I've gone through Summon the Seasons once for a developmental edit, though I have a feeling there may be scenes that I'll want to revise again before I'm satisfied. In the meantime, I've been formatting the manuscript. I use a template that I bought from Book Design Templates. It's simple to use and works for both eBooks and paperbacks. I still have to comb through the manuscript to make sure everything looks right, and I always order a paper proof to check formatting. Formatting gets easier with practice, though.
How do you format your books? Do you use a special program or work with Word? Do it yourself or hire it out? Feel free to share in the comments.
Showing posts with label formatting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label formatting. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Monday, April 16, 2012
My Tips for Using CreateSpace
I hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine had some ups and downs. The Blog Ring of Power is on hiatus again this week, so I have some free time for another topic.
As I posted on Friday, I promised to talk about using CreateSpace today. As with Smashwords, Amazon, and PubIt!, you need to set up an account first before you can add projects, or books. Paper books are more complicated to produce and publish than e-books; you have to go through several steps before you even get to the review stage.
Some of the hardest decisions involve what type of IBSN you want to use for your book (this link helps you weigh the pros and cons of obtaining your IBSN from various sources. I used one from CreateSpace because it was free and allowed me the most options for distribution), what size you want your book to be, and how to lay out the interior. CreateSpace does provide templates for layout, but when I tried to use one, it seemed to introduce more problems than it solved. It was easier to follow this guide and do everything manually. (Here I was grateful I had a relatively short book.) The hardest part of interior formatting was getting the headers right and suppressing them on the first pages of the book. I did have to remove my author photo (the resolution wasn't high enough for good printing) and fix a problem with embedded fonts before my uploaded file was approved. For some reason, even when I converted my Word file into a PDF according to the directions, the fonts (and these were common fonts) didn't embed correctly. I finally solved the problem by uploading the Word file and letting CreateSpace do the conversion.
My cover artist was able to add the spine and back to my existing e-book cover for a reasonable fee. CreateSpace now provides online digital proofing, so that made the review process easier. Even so, I decided to order a physical copy before approving the book for distribution. CreateSpace distributes to its online store and to Amazon for free; I paid $25 for expanded distribution, which includes bookstores and libraries. (Admittedly, the chances of a bookstore or a library ordering my book are small, but with so many changes in the publishing industry happening, that may change. I didn't want to limit my options.) I think the expanded distribution affected the minimum pricing I could set for the book. My royalties are highest for books ordered directly through CreateSpace, followed by Amazon. The royalties for expanded distribution are extremely small in comparison to the other two outlets, enough to make me reconsider my decision for my next paper book. I should probably keep the same distribution for this series at least.
Anyway, despite the complicated process, it was thrilling to hold the paper version of my book, and it allows me to reach a larger share of my target audience. I'm going to try to set up a giveaway on Goodreads; if it works, I'll announce it here.
Please let me know if you have any questions about the process.
As I posted on Friday, I promised to talk about using CreateSpace today. As with Smashwords, Amazon, and PubIt!, you need to set up an account first before you can add projects, or books. Paper books are more complicated to produce and publish than e-books; you have to go through several steps before you even get to the review stage.
Some of the hardest decisions involve what type of IBSN you want to use for your book (this link helps you weigh the pros and cons of obtaining your IBSN from various sources. I used one from CreateSpace because it was free and allowed me the most options for distribution), what size you want your book to be, and how to lay out the interior. CreateSpace does provide templates for layout, but when I tried to use one, it seemed to introduce more problems than it solved. It was easier to follow this guide and do everything manually. (Here I was grateful I had a relatively short book.) The hardest part of interior formatting was getting the headers right and suppressing them on the first pages of the book. I did have to remove my author photo (the resolution wasn't high enough for good printing) and fix a problem with embedded fonts before my uploaded file was approved. For some reason, even when I converted my Word file into a PDF according to the directions, the fonts (and these were common fonts) didn't embed correctly. I finally solved the problem by uploading the Word file and letting CreateSpace do the conversion.
My cover artist was able to add the spine and back to my existing e-book cover for a reasonable fee. CreateSpace now provides online digital proofing, so that made the review process easier. Even so, I decided to order a physical copy before approving the book for distribution. CreateSpace distributes to its online store and to Amazon for free; I paid $25 for expanded distribution, which includes bookstores and libraries. (Admittedly, the chances of a bookstore or a library ordering my book are small, but with so many changes in the publishing industry happening, that may change. I didn't want to limit my options.) I think the expanded distribution affected the minimum pricing I could set for the book. My royalties are highest for books ordered directly through CreateSpace, followed by Amazon. The royalties for expanded distribution are extremely small in comparison to the other two outlets, enough to make me reconsider my decision for my next paper book. I should probably keep the same distribution for this series at least.
