Publishing checklist for my book files

This is a checklist for altering my file to publish at each distributor.  This is the way I do it, though it will be different for everyone.  I'm doing this partially because it may be helpful to others, but mostly because it'll be helpful to me for future books.  Sometimes it's difficult to remember all of this.

First of all, my books are already formatted as I write.  I write them one chapter at a time and then put each chapter in a master file.  I add the table of contents and hyperlinks to all my chapters.  I also have everything formatted for submission to Smashwords, so there will be a lot of steps that you may need to do that I've already done.

This is the process for altering an individual file to all the sites I publish to.  Perhaps I'll go through the details of settings for each site one of these times.

This whole process took me about 6 hours tonight, taking into account making dinner for the kids and running one to play rehearsal.

0. Beginning format

I have a chapter 0 that I use as a template.  I've formatted it and set the formatting as the normal style that all my files use.  When I go to write a new chapter, I change "Chapter 0" to "Chapter 1" and save it as that chapter name.  I have a master book file that I insert each chapter into when I'm done with them.  This is also based on the new normal formatting style.

I keep things as simple as possible with fonts and formatting so that the book looks uniform throughout all the stores.  This helps to avoid issues.

0a. I set the font as Times New Roman 12pt. This is a personal preference. Use what you like.
0b. Set your paragraph style. It's on your home tab, paragraph style.  It's also on the Page layout tab. There's a lot of info here.  I set alignment left, outline level body text. Left and right indentation 0, First line .33, though I'd recommend .3 or .5. The emo bunnies liked .33 best, so I went with it.  I set before and after spacing at 0.  There's also the option of not using indents.  You can do block style.  If you do, then adjust it so that it gives you a space between paragraphs.   While writing, I set line spacing at 1.5.  Most people will use 2.
0c. While writing, NEVER use the tab button.  Did I emphasize that enough?  Use first line indent.  Tabs mess up formatting.

0d. I set my margins at 1".  That really has no effect on formatting the book, it's just a preference.
0e. Use Heading style 2 for each chapter.  Edit the heading style.  Format it, center it, increase the size of the font. Remove indentations for the heading style. Another thing I've learned to do is add a page break before.  This removes the need to add them later.  I increase the size to 16 for chapters and I underline them.  It's a personal style preference.

When working on someone else's file, I do a number of things:

0f.  Get rid of tabs: Ctrl-h (find and replace): ^t, replace with nothing.
0g. Get rid of extra spaces after returns: Ctrl-h: ^p and a space, replace with nothing.
0h. Get rid of extra spaces before returns: Ctrl-h: space and ^p, replace with nothing.


Note:  I highly recommend using heading styles.  It makes all the difference in the world with navigation and with creating tables of contents in Amazon and Createspace.

On the master book file:

0f.  Use Heading style 1 for the title.  Format it, center it, increase the size of the font.  Edit the
0g.  Add your copyright information.  This is a sample of what it could look like.  I add any artwork copyright info for the cover or inside illustrations here too.

2nd Edition

Published by John H. Carroll at Smashwords

Copyright 2011, 2015 John H. Carroll

Cover Copyright 2011 John H. Carroll

Cover photography by Tracy Carroll

I keep it simple, but that's personal choice.  I recommend registering your copyright as well.
0h. Optional: add a dedication.

1.  Smashwords.

1a.  Ensure it says "Published by John H. Carroll at Smashwords". (This will be different for other people, in case you were wondering.)
1b.  Change spacing to single spacing.
1c.  Add author bio.
1d.  Link author notes to table of contents.
1e.  Check all links.
1f.   Remove hidden bookmarks.
1g.  Publish to Smashwords.

(Note - I distribute to B&N and other stores through Smashwords, so I won't be adding the process for those stores.)

Copy Amazon version of word document file to Amazon folder.
Copy Amazon version of word document file to Createspace folder. (If applicable)


2.  Amazon

2a.  Remove "Published by John H. Carroll at Smashwords".
2b.  Add page breaks before each chapter.  If you've adjusted your Heading Style to automatically add these before, disregard this step.
2c.  Remove all bookmarks except the TOC bookmark if you make your chapter headings click back to the Table of Contents.
2d. Delete your Smashwords table of contents.  Go to the references tab and select table of contents.  Use this to create your table of contents.  It's where heading style comes in handy.  I have a tutorial on how to do that here:  http://ryallon.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-to-add-table-of-contents-for-amazon.html
2e.  Replace author bio with Amazon author bio.
2f.  Publish to Amazon.

Copy the original word document to Kobo folder.

2.  Kobo.

3a.  Save file.
3b.  Save as 'web page, filtered'.  (html)
3c  Use Calibre to convert html to epub.
3cc.  (wait for Calibre to update *sigh*)
3d.  Open file to ensure quality.
3e.  Publish to Kobo.

