krustyballer16 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Has anybody published their own books, of any kind, online? Saw a video of how to do it using Fiverr.com and kdp.amazon.com. Seems simple but was just looking for any input on it. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 I have not personally published a book but at my old company we had hired a shipping/receiving clerk and when he left for another job word got around the company that he may have left because he had just recently published a book. Not knowing any better, I went along with he story and did the "good for him" thing, but unlike everyone else, I dug deeper into this rumor and found his book on Amazon. It wasn't too difficult, I just used his name and found the only book published under that name. I present to you, The Celestial Prophecies : Luna's Revenge My curiosity got the better of me and I paid the $3.99 for the book and what we received was a four page story (that includes the front cover) that was littered with spelling and grammatical errors. It was literally 2.5 pages of text that seemed like it was written while the guy had just taken a huge bong rip. Normally I give people the benefit of the doubt and applaud them for trying something new, but this was just bad. I do hope he enjoyed the royalty off my order of his book, though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krustyballer16 Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 Just from the description on amazon, if he wrote it, tells all. But my mom is a librarian and wrote a children's book 30 or so years ago so I think the grammar and spelling should be taken care of. She gave me a little guidance on it but she wasn't completely sure about all the online stuff now. It doesn't seem hard to do. I have 10 pages (plus cover) with almost 150 words and I enjoy reading it back to myself. Simple words. Keeping the characters real (my son and pet pig) snd trying to keep the story interesting and to be able to be built into a series if it works out well enough. Ha. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiNi Beast Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 i had a pet pig growing up. she was my best friend. good memories. i will read your book. i applaud your efforts be sure to post a link to your finished book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 3 hours ago, krustyballer16 said: Just from the description on amazon, if he wrote it, tells all. But my mom is a librarian and wrote a children's book 30 or so years ago so I think the grammar and spelling should be taken care of. She gave me a little guidance on it but she wasn't completely sure about all the online stuff now. It doesn't seem hard to do. I have 10 pages (plus cover) with almost 150 words and I enjoy reading it back to myself. Simple words. Keeping the characters real (my son and pet pig) snd trying to keep the story interesting and to be able to be built into a series if it works out well enough. Ha. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk I suppose the point I was trying to make was that if that guy could get something "published", anyone can do it. After reading the abominiation that is the Celestial Prophecies, it would seem that the Amazon Kindle store doesn't have very many rules or high standards for publishing. Not to say that you wouldn't put out a good product, just pointing out that Amazon's Kindle store might be an easy path to get to your end goal. If I were to publish a book - and believe me, no one would ever want to read any garbage I put in print - I would most certainly have someone who is skilled in the English language or has book-publishing experience proofread the text before submission. It sounds like you have that base covered. After I published my masterpiece, I would promote it on every available social media platform. The only way you're going to gain anything from it (monetarily) is for people to purchase it. Whatever platform you choose to publish it (I assume it will be online) will likely bury it so far down their search table that no one will ever find it. You need to market it and pump it up with views. Those are my 2 cents, which is probably about what Amazon will pay you in royalties for each copy sold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krustyballer16 Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 Ya, Amazon gets a cut no matter how bad it is and you don't get to see how bad it is until you buy it so... And ya, thr one one place I read about it said unless it is amazing, it won't last on the first page long, takes promoting. But I could do that I think. At least as well as my jeep parts. Lol. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiNi Beast Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 all you need is a link and contacts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krustyballer16 Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 Got the story written now just gotta hire an illustrator and then upload it to publish it Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiNi Beast Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 i can draw good stick figures.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 15 hours ago, krustyballer16 said: Has anybody published their own books, of any kind, online? Saw a video of how to do it using Fiverr.com and kdp.amazon.com. Seems simple but was just looking for any input on it. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk I'm in the process right now, and I've been e-chatting with two friends who have been through it. I'm probably making it more difficult than it has to be. The easiest way to go is with Amazon KDP, and there are two routes within that. One is to upload your text to their creator (whatever they call it) and let them handle the formatting. The other is to download their format specs (which are different from what their own software creates!) and format the manuscript in Word. One of the two people I'm getting guidance from has done six novels that way, and that's the route I'm following. The other person I'm looking to for advice uses a professional author's program called Scrivener. It's out of my price range, and I don't think it's well suited to my way of working anyway. The guy with the six novels suggested getting a professional for cover art. I just discovered fiverr.com a couple of days ago and I've been messaging back and forth with several people about cover art. They say they need the graphic file for the ISBN barcode on the back cover (if you're doing a print version). Elsewhere, I've read that Amazon KDB will take care of the ISBN and the barcode. I'm confused, but I know that I want to own my own ISBNs, so I just bought a block of ten from R. R. Bowker. (You need at least one for a print edition and one for digital editions -- I'm still not certain of the same ISBN works for both Kindle .MOBI and Nook .EPUB editions. The you have to decide what to charge. I'm still wrestling with that, and I need to decide because you can't make the bar code without the price. (Well, you can -- but it puts a dummy code in there.