The Motivational Editor

Helping Writers Go from Unpublished to Published

publishing

The Basics of How to Publish on KDP

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Book spread in Indesign for KDP publishing.

Most indie authors want to publish on KDP, though there are other platforms as well. What follows will get you started and ready to publish your first book.

You can establish your KDP account anytime you want, though it makes most sense to me to set it up when you’ve got your first book ready to publish.

If you’re publishing both print and ebook formats here are the basics of what you’ll need by the time you hit that PUBLISH button.

  • A pdf or docx of the print book interior
  • A pdf of the paperback book cover. If you want to create a hardcover version, that will require a separate file
  • An epub or docx file of the ebook interior
  • A tiff, png, or jpg file of the ebook cover
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7 Manuscript Formatting Programs

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Formatting programs for book publishing

Writers ask lots of questions, and the writing community pays it forward quite well.

I see many questions on a regular basis. One is “what program do you use to format your manuscript?” These writers aren’t talking about how to format their manuscript for presenting to agents, editors, or publishers, but programs to format the manuscript for actual book publishing.

Amazon accepts several file formats for ebooks. Here’s a list. Now that they accept epub files, writers don’t have to fret over converting their files to mobi. That makes things a lot easier!

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Getting Your Debut Book Published

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MJ Scholz, a good friend of mine and part of my writers critique group, just published her debut book, Connecting Colors, Feelings, and Words. I’m so excited for her because this book was 2 years in the publishing process—from contract to finished book, with lots of questions in between! This unique children’s book—a coloring book with a purpose— took a lot of work from start to finish, but its a terrific book!

[Read more…] about Getting Your Debut Book Published

How to get your book from your head to the virtual bookshelf

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architect with tools of the trade

(Updated from a previous post)

Are you writing your first book?

Do you plan to indie-publish or seek an agent and traditional publisher?

Have you started building your author platform? Maybe you’re not sure what an author platform is.

I’ve heard many first-time writers say they want to finish their book first before they think about anything else. But if you do that, you are already behind in getting your book launched.

And often once the book is done, they don’t know what comes next.

If you’re planning on publishing a book, keep reading to discover what it takes to get that book from your head to the virtual bookshelf.

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What’s Involved in Publishing a Book?

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I am a writer. What's involved in publishing my book?

I just want to write. I hear that often from writers I work with.

That’s great, and it’s not hard to do at all. Simply sit down at the computer (or with pen and paper) and write.

But be honest with yourself. You want to publish that book. And now we enter the arena of what’s involved in publishing a book.

What you really mean to say is you want to write and let someone else do the work to get your book published and marketed.

[Read more…] about What’s Involved in Publishing a Book?

The Pros and Cons of Independent Publishing

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independent publishing, doberman looking at a laptopIn today’s world of technology, independent publishing is easier than ever. Almost so easy, a dog could do it.

Let’s take a quick look at the basics involved.

First let’s define a few terms.

Traditional publishing: a publishing company contracts with you to publish your book. They pay all costs of production and pay you varying royalty rates that average around 10 percent.

Self publishing: you hire and pay upfront a company to create your book cover and interior book file. They generally also distribute the book to various platforms.

Independent publishing: you are “the company.” [Read more…] about The Pros and Cons of Independent Publishing

How to Find a Publisher, Fiction or Nonfiction – 3 Beginning Steps

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Book Proposal Accepted find a publisherIn the past couple weeks I’ve received questions from my subscribers about where and how to start to find a publisher for nonfiction.

The wonderful thing about nonfiction is that you can query publishers before you have your book completed. But aside from that, the process is the same as when you submit fiction.

Whether you are a nonfiction or fiction writer, keep reading. This post outlines 3 beginning steps to find a publisher. [Read more…] about How to Find a Publisher, Fiction or Nonfiction – 3 Beginning Steps

What are today’s publishing options and which is best for me?

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A lot of publishing options for getting your book baby out into the world exist in today’s market.

  • What are those options?
  • How does one learn about all the ins and outs?
  • How does one decide which option is best?

Finding the answers can be time-consuming, confusing, and paralyzing. To help you navigate these troublesome currents, I created [Read more…] about What are today’s publishing options and which is best for me?