(Note - If you do wish to publish to B&N directly, this process will work for that too.  You can even use the exact same file if you like.)




4.  Createspace

This is a whole lot more complicated.  *sigh*

4a. In the reference tab, click "Table of Contents" and then Remove Table of Contents
4b.  ctrl-a (select everything).
4c. ctrl-shift-F9 to remove all hyperlinks.
Delete ALL bookmarks.
4d.  change paragraph formatting to 'justify'.
4e.  Open the 'page layout' - 'page setup' box
4f.  Margins (for a 100k word novel)  top: .75, bottom: .75, inside: .75, outside: .50.  Gutter: .25 (left)
4g.  Set 'multiple pages' to 'mirror margins'.
4h.  On the paper tab, set size to 6 x 9.  *This will be different if you're publishing your book under a different size.
4i.  On the layout tab, select 'different first page' (so you don't number the first page) and set header and footer to .35.
4j.  Insert page numbers.  First page different so the title page isn't numbered.  While in footer, go to page layout and remove first line indent.  This will not effect the main text.
4k.  Center title page.
4l.  Change font style and size of title to whatever the theme is.  (In the case of my Ryallon books, this would be Fairydustb, size 36 for the title)
4m.  Center each chapter, change font style and size 26.  Make this Heading style 2 for this document.  That way you can have word Create the Table of Contents for you.
4n.  Make the first letter of each chapter theme font style and size 16.  Possibly add a space between the quotation mark and the letter if needed for the style.  Make certain quotation marks are the same size as the letter.
4o.  Embed the font.  file/options/save/embed font/only characters in document/do not embed common fonts.
4p.  Go through and search for section breaks  ***  with ctrl-f.  Center them all.  ctrl-e.
4q.  Make certain the prologue, epilogue and author notes are all centered and font style themes are applied.
4r.  Make certain the end ### is centered.
4s.  Make certain there are no blank pages.
4t.  Go to the reference tab, click "Table of Contents" and then add a new table.  You can modify how each heading style shows up in the table.  On this one, you need to add page numbers, but not hyperlinks.  This is why you have to do it last so all the page numbers are correct.
4u.  Go into the insert tab, bookmarks, click on hidden bookmarks so all the bookmarks show up.  Delete them all.
4v.  When you create the table of contents using Word's reference tool, it links to each of the chapter headers even though you told it not to.  To correct this, click ctrl-a, which will select everything.  Then click ctrl-shift-F9 to remove all hyperlinks.


This may or may not help you, but perhaps it will give some a little insight as to the work that goes into submitting files to the different sites for publishing.

All my best,

John H. Carroll

Where to self publish your book

Publishing is fun and easy

Easy compared to spending years trying to get agents and publishers to realize how brilliant you are.
This is a list of where I publish my ebooks.  Other authors will do it differently, but hopefully this will give you insight in to what an author goes through in this new publishing world.

Before you publish a book, it's helpful to write it . . .  After that, I recommend editing it, then editing it again, having others edit it, setting it aside for a couple of months, then edit again a couple more times.  There's a good chance you'll still miss a thing or two, but the important part is that you polish it and publish a high quality product.  If at all possible, get a professional editor.

You'll also want a cover.  If you can afford a professional or semi-professional one, that's good.  Otherwise you can make your own with Photoshop, GIMP or some other editing software.  The better your cover, the more likely it will be noticed among the countless others.  The better the quality of your book, the more likely people will be to buy the next.

At the end of all my stories, I add authors notes with a brief description of me.  In it, I also add links to my blog, twitter, facebook and goodreads pages.  Then I add short descriptions to my other stories.  I have different copies of the author's notes for each store with links to that store.  In other words, I don't add Smashwords links to Amazon publications or Amazon links to Barnes & Noble publications.

Formatting

I write using Microsoft Word, which makes the formatting easy for me.  In addition, I write fantasy and don't have a lot of pictures, other things that make it easier.  I have a detailed formatting guide here if you need it http://ryallon.blogspot.com/2012/11/publishing-checklist-for-my-book-files.html


Publishing

Before I continue, I want to alert you to a company you should avoid.  Author Solutions and its many tentacles is a company that preys upon hopeful writers.  You can learn more about them here https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/the-case-against-author-solutions-part-1-the-numbers/

There are the places I publish my ebooks.  Others exist and you can look them up.

1. Smashwords.  I recommend using the Smashwords Style Guide to format your word document.  In fact, it's vital if you want to publish through them.  I distribute to Apple, B&N, Kobo, Scribd, and numerous other small bookstores through Smashwords.  Due to time constraints, Smashwords and Amazon are the only two I publish to at the moment.

