So many decisions to make...

I've uploaded my e-books on Kindle (Waiting for Appa, Last Chance Lane, and Five Stones) as well as Nookpress (Waiting for Appa and Last Chance Lane), but ultimately I've decided to only publish them on Kindle/Amazon to try out their KDP Select program.

Nookpress (Barnes and Noble) has many pluses on its side, such Read in me Store program, Lend Me program, Samples, eGifting, and Affiliates program, and check out the link for the programs.

https://www.nookpress.com/support
 
But I thought KDP Select program offered more intriguing options. I've cut and pasted the reasons why from Amazon's Authorcentral.com site.

Why Enroll in KDP Select?

Earn higher royalties (Sure. I'd like to make more money, but this is not my primary reason. However, I was intrigued by the idea of getting a cut when a customer with Kindle Unlimited option reads more than 10% of my book.)

• Earn your share of the KDP Select Global Fund amount when readers choose and read more than 10% of your book from Kindle Unlimited, or borrow your book from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Plus, earn 70% royalty for sales to customers in Japan, India, Brazil and Mexico. 

Maximize your book’s sales potential (I'm still trying to figure out who to generate more interest/sales. So, these promotions tools were a definite plus for me. I'm not sure about the Kindle Countdown Deals, but I'll definitely do Free Book Promotions. So, I'll keep you posted on when and how well or not so well it went.)

• Choose between two great promotional tools: Kindle Countdown Deals, time-bound promotional discounting for your book while earning royalties; or Free Book Promotion where readers worldwide can get your book free for a limited time.

Reach a new audience (Because I'm still trying to find my audience, this is my primary reason for choosing Kindle/Amazon over Nookpress/Barnes and Noble.)

• Help readers discover your books by making them available through Kindle Unlimited in the U.S, U.K., Germany, Italy, and Spain and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL) in the U.S, U.K., Germany, France, and Japan.

This KDP select program is a 90-day program. I have to renew it or get invited (?) to renew it every 90 days. So, I thought I'd try this first, then go on to Nookpress/Barnes and Noble.

If you choose KDP select program, you cannot sell your e-books elsewhere on the web. There are additional limitations, so please check it out before you try it, too.

There are many KDP select videos on Youtube, and I've watched a quite a few, but to be honest, I didn't find a lot of them useful. Most were self-promotional videos, and I had fun watching them, fantasizing about seeing one of my own one day, but I didn't find them overly useful. BUT since there are so many videos available, I could have veered off at a point and completely missed videos that are quite useful and helpful.

Cover

I think covers are very important in drawing the readers in, to at least pick up  the book and check it out. Here are my book covers, and I'll tell you how you can create your own.

My first book cover, Waiting for Appa, was created by a family member who used Adobe Illustrator. I don't know the details of what he did, but I provided the photograph of the door used on the cover. I took it a long time ago when I was visiting Korea.

I've gotten a lot of compliments for this cover. I wanted the cover to convey a sense of loss and pain. I chose this Korean door because it's pretty. But more importantly, it anchors the story in Korea. The little girl in the shadows convey a deep sense of loss, with her doll hanging limply by her side. However, my favorite element in the cover is the tree. It just doesn't look natural, especially with all those sharp, pointy ends. The ends remind me of various medieval weapons. BUT, she's leaning against it. It is a source of despair as well as comfort.

My second book cover, Last Chance Lane, was created using a photograph I took with a DSLR. My son showed me this free online site, Pixlr.com, that allows a wide range of creative license to make the cover look pretty darn good (for doing it yourself).

Original photo

Last Chance Lane is about a young Korean-American woman who feels that she must atone for a life altering event she caused some twenty years ago. One moment of impulsive action takes her to a place where the line between reality and illusion blurs. In this world where she knows nothing, not even her name, she uncovers far more than she expects.  

Because of the blurring of reality and illusion, I chose these specific effects. After going into Pixlr EDITOR, I used diffuse and  pastel effects listed under Filter tab (in that order). I don't know why I didn't try the other way around, but I just didn't. I can't remember exact values, but you should check it out and try different combinations.

I thought about using other effects available at Pixler O-MATIC such as using hues of blue or grey, but I didn't want it to veer too far away from reality by using unnatural colors. I also intentionally made the title more difficult to see because the world in which the main character finds herself in is a little confused and unclear.

The third book cover, Five Stones, was created using the same online site Pixler.com with a picture I took with the same camera. I haven't quite picked "the final" one, but I'm close.

Original Photo

Five Stones is inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and I wanted the cover to convey a sense of distortion. Not an exaggerated distortion, but just enough to provoke some questions. The mother, Mrs. Kim, think she knows her daughters inside-out, but she doesn't realize that she doesn't see them as who they really are, but who she wants them to be. There are pockets of brightness, but they add more confusion than anything else.

I don't know why, but I like the blurring of lines. Not too much, but just enough. So, for this cover, I went into Pixlr EDITOR and used Diffuse and  Pastel effects listed under Filter tab (in that order). I didn't blur the picture too much, so try different combinations. 

