What a great feeling to post my first ebook. The collection is called Back to the Land and the first 2000 word memoir is called My Father's Parrot (available at Amazon.com).
I'm already hard at work on my second one, My Mother's Dress, which will be published by the end of the summer. I'm hooked on the idea of presenting them as ebooks. I like having input into the cover concept. I like seeing the books for sale on Amazon. I've been working on them for the last ten years, so it feels wonderful to publish them.
I hope you enjoy the books.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
My Father's Parrot
Lately I've been blogging about my first ebook, a memoir called My Father's Parrot. I thought I'd post a picture from the 70s of my father with Lapa. He's feeding the bird a grape.Parrots only bond with one other person (usually it's another bird but a person will do). My father brought out the best in our parrot. He could flip the bird over on his back and tickle his belly, he could get Lapa to dance an old-man shuffle, and he could get him to talk and imitate the noise of the vacuum.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Becoming an Indie Author
In order to publish my own books, I've established a company called Wildwood Ebooks. I've registered it with British Columbia. Name Search: $14.00 and Cost of Registration:$ 72.00 (You can do your name search for free, but I didn't know this at the time.)
I've applied for an ISBN number for my ebook.
Now onto preparing the manuscript!
I'm following the requirements as specified by Kindle Direct Publishing, but I've decided to upload an html document, rather than a .doc file. It's a bit more complicated, but I've gone this route because various people said that it will yield a better result.
Cover Art: I've given the following information to the designer:
Horizontally: minimum of 500 pixels
Vertically: minimum of 1280 pixels
Be sure to Save at 72 dots per inch (dpi) for optimal viewing on the web.
The cover will be delivered to me as a JPEG and then I'll insert it into my document.
So far so good!!
I've applied for an ISBN number for my ebook.
Now onto preparing the manuscript!
I'm following the requirements as specified by Kindle Direct Publishing, but I've decided to upload an html document, rather than a .doc file. It's a bit more complicated, but I've gone this route because various people said that it will yield a better result.
Cover Art: I've given the following information to the designer:
Horizontally: minimum of 500 pixels
Vertically: minimum of 1280 pixels
Be sure to Save at 72 dots per inch (dpi) for optimal viewing on the web.
The cover will be delivered to me as a JPEG and then I'll insert it into my document.
So far so good!!
Converting your file to an ebook.
One of the biggest questions I had at the beginning of the process was how to convert my file to an ebook. Was it something I could do myself? Did I have to hire a company to convert the file for me? If so, what company? Who was offering a file conversion service?
Short answer: there are companies who will convert your file for you. The charge seems to be around $150-$200. Remember, you're just paying for file conversion. You don't have to give up any royalties or control over the process. One such company is eBook Architects (Joshua Tallent) who came highly recommended to me. Wait time for your converted file: 10 weeks.
Joel Friedlander has put together a list of eBook conversion service providers but when I try to put the link in here, it always disappears. Not sure what that is all about, but I'd suggest you Google ebook conversion directory and see what turns up for you.
But I decided not to go with a conversion company. I decided to create a Kindle ebook and distribute my ebook through Amazon. The site is Kindle Direct Publishing. Now, if you watch the Youtube video, it looks really simple and maybe it is. You just load up your doc file (not docx) and Kindle Direct Publishing converts it for you.
Trouble is, some people say you are better off loading an html document into Kindle Direct Publishing. I decided to create an html document rather than run the risk of poor results. I used something called Emerald Editor, also called Crimson Editor, to create an html document. Then I used Mobipocket Creator to edit my html document and preview it. Then I uploaded this version to Kindle Direct Publishing.
So this route is more work than handing over your file to a conversion service, but it doesn't cost anything. It makes sense to do the conversion myself since I'm going to be putting up a series of short ebooks. Thankfully, you can get help from the Community -- a discussion forum on Kindle Direct Publishing. Also, I'm learning about html simply by googling questions like: How do I centre text in html?
