To submit a book for publication at Smashwords, your book needs to be a well formatted Microsoft Word document. The Smashwords Style Guide by Mark Coker is an excellent, and free, guide to formatting your book for Smashwords publication. Read it. This post presents the specific settings that I use in Microsoft Word 2010 when … More Self-publishing 101: Step 2: Format Your Book for Smashwords (Part 1)

This post explains how you can create a professional looking cover for your self-published book using the Paint program, a free tool that comes bundled with Windows 7, and at the cost of only $18.50 for cover art. Keep reading for detailed instructions. Addendum: iStockPhoto now sells 6 photo credits for $9.75.  Even cheeper!!! 1 … More Create a Professional Looking Book Cover on Windows 7 for $18.50

Sideloading is a term that someone at Barnes & Noble came up with to describe the process of downloading books to your Nook eBook reader via your PC. A similar process can be applied to sideloading a Kindle. You can sideload purchased eBooks from SmashWords, free classics from Gutenberg Press, or eBooks that have been … More Sideloading Your Kindle or Nook

In previous posts I’ve addressed when to self-publish. The answer to that question would be an emphatic “Now!” What to publish is equally obvious. Publish anything (e.g. short story or novel) that you think will sell. In this post I’m going to address where to publish since there are several options available. Publish at the … More Self-publishing 101: Step 1: Where to Publish

This is a very simple topic that is often made overly complex by most publications.  It doesn’t take a professional to make a professional looking book cover. 1 Buy It Go to http://www.istockPhoto.com and buy an image large enough to cover a 1280×853 pixel cover.  Don’t pay more than $12 or so for an image.  … More eBook Cover Art

After years of trying to get into print via the New York publishers, I gave up.  And I’ll have to admit that it was only years that I spent— two, exactly.  It soon became obvious that I wasn’t going to make it.  I was at the end of a very long line of worthy authors.  … More Why I Self-Publish

Ever wonder why eBooks are sold at certain prices?  The following is a short explanation of eBook pricing. Free This price is only available to self-publishers on Smashwords.  Amazon and Barnes & Nobel set a minimum price of $0.99 on self-published books.  Free books are offered by true publishers to lure customers into reading the … More eBook Pricing

Under the traditional, print book publishing model, the big six New York publishers have had a strangle hold on the industry.  They’ve decide what gets published and when.  Of course, they do provide services such as production and distribution.  But at the same time, they provide limited advertising to midlist authors and pay them very … More Do New York Publishers Have Anything to Offer?

For those of you who don’t know me, which probably includes everyone reading this blog, I’d like to say a few introductory words about my background. I’m a self-published eBook writer.  At the same time, I publish my wife’s eBooks.  Melanie has proven to be a much more popular author.  After a decade spent publishing … More Introducing A Modern Day Publisher