Then I imported the altered picture into the Pixler O-MATIC. There, I ran it through different film strips named after people, then click on right arrow button to get to the next process. There, I can add different effect on the picture.  The points of light on the cover is from this process. My favorite effects are Bocea, Bubble, and Rainbow for this cover, but I think I can use a lot of these effects on many more covers to come (I hope).

I am quite happy with these covers, and I think I'll continue to create my own covers. The fact that I have complete creative control over the cover is awesome.

Have a great day. 

Formatting Issues 2

I've addressed formatting process I went through in the previous blog. Here, I'll address specific site issues I've experienced.

Kobo~ 

• Upload to it's site was easy enough, but I couldn't preview the upload. Without being able to preview, I wouldn't know how it'd look on a device, so I contacted the customer support, but customer support said there was no problem on their side. So, I uploaded a couple of times more, but I still couldn't preview.
• I'm sure there was a solution, but I didn't feel like working through it on my own. So, I abandoned this site for now. I'll definitely go back to it at a later date.  

Nookpress/Barnes and Noble~ 

• Uploaded my manuscript several times - .doc, .epub, and .docx files, and I found that .docx file works the best for errors I have, which are formatting (specifically indentation) errors. 
• For my indentation errors, I've found that I need to either tab for indentations or return/enter after a tabbed paragraph. I'm not sure it makes sense, but it wasn't a difficult fix, but rather tedious one. I had to make the corrections in .docx, then upload it again. I checked every indentation (in both .docx and once uploaded on Nookpress site), so it was really boring but essential.

Kindle/Amazon (Similar to Nookpress)~

• Same as Nookpress.Uploaded my manuscript several times - .doc, .epub, and .docx files, and I found that .docx file works the best for errors I have, which are formatting (specifically indentation) errors. 
• Several years back, it was .epub file with some corrections (font size, bold/italic issues) done in html, but this time .docx file worked the best. This is great since I don't know html, and I was guessing as I went along. However, this may work better for others. Again, I used Calibre ebook management site to convert my files.

• Same as Nookpress. For my indentation errors, I've found that I need to either tab for indentations or return/enter after a tabbed paragraph. I'm not sure it makes sense, but it wasn't a difficult fix, but rather tedious one. I had to make the corrections in .docx, then upload it again. I checked every indentation (in both .docx and once uploaded on Nookpress site), so it was really boring but essential. 

For Kindle authors, there are a lot of videos you can watch under KDP select on Youtube, and I'm sure there are formatting videos out there, but I haven't searched for them before. I'll definitely watch a couple of those before I write my next book for Kindle/Nookpress.

Good luck with your writing! 

I'm trying out different covers for Five Stones. Any preferences?

Formatting issues 1

Hello everyone. Sorry, I couldn't blog about my writing in more timely manner. For once, it was because there was too much going on with it. I've been busy with getting two works of fiction (Last Chance Lane and Five Stones) formatted and ready for e-book sales.

In progress

Completed

I've decided to sell my e-books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. Waiting for Appa is already on sale at Amazon (paperback and e-book) and Barnes and Noble (paperback only), so I thought I'd try to get it on Kobo.

But before I talk about uploading to these sites, I want to talk about formatting the manuscript. If you're paying someone to convert your manuscripts to e-book files for you, then this is not going to help you. You can skip this blog.

I don't want to pay someone to covert the files for me, so I've been trying to find ways to convert files myself. I've saved my documents as .doc, and when I uploaded straight onto the site, it imported all types of formatting errors. Too numerous to count.

I've used Calibre to convert .doc manuscript to .epub or many other e-book files. Calibre says it's an e-book management site, but I've been using it as a conversion software for my manuscript. It's met with limited success, but when you spot an error, you have to go back to the original document, in .doc, to correct the mistakes or figure out how to change the format to convert it seamlessly. This is how I formatted the Waiting for Appa e-book file on sale on Amazon a couple of years ago.

This time around, I've discovered that converting .doc manuscripts to .epub file then uploading it to the book sale sites didn't help with formatting errors compared to uploading .doc manuscript straight. However, I discovered that uploading .docx manuscript eliminated a lot of errors (especially font size or bold/italic errors). So, I've been uploading .docx manuscripts straight on to e-book sales sites. 

Even with .docx, indent format problems persists. I think there are youtube videos on how to do this correctly for different sales sites, but I haven't looked around. So, I've had to go paragraph by paragraph to check my indents. Although it's a long and tedious process, I do it this way to make sure I catch all my errors. Of course, there are no guarantees that I'm catching all of them, but I'm trying.

I know this might be little boring and tiresome to talk about formatting the manuscript, but I wanted to share what I've done to get to a certain place. I've been searching online to find a way to help with the formatting errors, but I didn't find anything that helped with my specific problem. So, I'm trying just to get it out there.

Until next time, stay healthy during this winter season.