2.  Amazon.  I make a copy of the Word Document that I used for Smashwords.  Then I add page breaks after the title page, copyright page and chapters.  After that, I save it as a filtered web document and then convert it using mobipocket.  Here is a more specific guide:  https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A17W8UM0MMSQX6

3. Kobo now has self-publishing platform though I use Smashwords. With Kobo, you transform your word document into html by saving it as a filtered web document. Then you use a program such as Calibre to transform it into an epub. You can find more info here: http://download.kobobooks.com/writinglife/en-US/KWL-User-Guide.pdf

4.  B&N has a Smashwords version of my novels, but you can publish directly with them if you like. Warning!!! B&N now partners with Authors solutions.  If you do publish with B&N, do not pay for any of their services.  It's just not a good value. With B&N, you just use the word document used for the others with the exception of specific author's notes and any publishing info.  You can find more info here:  https://www.nookpress.com/ebooks#

5. XinXii is a European competitor to Smashwords.  I haven't used their services, but from my reseach, I personally prefer Smashwords, http://www.xinxii.com/default.php/en

Print books

5.  Createspace is my favorite for print on Demand Books.  I only publish my novels in print, not my short stories.  Createspace is owned by Amazon and has been a dream to work with.  I make all of my covers to fit their guidelines, with a spine and a back cover.  https://www.createspace.com/

5a.  Createspace's biggest competitor is Lightning Source, and many of my peers use their service.  http://www1.lightningsource.com/

5b.  Lulu is the third company that does print on demand books.  I'm not certain how good their service is.  https://www.lulu.com/s1/paperback_b/r/site

Other

6.  Another lesser known place to publish is Scribd. http://www.scribd.com/  You can sell books in PDF form.  I distribute there through Smashwords.  The site has made vast improvements in recent years.  The biggest issue most writers have is its reputation of being a source for pirates to get material, though I don't know how accurate this currently is.

7.  There is also a site called Wattpad. http://www.wattpad.com/  They don't have a way for you to sale books as far as I know, but this is an excellent place to publish free books.  It's also a good way to get input on your writing, especially if you're willing to join groups and return the favor with other writers.  They only accept uploads in .txt, so you'll lose most of your formatting.  Links and tables of contents won't work. 

8. There is also a site called Obooko where you can put free books as well.  In it, you give the readers the right to print out pdf documents for personal use.  You can also supply .mobi (Kindle) and epub (everything else) for people to read on ereaders.

Note:  All of these sites enable you to retain your worldwide copyrights.  You are only giving them the right to distribute or sell for you.  None of them prevent you from distributing elsewhere.

Other opportunities

There are other sites out there where it's possible to publish ebooks.  Look very carefully at there terms and make certain that they don't have any sort of restrictions preventing you from publishing elsewhere, or exclusivity clauses.  Publishing your books is an endeavor where you truly want to read the fine print on everything.  I recommend hiring a contract lawyer if you're not confident about what you're agreeing to.

I don't publish to Google Documents because they have been known to reduce the price on all books, which means Amazon and the rest are going to price match.  This can really mess with your royalties.

Whatever your decisions, don't expect to hit it big right away.  Being a self-published author is a LOT of hard work.  Not only do you need to write quality books, you have to market them.  You can find some marketing tips here on my blog, but those are only a start.

All my best and good luck. :)

John H. Carroll

Amazon Ebook Returns, AKA Piracy Enabling

Rant

This is more of a rant than an article.  It's about online piracy and theft of artistic work.

I'm a writer.  I write books and try to sell them.  My books sell better than many authors, but not near as well as others.  I guess you could say I'm a low-end midlister.  I work hard to write more and I market to get people interested in my books.

Since I primarily sell my books as ebooks, it's very easy to steal them.  I understand this and accept that all of my works have been put on pirate and torrent sites.  It's simply a fact of life.  But there are times when the theft is so blatant and obvious that it upsets me.

The reason for the rant.

Amazon's return policy is great for customers.  I'm okay with it sometimes as a writer.  But when someone goes in and buys every book in the Ryallon series and then returns them all at once, it really does make me angry. :(

My book sales for November. "Units Refunded" are the returns. You can see that each of my books of Ryallon has been returned.  Those showed up in the last hour.

Writing is hard work.  I spend countless hours writing, editing and formatting hundreds of thousands of words.  I work full time at it in  addition to working full time to support my family.

There's not much I can do about this other than protest it publicly and to tell Amazon it's wrong.

I give books away for free so people can see if they like my writing.  The books after that are a reasonable price.  Those returns in the chart above aren't from someone who didn't like my writing.  They're from someone who wanted to copy the books and either keep them for themselves, sell them to others, or download them to torrent sites.

