1. Amazon
vs.
Smashwords
LULU

3. If you think I’m talking about
A singer named LULU,
Surviving in the
Amazon Jungle
& Smashing her words...
then perhaps you are in the WRONG PLACE?

4. This Presentation
is all
About
Getting started
in self-publishing

5. Publishing e-books

6. My Beautiful Manuscript That has taken me years to write...

7. Do You Want to spend a few more years waiting for it to get published...
If at all?

8. Why Not
PUBLISH
It yourself?

9. It’s easy with some guidance & it is free fast & flexible
Step One: E-Book 1st
It’s easy with some guidance & it is free fast & flexible
Where to begin?

11. There are many ways to read e-books
There are many ways to read e-books. Kindle readers, Nook readers, on i-pads/pods & i-phones using apps & reading on computers

12. There are only two main file types used to produce lots of different ways of reading your e-book:Mobi & E-Pubs –
Mobi = Kindle & Kindle e-reading apps & everything else is an E-Pub or converted E-Pub file so it can be read on most other e-readers & apps (Apple i-books, B&N Nook etc & many more)

13. The Most Common Way for a fully-formatted and edited Manuscript to be turned into an ebook (MOBI or E-PUB files) , is from MS Office: Word for windows/Mac or its free open source equivalent in Open Office. This can be done using free publishing platforms who can give you lots of help and guides and distribute your book world-wide. You get paid for your books sold (royalties) and the retailers and a small cut for distribution is taken from the sales/

14. So where to go to
convert your
fully edited
Manuscript in ‘Word’ doc.,
into an e-book & Publish it
for your reader’s to discover?

16. Most popular platforms with the widest distribution to upload/publish & sell
YOUR OWN E-BOOKS

17. AMAZON only sell Kindle e-books, but they can be read on any device/computer by downloading their Kindle Apps for Free
As a self-publisher: Amazon
is usually the first step as Amazon are a single mega online store with world-wide distribution.
KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is their one-stop-shop for all your publishing and distribution needs with lots of free tools, help & guides; though, they do offer expensive paid services.

18. Basically, you can do it all for free – cover creation – the whole lot
Basically, you can do it all for free – cover creation – the whole lot.. KDP select is an option that gives your book to Amazon exclusively – several days free give away in 3 month period – It is not really worth it in my opinion, but it might suit if you only use KDP to publish your book.

19. Books sold @ between $0.99 - $2.99 or more than $9.99
Amazon KDP Royalties
Books between $ $2.99 or more than $9.99

20. Amazon KDP Royalties
Books $ $9.99

21. Smashwords distribute your e-book to almost all the other sellers of e-books in the world. You can even make your book free on their channels (which is important for some books for authors). But they don’t do physical books; Amazon with their Createspace program DO!.

22. The combination of Amazon KDP and Smashwords’ premium catalogue to distribute to so many other retailers is a dynamic duo. You could use Smashwords to get your books on Amazon, but only if you have sold loadz already. Smashwords have very helpful & essential formatting guides, but no free tools for cover creation. You cannot use covers created on one platform for another.

23. Smashwords Distribution/Royalties
No minimum book price & you can set it up for buyers to set their own price and/or sell it for Free at all their retailers. C. 80% author royalties selling directly on SMASHWORDS

24. You could bypass Amazon and Smashwords and go straight to LULU
You could bypass Amazon and Smashwords and go straight to LULU. It distributes to Amazon, and the other main players in the world of e-book selling. You can design a cover for your book (although, compared to Amazon cover creation tools – it is rather limited.).

25. VS.
Like Amazon, you can make a physical book as well as create e-books for publishing and selling. However, LULU’s choice for book types (physical) is much broader than Amazon’s Createspace (the physical book publishing platform which only allows you to create paperbacks – but it is still for FREE)

26. LULU Distribution/Royalties
Books minimum 0.99c. to cover fees (at least $1.49 preferred). 90% author royalties selling directly on LULU
and/or sell for FREE in Apple i-book store/in LULU store also –

27. the most comprehensive and actually works when applied.
They all have help with formatting your Word Doc Manuscript to upload and distribute successfully, but Smashwords is
the most comprehensive and actually works when applied.

28. Offer Free E-book cover templates to customise

29. Unique Identifier for your book
Free E-book ISBNs
Unique Identifier for your book

30. Taking an E-Book on a Test Drive
E-PUB ONE
Taking an E-Book on a Test Drive

31. This e-book was test-driven as a newly published e-book by uploaded it to Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), to LULU – for all their retailers and Smashwords’ premium to sell on Barnes & Noble. Apple iBooks, Kobo and many more.....

