You've done an excellent job here, Brian. This article summarises in 15 mins so many of the lessons and details which took me over a year to learn via webinars, software and service provider guides, and writer forums. The ISBN and distribution advice alone is rare to find within such a broad scope.
I hope you don't mind my adding a few complementary advice snippets:
1) For print dimensions take a ruler to what's on your own or a local bookstore's shelves as there are international market variations (eg US vs UK trade sizes).
2) Cultivate relationships with your local indie bookstores (and not forgetting bookshop.org). As you say they won't stock with a no-returns policy and low discount, and require up-front reader orders.
3) Ebook formatting is affected by the e-reader preferences set by its user. So any fonts, justification, etc are typically ignored. Also, use your authoring software to autogenerate a linked ToC.
4) Amazon can approve and push out an eBook quicker than your promoted launch date (eg 24hrs early) and so make syncing harder with the physical launch date.
5) It's unfair to ask a designer to create a cover without them knowing your book's page count / spine width. Use a book design tool to avoid a chicken and egg situation.
6) Some libraries (eg in the UK) pay authors for reader loans. Sign up to the relevant national scheme.
Thank you, Johnathan, and thank you for providing the additional insights! I did the ruler thing for my first book, trying to get a good idea of spacing, margins, book size. Nothing beats looking at examples. Same goes for the eBook. I use the Amazon Kindle Previewer, and you're right, they won't show the font I embedded and from what I've heard the support overall for customizations is limited. I tend to keep that format pleasing, but not complicated. I didn't know about #6. That's interesting as libraries here purchase the book outright and then loan the copy indefinitely. Authors are therefore encouraged to set a higher price for it.
Thanks, Brian. Yes, I find the Kindle Previewer app invaluable. Here are more details on the PLR schemes for the UK and Ireland: https://www.bl.uk/plr/
Great article! I publish with Ingram Spark, and their new E-Commerce option has been a game changer. I love cutting out the middleman, being able to market directly to the customers, and keep more of the profit. I plan on getting readers to purchase through their link than Amazon for future novels.
You've done an excellent job here, Brian. This article summarises in 15 mins so many of the lessons and details which took me over a year to learn via webinars, software and service provider guides, and writer forums. The ISBN and distribution advice alone is rare to find within such a broad scope.
I hope you don't mind my adding a few complementary advice snippets:
1) For print dimensions take a ruler to what's on your own or a local bookstore's shelves as there are international market variations (eg US vs UK trade sizes).
2) Cultivate relationships with your local indie bookstores (and not forgetting bookshop.org). As you say they won't stock with a no-returns policy and low discount, and require up-front reader orders.
3) Ebook formatting is affected by the e-reader preferences set by its user. So any fonts, justification, etc are typically ignored. Also, use your authoring software to autogenerate a linked ToC.
4) Amazon can approve and push out an eBook quicker than your promoted launch date (eg 24hrs early) and so make syncing harder with the physical launch date.
5) It's unfair to ask a designer to create a cover without them knowing your book's page count / spine width. Use a book design tool to avoid a chicken and egg situation.
6) Some libraries (eg in the UK) pay authors for reader loans. Sign up to the relevant national scheme.
Thank you, Johnathan, and thank you for providing the additional insights! I did the ruler thing for my first book, trying to get a good idea of spacing, margins, book size. Nothing beats looking at examples. Same goes for the eBook. I use the Amazon Kindle Previewer, and you're right, they won't show the font I embedded and from what I've heard the support overall for customizations is limited. I tend to keep that format pleasing, but not complicated. I didn't know about #6. That's interesting as libraries here purchase the book outright and then loan the copy indefinitely. Authors are therefore encouraged to set a higher price for it.
Thanks for the input and feedback!
Thanks, Brian. Yes, I find the Kindle Previewer app invaluable. Here are more details on the PLR schemes for the UK and Ireland: https://www.bl.uk/plr/
Super timely and helpful, Brian! I'm plowing through this process right now and this has a lot of great tips and timesavers!
That's great, Dan! I'm glad it was helpful.
Great article! I publish with Ingram Spark, and their new E-Commerce option has been a game changer. I love cutting out the middleman, being able to market directly to the customers, and keep more of the profit. I plan on getting readers to purchase through their link than Amazon for future novels.
Thanks, Victor! The only thing I don't like about the e-commerce link is it's US only. But still super helpful!
Fab cover design, Brian, and excellent guide. Every success.
Thank you, Adrian!