I'm angry with Amazon

I accept the thief for a thief.  I have a problem with Amazon being an enabler.  Amazon has everything on their site categorized in countless ways.  It's just as obvious to them as it is to me that someone bought my series of books and returned them, yet they allow it.

I get it.  Amazon puts the customers first and has become Goliath by doing so.  The companies, or struggling individual artists in this case, are simply a tool to accomplish their hunger to become the biggest.  It's a brilliant policy and along the way, they've truly been instrumental in changing the face of publishing.  I've been very fortunate to benefit from this, but I have no illusion any of it was done for my benefit or the benefit of self-published authors like me.

The end result

I'm still going to keep writing books.  I love it and I'm fairly decent at it.  There's not much I can do about piracy other than continue to point out on occasion that it's wrong.  Amazon enabling it in such a way is also wrong, but there's not much I can do about that either.

So that's about it.  I shall take deep breaths and get back to writing the next story.  There's a joy in weaving tales that no pirate or big company will ever be able to take from me.  Even if they someday come and take my computer, my eyes, my fingers and my tongue, the stories will reside in my soul.

So, naner naner.

All my best,

John H. Carroll.

Ebook pricing $3.99 vs. $4.99

Notes:

This is pricing for novels.  I'm pretty firm at $2.99 for novellas and collections, and $.99 for short stories.  I've seen no reason to alter those prices.  Also, these are Epic Fantasy novels, other genres may have different results.  In addition, bookstores like Amazon change their algorithms more often than Jeff Bezos changes his underwear, so this information may be wrong before I even write it.

The Pricing Dilemma

Big publishers have people to figure out how much to charge for books.  They have tons of statistics and expense ledgers that tell them how much to charge.  The author usually gets paid the least out of that, of course. ;)

As an Indie Author, I have to figure all that out myself using the information given by other Indie Authors, companies that share any information, my own sales data, and sheer guesswork.   Out of those, sheer guesswork has been my primary strategy.

My Pricing Schemes So Far

When I first published Rojuun 3 years ago, I priced it at $4.99.  I thought it was a good price.  Half of what Traditionally published books went for, but a fair price for the work I put into it.  At the time, I hadn't researched what others were doing and were astonished to discover that $2.99 was the preferred pricing.  I lowered the price to $2.99 for a while, then went to $3.99.  Once I had a couple more books, I made Rojuun permafree to drum up interest for the sequels.  That's been my most effective sales strategy overall.

However, I've always struggle with whether to charge $3.99 or $4.99 for the sequels.  (My readers prefer $3.99, I'm sure. lol)  I've gone back and forth, testing.  I'd finally decided on $4.99.  Recently though, I came across a Smashwords post about $3.99 being the sweet spot for books.  In it, Mark Coker states:

"One surprising finding is that, on average, $3.99 books sold more units than $2.99 books, and more units than any other price except FREE.  I didn't expect this.  Although the general pattern holds that lower priced books tend to sell more units than higher priced books, $3.99 was the rule-breaker.  According to our Yield Graph, $3.99 earned authors total income that was 55% above the average compared to all price points."

You can find the blog post here:  http://blog.smashwords.com/2013/05/new-smashwords-survey-helps-authors.html 

So I changed my pricing to $3.99 for the second time in the last couple of years.

The Results

Both times I lowered the price, my sales remained level.  There simply hasn't been a quantifiable increase.  Keep in mind that when I lower the price, I make 50-80 cents less per sale.  So instead of making more money, I'm making less money.

At this point, I'd like to point out that I'm not trying to become rich (though I wouldn't turn it down), I'm trying to make a living off my writing and support my family.  If I can do that, then I can write every day and produce more stories for you to enjoy!

There was one other thing I was testing when I did this: the effect on a new release.  You see, when I released Wyvern, the book hit Amazon's hot new releases list and the sales did extremely well.   That was at $4.99.  It hit the list a couple of weeks after release, about when I reached 30 sales.  Books can only be on that list for 2 months.  The sales took a dive after that.

When I released the next novel, Liselle, the price was $3.99.  It reached 30 sales in the first week, however, it didn't hit the new release list. About 6 weeks after release, I changed the prices back to $4.99.  One week after that, Liselle went on the hot new releases list and sales spiked . . . for the 3 days it had before the 2 month time limit ran out. *sigh*  Oh, and I still had the sales dive after it went of the list. *doublesigh*

Now keep in mind I don't have any inside information as to how Amazon does things.  I'm basing all of these results on my own interpretation of my sales.

My Decision

I've decided to keep my novels priced at $4.99.  I believe this is a fair price for both me as the writer and for my readers.  I believe it maximizes quantity of sales along with profit.  The first books of the series are free, so readers can see whether or not they like my writing.  If they do, then they have an idea of what they're getting when they pay the $4.99.

