Blogger had technical difficulties, and they removed my post from the other day and it has disappeared completely. I am rewriting and this time I will save a copy on my PC. Sorry for the inconvenience of coming here and not seeing a post regarding selling 10,000 books. I'll start over. If my old message is restored, you might see two messages with the same header.
I have a pretty good imagination, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would sell thousands of books in such a short time! In under 10 weeks I have sold 10,000 books!
Amazon: 8,987
B&N: 1,003
Smashwords: 13
On Wednesday night I hit the 10,000 books sold mark and I came to celebrate by writing a blog! Yay!
I also mentioned that I had received some emails from other writers who were interested in finding out more about formatting and publishing their book on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords. I'm just going to tell you how I went about self-publishing.
1. Write a great book! This is the easy part. Ha!
2. I learned basic HTML so I could make sure my ebooks would have smart quotes and wonderful looking m-dashes. If you hire someone to format your books, you can skip this part. I do think it would be helpful to download some ebooks on your PC or Ereader so you can look at various formats that other authors have used.
3. I learned a lot about self-publishing by reading Joe Konrath’s blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing at http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ and I read a lot of articles on the internet. I also talked to other self-published writers. If you use Konrath's blog, I suggest you buy a few of his books because he is sharing a lot of great info over there. If you DO NOT want to spend time formatting, there are lots of people who will do it for you. Here is one place you can go for Kindle and Nook formatting: http://design.lkcampbell.com/ Do some research before you choose. Send them an email and get a quote.
5. My husband downloaded HomeSite5 on my PC so I could make changes in HTML and see those changes as I made them. He already had this software, so this did not cost me any money. You don’t need to do this. Many people use Notepad or Word to format their books and save as HTML for Kindle and Nook.
6. While your book is being formatted, I suggest you ready your bio, backcover blurb, pricing, etc.
7. Once my book was formatted and ready to go, I registered at KDP (this is where you go to download your ebook on Amazon): https://www.kdp.amazon.com/ 8. I registered at PubIt (this is where you go to download your ebook on Barnes & Noble): http://www.pubit.barnesandnoble.com/
9. I registered at Smashwords.com. Smashwords distributes your ebook to the Apple IBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony Reader Store, Kobo and the Diesel eBook Store. I have a lot to learn about Smashwords. Formatting was time consuming, so I hired Bryan Coker to format my latest book (bryansformatting@gmail.com), but I haven’t had time to download it yet. Email Bryan and tell him you would like a quote on having your book formatted for Smashwords. https://www.smashwords.com/ 10. Promotion/Marketing: Use your blog to promote your books! Help other writers! Send out emails to your friends and family. READ Zoe Winters’ Becoming an Indie Author
This book is informative and interesting. I was wrong. There is LOTS of stuff on how to format, and Zoe Winters will also tell you what to expect when you self-publish. I found this to be a fun and informative read! I definitely use this book as my "how to" when it comes to being an indie author. When you register with KDP, Pubit, and Smashwords, all of these places will provide lots of tips and advice on how to market your book.
11. Print on Demand. If you want to hold a paperback book in your hand, you can set up POD books with Amazon through CreateSpace. I plan to do this with all of my books before the end of the year. It’s FREE! Or you can go with their pro plan for $39. Read all about it right here: https://www.createspace.com/
That’s it for now. If you decide to self-publish, I wish you TONS of success! If you have any questions at all, let me know and I will do my best to answer them.