It's been a steep learning curve, but at least I found a way that worked and didn't cost me anything.
Short answer: there are companies who will convert your file for you. The charge seems to be around $150-$200. Remember, you're just paying for file conversion. You don't have to give up any royalties or control over the process. One such company is eBook Architects (Joshua Tallent) who came highly recommended to me. Wait time for your converted file: 10 weeks.
Joel Friedlander has put together a list of eBook conversion service providers but when I try to put the link in here, it always disappears. Not sure what that is all about, but I'd suggest you Google ebook conversion directory and see what turns up for you.
But I decided not to go with a conversion company. I decided to create a Kindle ebook and distribute my ebook through Amazon. The site is Kindle Direct Publishing. Now, if you watch the Youtube video, it looks really simple and maybe it is. You just load up your doc file (not docx) and Kindle Direct Publishing converts it for you.
Trouble is, some people say you are better off loading an html document into Kindle Direct Publishing. I decided to create an html document rather than run the risk of poor results. I used something called Emerald Editor, also called Crimson Editor, to create an html document. Then I used Mobipocket Creator to edit my html document and preview it. Then I uploaded this version to Kindle Direct Publishing.
So this route is more work than handing over your file to a conversion service, but it doesn't cost anything. It makes sense to do the conversion myself since I'm going to be putting up a series of short ebooks. Thankfully, you can get help from the Community -- a discussion forum on Kindle Direct Publishing. Also, I'm learning about html simply by googling questions like: How do I centre text in html?
It's been a steep learning curve, but at least I found a way that worked and didn't cost me anything.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Ebooks -- Covers
Moving ahead on my ebook cover. The designer asked me to go online and have a look at feathers since I wanted a feather on my cover. Not that the designer will use these feathers, but they will give her some idea of what I have in mind. I wanted a feather that looked like it had been through the wash and I wanted a parrot feather. The name of the memoir is My Father's Parrot.
I sent Dee two feathers from Google Images that are not the right feather but had qualities I was looking for. One was all rumpled but too pointy. Another had the right attitude but was too stubby.
Next, I looked at thumbnails. I went to Amazon and had a look at ebooks and chose three that I liked and two that I didn't. Surprisingly, because I consider myself a minimalist, I liked a book cover with big type on the front. I liked it because I could read the title so easily. Another one I chose on the basis of colour. I liked the warm, sunset red colour. The third I chose because of the whimsical image and how it drew me in to want to know more.
Out of the two covers I didn't like, one had type that was so small I couldn't read the title or author's name. Why else are you looking at a cover? The second one was a cover that I kept seeing again and again as I scrolled through the ebooks, which I thought was really odd. Was it some sort of commercial cover available through a program? It wasn't the same author and the topics seemed to vary wildly. Anyway, I just wanted to steer away from anything that looked similar.
In addition to these pics which I emailed to Dee, I gave her the title and author name and a request for no caps and a round font. "Round" is not very specific but I wanted a font that didn't take itself too seriously.
Dee wrote me back asking me what size I wanted to see in terms of a proof. Right away, I knew I wanted to see a thumbnail size (1 inch x 1 1/2 inches) and I requested to see an e-reader size. My ereader is a Sony and the screen measures 3 1/2 x 5 inches. I'm not sure if it costs any extra to see two sizes, but I thought these two sizes were important to preview.
That's all for covers!
I sent Dee two feathers from Google Images that are not the right feather but had qualities I was looking for. One was all rumpled but too pointy. Another had the right attitude but was too stubby.
Next, I looked at thumbnails. I went to Amazon and had a look at ebooks and chose three that I liked and two that I didn't. Surprisingly, because I consider myself a minimalist, I liked a book cover with big type on the front. I liked it because I could read the title so easily. Another one I chose on the basis of colour. I liked the warm, sunset red colour. The third I chose because of the whimsical image and how it drew me in to want to know more.