I'm sharing this information primarily for other writers in the hopes that it will help them with their decisions, but I like to let my readers know my reasoning for the decisions I make too.

All my best,

John H. Carroll

New releases by John H. Carroll

Hi!

I wanted to let you know about some new releases I have.  The first is "Liselle" the highly anticipated first book of the "Crazed Trilogy".  It continues the story of Liselle and Vevin in their adventures as they learn more about who, or what, Liselle truly is.  And of course, they'll hopefully find a little treasure along the way.

"Zachary Zombie and the Wicked Worm" is a new release that I've made free in all stores.

I've added two other children's stories, "Phairyphant" and "Naughty Nanoworms"

"The Storage Room in the Grey Void" is a new story about a video game extra who's existence didn't turn out the way she would have liked.

Enjoy!!!

Liselle

Print

Smashwords

Amazon

Kobo

Apple

Barnes & Noble

Sony

Liselle has spent the last few years living the life of adventure she always wanted. Yet she struggles with the suffering she has seen along the way. As her powers grow, the question of who she really is, or what she really is becomes a greater mystery. Join Liselle, Vevin and their new friends as they try to discover the meaning of life, and perhaps find a little treasure along the way.

Steampunk Roo

Smashwords

Amazon

Kobo

Apple

Barnes & Noble

Print

It is a little known fact that Steampunk animals roam the wild Outback of Australia. They live a rugged, but good life. Steampunk City is the center of their civilization, run by Governor Kevin Koala.

Outside of Steampunk City are vast stretches of arid lands. The Steampunk Animal Alliance has built a series of water stops with tanks of water supplied by windmills that pump water from deep in the ground. From them, Steampunk animals can refill their water tanks to keep their gears running.

Horrible news has come that someone is destroying those water stops. It’s up to Steampunk Roo, an agent of the Steampunk Animal Alliance to investigate and hopefully bring a stop to the terrible destruction!

Zachary Zombie and the Wicked Worm

Smashwords

Amazon

Kobo

Apple

Barnes & Noble

FREE!!!

Zachary Zombie has been sent by Gert the Wicked Witch to find the magical Dagger of Gik from the ruins of an old wizard’s mansion. He is accompanied by Al, Gus, and Carl, three fellow zombies. Will they discover the lost Dagger of Gik? What dangers await the rotting zombies? Who will lose the most body parts? And who, what, or where in the world is Gik?

Phairyphant

Smashwords

Amazon

Kobo

Apple

Barnes & Noble

Mystical phairyphants have existed since the days of wooly mammoths and mastodons. Phairydust allows them to fly on powerful, gossamer wings while they use their trunks to sniff the air for opportunities to make the world a better place for elephants. This is the story of Elly, one such phairyphant.

Naughty Nanoworms

Smashwords

Amazon

Kobo

Apple

Barnes & Noble

Life on the streets is generally peaceful for Albert, but the streets are not without their hazards. While avoiding one type of trouble, Albert walks his way into even worse trouble. Will he keep his shopping cart? Will Meezer the cat come up with a plan to destroy the world? Can a shopping cart and a skateboard ever get along? The seventh entry in the Stories for Demented Children Series.

The Storage Room in the Grey Void

Smashwords

Amazon

Kobo

Apple

Barnes & Noble

Video games bring entertainment and excitement to the lives of those who play them. But what of those characters created for those games? Perhaps they are a bit more real than we might think. Perhaps they have feelings and desires, much as we who play the games do. And what of the characters who don’t get included in the game? This is the story of one such character.

Book sales data for John H. Carroll, Nov 2010 - July 2013.

Last year about this time, I reported how many sales I had in this post: http://ryallon.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-book-sales-data-nov-2010-april-2012.html

I've decided to do that again.  This time however, I'm not separating the numbers by store or month.  With 22 titles over 3 years, it's an insanely complicated process to do so.  

This is how many total sales I've had by title.  Each author is has different strengths and weaknesses.  Genre also affects sales.  I write fantasy, which does not have as large of a fan base.  If I were writing romance, then these numbers might have been two or three times as high . . . although I suck at romance, so they might have been worse.

One of my biggest strengths is the fact that I’m fairly prolific.  I've published these books and short stories in addition to having a full time job and spending time with my family.

I don’t market or social network anywhere near as much I should.  There are so many sites to request reviews, and forums to talk about your book, that a person could spend the rest of their life marketing one book.  I prefer to work on the next, so I do minimal marketing.

My primary form of marketing is "first book free" and free short stories.  This gets people to know my name and brings a steady trickle of sales to my other titles.

These numbers are increasing each day, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly.  Also, there's no rhyme or reason as to the dates I chose to do the calculations.

