Kindle Direct question

praktikle1

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What Polenth said.

Personally, I've tried Select a few times. Even a publisher (with my permission) put a story of mine in Select. It's never been worth it. I even had a short story sit right behind Wool on certain "free download" subgenre lists…and the sales effect was negligible.

There are two major things you won't get by not opting for Select: 1. Your book won't receive the ability to have 5 "free" days per 3-month period. 2. You won't be in the Kindle Lending Library, which pays authors money for borrows.

But you can upload anywhere and everywhere else. Google Play just updated its interface, for example (but they discount your title by ±25%, so to avoid violating your terms on other vendors, it's best to add to the price tag there).

I'm a huge Smashwords fan—they're my primary vendor for shopping—but Draft 2 Digital is fast getting far more popular as a distributor. (I only uploaded a few things to them last night; I'm still using Smashwords for its own store and for the vendors only it distributes to, but I'm using Draft 2 Digital for Apple, because I find the Apple Producer program more of a headache than I want to deal with, even though I have an Apple computer.)

I upload directly to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Drive Thru Fiction (for my speculative fiction), and Xinxii. Technically, Scribd can be used to sell files, too, but I haven't heard of anyone selling over there. It's also possible to sell files directly, using services like Ganxy or Ejunkie.

Google Play has very lengthy Terms and Conditions. I feel like if I go with them I will give up everything. Did you read the 'contract' in it's entirety??
 
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Carradee

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Google Play has very lengthy Terms and Conditions. I feel like if I go with them I will give up everything. Did you read the 'contract' in it's entirety??

There are two programs involved: Google Play and Google Books. Google Play is the vendor program. Google Books is a preview program that can link to vendors.

But I'm not a lawyer. This isn't legal advice. If you're concerned about it, don't use that vendor, or consult an IP attorney. That's fine. There are a lot of other options than Google—and actually, a lot of authors avoid Google Play anyway, due to the discounting I mentioned.
 

mario_c

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Hi people,
Is there a wait time required by Amazon? I submitted and published my book but it keeps coming up with an error saying my tax info is wrong.
Yes, I do have an EIN but after constantly trying to submit that, I gave up and entered my SSN and it STILL comes up as wrong. This is worse than filing my taxes...

ETA Solved! It did need some time to process.
 
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mercs

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Hi guys, I don't feel I'm an IT dunce, but I'm feeling like one currently!

I'm trying to upload my work directly to KDP and I'm struggling to get it formatted. I use page breaks and I use paragraphs correctly (no hard returns here) but a quick preview of the work and it looks like a Picasso painting!

Is there an ideal format that allows me to tweak and play around with the work to get it correct. I'm getting requests for kindle version and short of spending 100s of hours moving my pdf or word file up and down to get it right, I'm really struggling here!

If I convert it to a .mobi file, will I be able to mess around to get it just right?

Really stressing over this one...and it should be easy if their guide is anything to go by!
 

iwannabepublished

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Hi guys, I don't feel I'm an IT dunce, but I'm feeling like one currently!

I'm trying to upload my work directly to KDP and I'm struggling to get it formatted. I use page breaks and I use paragraphs correctly (no hard returns here) but a quick preview of the work and it looks like a Picasso painting!

Is there an ideal format that allows me to tweak and play around with the work to get it correct. I'm getting requests for kindle version and short of spending 100s of hours moving my pdf or word file up and down to get it right, I'm really struggling here!

If I convert it to a .mobi file, will I be able to mess around to get it just right?

Really stressing over this one...and it should be easy if their guide is anything to go by!

Can you be a little more specific?

When I format a book to download, (using MS Word) I do a select all and then go to the paragraph format drop down. Make sure left and right indent is set to 0 and first line indent is set appropriately. I use .5 inches. Spacing before and after should be set to 0 and line spacing at single. Once this is done, obviously do a save. Next, go to area above paragraph and click on the paragraph symbol. This will turn on all the formatting symbols. Scan through and make sure there aren't any odd symbols lurking around. Finally, make sure you have no extra tabs. If there are any make sure to clear them. That usually generates a nice clean file - for me.
 

mercs

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I will give it a try but I'm certain I have done this! This surely shouldn't be this hard lol!
 

mercs

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You see I have done this and EVERY new paragraph has a single arrow next to it. I upload it via KDP and the allignment is a scatter gun. I have at least managed to get the chapters correct but it's annoying me to see random paragraphs starting anywhere on the page...

I have done all the steps and I'm getting nowhere. Anyone know if changing it into another format (.mobi?) will help as it's killing me here!
 

mercs

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Seriously, I have removed EVERY indentation and gone for double spacing for each paragraph. I'm thinking that will look slightly better than random identations. I then upload it to KDP...and it puts random identations in anyway. There's NONE in the document!!!!

GRRRRRR...

