eBook Generator - beta

I pulled one of my short stories ("Miss Blythe").
All of the apostrophes, em dashes, and quotation marks were misconverted.
And it came out as an html file.
All in all: that's a big no from me, Bob.

I just tried with one of my books, just in case a short story was handled differently.
And it's not. Still an HTML file. Still a bunch of error characters.

Part of why I like using Reedsy Studio, because I have the choice of PDF or EPUB.

Since I self-publish using KSP (Kindle Self Publish) from Amazon, I download their free software called "Kindle Create." It will allow inserting pictures, formatting title/extra pages, separation into chapters, etc. There are several formats to use as well (reflowable [novels], comics, kids', and print replica). This allows exporting epubs, pdf, and most of the other formats. If you DO use Amazon to publish, then there is an "upload to Amazon" button that takes care of sending it to get published.

Bill

Sorry to tangent this, but how does that work? Costs, support, etc?

No cost at all. KSP is run by Amazon. You "massage" your book using the software, then hit a button that uploads it to Amazon. In about an hour or less, it will show up as an eBook. 24 to 36 hours later, it can be bought as a paperback. Amazon even assigns a ISBN number at no cost.

Bill

I don't know, Dirk. Never tried anywhere else (other than the 50 rejection notices I received before going to KSP).

Bill

Amazon will even make paperbacks if someone orders a paperback copy of your book? Do you get any input on the cover art? What's their percentage of the sales?

Do I really need an agent then? A proofreader/editor? Those things are expensive.

I've sold quite a few paperbacks on Amazon, but I also admit the eBooks are a bigger seller. The paperback is offered by Amazon as a feature alongside the eBook button. When a potential buyer looks up your book, Amazon will present the eBook first, with another button right next to it stating it can be bought as a paperback. They use what's called "POD - or, Print on Demand." This means they store it in electronic form at their printing plant(s) and when it gets ordered, they run off that copy and ship it. What I like about it is that you can get "author's proof copies" simply for the price of printing, which is significantly less than the retail price. If you do this, you can take them to book-gatherings wherever they may be and sell them at whatever price you wish. I've done that many times and generated a bit of pocket money.

There is a minimum amount Amazon takes as their fee, but it is you who sets the selling price to maximize your royalties to whatever you think the trade will bear.

Bill

Yeah, this information has suddenly got me rethinking everything.

I think an editor/proofreader is a probably a good hire.

The rest? Unless you're wanting to be the next Rowling, Child, or McFadden, or Elsie Silver or Suzanne Redfearn…

(There's an in-joke hidden there somewhere.)

I dunno. Ask some of the people who've gone through the agent process, see if it was worth it?

Keep in mind that, although an agent or publisher may become interested in your book for publication, some of them may ask you to shorten your book, maybe substantially so. Unless they see the value of your epic in its current form, they may not want to take on the extra risk associated with publishing a book that long from a first-time author. Have a look online for how long the average story is in your genre.

J.K Rowling had a lot of trouble getting her first Harry Potter book published, in part because many publishers felt a 90,000-word children's book wouldn't sell well. Needless to say, she didn't have much trouble getting later books published at whatever length she needed to tell the story. Her longest in the series ended up at 260,000 words. It set a new record for first-day sales, selling an estimated 5 million copies in the United States alone within the first 24 hours.

Dune is 190,000 words and was rejected by two dozen publishers until it was finally published by Chilton Books, primarily known for car repair manuals. It was published at a time when the average sci-fi was just 60,000 - 80,000 words.

I've been working on Archangel (my epic "demented" space opera) for years. It grew so long that I felt certain I would have too much trouble getting it published as a single book, so I first tried to rip out a lot of content. I quickly realized, though, that it would have decimated the story. So, I decided to split it into four meaty novellas and eventually self-publish. Funny thing was, that gave me the freedom to further flesh out some of the lighter chapters that I'm keeping.

If you go the route of publishing professionally, the publisher will pay for the editing. You can try using an AI to suggest edits ahead of time; the cleaner the book, the more likely it is to get picked up.