What goes at the front of the book?

When self-publishing, it is vital your book is comparable to traditionally-published books.

Why?

Because the reader is looking for a professional product. They don’t want to find mistakes (grammar, spelling), and they don’t want to feel they are buying something that only one person may have worked on. A traditional book is professionally proofread, copy-edited, final edited, and formatted. It is then given a professional cover and printed properly.

As a self-publisher, you must appear to be a professional. Therefore, the front material of your book should look similar, and provide the same info, as a traditionally published book.

This article from BookBaby has great info on what that should be and what it should look like. Click here.

Do I need to have a pre-sale period for my book?

Want to know the best time to promote your book?

Before it’s available to be sold.

Savvy authors know that the “pre-sale” period can make or break a title––that it’s not first to market that counts, but best to market. The most successful authors even start developing a strategy for targeting the market before their book is complete. They’re not thinking weeks in advance, but months.

The pre-sale period is so important, in fact, it should be the centerpiece of your book’s marketing and promotional campaign.

Here’s why.  more

KIndle Create makes placing images easier

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) recently announced changes to their publishing program. One of them is placing images in documents which has been a challenge in the past. Here’s their announcement:

“We are excited to announce the availability of Early Access features for Kindle Create. With Early Access you can opt-in to try out pre-release features and provide feedback.
The first Kindle Create Early Access features include:

1. Image support: Support for sizing and placement of images in your books. You can now insert, resize and delete images in your book and use alignment options to place them in the way that best suits the theme of your book.
2. Guided View for comics (Windows only): You can now import a PDF Comic book, create panels, specify mask color for Guided view transitions, and preview instantaneously.

You can enable Early Access by following the prompts after you update to Kindle Create 1.7. You can also enable or disable it at any time by going to Settings and once you’ve tried out the feature, you can share your feedback by going to Help->Provide Feedback. Your feedback on Early Access features will help us make improvements before launching these features to all authors.”

A lending library for ebooks

Draft2Digital.com is one of the fastest growing partners in the self-publishing world. Their recent foray into ebook lending is another step in the right direction for authors. In order to participate, just sign up at Draft2Digital.com. Here’s the pitch:

Most public libraries lend ebooks using a practice called One Copy, One User (OCOU). This is just like lending a physical book, in that the library purchases a copy of the ebook, and once a reader checks it out, it has to be returned before another reader can get their hands on it.

That means that unlike a traditional sales channel (such as Kobo or Apple Books), only one reader can discover your book at a time, you only make one sale.

As Draft2Digital expands and improves its library distribution, we’re adding a new option that can help more readers discover your work: Cost Per Checkout (CPC).

CPC allows libraries to have access to the same title for more than one user. Instead of a fixed price, libraries gain access to your books and pay 1/10 of the book’s full purchase price, each time it is loaned out. Unlike OCOU, where only one reader can check your book out at a time and libraries may only purchase a single copy of your book, CPC allows for unlimited checkouts that are paid per use—which can add up quickly!

This allows libraries to take risks on which books to include in their system, increasing the chances of a reader discovering your work, and increasing your revenue opportunities!

You don’t have to worry about turning this on—CPC and OCOU are both enabled by default for library distribution channels, and you are automatically receiving the benefits of both. If you’d prefer to disable CPC, however, you can do so by visiting our new Library Pricing page, or by visiting Advanced User Options on your My Account page.