Any ideas folks?
 

mercs

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Afraid so and contacted their customer services too. I copied and pasted the entire document into a new document, I have pasted it as text only. I have inserted page breaks, I have checked to ensure all tabs are alligned. I have saved the file as html, webpage and countless others...

Then it comes to preview and it looks like this...

It was a nice day.
"Hello," said the first person.
"Hello," replied the second.
"What is happening with all these strange idents?" asked the first.


Disclaimer: it's late and that's not a preview of my actual work before a mod bans me...


EDIT: You can't make this up! Apparently absolutewrite understands that I don't want identations all over the place and so left them out! Kindle are you reading?
 
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Polenth

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Afraid so and contacted their customer services too. I copied and pasted the entire document into a new document, I have pasted it as text only. I have inserted page breaks, I have checked to ensure all tabs are alligned. I have saved the file as html, webpage and countless others...


Something that might help us help you is a sample of the html code. Knowing what it thinks the code should be might point at what's going on in the original document.
 

Carradee

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Sounds as if you have some invisible spaces or tabs in there. In MS Word, run a search for " ^p", including the space before the carat, and replace it with "^p" until there aren't any more. Repeat with the space after the p instead of before the carat.

If you're on a Mac, repeat those two searches with an opt-space. (That's a non-breaking space—probably not in there, but may be.)

Also run a find for "^t" and replace with nothing. Tab characters will screw your formatting up, unless you want to go the hand-code HTML & CSS route…and even then, it makes things a lot more complicated than they need to be.
 

mercs

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Sounds as if you have some invisible spaces or tabs in there. In MS Word, run a search for " ^p", including the space before the carat, and replace it with "^p" until there aren't any more. Repeat with the space after the p instead of before the carat.

If you're on a Mac, repeat those two searches with an opt-space. (That's a non-breaking space—probably not in there, but may be.)

Also run a find for "^t" and replace with nothing. Tab characters will screw your formatting up, unless you want to go the hand-code HTML & CSS route…and even then, it makes things a lot more complicated than they need to be.

Now this sounds technical and promising. I will try tomorrow as I'm giving myself a day off. Don't want to be swearing 7 days per week!
 

iwannabepublished

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Carradee - Very helpful, except for one thing. Apparently, the " ^p" deletion removes seemingly random paragraph breaks. After replacing this formatting code with a blank, you have to go back and correct the now removed paragraph break. Then, search again to make sure everything is clean. I used the review mode to find the problems
 
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Carradee

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Carradee - Very helpful, except for one thing. Apparently, the " ^p" deletion removes seemingly random paragraph breaks. After replacing this formatting code with a blank, you have to go back and correct the now removed paragraph break. Then, search again to make sure everything is clean. I used the review mode to find the problems

Did you replace with "^p"? That should've put the removed paragraph breaks back in.
 

chickenma

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I started another thread with a question that can maybe be answered here: How do you include that nifty interactive page with the ratings stars etc at the back of your ebook? There has been one in all the ebooks I've read - does Amazon put it in automatically?
 

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How do you include that nifty interactive page with the ratings stars etc at the back of your ebook? There has been one in all the ebooks I've read - does Amazon put it in automatically?

The "Before you go" page at the end of Kindle books is a thing that Amazon adds programmatically in the reader - you don't have to do anything to you file.
 

Emermouse

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Okay, total Kindle Direct newbie here, please be patient. I've browsed the Kindle Direct Website and downloaded whatever materials seemed important. But I'm still confused as hell.

I've been increasingly considering Kindle Direct Publishing, because while I originally planned on going the traditional route (get an agent and work from there), more and more, Kindle Direct sounds better and better. Not just because it involves less interaction with people, which is always a plus to a isolated headcase such as myself, but because, well, is it bad that I'm not sure I really want to go through the headache of the traditional route? All this business of queries and synopses...what do you call that paradox where the more effort you put forth, the further you get from your actual goal? Let's just say, whatever that paradox is called, I increasingly wonder if it's really worth the level of stress and anxiety.

In all honesty, I just want to publish the sucker and maybe make a few bucks off it while I'm at it. I know if I go this route, I will be a small fish in an incredibly massive pond, so massive that ocean is probably a better descriptor, but like I said, I'm more or less okay with that. Heck, I'd probably have the same uphill battle even if I went the traditional route: the reason people remember massive success stories like JK Rowling is because they're extremely rare.

Anyway, enough whining. I'm kind of confused about formatting. From what I've gathered, it should be single-spaced and no indents, but what should I use for my font? I realize I am not a typography geek at all--I'd probably use Times New Roman until I die--but I thought I should check first.

Also, the site talked about for your book cover, you either supply your own image or choose from one of Kindle's, but I'm curious as to the choices. I ask because while I'm fairly proficient in Microsoft Office, I have little if any skills in Photoshop. So if it turns out all the cover choices are lame as hell, I may have to either learn Photoshop or reconsider Kindle Direct.
 

