site as well as across the internet offering advice on how to correctly insert page numbers. The following directions were pieced together from a variety of discussion boards, websites, blogs, and YouTube videos, as well as one direct phone call placed to CreateSpace by author Marilyn Celeste Morris.

Place your cursor at the bottom of the last page you don’t want to have a page number (the page before your Chapter 1).

Click on “Page Layout” on the tool bar.

Click on the tiny arrow next to “Breaks.”

From that dropdown menu, click on “Next Page.”

This creates a section break, and your cursor will move to the next page.

Go back to the toolbar and click the “Insert” tab.

Towards the middle of that toolbar, click “Page Number.”

From the dropdown menu, select where you want the page number placed (usually at the bottom of the page).

The page number that shows on your Chapter 1 page may still not be “1,” because your document is still literally counting all the pages in the manuscript. To start numbering from the current Chapter 1 page, you have to delete any links to previous pages. Notice that when you inserted your page numbers, the toolbar changed slightly. You now have a “Design” section.

Within that section, click on “Link to Previous.” This will remove the link to your previous pages.

Next, go to “Insert.”

Click on “Page Number.”

From the dropdown menu, click on “Format Page Numbers.” This will bring up a small box.

Within that box, click to “Start at.”

Enter “1.”

Click, “Okay.”

If your computer likes you, your page “1” should now be the first page of your Chapter 1.

If, like me, these simplified instructions still cause grief, there is a way to avoid the whole issue. When you download the template from CreateSpace, make sure to download the template that includes sample formatted content. This template already starts page numbers on Chapter 1, and it’s a simple matter to delete the sample text and replace it with your own while leaving the formatting in place.

4. There’s a widely circulated belief that the first page of each chapter in a print book should start on an odd-numbered page (meaning chapters will always begin on the right-hand side of the finished book). If you search the topic, you’ll find blog after blog telling you in order to look professional you have to start each chapter on an odd-numbered page. They’ll tell you if you pull a book from a store or library shelf, you’ll see that chapters all start on odd-numbered pages, even if that means there’s a blank page between.

The problem is, that’s wrong. Pull a couple of best-sellers off a shelf and see.

Being a curious sort, I visited my own bookshelf to find out. Of the ten books I pulled to check (including works by Jodi Picoult, Mary Higgins Clark, Asne Seierstad, John Steinbeck, Markus Zusak, and other best-selling authors), all of them began Chapter 1 on an odd page, but none of them continued that pattern beyond the first chapter. I’m not sure where this erroneous information came from, but it’s been repeated enough that new authors never even question it.

Interestingly, even the CreateSpace template starts with Chapter 1 on an odd page, but in keeping with the big publishing houses, subsequent chapters in the sample formatted content template begin wherever the previous chapter left off, be that an odd- or an even-numbered page.

However, if you buy into the widely propagated odd-page-only belief, there will be times your previous chapter refuses to cooperate and ends on an odd page. In those cases, you’ll need to insert a blank page—which will create an even-numbered page—so that you can begin your new chapter on an odd page. This creates more work for you; it also creates a bigger book, resulting in higher manufacturing and shipping costs. But if you insist on formatting in this way, the process is simple.

Before we begin, a caution: Advice on formatting for CreateSpace always includes a warning that instead of using page breaks, section breaks must be used. Although either can be used to create an extra page, inserting page breaks instead of section breaks interrupts the flow of headings and page numbers, and we definitely don’t want that. To insert a section break:

Scroll to the end of your chapter.

On the toolbar, click on “Page Layout.” 

From there, click on the dropdown arrow beside “Breaks.”

From the dropdown menu, click on “Next Page.”

Now you should have your even-numbered blank page, allowing you to start your next chapter on an odd-numbered page.

Another word of caution: If you choose to insert section breaks to create extra even-numbered pages, check your headings to make sure they’re still in the correct spots. Sometimes, the extra even-numbered page won’t include the even-numbered page heading seen on your other even-numbered pages.

If that happens, it’s because the extra page you created isn’t linked to the previous (or subsequent) pages. If that’s the case:

Put your cursor on the newly created page, then go to your toolbar and click “Insert.”

From there, click “Header.”

Next, click “Edit.” 

Back up on the toolbar, click “Link to Previous.”

This should link it back up. You may also have to go the subsequent odd-numbered page (the page you’re starting your chapter on) and do the same to ensure it correctly links with the newly created even-numbered page.