Sales Master Sheet	June 1 2012	Oct 1 2012	July 31 2013
SALES (Date published)
Rojuun (Nov 2010)	295	299	344
Anilyia (Apr 2011)	692	1106	1982
Kethril (July 2011)	545	914	1724
Willden omnibus (Oct-2011, unpub Mar 2013)	659	1075	1075
Dralin (Oct 2011)	285	488	563
Ebudae (May 2012)	8	190	887
Pelya (Nov 2012)	0	0	716
Wyvern (Apr 2013)	0	0	421
Rain Glade (Sep 2012)	0	7	133
Emo Bunny Illustrated (Apr 2012)	6	21	62
Collection of Children's Stories (Oct 2011)	189	293	350
Alien Coffee (Aug 2011)	194	244	276
Emo Bunny that Should (Jan 2011, unpub Mar 2013)	147	148	148
Zachary Zombie, Lost Boy (Apr 2011)	62	62	144
Drippy, Peg-Legged Rainbow (Sep 2011)	15	17	25
Unholy Cow (Oct 2011)	21	21	57
Attack, Sugar Plum Fairies (Oct 2011)	52	52	111
Phairyphant (Mar 2013)	0	0	18
Naughty Nanoworms (Mar 2013)	0	0	9
Blue Haired Alien Girlfriend (Nov 2010)	37	39	91
Test Pilot (Dec 2010)	22	22	124
Don't Ever Change (Feb 2011)	44	44	67
Zachary Zombie, Wicked Worm (June 2013)	0	0	6
Storage Room in the Grey Void (July 2013)	0	0	4
Grand Total Sales	3273	5042	9337
FREE GIVEAWAYS (Date published)
Dralin (Oct 2011)	0	0	10592
Rojuun (Nov 2010)	22728	31105	45529
Emo Bunny that Should (Jan 2011, unpub Mar 2013)	64087	69095	96317
Zachary Zombie, Lost Boy (Apr 2011)	28852	29437	39487
Drippy, Peg-Legged Rainbow (Sep 2011)	12288	16582	25153
Unholy Cow (Oct 2011)	10845	18192	28963
Attack, Sugar Plum Fairies (Oct 2011)	23905	30606	57706
Phairyphant (Mar 2013)	0	0	5
Naughty Nanoworms (Mar 2013)	0	0	6
Zachary Zombie, Wicked Worm (June 2013)	0	0	11
Blue Haired Alien Girlfriend (Nov 2010)	23798	25455	32402
Test Pilot (Dec 2010)	12769	22538	33739
Don't Ever Change (Feb 2011)	23063	24931	36483
Grand Total Free Giveaways	222335	267941	406393

Heavy Increase in last giveaway column is largely due to 90,000 free giveaways via Apple being reported by Smashwords.  Overall, free giveaways are down.  In February of 2013, I decided to begin charging for most of my free stories due to the algorithms of most bookstore changing to minimize the power of free.  Dralin, Rojuun and Drippy the Peg-Legged Rainbow are the only ones that are currently free. I hope this provides small insight to others. All my best, John H. Carroll

How to add a Table of Contents for Amazon using Word, html and Mobipocket

Introduction

Recently, Amazon began insisting on a Table of Contents for their books.  They don't want just any table of contents, they want one that registers with the Kindle devices.

It's taken me two years to figure out how to do this, largely because I figured out a different system that worked well enough.

Note:  This tutorial is on how to make a working Table of Contents starting with Microsoft Word.  There are other ways of making it if you use other programs.  Also, if you are an expert at html, then I'd recommend using Sigil or some other way of editing your html document.  You'll probably get a much cleaner file.

However, if you're a self-taught self publisher like me who doesn't wish to break their brain, I'm making this about as simple as possible. :)

Smashwords

This is not how you do it with Smashwords.  They primarily take Word documents and they don't want Microsoft Word's pregenerated Table of Contents.  If you want to make one for them, I recommend using this tutorial:  http://ryallon.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-make-clickable-table-of-contents.html

Table of Contents in Microsoft Word.

Note:  I'm using Word 2010.