32. The e-book was created absolutely for FREE
& the FREE KINDLE Version teaching you everything you need to know about formatting -the trickiest part of publishing an e-book - is yours to download (see details further on)

33. The test-driven e-book: ’HOW THIS BOOK WAS MADE & HOW YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN’ was formatted in ‘Word’ doc.,
The software found in MS OFFICE
I had from when it used to come as standard (free) with a new PC
The Book Cover was created for free using PowerPoint in the MS Office suite. The full version of the e-book teaches you how you can design and produce your own.
No special knowledge or other special software required...

34. Published on KINDLE using Amazon KDP, with SMASHWORDS using
This Book was
Published on KINDLE using
Amazon KDP,
with SMASHWORDS using
their world-wide retailers
(their Premium Catalogue)
& LULU with their distribution
(I did not opt for Amazon as it was already there)

35. I opted out of Amazon when uploading the book to LULU as the E-Book was already on Amazon Kindle

39. Plus Many More
Retailers...

40. E-Book Vs. Physical Books
Formatting a Word doc to convert to E-Pub/Mobi and into an E-Book correctly, no matter where you are uploading it, can be one of the most challenging parts of self-publishing.
Most (non-fixed) format E-Books have flowable text/images which resizes according to the mobile/device, e-reader and/or computer it is read on.
E-Books are formatted completely differently to physical books.

41. Formatting , your Manuscript to be successfully
Issues Encountered
& Resolved:
Formatting or not
Formatting , your Manuscript
to be successfully
Uploaded & Distributed?

42. E=book formatting in general can be tricky no matter where you upload your book. But there are easier free options which you can also use.
It really depends upon how much creative control and degree of freedom you would like for your books.
Formatting an e-book is one thing, but following the specific guides of some of the BIG 3 self-publishing platforms can have its own issues... But, there is lots of free help to show you the ropes of how to get through these systems successfully – the pain free way and alternative options further on where you don’t have to worry about formatted.

43. SMASHWORDS’ Infamous MEAT GRINDER
MAKING YOUR MANSCRIPT IN WORD DOC so that it can be converted successfully into an E-PUB to be distributed just about everywhere
SMASHWORDS’ Infamous MEAT GRINDER

44. Smashwords Style Guide
Follow this to the letter & you will succeed!
It’s available at their site

45. Free & really good advice, especially
for formatting your Word doc to survive the MEATGRINDER
‘How To Format Your E-Book’
(the Non Migraine-Inducing Way)
Article & its updated version available to read online by
Catherine Ryan Howard: a leading Irish
Indie (Independent) author/publisher

46. How to successfully navigate LULU’s Ominous Black Cog Grinder?

47. You could read their Complete E-book Creation Guidelines to save you an awful lot of frustrating rejections not knowing where you have gone wrong.
Personally, I found that LULU’s Complete Guide was a little lacking in completeness. But I got there in the end. Essentially, by rumaging around their site I found that the main things required by LULU were:

48. I finally discovered that LULU generated your Table of Contents by using the document map that comes from inserting special headings & they insist in doing this in a very particular way. You can view this side panel display of your headings in your ‘Word’ document by clicking in the ‘View’ menu and ticking the empty box beside ‘Document Map’. This is the NCX navigation which is crucial to most e-books. It also allows you to navigate the book as it is being created and for your readers to navigate your book when it is published.
NCX

49. I Eventually figured out their very particular system of formatting
LULU insist on you setting up your headings in a very particular way in the ‘Document Map’ view. Heading 1 is your book title, Heading 2 is your chapter headings and Heading 3 is your sub-headings. No more and no less. They don’t do text boxes and stay with simple fonts.
The e-book I used to test-drive the system had section headings rather than chapter headings. See example below:
I Eventually figured out their very particular system of formatting

50. Kindle (KDP) have their own system for this
Both Smashwords and LULU have a preview system on their sites so that you can see prior to publishing, what your book will look like to your readers. Kindle or App view, E-Pub & PDF. They’ll provide links to these free apps etc if you don’t have them already.
Kindle (KDP) have their own system for this

51. Even though when uploading your doc file to Amazon KDP to be read on a Kindle/or Kindle app, you do not generally encounter any scary cog machines or meat-grinders, their system does lure you into a false sense of security.
This is because Kindle may not be too fussy about what you upload, but when you get to preview your book (and make sure to scrutinise this thoroughly), you might be quite horrified by what it looks like.
If you don’t preview your book thoroughly, it will be published – warts and all, if you hit the publish button too hastily in your excitement.