5. Once you’ve completed the template, save your changes; then save it again as a PDF. The PDF is what you will upload to CreateSpace, but you’ll still have the DOC file to make future changes if needed.

6. It’s easy to upload your manuscript and book cover on CreateSpace by following their step-by-step directions. Your manuscript will be in PDF format, and your cover can be a JPEG.

7. When you’ve completed the publication process on CreateSpace, you’ll be given the option to have CreateSpace send your files directly to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) to have your book also published on KDP.

This option is fairly new (having been introduced in November of 2012), and many authors complain of problems in the conversion process. For example, the CreateSpace-submitted Kindle version may have odd formatting such as strange spacing, lack of indentions, everything left-justified, or a lack of page breaks.

These are all things to consider before choosing this option. While it may seem quicker and easier to let CreateSpace send your manuscript to KDP, if you’ve followed the directions in this booklet your KDP manuscript should be ready to upload to KDP directly, and you’ll rest easy knowing it’s formatted correctly.

You’ve now formatted both your ebook and your print book. Your templates are uploaded and ready. Before you take the plunge, there are just a few more helpful things to know.

Tips, Tricks, and Helpful Hints

Formatting your manuscript for publication might be one of the most challenging things you’ll have to do before publishing, but there are still other matters to consider.

ISBNs:

If you purchased your own ISBN through Bowker, once you’ve assigned it to your book it must be reported to R.R. Bowker as the database of record for the ISBN Agency. If your ISBN(s) are not reported, your books won’t be listed in Books in Print, which means they’re basically unsearchable in a host of databases.

Barcodes:

CreateSpace provides a barcode for the back of your print book, but if you’ve selected a different printer and need a barcode, they can also be bought at Bowker for—at the time of this printing—$10.00.

Filing Copyright:

While it’s often stated that publishing your work serves as a “poor man’s copyright,” courts will not automatically hear your copyright claim if you haven’t registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Upon registration, by law you have three months to submit a Mandatory Deposit of your work. If your work has been previously published, your Mandatory Deposit will consist of two hardcopies of the copyrighted works. If your work has not been previously published, an electronic copy may suffice. At the time of this printing, the fee for filing the Mandatory Deposit is $35.00. Easy-to-follow directions are on the website.

Library of Congress:

In conjunction with filing for copyright, publishers (those who have published the work of at least three different authors) may apply for acceptance into the Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication (CIP) program. This is the database used by libraries to select books for purchase.

Self-published authors are not eligible for the CIP program, but according to the U.S. Copyright Office, the Mandatory Deposit is for the use of the Library of Congress. I’m unable to find statistics on the number of self-published authors accepted into the LOC catalogue, if any, but one can always hope.

Alexa rankings:

Although this booklet is not intended as a marketing guide, this is one helpful hint all self-published authors need to know. As a new author starting out, you want to get your book out into the world. There are a multitude of sites willing to help you do just that, some free, but many for a fee.

Before shelling out money for a paid advertisement, it’s always wise to check on the Alexa Traffic Rank of the site you’re considering. In everyday language, the Alexa Rank is a measurement of the global traffic a website receives relative to other websites over the span of a month. Given that there are millions of websites, you’ll want to know if spending money to have your book listed on a specific site is a wise move. Are they listed as #4,567,890?  Or as #67,000?

In general, an Alexa ranking of 100,000 or less is considered good—a site that receives quite a bit of traffic. Remember, there are literally millions of sites on the web. A ranking over 100,000 is considered not-so-good.

I recently saw a post on Facebook regarding a fellow author who’d spent $50.00 to advertise his book on a site that claimed to have a high number of subscribers, tons of traffic, and many avenues for promotion.

I went to Quango to check out their ranking. You don’t have to subscribe; just type in the domain name of the website.

A quick search showed that my friend had paid $50.00 to list his book on a site that held a rank of nearly five million, an indication that it gets very, very little traffic, and that his money could have been better spent.

How Not to Sell A Book

It’s been an extremely fun but incredibly busy time since I terminated contracts with my publisher and moved forward on my own. There’s been a learning curve, to be sure, but one thing that stood out is the need for continued crash-courses (of sorts) in marketing. I stated in the introduction that this booklet isn’t a guide on marketing, and it isn’t. There are so many marketing blogs, websites, books and services available to tell authors what to do to market books there’s nothing I could possibly add.

What I’ve realized, however, is that what we don’t do to market is just as important as what we do. As self-published and small-press authors, we’re often left on our own to stumble through and try to get our books noticed and listed in as many places as possible. Unfortunately, the way we do this frequently hurts us more than it helps.

