Motivation to Publication – and beyond

Tag: ebooks

  • Publishing your eBook – part one

    Publishing your eBook – part one

    Unlike ten years ago, when it was a relatively new phenomenon, self-publishing is now an acceptable way of getting your book published. Providing you act professionally.

    Professionally means taking all aspects of the self-publishing process seriously, from having your book edited and proofread to ensuring a high quality cover, one that also looks good at thumbnail size. At this point your thoughts may then stray to the publishing process.

    The eBook format isn’t the only option as increasingly more authors publish in print and audio too. But today we’ll be concentrating on how to publish your eBook.

    Before publishing, you have a decision to make – do you want to publish just on Amazon (which has a reasonable share of the market) or do you want to ‘go wide’ i.e. use other platforms as well. The second option has the advantage of potentially reaching more readers but will mean more work in terms of publishing and then managing different accounts (sales reporting etc). Amazon also offers some promotional advantages if you stick with them and use their KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) Select programme.

    Amazon gives you several options for producing and uploading your eBook:

    As an MS Word document – if you use this option keep your file as clean as possible and stick to a limited amount of styling such as bold and italics

    As an .epub file

    Kindle Create – their free interior formatting tool, but note that this is only for use on Amazon

    As a .mobi file – note that from 28 June this year, Amazon will no longer accept this format for reflowable (non-fixed format) eBooks. This applies not just to new titles but to updates of titles previously published using .mobi files. Authors will have to use one of the above formats instead.

    For those of you thinking of going wide, many non-Amazon publishing platforms use the .epub format.

    So how do you create an .epub file?

    More about that to follow.

    Ellie Stevenson is a Book Coach and the author of three novels. Her fourth novel is due out in October. Email me at stevensonauthorcoach@gmail.com for a free 30-minute, non-obligatory, coaching session to help you achieve your goal. Coaching can make a huge difference.

  • Ghost Stories and Shadows Online

    Ghost Stories and Shadows Online

    Firstly, thank you, all of you (1036 people – amazing!) who entered the recent Goodreads Giveaway for Shadows of the Lost Child, my most recent novel. Congratulations to the lucky winners, your book will be winging its way towards you soon; and commiserations to those who didn’t.

    But the good news is… the ebook version is now on SALE, and for a limited time, is Aleph's house in the novel Shadows of the Lost Childavailable at a reduced price: check it out here:

    http://tinyurl.com/qdolfd6 (UK) & http://tinyurl.com/ks3ksng (U. States)

    OR, via http://authl.it/B00NGSSVM2 (all countries).

    I hope you enjoy it. There’s a missing boot, and a mystery to solve and a girl called Alice who crosses time to meet a boy called Tom – and will there be a happy ending? You’ll just have to read it!

    In the meantime, here are two ghost stories – not unfortunately, with happy endings, but of interest, especially if you’ve been to Warwickshire. Don’t go alone!

    White Swan Hotel, Henley-in-Arden, 2010 by Alexander P. KappThe White Swan Hotel, Henley-in-Arden

    Henley-in-Arden, not that far from Stratford-upon-Avon, is a small town, with one main High Street. On this street is the White Swan Hotel; the present building dates from around 1600, but there’s thought to have been an inn on this site since the 14th century. At one time the site was apparently a stopping point on the stage coach route between Birmingham and London.

    The ghost was a woman called Virginia Black, who fell down the stairs, having quarrelled with a man in 1845. She may have been a ‘lady of the night’ and he may have been a client of hers. It’s said she roams the hotel’s corridor, lingering outside room 17…

    In case you should visit the inn yourself, she hasn’t been seen for some time!

    The inn was once the site of the local court, in the mid-late 19th century. The courtyard was used for public hangings, and a ghost was said to have lingered there for some years, after she was hung, for murder.

    Charlecote Park, 2013 by Karen.stepanyan (Wikimedia Commons)Charlecote Park

    Also not far from Stratford-upon-Avon, is Charlecote Park, now a National Trust property and open to visitors. The house itself is said to be haunted, but so is the lake, by the ghost of a woman, possibly a servant, who may have drowned herself there in the past.

    According to the story, her shadowy figure drifts from the house to the site of the lake, throws herself in, then disappears. Oddly enough, there’s never a splash, or ripples on the water.

    Shadows of the Lost Child (novel)

    Get your own ghosts and shadows to take home with an ebook version of Shadows of the Lost Child;  now on SALE until Saturday 28 February. Available from Amazon at:

    http://tinyurl.com/qdolfd6 (UK) & http://tinyurl.com/ks3ksng (U. States)

    Article written by Ellie Stevenson, author.

    This article is copyrighted material. Brief extracts including a link to this site can be quoted but the article must not be reproduced in full anywhere without the author’s written permission.

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