52. Sometimes KDP make it too Quick & Easy
to Publish
RUBBISH IN: RUBBISH OUT

53. Except with their ‘LOOK INSIDE’ feature
Which, often doesn’t do your beautifully formatted book any justice .
I had to use a disclaimer notice for this book telling customers that the ‘Look Inside’ view was not representative of what was actually in the book itself

54. on the different platforms
Sampling your book
on the different platforms
Amazon give customers c. 30% to sample if you already publish your physical books with them via Createspace – which I do and/or you opt in for their ‘Look Inside’ feature, which I had done previously – it is hard to get out of once you’re in.
Smashwords have a default setting of about the same, but you can change this to less. You simply select the option and this should filter out to all the retailer’s sites that they distribute to. All your other book info and your author info is provided at these sites as well .
LULU’s sampling is provided by you. You have to make a different file for this and it remains in ‘Word’ doc format and/or PDF – No nice E-Pub

55. Free HOW TO FORMAT VERSION
Or resolve all the issues in one place with Amazon KDP, Smashwords Premium using their meat-grinder & getting by LULU’S Ominous Dark Cog Machine, by downloading for FREE, the much extended Formatting version that teaches you EVERYTHING you need to know about successfully FORMATTING A WORD DOC TO Create an E-book to UPLOAD ANYWHERE
Click the book to find out more
(you don’t need to own a Kindle to download it directly, just use an app which is FREE from Amazon or request another format)

56. TAX
&
Getting Paid via the
Different platforms

57. HOW YOU GET PAID FOR YOUR ROYALTIES

58. LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY
TAX FORMS

59. Search: catherineryanhoward.com/taxinterview
leading Irish Indie helps again, this time on TAX and specifically KDP’s Tax interview which is a nightmare to most of us – if only I’d known about this article before my own experience with their system!
Search: catherineryanhoward.com/taxinterview

60. TAX deducted from royalties when withheld
Non-US based income is with–held at source (30% tax deducted from your royalties) if you opt for withholding tax.
Getting this tax exemption is a nightmare in tax forms & bureaucracy, so most of us opt for saying goodbye to the treaties offered (Ireland is 0%) and let them with-hold the 30%
TAX deducted from royalties when withheld
Left in royalties after deduction

61. Tax with-holding resolved?

62. The Blog for an update on HOW I DID IT & other free
I Think I was able to
Finally resolve this
Stay in touch with
The Blog for an update on
HOW I DID IT & other free
Self-publishing resources:
Unruly Pen dot wordpress dot com

63. (France much lower c. 5% & Italy 4% with special conditions for ISBN )
If your country has a particular new VAT rule, that all digital products must be taxed, then, like me, there is no getting around this – other than to do the paperwork for each product and where it is bought. ~20% + VAT will be deducted from your e-book sales
(France much lower c. 5% & Italy 4% with special conditions for ISBN )

64. My overall grades for each of the main platforms
Excellent
Very Good
Good OK

65. If Google Play (BOOKS) were still taking new authors on to publish on their massive worldwide distribution channel for free – they would have been part of this test-drive, but unfortunately, from the self-publishing forums, it seems that they NO LONGER TAKE NEW BOOKS TO UPLOAD TO THEIR DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS!
It’s a pity as they would have been one of the BIG 4 self-publishing (FREE) platforms to go with.
According to the discussion, Googleplay have not been fully transparent about their intentions regarding taking new authors. So if you try to upload your book on their site, you will be given a message that they will be taking new stuff soon!!! That soon is approaching a year and a half now – with no change or news....

66. If you are overwhelmed by all of the FORMATTING
Stuff, even with the free
Guides,
there are other alternatives...

67. Very Good distribution to several of the main retailers, but not to Amazon,
No Free Cover Design tools.
Very good system for connected all your books from every major retailer where they are published.
They format your book for you. All you need is a finished and edited manuscript in Word.
Free ISBN
PayPal friendly

68. Very Good distribution to several of the main retailers, including Amazon with 100% royalties.
Free Cover Design tools.
You have to embed images if you use them in your book, using their system.
They format your book, but you have to follow specific guidelines and do it on their site.
Free ISBNs.
PayPal friendly

69. My Name is Maria & the author of several independently published books (e-books & paperbacks) which are usually nothing to do with self-publishing, but as a result of my academic research & wanting to share my discoveries with the world, I inadvertently learned – the HARD WAY, how not to self-publish. Because of this: I eventually learned to do it properly and for FREE!
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