Here’s the thing. The rules are really quite simple for authors and publishing companies alike. Be polite. Be honest. Be professional. And don’t do the following.

1. Don’t offer to swap reviews. It’s unethical.

There will undoubtedly be times when, in the social network of authors with whom you connect, you’ll love another author’s work. I certainly have, and sometimes, if I’m particularly moved, I’ll leave a review (although these days I’m much more likely to just leave stars, having discovered I’m not a great—or even good—reviewer).

But for the few I’ve done, I’ve learned if I know the author (via social networking, shared publisher, etc.), I should preface those reviews with, “In the interest of self-disclosure,” because transparency matters.

When all is said and done, the goal of a review isn’t to boost the sales of the author; it’s to let other readers know what you thought of the book. There will be times when that author also loves your book. They may also leave a review. If you write in a similar genre and have similar interests, that’s not unusual. In those instances, transparency is crucial.

“Swapping” is a different matter. “Swap” arrangements are a deliberate “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” relationship. Threads offering these arrangements pop up with some frequency.

Consider this:  During the summer months my children and I like to visit our local farmer’s market. Several months ago we passed a table selling phone chargers (our farmer’s market is sometimes less “farm” and more “market”). Since we needed chargers and they were advertised at a great price, we stopped to look.

The vendor went on and on about the quality until a neighboring vendor piped in also, telling us how great the chargers were. In return, the phone charger vendor praised the neighboring vendor’s lighters. So, we bought them, both the chargers and the lighters.

Nothing worked after three days.

They weren’t interested in giving an honest appraisal; they were interested in helping each other boost sales regardless of the quality of the product. Now I won’t buy from either vendor.

That’s what “swap” arrangements can do.

2.  Don’t comment on reviews.

When I first published, back in 2010, I made a habit of thanking each and every person who reviewed my first book. It didn’t take long for me to realize that practice made readers uncomfortable. After all, they just want to read and discuss books. What they don’t want is to be put in a position to feel uncomfortable because the author is obsessively following reviews.

This is true for both positive and negative reviews. Notice I didn’t use the words “good” and “bad,” because a negative review isn’t a bad review. Some negative reviews offer the best information. But if it’s uncomfortable as a reader to realize the author read the review and even offered a thank you, imagine how uncomfortable it is to realize the author read the review and responded with anger.

Once you’ve released the book, you have to let it go. Not everyone is going to love it. Some reviewers will be polite about it; some won’t. It doesn’t matter, because the review isn’t about you. It’s about letting other potential buyers know what the reviewer thought about the book. As authors, we get so caught up in our work we say, “I got a negative review today.” No, you didn’t; your book did. It’s best to recognize the difference.

If you must read reviews left for your book, learn from them. Some will discuss plot, formatting, or grammatical errors. These are all helpful things to know. Some might take issue with the content. In those cases, leaving a negative review helps not only other readers—by warning them of potentially upsetting or disturbing content—it also helps you. After all, it’s much better to have a reader not purchase your book based on a negative review than it is to have an uninformed reader purchase it only to hate the content.

3.  Don’t barge into discussion threads and fora that have nothing to do with your books and start marketing your book.

Until my sons’ soccer schedules took over my life I belonged to a real-life book club. Once a month we met to discuss our latest read, always over dinner at a cozy bar and grill or similar place.

Imagine you’re sitting with friends discussing a book you’ve all just read. Someone wanders over and expresses interest. Maybe they say, “Oh, I loved that book!” Or maybe they say, “Was it really good? I’ve been meaning to read it.” You’d probably invite them into the conversation without hesitation, right? After all, they’ve added positively to the discussion at hand.

Now imagine that Thelma, who’s been listening from the bar, wanders over. “If you liked that book,” she says, “you should read mine.”

Thelma hasn’t added to the conversation; she’s detracted from it. Instead of assimilating, she derailed the discussion and took it over. Her welcome isn’t likely to be as warm. If she continues along that vein, someone in the group is likely to ask her to leave. At the very least, the group will avoid her from that point on and find somewhere else to meet. It goes without saying they probably won’t be buying her book.

The internet is full of stories of “badly behaving authors,” always followed with some story about “bully reviewers.” The truth is, self-published and small-press authors don’t have the luxury of a PR department or a spokesperson. There isn’t anyone looking over our shoulder, warning us to step back, take a deep breath, and let things go.

