Anyone self-published an eBook? - *Now Published!*

[El Mahdi]

[MENTION=508]Richards[/MENTION]

The Spammer or Spambot repeated what you posted. I quoted the spammer, who copied you.

Sometimes it's confusing after a spammers post is deleted. That's why I usually try to mark something as reported in the XP block of the spammer, since the XP will just disappear also when the spammer is deleted. But in this case I had already XP'd him when I thought he was a real poster.

 

[Richards]

Okay, that clears it up. That was my first (near) interaction with a spammer, so I wasn't sure what was going on. Thanks!

Johnathan

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I was finally able to sort out my Kindle Publishing problem (for some reason the system was not picking up the book cover embedded in my file, and I had to separate the cover from the text file). Now I've got the book up at both Amazon.com and Smashwords.com ... links to both along with a summary of the book at my website. With a whopping three sales thus far it's not exactly flying off the shelves, but a grand total of 50-100 sales would thrill me.

Guess I'll explore how hard Createspace is this weekend.

[MENTION=13882]JediSoth[/MENTION] -- do you have to purchase ISBNs for Createspace, or do they do it for you like Smashwords?

 

[JediSoth]

I was finally able to sort out my Kindle Publishing problem (for some reason the system was not picking up the book cover embedded in my file, and I had to separate the cover from the text file). Now I've got the book up at both Amazon.com and Smashwords.com ... links to both along with a summary of the book at my website. With a whopping three sales thus far it's not exactly flying off the shelves, but a grand total of 50-100 sales would thrill me.

Guess I'll explore how hard Createspace is this weekend.

<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> @JediSoth <!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> -- do you have to purchase ISBNs for Createspace, or do they do it for you like Smashwords?

CreateSpace will provide an ISBN for you, but if you use theirs, they show up as the Publisher and sole distributor. If you provide your own, you can create your own imprint (i.e. list it with a publishing company whose name you own). I think there's also a cheap option for putting your imprint on the book, but using their ISBN number. The options are explained here: https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/ISBNs.jsp.

I bought my own ISBNs so that I had complete control. I figured if I was abandoning traditional channels altogether, I might as well go all in.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Thanks. I'm going to let them handle the ISBN for now, I think. I'm working my way through formatting, but it's more of a pain than doing the digital editions was.

Interesting the lesson in "free" economics. I posted a second book (well, it's really more of an essay) at Smashwords for free, and it already has three times the number of downloads compared to the main book in 24 hours. Hard to resist free, I guess. I'm hoping to use it as a loss leader to point some traffic to the other book.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

My book proofs are in!

After a long time struggling with Createspace and formatting, I finally got a (mostly) satisfactory result and got proofs made. Neat to finally see my own work in print.

I'm not completely satisfied with the cover -- the Createspace tool for the task isn't adequately functional and I don't like that the title font is smaller than the author font. But it is adequate, and it may not be worth futzing around with small adjustments. Now for some more format checking...

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

And I've successfully mastered Createspace! The formatting for the print book was even tougher than for the digital editions, and proofreading absolutely ate my lunch. After two rounds of proofs, though -- and changing the cover to something more readable -- I'm good to go with an actual no-kidding print version of the book!

It's quite rewarding to have done it ... even if no one buys the book, I feel like I've accomplished something. My family and co-workers think it's pretty cool.

For those interested, the book is: Soldier / Geek: An Army Science Advisor's Journal of the War in Afghanistan

In 2009, an Army Major deployed a small team of specialists to Afghanistan to identify new technologies needed to fight the war. Traveling from Forward Operating Bases to Combat Outposts, braving rockets and IEDs, fighting the Army bureaucracy more than the enemy, this small team worked to improve everything from robots to mine-resistant trucks, boots, and parachutes. This journal of the team’s deployment provides an insider’s view into the lives of deployed soldiers and the complex process that delivers new equipment and weapons to the combat zone.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Soldier-Geek-Science-Advisors-Afghanistan/dp/1470187892/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1332591860&sr=1-2-catcorr]Print version via Amazon.[/ame]

Print version via Createspace.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Soldier-Geek-Advisors-Afghanistan-ebook/dp/B007E16CFU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330397804&sr=8-1]Kindle version via Amazon.[/ame]

Other eBook formats via Smashwords.

Now that I've been through it, if you have questions on the process please don't hesitate to ask.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

Just bought a copy!