Mark McClelland's Blog - Posts Tagged "self-publishing"

I'm in the midst of publishing on Google Play. I found it slightly confusing at first, until I found their Beginner's Guide. When I started signing up for the Google Books Partner Program, I thought I was in the wrong place; Google Books is for making book content searchable, but I want to sell my book, not make its content freely available. Then I discovered that you can limit access by a given user to 20% of your book's content, and that you have to participate in this search/preview program in order to sell through Google Play. This is really just their way of providing something similar to Amazon's "Look Inside!" feature.

I recently added Upload to the Goodreads database (which was a cinch -- thanks to Goodreads to making it so easy!), and when I was reviewing the Upload book page I noticed that one of the more prominent booksellers on Goodreads is Kobo, a self-publishing service I hadn't heard of. After doing a bit of research, I concluded that Kobo is very indie-friendly, so I signed up for an account and went through the steps of their very user-friendly interface to publish Upload. It should be available for download within the next few days.

If you're an author looking for an easy way to publish an ebook, check out Kobo.

My self-publishing and distribution saga is still in its very early stages. I managed to navigate the murky, sloppy waters of distribution through Google Play, but I'm still waiting for my description of the book to show up. Google tells me it could be "weeks" before my text makes it to the actual listing.

In happier news, Kobo was a breeze, an absolute delight by comparison. Based on my experience thus far, I strongly recommend them as a venue for publishing an eBook. (But I'm glad I started on Lulu, where the documentation and community support are the best I've seen so far.)

For more on where to find Upload, and on the details of getting it out there, check out uploadthenovel.com.

In the spirit of expanding into new channels, Upload is now available on Apple's iBookstore. All you iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch owners can download Upload direct to your iOS device, through the iBooks app. You should be able to find it by title or author.

Or you can download it into iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9...

Received another shipment from Lulu today! Draft copies of the new 9" x 6" Trade trim size (Amazon doesn't do the 8.5 x 5.5 Digest trim size), with a new font on the font and a blurb and link to uploadthenovel.com on the back. This new print edition will have its own ISBN. I'm working to get it finalized in time for my book release party at the new Century Guild art gallery in Logan Square!

See the photo and original post here: http://www.uploadthenovel.com/refinin...

I just discovered that the printed edition of Upload is now available on Amazon! Very exciting. And I'm happy to see that they correctly paired the paperback and the ebook, so reviews and other info are common for both.

And you know... I think there's still time to order it as a Christmas present for the reader in your life. :) They even offer gift wrap!

Check out Upload here on Goodreads for more info about the book.

I mentioned yesterday that Upload is available on Amazon as a paperback, in addition to ebook for Kindle. Barnes & Noble was only one day behind: you can now order Upload from B&N as paperback or Nook Book.

I'm disappointed to see that reviews for the Nook Book don't carry over to the print edition on Barnes & Noble. I can see how reviews of a Nook Book might not apply to the print edition, if the reviewer was annoyed by formatting issues particular to the ebook… but now someone who first lands on the paperback edition of Upload will think nobody has reviewed it. Once again, score one for Amazon.