Publishing in the 21st Century – on paper!

Douglas Parker — Sun, 24 Apr 2016 09:22:36 +0000

So here we are, well into the 21st Century. So far into it in fact that no one bothers to use that 20th Century phrase “Information Age” any more. We’re now bathed in information, from our phones, tablets and even our watches.

For instance, I got married two years ago and we had the wedding at our house. After the ceremony, when the adults were talking and the children got bored they didn’t run off to play, or nag their parents to go home.

Instead, they came up to me and asked “What’s the wifi password here?” Once armed with this magic incantation they sat happily by themselves playing games or chatting to their friends hundreds of miles away. (Yawn! I’m at this wedding in Wellington.)

So that’s where we stand, and in the midst of this digital milieu I’ve published my first novel. Of course, I choose to publish on the web because hey, in the 21st century who wants an actual paper book cluttering up their lives.

Well it turns out, lots of people. We’ve been busy emailing the e-book url to anyone and everyone and more than half of them have replied with the likes of “Oh no. I don’t want an electronic version, I really like to have a physical book to read”.

Maybe its a kiwi thing. Maybe not. Regardless, its prompted us to look seriously at doing a print edition. I’m determined not to end up with a garage full of unsold books, so we’re going try out CreateSpace. This is Amazon’s print on demand service – they only print a book when somebody orders one.

The book still needs to be ordered on the web, so for the folks who don’t even want to buy their book digitally, well I guess you’ll have to wait for us to try something else.

You’d think being Amazon I could just send them my Kindle file and say “Print this please” but its not that simple. I need go through another formatting exercise for the text, produce another cover file, etc, etc.

Don’t hold your breath but a print edition is on the way. We might even manage a proper launch in a real book shop. I’ll keep you posted.

The post Publishing in the 21st Century – on paper! first appeared on Spores Don't Even Breathe.

Spores, Don’t Even Breathe – Now on Amazon!

Douglas Parker — Sun, 27 Mar 2016 05:48:20 +0000

The big day has arrived and we’ve finally released my first novel on Amazon.

Now its up to all you avid Kindle readers to go to Amazon and let me know what you think. Your feedback will be greatly appreciated and if you submit a review then apparently that helps to push my book up the rankings. So thanks in advance!

I’d also like to thank all the friends and family who have supported me to get this far, and also to the dedicated professionals who have helped me with their knowledge and advice:

Special thanks go to my wife Catherine who has worked incredibly hard to learn about e-publishing, to make the important contacts, and create the visual design of Spores. Most importantly, Catherine has become my marketing and social media guru, which lets me focus on my day job, and my writing of course!*

It took a lot of work to get to this point, and a lot of research (thanks again to Catherine). If you’re thinking of self-publishing I recommend taking the time to find out for yourself what’s needed. If you’re going to publish on Amazon they have some useful pages but make sure to look elsewhere also. There’s plenty of pitfalls and the more educated you are before you start, the more smoothly it will go.

I’ve also been happy to rely on professionals where I needed to. That’s where the day job comes in handy. Spending a bit of money on advice can save a lot of time and avoid mistakes. Do make sure though to check anyone thoroughly before you hand them your hard earned dollars. Get personal references where you can and try to always use someone you can meet face to face.

The process of actually uploading a book to Amazon is one area where a bit of research paid off. If you’re registering for the first time you’ll need to have all your tax information ready. Then when its time to upload the book you’ll need the formatted book file, a separate cover file, a synopsis, acknowledgements, two categories and a list of keywords.

I though I had everything I needed and the process was going well until one of the last questions came up – did I want to use Digital Rights Management or not? Somehow both Catherine and I had missed this one and its important. You need to decide before uploading and the choice can not be changed (ever).

Some hurried googling revealed two opposing schools of thought but it really seems to come down to personal opinion. I didn’t find any hard research on whether DRM is worth it for the author or not. So do your own research and good luck with that one!

Anyway, with that hurdle jumped (I went without DRM), the book was uploaded and it appeared on Amazon less than 12 hour later! Catherine insisted on taking this snap of me with the Amazon page…

* If you’re going to be a writer, don’t quit your day job!

The post Spores, Don’t Even Breathe – Now on Amazon! first appeared on Spores Don't Even Breathe.