Topic: Fast and easy publishing?

I don't know if such a thing exists, but even if it doesn't, I am interested in finally publishing something. Would that some kind agent might pick me up, but since that isn't likely to happen, I'd love some advice on how to go about it. I have so many questions. How much? How long? Who do I contact? What's the deal? Where's the best deal? How many of my non-existent offspring do I have to promise to a troll somewhere to get this thing off the ground? I'm a newbie. Please be kind.

Quote Post 1

Re: Fast and easy publishing?

The best option, fast, easy, and free, would be CreateSpace. They have templates for everything and even have a superb cover creator which you can upload your own pictures to. The cover has a ton of nice looking templates and you can personalize your own. Select your book trim size and download the template, then upload your chapters. It formats perfectly, but the contents won't track the chapter pages. The whole program is super easy steps, and it's free to use. My 7x9 books with about 150 pages cost me about 3.00 plus shipping and you can set your own price on Amazon and sell them for what you want at book signings you set up. Marketing is a b****h, but I've done it for a couple years and still find it fun. Hope that answers your questions.

Oh, yea, if you want editing help, that costs. I'd hire my own editor and proofreader, but you'll still end up with typos sad

Write On!
MzP

Quote Post 2

Re: Fast and easy publishing?

If you don't care about having a hard-copy of the book, you can just go the e-book route and publish on Amazon for the Kindle. It's easy, fast, and completely free. There are lots of online tutorials to tell you how to start.

Quote Post 3

Re: Fast and easy publishing?

Can/will Createspace allow both ebook and paper?  With paper and Amazon who actually fulfills the orders?  Does Amazon do it, or do you have to handle the individual orders?

Quote Post 4

Re: Fast and easy publishing?

Createspace! Nuff said.

Quote Post 5

Re: Fast and easy publishing?

njc wrote:

Can/will Createspace allow both ebook and paper?  With paper and Amazon who actually fulfills the orders?  Does Amazon do it, or do you have to handle the individual orders?

CreateSpace does both e-book and print, depending on what you want.  Amazon takes care of the orders.

Quote Post 6

7 Reply by Linda Lee (edited by Linda Lee 2014-11-19 21:08:46)

Re: Fast and easy publishing?

Another fantastic service, which I've been using for many years on the music side of things, is Book Baby. They offer all sorts of publishing packages and distribution. Their distributions channels have been wonderful on the music side, I expect no less on the writing side. Here's the link to check them out...
http://www.bookbaby.com/

edited to add: they also offer printing services/packages.

Quote Post 7

Re: Fast and easy publishing?

If you need any  help setting up your Amazon Create Space book, let me know.  I'd be glad to help.

Quote Post 8

Re: Fast and easy publishing?

I'm a long way from that.  Just trying to scope out what's out there.  Thanks.

Quote Post 9

Re: Fast and easy publishing?

Use CreateSpace as an editing tool!
Just a suggestion, but with my first book, I actually uploaded a draft and printed a copy to see what it would look like. Made for supreme easy editing! I used a larger font and double spaced, and then ordered a proof, but didn't click the button to make the book go live. When I made a ton of corrections and changes I uploaded it again and ordered another proof. Soooooo much cheaper than going to an office supply with a thumb drive and having the book printed out and bound. And it's easier to read the book the way a reader would. My copy of about 180 pages cost about $6.50 or something like that, including shipping. Be sure and get your $10 personalized ISBN so it will show you as the publisher instead of CreateSpace.

Quote Post 10

Re: Fast and easy publishing?

MrsPiddles wrote:

Use CreateSpace as an editing tool!
Just a suggestion, but with my first book, I actually uploaded a draft and printed a copy to see what it would look like. Made for supreme easy editing! I used a larger font and double spaced, and then ordered a proof, but didn't click the button to make the book go live. When I made a ton of corrections and changes I uploaded it again and ordered another proof. Soooooo much cheaper than going to an office supply with a thumb drive and having the book printed out and bound. And it's easier to read the book the way a reader would. My copy of about 180 pages cost about $6.50 or something like that, including shipping. Be sure and get your $10 personalized ISBN so it will show you as the publisher instead of CreateSpace.

This helped back when I published my first novel too. I went through my first proof with a pen in hand and made a ton of notes on things that needed fixed, and this was even after I had done extensive editing on the computer and took into account all the reviews from when I posted it here.

The personalized ISBN is more of a vanity thing to me. I paid for it for my first couple of books, but I don't anymore. As cool as it was seeing my own publishing name on the Amazon page, the listed publisher has no bearing on anything and 99% of my sales are via Kindle anyway, and ebooks don't require an ISBN. I figure that's $10 more I could put toward the book cover or something.

I also wanted to chime in that Amazon owns Createspace. So even though Createspace prints the books and Amazon ships them, they're all the same entity.

Quote Post 11