Jennifer Lancaster

March 31, 2025

How to Publish an eBook on Amazon Kindle

Everyone, you can now publish to Amazon Kindle (KDP) with just a Word document. That said, you will need to ready it and learn the pros and cons of various Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) offerings, such as Kindle Select (exclusive eBook distribution for 90-day periods). Print on Demand publishing? Read the complete “How to Publish a Book in Australia“. The Process of Formatting for EBook Automatic Conversion 1. Strip out all headers and footers / page numbering. Your book will have a header in the end, don’t worry. 2. I assume you want to have reflowable text. Make images static and reasonable size (e.g. 150 kB and 72 dpi, not 2 MB). Take out all text boxes. Don’t bother with photo captions. 3. Put the hidden characters on, Check for tabs and take them all out. Take out all Word…

August 1, 2016

Self-Publishing, Selling eBooks and Media

Book Life Listing

Astounding authors, today I discovered another great site for book promotion: Book Life. I found it through the American-based Independent Book Publishers Association. It’s easy to use — just load your Author Profile and upload your latest unpublished or published works, including formats, news, reviews and a buy page link. See my financial book example. You can wait and have your book reviewed by BookLife (see the blue button on the left-hand side once logged in). That is free, but the Publishers Weekly supplement listing costs US$ 149 (quite a number of listings – is anyone taking notice?). Starting out, you’re probably better off first trying Ingram Advance catalog listing (US$60) or BookSeller+Publisher in Australia. Get yourself a solid publishing name first — like Power of Words! (But not that one, I took it already). Book Marketing Tip for the day:…

August 17, 2024

Book Marketing

Getting Your Book Marketing Ducks All in a Row

Every professional wants to know how they can make their book a success, without going crazy with overload! Here are some ideas for book marketing by leveraging what you are doing: Update your website with a bookstore that comes with buy links to Amazon, Goodreads, and print publisher site. Try the plugin: MyBookTable for WordPress. Considering an author website for the first time? Then ensure it’s designed for authors with colourful images of your book, clear selling points, a media page with photos, and your Bio. Also use a SEO plugin. Create bookmarks with the book URL so that you can hand them out at launch, also later on. Advance Distribution. If preparing a while beforehand, contact Dennis Jones & Associates to find out if they can distribute it or handle the eBook version. (Must be able to order 500+ print run…

March 17, 2017

Self-Publishing

Options for your Book and Publisher Commissions

Self-publishing authors often look at ways to improve their look and feel of their book. One way you can do this is through thicker paper. IngramSpark (open to self-publishers and small presses) has just introduced 105 gsm paper stock. This stock (in white) would be the pick if you have colour plates in your book or simply want a quality feel for your non-fiction book. Interior book layout / formatting can also improve the final result of your book. With a well-spaced book, including each new section on a right hand page, it can expand and improve the overall look of it. Extra leading (line spacing) can also help improve the legibility for readers. We recommend 1.25 line spacing (16 pt leading) with use of a serif font. You can request a colour sample from IngramSpark to be sent in…

February 13, 2015

Book Editing, Self-Publishing

Traditional vs. Self-Publishing Book Quality

A lot of people don’t know that I am still very open to the idea of getting traditionally published for some projects; it’s just that realistically it is a tough journey. As an author, if you want to concentrate mainly on writing and there seems to be a call for your book’s concept in the mass market right now, then keep on that trail. I suggest you speak to as many literary agents as you can, to suss out the chances for your story. Sometimes it’s a matter of knowing what each publisher is currently hunting for, and for that only a commissioning editor or a literary agent can help. A mass market published book has to meet a high standard in quality, especially so that bookstore buyers see it as an attractive package. That’s why publishers seek out the…

January 22, 2015

Self-Publishing

The Skinny on Book Formatting

Most independent authors rightly think that they have to format their print book in a classic, consistent style. But many are worried that employing a book designer will cost them plenty, with custom formatting of interiors running from $500 to $900 or more, depending upon how many images to improve and insert. Half-Price Book Formatting While you could spend many hours learning Adobe InDesign or advanced Microsoft Word, there is a third alternative. Power of Words can show you some different designs. Then, using a pre-made template and the skills to tie the front cover typeface to the interior, we’ll deliver you a well-designed book interior at half the usual design price (around $300 – 400, also depending on length/complexity). To complement this design, we suggest the services of NGirlDesign, who charges only A$220 for a simple book cover, including…