Tuesday Tips Kindle-ization #4: Pub-ing Services & DIY

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Tuesday Tips Kindle-ization #4: Pub-ing Services & DIY

"They said I was all wet...until they read my royalty statement!"

Doncha just love technology? It seems almost poetic justice that last week's post on the DIY Kindle-ization got derailed due to computer woes. Oh, I'm still battling with the fall out–and today, JOY JOY JOY! my landline phone went out. But life goes on.

For those new to the blog, a quick recap: I'm the author of 23 best-selling pet care nonfiction books. Last year, after seeing the success of Ebooks, I updated and released my backlist books on Kindle. The first one to be released (complete with photos) Complete Kitten Care, exceeded all expectations and has been my Kindle best-seller, staying in the top 5-10 "cat" titles and top 50 or so "pet" titles on the amazon lists. Complete Care for Your Aging Cat released shortly thereafter and will soon catch up, while Complete Care for Your Aging Dog, the "Cutting Edge" pet care book, and Competability round out the group. After other writers heard me rave about the process (and pull hair!) I've presented my talk at Cat Writers Association and Oklahoma Writers Federation conferences. This blog recaps (and sometimes updates) information from those talks.

The last Kindle-ization #3 blog discussed the multiple challenges of DIY Ebooks incuding covers, cost of ISBNs and where to find them, and listed some conversion services if you'd like to hire that portion to be done. Read to the end of this blog for links to the first two installments. Moving forward, here's what you can expect from some of the more common DIY options and publishing services.

A service takes the hair-pulling aspect away but can limit some aspects of the process.

PUBLISHING SERVICES

LULU

LULU is a publishing service best known for POD (print on demand) options. For a nominal fee they also offer Ebook options.

Offers PDF file conversion.
$99 for 250 pages or less, $199 for 251-500 pages, $299 for 501-750 pages.
Includes linking of (TOC), sizing illios, removing pg # and headers, re-flowing text by chapter & re-pagination.
Free ISBN (or bring your own)
Distribution into US, UK, Canada, French, and German iBookstores.
Apple gets 30% of iBookstore sales. Author gets 80% of remainder, Lulu receives 20%.
Royalties paid quarterly.
No free do-overs–better do it right…er, write…the first time!

SMASHWORDS
Smashwords is a self-serve publishing service. You can do it all yourself, or hire portions done by more experienced amateurs or pros.

FREE
Requires Microsoft Word Doc file
Style Guide MUST be used (Smashwords can recommend folks to do this for you for around $60).
Requires ISBN—can provide free or low cost
Royalty is 60% of price you set
Quarterly payments.
Distributes to Apple iBookstores in Australia, Canada, the US, France, Germany and the U.K.
Apple iPad, iBookstore, and Barnes & Noble, Sony and Kobo, and multiple mobile platforms such as Aldiko and Stanza.

DIY puts you in the driver's seat with a clear view of where you're going.

DO-IT-YOURSELF E-BOOKS
Barnes & Nobel PubIt!

FREE
~20% of market
Converts from Microsoft WORD, RTF or HTML, you supply ISBN (purchase from Bowker)
Distributes to B&N eBookstore
Nook, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android smartphones, and PCs.
$2.99-$9.99 royalty is 65% and outside that range is 40% Royalty paid quarterly

KDP-Kindle Digital Publishing

I have the most experience with this, and currently it appears to offer the most bang for your buck, as well as distribution. The Los Angeles Times reported that 31 percent of iPad owners consume ebooks using the Kindle app rather than Apple's own iBooks app, so having your ebook in the Kindle store certainly makes it available to iPad users. Among avid readers who go through 25 books or more a year, 44 percent prefer using the Kindle app on the iPad. And according to a study by JPMorgan, 40 percent of iPad owners also own a Kindle.

FREE
Accepts these formats:

Word (.doc, or DOC) (not very well)
ePub(.epub, or EPUB)
Plain Text (.txt, or TXT)
MobiPocket (.mobi, or MOBI and .prc, or PRC)
Zipped HTML (.zip, or ZIP)
Adobe PDF (.pdf, or PDF) (awful formatting issues in translation)

Free AIN assigned
Free Kindle reading app for PC, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch.
Distributed by Amazon.com in Austria, Canada, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland, US, UK, Germany
Books $2.99-9.99 receive 70% royalty, priced $.99-$200 receive 35%
Royalties paid monthly
Can update price, content, cover anytime

Next week's installment begins the step-by-step Kindle-ization format tips. Check out the first blog on the subject, E-Books, Why Do It? as well as a blog that includes all the must know important Ebook links.

I love hearing from you, so please share comments and questions–and to stay up to date on all the latest just subscribe the blog, "like" me on Facebook, listen to the weekly radio show, and sign up for Pet Peeves newsletter with pet book give-aways!