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    Publish Yourself: Create & Sell Your Own E-Books
    Publish Yourself: Create & Sell Your Own E-Books
    Publish Yourself: Create & Sell Your Own E-Books
    Ebook119 pages1 hour

    Publish Yourself: Create & Sell Your Own E-Books

    By J.M. Snyder

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    About this ebook

    If you've ever wanted to retain more of your royalties or try publishing e-books but didn't know where to start, this book is for you!

    Recently e-books have exploded onto the publishing scene, making it easier than ever for writers to break into the market. But many people who read e-books aren't familiar with how to create them. What formats should you offer? Where do you sell them? What do you use for a cover? And, most important, how do you go from a Word document to an EPUB, MOBI, or PDF file?

    Best-selling, multi-published author J.M. Snyder has written this no-nonsense, hands-on guide. She takes the mystery out of e-publishing while making the process of creating an e-book simple, cheap, and easy.

    Using Microsoft Word (or an equivalent word processing program) along with inexpensive or free software readily available online, you will learn how to create the nine most common e-book formats. You will be walked through cover art design, interior book layout, and e-book creation, as well as given many of the tips J.M. has learned along the way. Also included is a brief guide to online bookstores where you can sell your finished e-book.

    Let J.M. Snyder help you discover how easy it is to publish yourself!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJMS Books LLC
    Release dateNov 23, 2011
    ISBN9781611522099
    Publish Yourself: Create & Sell Your Own E-Books
    Author

    J.M. Snyder

    An author of gay erotic romance, J.M. Snyder began self-publishing gay erotic fiction in 2002. Since then, Snyder has worked with several e-publishers, most notably Amber Allure Press and eXcessica Publishing.Snyder’s short fiction has appeared online at Ruthie’s Club, Tit-Elation, Eros Monthly, and Amazon Shorts, as well as in anthologies released by Alyson Books, Cleis Press, and others.For more book excerpts, free fiction, and purchasing information, please visit http://jmsnyder.net.

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      Book preview

      Publish Yourself - J.M. Snyder

      Publish Yourself

      Create & Sell Your Own E-Books

      By J.M. Snyder

      Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

      This book is available in print.

      Visit jms-books.com for more information.

      Copyright 2011 J.M. Snyder

      ISBN 9781611522099

      For more titles by J.M. Snyder at Smashwords visit https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jmsnyder

      * * * *

      Cover Credits: Andriy Kravchenko

      Used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

      Cover Design: J.M. Snyder

      All rights reserved.

      WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

      No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

      This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

      The author/publisher of this book has used her best efforts in preparing this guide. The author/publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this guide. The author/publisher disclaims any warranties (express or implied), merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The author/publisher shall in no event be held liable for any loss or other damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages.

      Published in the United States of America.

      * * * *

      Table of Contents

      Section I: Introduction

      Basic Assumptions

      My Self-Publishing Journey

      What are E-Books?

      Crash Course on E-Readers and E-Book Formats

      DRM Encrypted and Locked Files …Should You Bother?

      Section II: Getting Started

      Editing Your Work

      Creating Cover Art

      Promotional Blurb and Excerpt

      ISBNs…Do You Need One?

      What Should You Charge?

      Software Needed to Create E-Books

      Section III: Your E-Book Content

      Laying Out Your E-Book File

      Resizing Your E-Book Pages

      Document Properties and Styles

      Front Matter

      Back Matter

      Formatting Your E-Book Content

      Final Formatting Tips

      Section IV: Creating Your E-Books

      Nine E-Book Formats

      Creating PDF E-Books

      Creating LIT E-Books

      Creating HTML E-Books

      Creating EPUB E-Books

      Creating PRC and MOBI E-Books

      Creating LRF, PDB, and RB E-Books

      Checking Your E-Book Files

      Section V: Publishing Your E-Books

      Selling Your E-Books

      Amazon Kindle

      Barnes & Noble Nook

      Smashwords

      Other E-Bookstores

      Section VI: In Summary

      Appendix: Links to Websites Mentioned in This Book

      * * * *

      Section I: Introduction

      When someone learns I publish e-books, one of the first questions I’m asked is simply, How? I’ve given advice on the subject to many authors seeking to self-publish their stories in electronic format, but my general replies never seemed to be enough. People want in-depth explanations, from start to finish, on how to format their stories into e-books: how to lay out the books so others can access them, how to convert the books into a variety of e-book formats, and where to sell the finished product.

      After one too many e-mails soliciting advice, I realized what seemed second-nature to me wasn’t necessarily as intuitive to others, so I decided to write this book. Be warned—it isn’t the end-all, be-all of publishing guides. It isn’t going to make you millions overnight so you can quit your day job and write full-time. Hell, it may not even tell you anything you don’t already know. But it will explain to you in no-nonsense detail how I personally create an e-book from beginning to end, how I format a book into nine of the most common electronic formats, and where I publish my stories online. Following the instructions in this book, you will be able to create and sell e-books, too.

      Sure, there are other publishing guides out there, but many of them are overpriced and don’t offer any real assistance. I’ve never understood why someone who spent little or nothing creating an e-book thinks they should make $15 or more per copy. The beauty of an e-book is that there are few, if any, overhead costs, and 100% of what you earn, you keep. Many distributors have no set-up fees, conversion software can be found online for little or no cost, and the techno-savvy person can generate an e-book without spending much beyond what they’ve already paid setting up their home computer. So why spend an arm and a leg to learn how to do it?

      You may think my sharing the process with you is tantamount to giving away trade secrets, but I don’t see it that way. There are always going to be writers who want to work with publishers—people who don’t want to bother with the creation and marketing of books, who don’t want to go through the hassle of dealing directly with multiple distributors, who don’t want to muck about with cover art and interior design and whatnot. People who only want to write and will leave the messy and sometimes complicated business of getting their words into print to someone else.

      This book isn’t for those writers.

      Instead, it’s for people like myself who enjoy controlling every aspect of writing, from a story’s inception through to seeing it published. People who want to learn how to format their own stories, who want to track their own sales, who want a more hands-on approach than what is offered through traditional publishing venues. People who have already self-published a book in print but now want to explore the budding world of e-publishing. People who want to keep more of their profits.

      People who believe in their own stories and are going to get their books out there for readers regardless of whether or not a publisher decides to take them on.

      This book is for you.

      * * * *

      Basic Assumptions

      In writing this book, I have made some very basic assumptions about you, the reader. In order to benefit from the advice and suggestions herein, you must:

      Already have a book or story written and edited, ready for publication. If not, stop reading and get to work!

      Know your way around a computer. Be familiar with a word processing program—I use Microsoft Word, but the same functions are available with any similar program.

      Be comfortable downloading and installing software to your computer, such as FTP and e-book creation programs.

      Know you’ll have to spend money to make money. Self-publishing isn’t exactly free—you will have to buy cover images (or hire a cover artist), promotional services, copyrights, and ISBNs. While some of the software available online to assist you with creating e-books is free to use, a few programs I mention here are inexpensive shareware.

      Realize distributors will take a cut of your profits. But, in the long run, you may end up earning more than you spend, and more than you’d make with a publisher taking a percentage of your sales.

      Realize your book isn’t going to sell thousands of copies. Self-published books rarely do, though authors can make a living on their own if they have multiple titles for sale

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