3 Useful Insights on How to Create a Best Seller Book in Self-publishing Online Stores
With modern e-Readers like Amazon Kindle and Nook by Barnes and Noble, self-publishing books in online stores is just another great way of generating a stream source of income. You know the highs and lows of the writing profession, especially when you’re just in the beginning of your journey to conquering the world of readership. The familiar jargon “best seller” is the envy of many writers. But be it a children’s fantasy book, a classic novel of the lost worlds, or a guide for dummies, all it takes to make thousands of sales is your writing creativity plus the creativity of publishing it.
I got the chance to read this blog post from Forbes entitled, “How to Self-Publish Your Book Through Amazon”. From here is where I gained these three insights on self-publishing books in online stores.
First, you have to go to those online stores to find out their step-by-step process. Second, self-publishing platforms are a great new technology to explore. Third, still, authorship and marketing are the ultimate paths for your book to be listed as “best seller” - at New York Times, at goodreads or at Amazon. As I writer, I would be glad to expand and share these learnings to you.
The Step-by-Step Process
Let me ask you a question. Are you a DIY publisher or an author that hires talents to publish? Let’s face the truth. Novels take years to write. Children’s book requires good graphics to be loved by kids. Technical books for university students and professionals require ISBN, referencing, bibliography, indexing, and a few more hurdles during publication. If you’re a DIY publisher, time can be your number one critic because nobody will buy your masterpiece if you will release it sooner or later. For critically-acclaimed authors, like Stephen King and James Patterson, writing great pieces is not a problem at all, but dealing with the hypes in the publishing industry.
Here’s how self-publishing online stores will help on you that. Take Lulu.com for example and its 3-step process – 1) Download an eBook creator guide. 2) Format your manuscript. 3) Make an EPUB or PDF. Just do it and they’ll do their part. Every online store has a guide to provide, some sort of what they call “Publisher and Author Guidelines”. Read it. At Barnes and Noble, you must become a Vendor of Record if you want to sell your books on their store. So whether you’re a master or a beginner in the self-publishing business, the first step is to know and follow the steps these self-publishing companies want you to do.
[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/> </v:formulas> <v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/> <o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_s1026" type="#_x0000_t75" style='position:absolute; margin-left:0;margin-top:15pt;width:179.65pt;height:231pt;z-index:-1' wrapcoords="-77 0 -77 21540 21600 21540 21600 0 -77 0"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\AHXIAN~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.jpg" o:title="small image self-publishing online stores"/> <w:wrap type="through"/> </v:shape><![endif][if !vml][endif]
Self-publishing Platforms
Blurb has this BookWright which you can download and use in creating ebook, magazine and print book. They also have the BookSmart for making photobooks. The business of book making has gone far beyond the traditional way. It’s no longer just write, print and bind. It’s now making use of book making tools like Adobe, file converters (ex. word to pdf, pdf to epub), formatting templates, advanced word processors, and book printing technologies (ex. foil stamping, embossing, bespoke).
The key here is which method you think will help you the most. Fonts, images, hyperlinks, footnotes, paragraph styles; you don’t want your readers to see any errors or be distracted by poor presentations of them. If you want to make an edge, leverage modern publishing platforms. Most of them are free, I’m telling you.
Authorship and Marketing
I want to emphasize authorship because these days, if you don’t engage in social media, you are most likely out of the scene. Think about Google Authorship which works if you have a smartly created Google+ profile. Although that technology will best serve you if you have a blog or a website where you publish most of your contents, it is also a great way in reaching your readers and buyers fast. Tweets and likes will always be a plus factor in promoting your books online.
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is the king of online publishing. No doubt. Needless to discuss here how this web platform works, using KDP is by far the easiest, cheapest and smartest way to self-publishing books. I’m an Amazon Associates member and I like selling books published via KDP. If you want your books to sell better at the Kindle Store, I suggest that you start exploring Amazon’s promotion and merchandising programs now.
BookGorilla and BookBub are also great avenues for promoting your books online. And for sure, there are hundreds of other self-publishing online stores out there that can help you achieve you dream of becoming a “best seller” book writer.
