The Writers' Network! discussion

This is really helpful! I'm getting close to this stage...but I hadn't even considered this sort of stuff!

William wrote: "Glad I could help :D ! I had the idea of doing this a while ago but it was your saying you were near to publishing that got me to get on with it lol!"

Oh awesome. I am definitely happy to absorb all and any tips!

Good to know about re-uploading as well. I'm guessing if you re-upload after receiving reviews or downloads, those stats still remain?

Natalie wrote: "William wrote: "Glad I could help :D ! I had the idea of doing this a while ago but it was your saying you were near to publishing that got me to get on with it lol!"

Oh awesome. I am definitely h..."

Yeah, it's just like changing anything else (like the price) you just have to wait another x amount of hours for it to be changed in the system.

Another tip, which I heard after I published a couple of things, is to have a page at the end where you say something like, "Please feel free to leave a comment, and if you like this check out my other books ----- and you can find me at my blog/website here -----."

Thanks for the help. I previously used a small press publisher to format for me, at a cost, but now I'm going to go it alone for my new novel. I want to be in control of my accounts more than anything else!

Thanks for that Robert!

I am still not entirely sure if I am going to self publish. I am sending off to agents and part of me thinks I should hold out and go the more traditional route. There is a part of me that fears self publishing would just be me giving in to my impatience to get my work out there. (I just want people to read it!)

But the amount of control that you have when you self publish is very appealing. There are pros and cons I guess!

Another tip i learned is that in order to have a chapter appear on a different page, insert a page break. This way, it separates the chapters no matter what size font the reader uses. Its a little tedious but worth it. Just insert a page break wherever you want a new page to start.

You guys are so helpful!

What is your advice on controlling impatience? I assume that you are all big fans of self publishing and would say that it is a good idea?

I strongly recommend downloading and reading the Smashwords Style Guide. It is much stricter than the Amazon style rules, but if your document passes on Smashwords, it will be instantly acceptable by Amazon. Some of William's comments are specifically contradicted in the Smashwards Style Guide. While they may be acceptable on Kindle, that is the only platform where they would be accepted. Unless you go to Kindle's restricted publishing mode, you can and should publish on both Amazon and Smashwords. Keep in mind that Smashwords distributes to Apple and Amazon does not.

Reference Susan's comment, be sure to use a page break as she suggests and not a section break.

Further to Robert's comments, if you can include the QR codes for your other books on eh last page, that is also helpful.

I agree with Robert. It makes a world of difference. The document comes out looking far better.

I had never even heard of Smashwords so that is great, thank you!

Oh, that's awesome! Thanks for pointing it out!

Hi all, I'm new to this group, and am very grateful for its existence: it is great to see how supportive and open everyone is being.

I'm a long way away from having a book that's ready to publish, and when / if I get there, I'd really value your support and advice. In the meantime, anyone would like feedback on their work, I'd very happy to oblige whenever work / life allows.

Good luck everyone.

Chris B.

Chris wrote: "Hi all, I'm new to this group, and am very grateful for its existence: it is great to see how supportive and open everyone is being.

I'm a long way away from having a book that's ready to publish..."

Hey Chris! I'm pretty new here myself, but welcome :)

I've literally just posted a snippet of my novel here: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1... and would love some feedback!

What sort of thing do you like to write? Good luck with it!

Natalie wrote: "You guys are so helpful!

What is your advice on controlling impatience? I assume that you are all big fans of self publishing and would say that it is a good idea?"

Well either route has its challenges. The biggest problem with self-publishing is getting exposure.

William,

Smashwords recommends removing all line spacing except single space. Do not put more than three carriage returns in a row. Leave chapter titles within three lines of the top of the page. Some readers of fiction do like tables of contents. If your chapter title has a descriptive phrase like "Chapter One - Boy Meets Girl" many readers appreciate that and Smashwords will create the table of contents for you. Do not use the table of contents functions in Word or Open Office. The field codes do not translate correctly. They also do not translate correctly from one to the other.

I found that by carefully following the style guide both of my books uploaded to Smashwords and were assigned to the premier catalog on the first try. The same books with the cover page changed as appropriate uploaded to Amazon on the first try.

Unless you are creating a book with lots of graphics and photographs, there is no reason uploading to either Amazon or Smashwords need take more than a single attempt.

I use Open Office for all but my final draft and use Word for that. Smashwords recommends against switching word processors mid-stream, but I find I catch errors I would not catch any other way. I do have to completely reformat the entire work in the transition and that is part of the error-finding process. With fiction, this is not such a big deal, but with a non-fiction book heavy in graphics this would be extremely time consuming.

Natalie,

Yes, most of us are fans of electronic publishing which is related to, but not the same as, self-publishing. There is something about waiting six months to learn that the publisher has enough of your type of book to last them a decade kind of turns a lot of us off.

As for the impatience, you just have to be careful how you water them.

Hi Nat

Leaving for our holiday tomorrow, and moving house when we get back, plus have a hand-in for my MA and work, so bit busy right now! But I will try and have a look at it for you when I've settled into the group a bit, and things have calmed down on the home and work fronts.

Chris

William wrote: "Susan wrote: "Another tip i learned is that in order to have a chapter appear on a different page, insert a page break. This way, it separates the chapters no matter what size font the reader uses...."

It did work on Kindle and Kindle Fire but when I read it on my iPhone it didn't apply. Chapters started in the middle of the page or wherever the last one ended :(. I think the iPhones are an exception to that.

I downloaded some ebooks that the writers were offering free, and some are
very
hard to read because of
seemingly random line breaks. I thought conver-
tingtext to an .epub should be ,
but

simple

sometimes words even intrude on wrong line.
what might cause this particular problem? So I can avoid it myself in future if need be :)
I have a Sony ereader not Kindle BTW so I don't know if anyone has experience with the epub format?