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 3 hours ago, krustyballer16 said: Got the story written now just gotta hire an illustrator and then upload it to publish it Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk There are sites with free artwork. Some of them want to sell you "royalty free" images -- which means you pay up front but then you don't pay a royalty for evry book you sell with that image in it. But there are some where the art is in the public domain. A friend just sent me a link to one, hang on ... https://free-images.com/ How many images will you need, and what kind(s) of images? Maybe I can help -- I studied graphic arts before I became an architect. But it wouldn't hurt you to query three or four of the people on fiverr.com. They are mostly in third world countries and they work cheap, but what I've already discovered is that they want to get in and get out. Before you even contact any of them, be sure that you have everything you need to have and to know already locked down. They want to get your specs, do the job, and get paid. I made the mistake of initiating contact before I had everything, and it has been a less than satisfactory experience from my perspective (and probably from theirs, too). Don't expect them to hold your hand -- they don't view it as their job to teach you anything, their job is to create a book cover and get paid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 16 hours ago, krustyballer16 said: Has anybody published their own books, of any kind, online? Saw a video of how to do it using Fiverr.com and kdp.amazon.com. Do you have the link to that video? I'd like to check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krustyballer16 Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 Do you have the link to that video? I'd like to check it out.Its a tiktok. So not sure who all can see it. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJnmBkvR/ Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krustyballer16 Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 There are sites with free artwork. Some of them want to sell you "royalty free" images -- which means you pay up front but then you don't pay a royalty for evry book you sell with that image in it. But there are some where the art is in the public domain. A friend just sent me a link to one, hang on ... https://free-images.com/ How many images will you need, and what kind(s) of images? Maybe I can help -- I studied graphic arts before I became an architect. But it wouldn't hurt you to query three or four of the people on fiverr.com. They are mostly in third world countries and they work cheap, but what I've already discovered is that they want to get in and get out. Before you even contact any of them, be sure that you have everything you need to have and to know already locked down. They want to get your specs, do the job, and get paid. I made the mistake of initiating contact before I had everything, and it has been a less than satisfactory experience from my perspective (and probably from theirs, too). Don't expect them to hold your hand -- they don't view it as their job to teach you anything, their job is to create a book cover and get paid.I need i think 10(20) pages worth of 2 character art. Plus a cover page. Most require a story board. I don't know if I'd just send em my whole story broke into pages or describe what I want on each page...Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 3 hours ago, krustyballer16 said: I need i think 10(20) pages worth of 2 character art. Plus a cover page. Most require a story board. I don't know if I'd just send em my whole story broke into pages or describe what I want on each page... Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk The graphic artists on fiverr.com are geared up to do book covers. From what I can determine after messaging with several of them is that all the low-priced gigs are done by taking a piece of stock art off some web site (such as the one I gave the link to, or there are others that have annual subscriptions for a couple hundred dollars that would be worthwhile for someone doing multiple gigs per day) and slapping some test over it. Bam! Instant book cover. What you need is an illustrator. Suggestion: Are there any colleges or community colleges near you? Students generally need some extra money. You might be able to find an art student who could draw your illustrations all in a consistent style and "hand" for not a lot of money. Try to see if there's a school web page of facebook page that allows you to post ads -- or look up the official school web page, find a page for the art department, and send an e-mail to the department chair asking for references. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 A former co-worker of mine is an extremely talented artist and does a lot of random "art stuff" on the side and makes decent cash doing it. His style of art is certainly not well suited for a children's book, but since he's in the art world he collaborates with a lot of other people on random projects. I still keep in touch with him and could reach out to him to see if he knows of anyone looking for some extra work. I don't know what your budgets are, but I doubt anyone in his circle is doing anything for under $100. I had my old co-worker make a fairly elaborate illustration for me for shirts that I got for a group of friends that get together once a year for Memorial Day Weekend. He charged me $150 for a single illustration, but I was a nit-picky PITA and made him change it 9 or 10 times, but the final product came out perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grouch Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 I wrote a book in my spare time. It ended up with just under 50,000 words. Sent it to a publisher and they went for it. They did quite a review checking on spelling, proper tense and conformity to writing standards. It took almost a year to get it to print. My problem is that I'm not a promoter and haven't the slights idea how to market it. The publisher said they market books, but I think once they get it to Amazon plus several other on-line Co.'s and also make it available to retail bookstores they stop and it up to the author to push it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecodemonk Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 I haven't, but my wife did. It's even on Amazon still. It was quite an experience she says (she wrote it before we got married and I read it while we were dating). It hasn't sold tons but I enjoyed reading it overall. Like grouch said, promotion is a huge factor in sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krustyballer16 Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 So this first book idea came from real events/stories. And more stories could potentially come up. So I decided to make an introduction story/origin story. So now I need to get two books out there. I posted an ad on Facebook marketplace for an artist but no hits yet Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krustyballer16 Posted January 13, 2021 Author Share Posted January 13, 2021 Might have found an illustrator! But trying to download Amazon's kindle publishing is seeming to be a huge hassle. can't figure it out at all! Very frustrating!Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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