We’re excited about our book, thrilled to be published, and eager to spread the word. Because we don’t have the luxury of a team of experts around us, we make mistakes. If you find yourself in a situation in which you misspoke, reacted with anger, or became defensive, the best course of action is to apologize, learn from the experience, and never repeat it.

A Final Word

The above-mentioned publishers, printers and distributors, in conjunction with tenacious, talented authors, editors, beta-readers, graphic artists, formatters, and bloggers, have been instrumental in forcing change in an industry that for too long had forgotten the beauty of individual art and settled comfortably into the role of big business.

With change very often comes discomfort. As the literary world grows and adapts to the new landscape, there will be those who rebel, those who surrender, and those who eventually decide publishing a book isn’t necessarily all it was cracked up to be.

There will also be those who succeed according to their own personal standards, and those who feel as if they’ve finally realized their calling.

Which will you be?  Only you can decide.

Helpful Resources

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About.com Form 1099:  http://taxes.about.com/od/taxglossary/g/1099.htm

About.com Form W-9:  http://taxes.about.com/od/taxglossary/qt/W9.htm

Absolute Write:  http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=22

Absolute Write Post on Alleged Unethical Publisher:  http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10211

Alexa Traffic Rank:  http://www.alexa.com/help/traffic-learn-more

AllRomance/Omnilit:  http://www.allromanceebooks.com/publishers.html

Book Industry Study Group:  http://www.bisg.org/what-we-do-0-136-bisac-subject-headings-list-major-subjects.php

Bowker:  https://www.myidentifiers.com/

Bowker Barcodes:  http://www.bowkerbarcode.com/barcode/

CreateSpace:  https://www.createspace.com/

CreateSpace Downloadable Templates:  https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/InteriorPDF.jsp

CreateSpace Spine Widths:  https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/CoverPDF.jsp

CreateSpace Trim Sizes:  https://www.createspace.com/Special/Enterprise/Publisher/submission_guidelines.jsp

GetTextBooks.com: http://www.gettextbooks.com/

Google Books Partner Program:  http://books.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/partners/

Google Play:  https://support.google.com/books/partner/answer/1079107?hl=en

Ingram: http://www.ingramcontent.com/pages/company.aspx

Internal Revenue Service:  http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Apply-for-an-Employer-Identification-Number-(EIN)-Online

Kindle Direct Publishing:  https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin

Kindle Direct Publishing Cover Creator:  https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A2RYO17TIRUIVI

Kindle Direct Publishing Royalties and Payments:  https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A30F3VI2TH1FR8

Kindle Direct Publishing Select:  https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/KDPSelect

Language (ISO 639-2/B) Code Listings:  http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php

Library of Congress:  http://www.loc.gov/publish/cip/about/index.html

Lightning Source:  https://www1.lightningsource.com/default.aspx

Lightning Source Printing Cost Calculator:  https://www1.lightningsource.com/shippingcalc.aspx

Lightning Source U.S. Publisher Operating Manual Version 6.2:  http://www1.lightningsource.com/ops/files/pod/USPODOpsManual.pdf

Lulu:  http://www.lulu.com/

NOLO:  http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/llc-basics-30163.html

NovelRank:  http://www.novelrank.com/

Penguin Book Country:  http://www.bookcountry.com/Default.aspx

Penguin Book Country Self-Publishing Packages:  http://www.bookcountry.com/Publish/Packages/

Penguin Book Country Services and Packages:  http://www.bookcountry.com/Publish/Services/

Preditors and Editors:  http://pred-ed.com/pubwarn.htm

Quango:  http://www.qango.com/

Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/

Smashwords Style Guide:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52

U.S. Copyright Office:  http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First

U.S. Copyright Office FAQs:  http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html

U.S. Copyright Office Mandatory Deposit FAQs:  http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/mandatory_deposit.html

Writer Beware:  http://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/about/

More Books by Melinda Clayton

Appalachian Justice, Cedar Hollow Series, Book 1

Return to Crutcher Mountain, Cedar Hollow Series, Book 2

Entangled Thorns, Cedar Hollow Series, Book 3

Shadow Days, Cedar Hollow Series, Book 4

Blessed Are the Wholly Broken

A Woman Misunderstood

Making Amends

About the Author

Melinda Clayton is the author of Appalachian Justice, Return to Crutcher Mountain, Entangled Thorns, Shadow Days, and Blessed Are the Wholly Broken. Melinda has published numerous articles and short stories in various print and online magazines. In addition to writing, she has an Ed.D. in Special Education Administration and is a licensed psychotherapist in the states of Florida and Colorado.