Out of the two covers I didn't like, one had type that was so small I couldn't read the title or author's name. Why else are you looking at a cover? The second one was a cover that I kept seeing again and again as I scrolled through the ebooks, which I thought was really odd. Was it some sort of commercial cover available through a program? It wasn't the same author and the topics seemed to vary wildly. Anyway, I just wanted to steer away from anything that looked similar.
In addition to these pics which I emailed to Dee, I gave her the title and author name and a request for no caps and a round font. "Round" is not very specific but I wanted a font that didn't take itself too seriously.
Dee wrote me back asking me what size I wanted to see in terms of a proof. Right away, I knew I wanted to see a thumbnail size (1 inch x 1 1/2 inches) and I requested to see an e-reader size. My ereader is a Sony and the screen measures 3 1/2 x 5 inches. I'm not sure if it costs any extra to see two sizes, but I thought these two sizes were important to preview.
That's all for covers!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Taking the Next Step: Ebooks
Let's talk book covers. It was fun to go into the bookstore with my friend and graphic designer, Dee. She began by asking me, "What stands out for you?" What followed was the kind of discussion you always dream of having where you get to match the cover to the content of your book.
Authors rarely get a say into their covers and maybe there's a good reason for it, but yesterday I couldn't find one. With Dee's knowledge of design and my knowledge of what was in the book, we came up with a terrific concept. Since each entry in the memoir will be its own 99 cent book, we needed a design that we could use about twelve times, altering the image and background colour.
Since, the book is about the back-to-the-land movement, I'm favouring 70s colours like lime green which was the colour of my parents' walls. Very 70s. Not only were the walls lime green, they were textured with a very sharp gritty substance, so whenever anyone scraped against the wall, they left some blood behind. But that's another story.
So, I'm feeling good about the process so far. I've got design and production covered. Last night I wrote up some of the information at the front of the book such as the disclaimer and copyright information and a list of contributors. I wrote up the author biography. The memoir is edited and ready to go. Dee will deliver the cover as a JPEG.
But what then? How do I convert the doc. file to the necessary ebook formats? Today, I discovered that Mobi is the format for Amazon and ePub is the format for Sony, B&N, and Apple. I need to find out a lot more about conversion. Who is doing it and what does it cost? Online, I found a company out of England that will give me both formats for a total of $160. They called it their standard conversion package.
I checked into Bookbaby which starts with a $99 fee, but adds on $39 for converting a PDF and then about $20 for an ISBN number and an annual fee of $19. But it wasn't the money that made me nervous; they take over the process too much for me. They convert the file but they also "deliver" it. Then they also collect your money for you. So when Amazon pays the author royalites, it goes to Bookbaby. Bookbaby doesn't take a cut of it, but they do charge an annual fee. It's not the kind of arrangement I'm looking for.
I know I can deliver the book to Amazon myself and cut out the middleman. But how?
I'm still exploring all my options, but I'll let you know what I find out.
Authors rarely get a say into their covers and maybe there's a good reason for it, but yesterday I couldn't find one. With Dee's knowledge of design and my knowledge of what was in the book, we came up with a terrific concept. Since each entry in the memoir will be its own 99 cent book, we needed a design that we could use about twelve times, altering the image and background colour.
Since, the book is about the back-to-the-land movement, I'm favouring 70s colours like lime green which was the colour of my parents' walls. Very 70s. Not only were the walls lime green, they were textured with a very sharp gritty substance, so whenever anyone scraped against the wall, they left some blood behind. But that's another story.
So, I'm feeling good about the process so far. I've got design and production covered. Last night I wrote up some of the information at the front of the book such as the disclaimer and copyright information and a list of contributors. I wrote up the author biography. The memoir is edited and ready to go. Dee will deliver the cover as a JPEG.
But what then? How do I convert the doc. file to the necessary ebook formats? Today, I discovered that Mobi is the format for Amazon and ePub is the format for Sony, B&N, and Apple. I need to find out a lot more about conversion. Who is doing it and what does it cost? Online, I found a company out of England that will give me both formats for a total of $160. They called it their standard conversion package.