Okay, so the first thing you need to learn about is heading styles in Microsoft Word.  You need these to get the rest of it to work.  I'm going to show you how to add heading styles to your Title and Chapters.  If you already know how to do this and have it in your file, you can skip to the next section. :)

1.  Up at the top of your document, you'll see heading styles. (Image 1)  You'll want to modify your heading to your preferences.  I modify Heading Style 1 for the Title and Heading Style 2 for the Chapters.  If you don't have chapters, you can still do this for the beginning or any section breaks.  Usually, you need at least two points of reference.  I use "Beginning" and "Author Notes" if I don't have chapters as in this story.  (If you don't have author notes, I recommend adding them.  Tell the readers who you are and what other books you have for sale)

Image 1

 2.  Okay, so I have "Beginning" and "Author Notes" under Heading 2 style.  Now lets add the Table of contents.  If you go to your "References" tab, there's a section to create a Table of Contents.  Click on that and go to "Insert Table of Contents" near the bottom.  (Image 2)



Image 2

3.  In this next image, there's a lot going on.  At the bottom left, you'll see "Show levels:".  I only use 2 levels.  If you have a reason to use more do so, otherwise, switch it to 2.  We'll come back here in a minute.  For now, click on "Modify".  (Image 3)

Image 3

4.  This opens up the different styles for your Table of Contents.  You can check them each out, or you can click on "Modify" in the style box to modify the style of your selection.  In this one, you can center your table of contents, change the font, make it bold or many other things.  If you click "Format" at the bottom left corner, you can change the paragraph stylings, such as indentation and spacing before and after lines.  (Image 4)

Image 4

5.  Next, you want to click on "Options" (Image 3).  This will bring up "Table of Contents Options."  Here, I get rid of the "1" in Heading 1.  You don't want the Title in your table of Contents . . . unless you do, in which case you can leave it.

Image 5

6.  Okay, once you have everything set to the way you want it, click okay and go back to the Table of Contents (Image 3) and uncheck "Show page numbers".  Ebooks don't have page numbers, so you don't want them in there.  You do, however, want to make certain that the box on the right "Use hyperlinks instead of page numbers" is checked.  Click "OK" and you will have this:  (Image 6)



Image 6

7.  You'll find that if you hover over "Beginning" or "Author's Notes", you'll be able to ctrl-click to each section.  If you have chapters instead of "Beginning", they'll all be there.  On the line above that, I manually type in "Table of Contents".

8.  Next, you want to save your document as "Web Page Filtered".  (Image 7)




Image 7


html

9.  Now you want to go to the html version of your document and open it with notepad to edit it.  You'll get a page like this:  (Image 8)




Image 8

10.  The thing you want to add here is  <a name="toc"></a>  (You can just copy and paste that) before the line with Table of contents.  (Image 9).  You can do a ctrl-f to find the words.  What this does, is it tells the next program, and Amazon that this is where the Table of Contents is.  After you've done that, you want to save the file.

Image 9

Mobipocket

Mobipocket  http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asp  is the tool I use to convert the html file into an ebook that I can upload to Amazon.

11.  Open up Mobipocket and you'll get a screen that looks like this (Image 10)  Go to the section that says "Import from Existing file".  Choose "HTML document".  That will lead you to a page where you add your document.  In the section that says "Choose your file" click "Browse" and find the html version of your book. Once you've selected it, click "Import". 

Image 10

12.  Next you want to add a cover image.  Click on "Cover Image" and add the file (Image 11)  Then update. 



Image 11



13.  Next, you want to click on "Guide".  (Image 12)  Add a "New Guide Item".  Under "Type", click the drop down menu and select "toc".  Then, next to Filename, is another Browse button.  Click on that and find the document folder that Mobipocket has created.  Mine is under "Documents", "My Publications", "Phairyphant".  Then you go in there and select the new html version of your book that Mobipocket created.



Image 12



14.  Now you edit the section with the file.  Under "Filename" you want to go to the end of the filename and add #toc behind "html".  Then click "Update".   (Image 13)

Image 13

15.  Now you go to the little gears at the top where it says "Build".  Click on that and it'll put all of it together.  You'll have the option of "Open folder containing book".  You'll want to make sure that's checked.  There, you'll find your book.  (Image 14)

Image 14

16.  Next, you'll want to check it in the Kindle Previewer.  (Image 15)  At the top, click on "Go To".  Then you click on "Table of Contents".  If it takes you to the Table of Contents, then you've done it all right. :)  If it gives you an error message, then something went wrong along the way.



Image 15


17.  Upload that file to Amazon and hopefully sell lots of books. :)

I hope this helps.  If you have any questions, you can leave them in a comment and I'll do my best to answer.

All my best,

John H. Carroll

What month Indie Authors get paid for ebooks

Pay schedules for Indie Author publishing.

Every once in a while, someone gets confused about when each vendor pays royalties for books sold.  This is a list for self-publishing through online stores like Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, Kobo and Createspace.  This is when U.S. residents get paid.

Note:  I do not directly publish to Apple, therefore I do not know their pay schedule.

