Publishing

[Jhanananda]

I'd say that there are definite benefits from publishing through Smashwords and Amazon at the same time.  There is a dedicated community that visits Smashwords looking for reading material, who would otherwise not find your books on Amazon.

Amazon's agreement says they have an exclusive, otherwise I would of course list my books wherever I maybe I can anyway. 

It is a bit disturbing that I cannot upload my book in a PDF to Smashwords.  Apparently they only want an MS word file.  Well, how do I get a linked index that way?

[Michael Hawkins]

Amazon's agreement says they have an exclusive, otherwise I would of course list my books wherever I maybe I can anyway. 

I did not know that, Jeffrey -- I'm learning new things here, as usual.

It is a bit disturbing that I cannot upload my book in a PDF to Smashwords.  Apparently they only want an MS word file.  Well, how do I get a linked index that way?

I just clicked on a random book at Smashwords, and there is a .pdf download link along with all the other formats.  I'm not sure what's going on there.

[Jhanananda]

I did not know that, Jeffrey -- I'm learning new things here, as usual.

We are all learning here, and hopefully several of us will start writing books about our meditation experience to show that Jeff Brooks is no the only way having a good time when he meditates.
I just clicked on a random book at Smashwords, and there is a .pdf download link along with all the other formats.  I'm not sure what's going on there.
[/quote]Well, their manual states they would prefer an MS Word document, but it would make my life a lot easier if I could upload a PDF.  I can even upload HTML of the same file.  I hope the links in the table of contents in that last version worked on your Kindle.  If it did, then I am good to go on uploading the book, and I will upload it to both Amazon and Smahwords to see how it goes.

OK, I just got a better confirmation from Amazon:

Introducing KDP Select – a new option to make money and promote your book. When you make your book exclusive to Kindle for at least 90 days, it will be part of the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library for the same period and you will earn your share of a monthly fund when readers borrow your books from the library. You can also promote your book as free for up to 5 days during these 90 days. While in KDP Select you will also be eligible to earn 70% royalty for sales to customers in India.

This means that do not normally have an exclusive, but they would like one for the first 90 days, which I am good with for this first project.

An ISBN is required if you want to sell your book in bookstores and place it in libraries. https://www.myidentifiers.com/

Bowker® Identifier Services provides you with the products and services that allow your book titles to become more discoverable. As the U.S. ISBN agency, Bowker® is your first stop in publishing and selling your books. We also provide you with other essential tools to help your audience find you.

For $125 per ISBN!!!

Amazon says:
An ISBN is an International Standard Book Number. The ISBN appears on the book's detail page and identifies this unique version of the book. You do not need to have an ISBN to publish your book, but if you do have one, enter it here.

Important: Do not use an ISBN from a print edition for your digital edition. If you want to include an ISBN for the digital version of your book, it must be a unique ISBN. You can purchase an ISBN from multiple sources on the Web, including the official ISBN body.

So, I uploaded my book both in PDF format and in .mobi format to Amazon, and they were both a mess, so the project is on hold until I can get a book onto an eBook seller that has not been mangled in the process.

I tried uploading my PDF to Smashwords, and it would not accept it.  It; however, said it would take an ePub, so I uploaded the ePub verison.  It came up with bunch of errors, so it looks like Smashwords has to receive a .DOC WS Word file only.

[Michael Hawkins]

Smashwords must convert .doc files to .pdf automatically -- since they offer .pdf as a download.  Really strange that you can't upload .pdf's -- they must have their reasons, I guess.

[Jhanananda]

Yes, Michael, it is strange that Smashwords really only permits an upload of MS Word .DOC files, but actually convert those files to a whole range of formats including PDF, .mobi, ePub, etc.  The nice thing about uploading first to Smashwords is they will create a .mobi file that can be uploaded to Amazon later.