I checked into Bookbaby which starts with a $99 fee, but adds on $39 for converting a PDF and then about $20 for an ISBN number and an annual fee of $19. But it wasn't the money that made me nervous; they take over the process too much for me. They convert the file but they also "deliver" it. Then they also collect your money for you. So when Amazon pays the author royalites, it goes to Bookbaby. Bookbaby doesn't take a cut of it, but they do charge an annual fee. It's not the kind of arrangement I'm looking for.
I know I can deliver the book to Amazon myself and cut out the middleman. But how?
I'm still exploring all my options, but I'll let you know what I find out.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Why just talk about ebooks? Why not do it?
I've decided to test the ebook waters. I'm going to take one of my memoirs called My Father's Parrot and sell it on Amazon for $1.99. It's 2000 words in length. It's part of a series I'm writing called, Back to the Land and it's a humorous account of how my father hauled his family out of city-life and into rural Ontario.
It starts with my father's purchase of a parrot and his dreams to give this parrot a better life. In order to build the bird an aviary, we pack up everything and head north where land is cheaper and the living ain't so easy.
But before I get ahead of myself, I thought I'd document all the steps I'm taking to learn about ebook publishing. Like anything, it's going to require some work. Here's what I've done so far:
Step 1: I've decided to go through Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon's self-publishing site. It is full of good information.
Step 2: Talked to my friend who is a graphic designer and asked her if she'll help design a cover. According to everything I've read, covers are very important. I need a brand, a cover that my readers will recognize and say, "Ah, the latest chapter of that Back to the Land saga -- that crazy father and all his zany ideas."
Step 3: Looked at Amanda Hocking's covers. Not that my memoir is about vampires (although there are plenty of bats) but Hocking's got the right idea when it comes to thumbnails, branding, and colour.
Step 4: Booked myself an author photo shoot with a fabulous photographer: Ryan Rock. Also a friend!
Step 5: Edited my manuscript. I was very fortunate to have My Father's Parrot edited by Pam Chamberlain who put together the anthology, Country Roads, and who is currently putting together an anthology about animals and their importance in our lives.
Step 6: Started to make notes about formatting the book. I've been reading about Amazon's requirements.
So, already this project of mine is involving a graphic designer, a photographer, an editor, and me. Oh, and I can't forget, the friend who initially sent me all these wonderful articles that got me excited about ebooks, so that makes five people so far. It really does take a village! I'll let you know how it goes.
It starts with my father's purchase of a parrot and his dreams to give this parrot a better life. In order to build the bird an aviary, we pack up everything and head north where land is cheaper and the living ain't so easy.
But before I get ahead of myself, I thought I'd document all the steps I'm taking to learn about ebook publishing. Like anything, it's going to require some work. Here's what I've done so far:
Step 1: I've decided to go through Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon's self-publishing site. It is full of good information.
Step 2: Talked to my friend who is a graphic designer and asked her if she'll help design a cover. According to everything I've read, covers are very important. I need a brand, a cover that my readers will recognize and say, "Ah, the latest chapter of that Back to the Land saga -- that crazy father and all his zany ideas."
Step 3: Looked at Amanda Hocking's covers. Not that my memoir is about vampires (although there are plenty of bats) but Hocking's got the right idea when it comes to thumbnails, branding, and colour.
Step 4: Booked myself an author photo shoot with a fabulous photographer: Ryan Rock. Also a friend!
Step 5: Edited my manuscript. I was very fortunate to have My Father's Parrot edited by Pam Chamberlain who put together the anthology, Country Roads, and who is currently putting together an anthology about animals and their importance in our lives.
Step 6: Started to make notes about formatting the book. I've been reading about Amazon's requirements.
So, already this project of mine is involving a graphic designer, a photographer, an editor, and me. Oh, and I can't forget, the friend who initially sent me all these wonderful articles that got me excited about ebooks, so that makes five people so far. It really does take a village! I'll let you know how it goes.
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