Last weekend I published my book, Confessions of an Internet Pornographer, as a kindle book on Amazon.com.
That’s right, it’s finally published! It looks beautiful, but the experience was full of pitfalls. Maybe it’s just scarier to publish in the same month as Halloween. I really did naively think that I would just be able to upload my files and it would appear on Amazon. Why not? I’ve been writing the book for 12 years and it looks perfect as a Word document. But there were things I was seriously unaware of.
That’s right, it’s finally published! It looks beautiful, but the experience was full of pitfalls. Maybe it’s just scarier to publish in the same month as Halloween. I really did naively think that I would just be able to upload my files and it would appear on Amazon. Why not? I’ve been writing the book for 12 years and it looks perfect as a Word document. But there were things I was seriously unaware of.
The first thing wrong: For the last 12 years I used the space button to indent every first sentence of every paragraph. It looked great, until I uploaded my files and previewed my book for the kindle. Every first sentence, in every paragraph of my 283 page novel, was not indented! I’ll be honest, I considered publishing it like that, but after not finding ONE book whose paragraphs were not indented, I had to find a cure.
I tried to use the “indent” button to move the first sentence of each paragraph. I was ready to indent each and every one, but it moved the entire paragraph not just the first sentence. Thank God I have Microsoft Publisher; it allowed me to indent the first line without affecting the whole paragraph. I did not have to spend weeks changing, and probably screwing up, every paragraph in my book. The “select all” button allowed me to change every paragraph with one press of a button. Publisher saved the day!
The second thing that went wrong: When I created my pages I used the “Enter” button to end my chapters and continue writing on the next page. Apparently I've spent years writting in a fool’s paradise.
In order for your pages to look right on the kindle, you must use page breaks after the title page, copyright page, dedication page, chapter page (if any), and after the end of every chapter.
In order for your pages to look right on the kindle, you must use page breaks after the title page, copyright page, dedication page, chapter page (if any), and after the end of every chapter.
The third thing that went wrong: Fucking misspellings! After editing the book 22 times I still found spelling errors. I was editing up to the last minute. My wife’s read it 4 times, and she missed stuff too. I can only hope it’s perfect.
The only thing you can do with this is keep re-editing and give it to a trusted friend to read. Someone else MUST read it. There is always someone. You can imagine how close to the vest I’ve had to be after writting a book entitled, Confessions of an Internet Pornographer. My choices for a smart trustworthy beta reader were very limited.
The only thing you can do with this is keep re-editing and give it to a trusted friend to read. Someone else MUST read it. There is always someone. You can imagine how close to the vest I’ve had to be after writting a book entitled, Confessions of an Internet Pornographer. My choices for a smart trustworthy beta reader were very limited.
Last but not least: When you “look inside this book” on Amazon the text of my book is green!
I called Amazon’s tech support to learn how to change it to black. The support rep told me that she did not know how to fix it. She had never seen anyone’s text come out green before. I looks weird but kind of cool at the same time. My wife keeps reminding me it’s good luck because it is the color of money.
I called Amazon’s tech support to learn how to change it to black. The support rep told me that she did not know how to fix it. She had never seen anyone’s text come out green before. I looks weird but kind of cool at the same time. My wife keeps reminding me it’s good luck because it is the color of money.
These are all the things that went wrong when I published my book on the kindle. I wanted to share my mistakes with you in the hopes you’ll be better prepared than I was. And don’t worry Amazon’s instructions are great and easy to follow. The final product looks fantastic.
I hope you’ll all go check out my store on Amazon, and buy my book! Come back and tell me what you think about the story.
Until next time, even after publishing my first e-book, I continue to write in the wind. Until we speak again.
Wish me luck, I am about to publish it in paperback!
Lucho
Until next time, even after publishing my first e-book, I continue to write in the wind. Until we speak again.
Wish me luck, I am about to publish it in paperback!
Lucho
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