Amazon KDP, B&N Pubit

With Amazon's KDP and B&N's Pubit you get paid every month if you've made $10.  It's usually on the last day of the second month after the end of the month.  Therefore:

January gets paid March 31st. 
February gets paid April 30th
March gets paid May 31st
April gets paid June 30th
May gets paid July 31st
June gets paid August 31st
July gets paid September 30th
August gets paid October 31st
September gets paid November 30th
October gets paid December 31st
November gets paid January 31st
December gets paid February 28th

Createspace

With Createspace, you get paid even faster, the last day of the first month.  You get paid after earning $10

January gets paid  February 28th.
February gets paid March 31st
March gets paid April 30th
April gets paid May 31th
May gets paid June 30th
June gets paid July 31th
July gets paid August 31th
August gets paid September 30th
September gets paid October 31st
October gets paid November 30th
November gets paid December 31st
December gets paid January 31st

Kobo

With Kobo, you only get paid after you've made $100.  Their pricing language states:

 

Payment will be issued on a monthly basis if your content has generated over $100.00 USD. If after 6 months, your content has not generated over $100.00 USD, we will deliver all of the earnings your content has generated at that point.

Now, I haven't earned enough to receive a check, but the wording indicates that you would get paid sometime in the month after you've successfully accumulated $100 worth of earnings, so the same schedule as Createspace.

Smashwords

With Smashwords you get paid quarterly.  You need to make $10 if you're getting paid by paypal or $75 if you're getting paid by check. 

January, February, and March get paid April 30th
April, May and June get paid July 31st
July, August and September get paid October 31st
October, November and December get paid January 31st.

If you distribute to Apple, B&N, Kobo and other stores, Smashwords updates the royalties as they receive them. I've been published with Smashwords for 2 years now and the frequency of updating has inconsistant (understatement). However, I have learned to take a long-term viewpoint with them as I plan to be a writer for the rest of my life. They do update, and they do pay, which are the important things.

International residents.

Note: This is if you live in the U.S. International payments are well . . . lets just say I'm glad I don't have to deal with the crap international writers do. From what I understand, you have to make $100 on Amazon and then you get paid a check (or if you're European, cheque), which is problamatic because most banks are no longer taking cheques across the pond.

Smashwords takes out 30% to pay to the U.S. IRS unless you go through a complicated, time-consuming and expensive process of filling out paperwork.



I hope this helps other writers.   If anyone should find any inconsistancies with this list, or have something to add, please feel free to mention it in the comments below. :)

All my best,

John H. Carroll

How to buy my books internationally.

My books are available through numerous online stores.  They are also available internationally.  Here are the countries you can purchase my books in each store

Smashwords

1. You can purchase from Smashwords from anywhere in the world as long as you have internet and a credit card. 
2. When you buy a book, you can download multiple formats for whatever you read on.

And those are the reasons why I will always advise you to purchase from Smashwords over any other store.  (There are actually many more reasons, but those are the big ones.)

Apple

Apple is the second biggest international store.  There are more iDevices (iPad, iPhone, etc) than any other type of reader out there.

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, United Kingdom, and Venezuela.

Kobo - A Canadian company that was recently bought out by Rakatan, a Japanese company.

Honestly, if you're living in any of these countries, I'd recommend the Kobo reader over Amazon's Kindle.  Kobo gives every evidence of being a better company internationally than Amazon.  This list states that it's as of May 2012, but they distribute to Japan now too.

As of May 2012, our list of established territories includes:

Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Singapore, Hong Kong

Amazon

Amazon is working hard to become the world's biggest online retailer.  They are very likely to succeed.  However, they tend to be combative and are actively trying to avoid taxes wherever possible.  This makes their entry into the international market difficult as they are pissing off governments from what I can see.  That said, they will succeed.  These are the countries where they have stores that are reported to me.

It is my understanding that they distribute to many more countries, but they add a $2.00 surcharge to each book.  Also, I don't receive the normal 70% royalty in these countries.  Amazon only pays 35%.  They are the only company that cuts royalties from other countries.  Amazon claims that they make books available in Canada and more than 175 countries worldwide.

Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Great Britain, Guernsey, Germany, Italy, India, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland, Spain, United States, Vatican City

Like I said, they claim to distribute to 175 countries worldwide, but if I understand correctly (and I may be mistaken) people have to log onto one of the other Amazon stores and they pay a surcharge for the books.

Barnes and Noble

It used to be that Barnes and Noble was only available in the U.S., but they have now expanded to the U.K. and are partnering with brick and mortar bookstores to sell their ereader.  After an infusion of cash from Microsoft, they are working on establishing a presence in new countries as well.

For three others, I contacted Smashwords and this is the information I received.

Sony

Has the US and Canada, though I hear they may be expanding into
other markets.

Diesel

Doesn't consistently provide location figures, but has included
Australia, New Zealand, India, the UK, Canada, Mexico and several
African nations.

Blio

Predominantly has US sales, but also UK, Canada, Mexico and New
Zealand.