How To E-Book: What Not To Do

Now that the e-book of Those Who Trespass is out, I can give you a little insight into the process of creating an e-book for Kindle! I wish I could do long, drawn-out posts, but those are a bit dull to read...and I don't exactly have the time to write them. So instead of meals, we're going to have snacks. :) Good, appetizer snacks. Cold cocktail shrimps with tangy-spicy cocktail sauce. Yum. {If seafood isn't your thing, we have little pizza bites, too.}

What Not To Do

• Upload your final Kindle version before formatting your print version.
• Why not? Because in the course of your final formatting for print, you'll end up doing editing, especially if you order proofs {which you should}. Which means that you'll have to go back into your formatted Kindle version to change things. You think you can keep track of all these changes, but you can't.
• Don't panic: Uploading doesn't take more than ten minutes, and you can upload a thousand of times before you actually submit the thing. But those "less than ten minutes" add up when you keep changing minor things because of the print version editing.
  
• Ignore the downloadable previewer. Once you've uploaded your formatted Kindle version to Kindle, you're given the option to use the online previewer and/or the downloadable previewer.
• Why not? The online previewer does some weird formatting things that make it difficult to pinpoint the reason. But you want to make sure you take the time to use the downloadable previewer because it gives more accurate results for more devices and has more options.
• How To: Download the previewer and install it like you would any other program/follow the directions. Then download the new book file from the Kindle page. It will be .mobi. Then open it in {downloadable} Kindle Previewer.
• Decide to do it in a week.
• Why not? Because things this important shouldn't and can't be done in a week, not well. And well is what makes you money.
• Exceptions: You have your story in its most final of versions. You have a cover. You have a description. Then, okay, maybe you can think about doing this over a few days. But I don't recommend it, especially if you haven't written your description yet. You want to give that thing some time!
• Halfway related: YOU CANNOT DO A PRINT VERSION IN A WEEK. PLAN A MONTH IN ADDITION TO YOUR KINDLE VERSION. {Some of the work will overlap. It's not a couple weeks of Kindle and then a month of print. Print takes time because of the proof copy shuffle...and the formatting is more painstaking.}
•   Worry about pre-orders.
• Why not? There is no such thing. There is no Amazon page for your book before you click 'submit.' There is a page {less than 24 hours} after. And that page is live and sell-able.

I'm watching my list of How To E-Book grow shorter and shorter. Sad, but good. I have so many more ideas for blog posts, so we'll be busy as the semester progresses! {So weird...I think in semesters now.} Once the paperback is out, we can do a series for that, too!

Oh! Quick announcement! Book Release & Signing: October 5, 2013. More info to follow.

Posts in the How-To E-Book Series
What Not To Do: Timing/Scheduling, Previewer, Pre-Ordering {this post}
Things You Didn't Think About: Pricing, Percentages, Descriptions, Sample Pages
Formatting Tips: Hard Returns, Paragraph Indentions, More Paragraph Spacing
Formatting Tips: Margins, Fonts, Justification, Paragraph Spacing, Tabs
Formatting Tips: Heading Styles