Category: Self-publishing

Christmas Giveaway

To celebrate the birth of Santa Claus (is that right?) I am giving away Consarn Christmas and Other Stories on Instafreebie HERE.

I’m also giving it away at all other ebook retailers except Amazon because they don’t do free. It may take a few days for the free to come through on some so check first.

This free giveaway is partly because I am full of the Christmas spirit but mostly because nobody wants to buy it.

 

 

 

I cracked the Meatgrinder!

I Cracked the Meatgrinder!

It had to be done. Today I sat down with the word file of a book and followed Mark Coker’s step by step instructions in Smashwords Style Guide to get it accepted for all formats on Smashwords.

I have previously gone to Draft2Digital and used their converter for my self-published works then uploaded the epub to Smashwords. I want to be on Smashwords because my ‘real’ publisher Alban Lake is there. To be fair, I used all of Draft2Digital’s distribution channels and only opted for the ones they don’t cover on Smashwords.

Unfortunately, while Smashwords Meatgrinder will convert a suitably formatted Word document into all other formats for sale on the site – including mobi for kindles – if you upload an epub all you get is an epub. I wanted more but was terrified of the task of beating Meatgrinder.

Actually, it wasn’t so bad. It took me two and a half hours, from 1 pm to 3-30 pm. As some others have said, if you do it step by step and go for the ‘nuclear option’ at the start it’s possible. The main annoyance was that I went through all 23 Chapter headings making them into a different font for one part and then had to go through them all again to bookmark them to make a Table of Contents. Next time I will do both at once.

And now, Draft2Digital has announced a distribution deal with Amazon. That means that Draft2Digital have all the major book retailers as well as a very easy publishing system.

Is this the end for Smashwords? Will Amazon buy Draft2Digital? Who knows?

The Two Truths About Self-Publishing

My girlfriend always says there is more than one truth – and I disagree – but with self-publishing, she seems to be correct. Surf the net and you will find the following ‘facts’ all over the place.

  1. Self-publishing is hard work but do it right and you can make BIG money. (To be fair, none of the hucksters say it’s easy money.)
  2. Self –publishing is a waste of time and you won’t make a penny.
  3. Marketing is indispensable and with the right marketing plan, you can make BIG money from your books.
  4. Marketing is a waste of time because no one’s ever heard of you and no one wants to know. You are shouting into the wind.
  5. Giving away free books is a brilliant plan to gain new readers who will snap up the next book and pay anything.
  6. Giving away free books is a complete waste of time. The readers will download the free books, never read them and not buy your next one.
  7. You must invest in a professional editor (around £400) a professional book cover (around £50 for an off the shelf or £200 for a custom made one).
  8. It’s not worth spending any money because your book won’t sell and you won’t recoup any of the cost. Edit it yourself about six weeks after you write it and do a homemade cover with Paintbox.
  9. You must be all over social media, build a mailing list, tweet, Facebook, Instagram, Blog and so on so that readers pining for your book will know you are there.
  10. All that is a waste of time. There are a million books on the market and 30,000 added every week. All the authors are peddling their crap on Twitter, Facebook and the rest but there are only a few thousand people left in the western world who actually read, most of whom are reviewers.
  11. Buy THIS book and it will tell you how to be a successful writer like the author.
  12. Don’t buy it. The author’s main success is telling people like you they can be a successful writer and selling books to you. How to Succeed in Self-Publishing books are the new diet and weight loss industry for the 21st

I should point out that the odd-numbered positive ‘facts’ are a lot easier to find than the even numbered negative facts but that’s because all the marketers selling How to Succeed in Self-Publishing books have clogged up the first few pages of any search.

‘What is truth?’ Pilate asked.

P.S. The real reason for writing is that I love it. As Orson Welles said, it’s the best model train set any boy ever had.