Anyway, despite the complicated process, it was thrilling to hold the paper version of my book, and it allows me to reach a larger share of my target audience. I'm going to try to set up a giveaway on Goodreads; if it works, I'll announce it here.
Please let me know if you have any questions about the process.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
What I've Learned So Far About Formatting and Publishing
I did most of the formatting and file uploading of Lyon's Legacy last week. Here are a few things I learned--the hard way.
1. No matter where you plan to upload your files, use the Smashwords Style Guide to get a nicely formatted version of your manuscript. It's free, and it walks you through the process. You can find it here.
2. Start using styles to format your manuscript, as they carry over through the conversion process. If you use the Smashwords Style Guide, it will talk you through how to create and modify a style.
3. Going along with #1 and #2, use styles to define your paragraphs. If you set up a style with an automatic indent, then you don't have to worry about tabs. (And apparently tabs are bad.)
4. Start using styles in your current WIPs, so you don't end up having to remove a lot of blank lines between paragraphs. It was bad enough doing this for a novella; it will take twice as long for a full-length novel.
5. When you publish through Smashwords, you will have the option to prepare e-books in various formats, including those for Kindle and Nook. Go ahead and include them, but opt out of distributing to Amazon and B&N. You can do this through the Distribution Channel Manager on your Dashboard. I didn't realize this was in a different place at first, so I panicked a little until I figured out how to do it.
6. Double-check all the information before you hit "Publish." For example, make sure you remove all references to Smashwords when you prepare the Kindle edition. (I wound up making separate files.) You can edit your information afterwards, but the process can take time. Amazon seems to take longer than PubIt! or Smashwords to accept changes.
7. Make sure the size of your cover file meets the requirements of the various sites. I had to use Paint to downsize the file for B&N and for MyIdentifiers.com.
8. If you want ISBN numbers for your e-books, you need separate ones for each format. In other words, your Kindle version will have a different number than your Nook file. Amazon and B&N assign their own numbers, but I think the ISBNs may be useful later on. If you publish through Smashwords, you need an ISBN to distribute to Apple and Sony.
9. Once you hit publish, the stories may be up sooner than you expect. Smashwords seemed to be the quickest, followed by B&N, with Amazon last. I published on B&N after uploading to Amazon, but it was available on B&N first.
10. Don't be intimidated by the process; just give yourself extra time to review formatting and what fields you have to fill out for each site. The sites do offer help as well.
I hope that was helpful. I'm no expert, but if anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
1. No matter where you plan to upload your files, use the Smashwords Style Guide to get a nicely formatted version of your manuscript. It's free, and it walks you through the process. You can find it here.
2. Start using styles to format your manuscript, as they carry over through the conversion process. If you use the Smashwords Style Guide, it will talk you through how to create and modify a style.
3. Going along with #1 and #2, use styles to define your paragraphs. If you set up a style with an automatic indent, then you don't have to worry about tabs. (And apparently tabs are bad.)
4. Start using styles in your current WIPs, so you don't end up having to remove a lot of blank lines between paragraphs. It was bad enough doing this for a novella; it will take twice as long for a full-length novel.
5. When you publish through Smashwords, you will have the option to prepare e-books in various formats, including those for Kindle and Nook. Go ahead and include them, but opt out of distributing to Amazon and B&N. You can do this through the Distribution Channel Manager on your Dashboard. I didn't realize this was in a different place at first, so I panicked a little until I figured out how to do it.
6. Double-check all the information before you hit "Publish." For example, make sure you remove all references to Smashwords when you prepare the Kindle edition. (I wound up making separate files.) You can edit your information afterwards, but the process can take time. Amazon seems to take longer than PubIt! or Smashwords to accept changes.
7. Make sure the size of your cover file meets the requirements of the various sites. I had to use Paint to downsize the file for B&N and for MyIdentifiers.com.
8. If you want ISBN numbers for your e-books, you need separate ones for each format. In other words, your Kindle version will have a different number than your Nook file. Amazon and B&N assign their own numbers, but I think the ISBNs may be useful later on. If you publish through Smashwords, you need an ISBN to distribute to Apple and Sony.
9. Once you hit publish, the stories may be up sooner than you expect. Smashwords seemed to be the quickest, followed by B&N, with Amazon last. I published on B&N after uploading to Amazon, but it was available on B&N first.
10. Don't be intimidated by the process; just give yourself extra time to review formatting and what fields you have to fill out for each site. The sites do offer help as well.
I hope that was helpful. I'm no expert, but if anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
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