The limitation is a serious disappointment, because much of what I had in mind for publishing will require photos, charts, tables and graphs.  And, a PDF would be perfect for that.  So, I am confused why ePublishing does not get behind the PDF format?  Perhaps Kindles will not read a PDF file?  This also means that inDesign is useless for generating eBooks at this time.

However, I do have quite a bit of material that will work fine in text only format, so I will start working on them and upload them as I soon as I can. The stopper for now is they require an ISDN for every book uploaded, and ISDNs cost $125 per book, so my first book will have to wait until I have $125 to pay for the ISDN.  In the mean time I will work on getting the file just the way Smashwords wants it.  And, once the first book is ready for upload, then I will start work on the next book, and so on.  When money comes in for ISDNs, then I will upload them to Smashwords. Once I have them on Smashwords, then I can download the .mobi file for each book, and upload them to Amazon.

[Jhanananda]

I have completed moving my poetry back into MS Word, and I have straightened it out. Now, the next obstacle to overcome is creating an interactive table of contents.  Does anyone know how to do that in MS Word?

I Google searched the inquiry and got this link:
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/tableofcontents.html

It turns out I needed to install bookmarks on the pages I wanted to link the table of contents to, and I have done it.

The book is not complete and uploaded to Smashwords.  I just need to come up with the $125 for the ISBN, then it will be available for purchase. 

Thanks all for all of your input.

[Michael Hawkins]

Hi Jeffrey,

I haven't had a chance to look at the formatting that you sent yesterday, but will get back with feedback as soon as I can.

And I hope that funding for ISBN numbers comes in quickly -- the world needs access to this material.

Warmly,
Michael

[Jhanananda]

Thank-you Michael for all of your help.  Donations are starting to come in, so soon I should be able to publish the first book.

[Cybermonk]

Aloha to ya Jeffrey,

So.... will you be publishing your journey's in the immaterial domains?
I would certainly like to read more of the various things and places, different
states and effects you've encountered on your journeys.

Perhaps some could be written using various fictional characters that
appeal to you. It's an exciting prospect for many I'm sure. Also... a lot
of work for you.

later,
Kimo

[Jhanananda]

Hello Kimo, yes, I plan to start publishing volumes of my journals, but not just focusing upon experiences in the immaterial domains, because the work would suffer from relevance, and become too fantastic, and comic book-like.  Religion is already too comic book-like.

I do not see how using fictional characters would improve the work, but I expect to use fictional names to protect me from law suits from the guilty.  Although, when it comes to my family, then I think the writing should be as honest as possible.

I recently acquired a box full of my journals from the first to the last packed away, dating back to 1973.  So, it will give me lots of material to work upon.

However, I do not plan to just publish journals.  I also plan to publish my translations of religious literature, and my commentaries as well. So, I will keep it interesting, and hopefully enough people will buy my books to keep me from starving and freezing to death in my old age.

Donations continue to come in, so we are now about 1/3 the way to the goal needed to pay for the ISBN number.

I just setup my Bowkers account  the offer ISBN # in bulck
Single ISBN    $125.00    
10 ISBNs    $250.00    
100 ISBNs    $575.00    
1,000 ISBNs    $1,000.00

Maybe I should just buy them 10 at a time.

[Jhanananda]

Due to recent generous donations my book-length collection of contemplative and mystical poetry Stone Worn to Sand is now available for purchase via SmashWords.

I keep getting autovetter errors in the copyright page.  I have changed it 10 times, I give up, I think there is something wrong with their software.

[Jhanananda]

Due to recent generous donations my first book-length collection of contemplative and mystical poetry Stone Worn to Sand is now available for purchase via Amazon.

[Jhanananda]

Once I bought one ISBN I started receiving monthly announcements of a discount on 10 more ISBNs for the same price as one.  I finally had the money to purchase the 10 more ISBNs, so I will prepare more books for publication.

[Michael Hawkins]

Excellent!

[Jhanananda]

I just did a Google search for my book A Stone Worn to Sand.

I found that it is now available for purchase via: Smash Words; Amazon; and, Barnes & Noble