Carradee

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Anyway, enough whining. I'm kind of confused about formatting. From what I've gathered, it should be single-spaced and no indents, but what should I use for my font?

Times New Roman is fine. It'll override whatever you put to give the reader options.

Also, you can use indents. They just have to be set with the ruler rather than via tab characters.

Also, the site talked about for your book cover, you either supply your own image or choose from one of Kindle's, but I'm curious as to the choices. I ask because while I'm fairly proficient in Microsoft Office, I have little if any skills in Photoshop. So if it turns out all the cover choices are lame as hell, I may have to either learn Photoshop or reconsider Kindle Direct.

Not exactly. There are a LOT of cover options, where a custom made-for-you cover could reasonably cost $200–1200. Even if you're on a budget, you might be able to find something in your price range by looking for premade covers (like those found on GoOnWrite) or on Fiverr.

Or, if your price range is $0, you could look for someone with whom you could barter some service in exchange for a cover.

In any event, you'll want to be sure that the image(s) and fonts used are properly licensed. It's possible to find ones free for commercial use if you know where to look.
 

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Wow, no idents or use the ruler? How do you use the ruler? I've never even considered a ruler before. I've just always used the tab (for some reason my wp ...office starter...changed my .odt file idents to .doc four spaces). Geez, It's going to take me a month or more to get this mss ready to self-publish.
 

WriterBN

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If you plan to use Word for formatting, read the free Smashwords guide (yes, even though you're using KDP). It will explain everything you need to know. I wouldn't recommend Word, but lots of people use it with acceptable results, as long as they follow the style guidelines.
 

Carradee

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Wow, no idents or use the ruler? How do you use the ruler? I've never even considered a ruler before. I've just always used the tab (for some reason my wp ...office starter...changed my .odt file idents to .doc four spaces). Geez, It's going to take me a month or more to get this mss ready to self-publish.

I second WriterBN's suggestion to read the Smashwords Style Guide. Between what MS Word can do for you and the Find & Replace function, you could probably learn how to format it and get it okay in a solid day or two.

Tab characters don't convert well—your situation with the spaces is an example of that—and they're more than a decade outdated for paragraph indentation. And you can't just use multiple spaces in a row for indentation, either, because the converted ebook will only display the first space. (It's also easy to miss a space when using them to indent, so it's a liability there, too.)

It might help your motivation if you think of it as updating your knowledge of MS Word (or Open Office), so you can use one or both better and more easily in the future. :)
 

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Okay, total Kindle Direct newbie here, please be patient. I've browsed the Kindle Direct Website and downloaded whatever materials seemed important. But I'm still confused as hell.

I've been increasingly considering Kindle Direct Publishing, because while I originally planned on going the traditional route (get an agent and work from there), more and more, Kindle Direct sounds better and better. Not just because it involves less interaction with people, which is always a plus to a isolated headcase such as myself, but because, well, is it bad that I'm not sure I really want to go through the headache of the traditional route? All this business of queries and synopses...what do you call that paradox where the more effort you put forth, the further you get from your actual goal? Let's just say, whatever that paradox is called, I increasingly wonder if it's really worth the level of stress and anxiety.

I have friends who have taken both routes and I have to say that working with a trade publisher (not "traditional", please) involves a lot less interaction with people. All you have to do then is work with your editor and your agent. If you self publish you have to get out there and promote your work to everyone who might be interested in it. It's far harder.
 

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Not exactly. There are a LOT of cover options, where a custom made-for-you cover could reasonably cost $200–1200. Even if you're on a budget, you might be able to find something in your price range by looking for premade covers (like those found on GoOnWrite) or on Fiverr.

Or, if your price range is $0, you could look for someone with whom you could barter some service in exchange for a cover.

In any event, you'll want to be sure that the image(s) and fonts used are properly licensed. It's possible to find ones free for commercial use if you know where to look.

Shortly after making my post, I stumbled onto shutterstock. Anyone know anything about that site, Y'know whether it would be a good source of cover images or not?
 

Carradee

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Shortly after making my post, I stumbled onto shutterstock. Anyone know anything about that site, Y'know whether it would be a good source of cover images or not?
That's one of the popular ones that a lot of authors and artists I know use. Check the Terms of Service—some of the sites' licenses have specifications about how many copies they're good for, that sort of thing. I don't remember why I don't care for Shutterstock, but I know if I'm going to be paying those kinds of prices for an image, I want to be able to search for everything with a specific model in it, and most of the stock sites don't have that.

I do most of my own covers, myself, including the one that's my avatar. (I've replaced the oldest ones, but you can still see evidence of my learning curve if you look me up.) You can see some resources I recommend here. I also have found some of my best images by looking up "unrestricted" stock on DeviantArt, though I'm always careful to make sure the permissions will explicitly cover what I want them for (and if they're vague or unclear, I ask).