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selfpubtoolbox · 7 years ago

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The ABC’s of Self-Publishing

Amazon Exclusive - If a book it Amazon exclusive, it is available only on Amazon’s website. The author cannot put the book anywhere else online, including his/her own website while the book is enrolled in KDP Select/the Kindle Unlimited program.

Amazon KDP - Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is Amazon’s self-publishing platform. Self-published authors can upload their books directly to Amazon with the option to opt into Amazon’s KDP Select program.

ARC - Advance Reader Copy (or ARC) is a great way to drum up attention about your book before it hits the market. Distributing ARCs to bloggers or other people who are able to publicly review and promote your book can go wonders for your sales after your book’s release.

Author Central - Author central is a free service run by Amazon to help authors using KDP to create a library of their books. Having an author central account means that when a reader clicks on the author’s name on Amazon, the reader is taken to a page with all of that author’s books instead of a general search page, which may include books by other authors. Authors can provide links to their own websites as well as link up their Twitter account and their blogs. It’s a great place to help establish an author brand. Author central accounts can be used for up to three pen names per account as well.

AZW - AZW is a file type that was developed by Amazon for the Kindle.

Backlist - The list of titles that a publisher/author has published previously.

Backmatter - Backmatter is all of the marketing materials that goes in the back of your book after your reader sees “The End.” Backmatter can include an About the Author section, author social media and website links, a sample chapter, a More Books by the Author section, and any other promotional material. It should be kept short but can be very effective.

Barcode - A book’s barcode will appear in the bottom right hand corner on the back cover of your book.

Beta Reader - A Beta Reader is someone who reads your book before its release and offers feedback and critiques on content. A Beta Reader isn’t a copy editor or a proofreader but they are important for getting feedback about your story, what works and what doesn’t for them. You may not get a “why�� something doesn’t work, but you’ll be able to identify where the problem areas are in your book and work toward addressing them. Beta Readers should not be your best friends or your family because you want honesty, not an ego boost, unless that’s what you’re going for (which is nice but not exactly good for your writing.)

Bleed - In printing, a bleed is anything that is outside the edge of the page. When you’re laying out a print book, especially a book with images that extend all the way to the edges, you will want to include a bleed so that you ensure there’s no white space on the edge of the page and that the images run all the way to the edge. CreateSpace requires a .125” bleed on all print books for this reason (whether your book has images or not.)

Blurb - A blurb is basically the text that goes on the back of a book. It’s usually a paragraph long and the most important piece of copy you’ll write when it comes to marketing your book. A good blurb can really sell your book while a bad blurb can hurt sales. Be sure to really lure in your readers, give them a good taste of what your book offers and leave them wanting more.

Book trailer - A book trailer is the same as a movie trailer but for your book! Many authors create short trailers with animation, narration, sound effects, typography, and potentially even some live action scenes of their books as a teaser for their readers. A book trailer is a great way to market your book on YouTube.

Bundling - This is essentially a box set of eBooks. Many authors choose to bundle their works to offer their series books at a slight discount to readers. For instance, instead of buying books 1-3 individually for $2.99, readers can now buy all three books at once in a series bundle for $1-2 less. Typically, readers who buy books individually and readers who buy bundles are different so you won’t be losing much money by offering a slightly discounted “box set” of your books.

CMYK - CMYK is a model that is created for print. It is sometimes referred to as four-color printing. Each letter stands for an ink color: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and K stands for Black. All of your color images (including your cover!) should be in CMYK when they are uploaded to your printing service.

Createspace - Createspace is a print-on-demand company owned by Amazon. You can use Createspace to publish a paperback version of your book which can be distributed to retailers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Crowdfunding - Many authors choose to crowdfund their new book projects in order to afford to take time off of work to write or to perform the research they need for their new book. Crowdfunding is a great way to simulate the advances authors receive from publishers.

Distributor - A distributor is a company and helps get your book available on more than one platform or in more than one bookstore in order to reach more readers. Smashwords is a good example of an eBook distributor because it distributes books to 9 different eBook retailers.

Draft2Digital - Draft2Digital is an eBook distributor website. When you upload your book to their website, you have the option to distribute to Barnes and Noble, Page Foundry, Apple, Scribd, Tolino, Kobo and Createspace.

DPI - DPI stand for “dots per inch” when referencing an image. Web images for eBook covers should be at least 72 DPI while images used for print works such as paperback covers and promo materials should be 300 DPI, otherwise, your covers will look pixelated.

DRM - Digital Rights Management (DRM) is used by publishers to help stop piracy, though there is heavy debate over whether or not it actually curbs illegal downloads. DRM locks eBooks to a certain number of devices, meaning the files can’t be shared or uploaded to file-sharing websites.

EAN - An EAN is an International Article Number (originally called a European Article number, hence the acronym EAN.) An EAN is a 13 digit barcode, which in the case of publishing would be located on the back of your book and feature your ISBN number.

ePub - ePub was created to be the standard eBook format by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). It is widely used but is unfortunately not the standard it had set out to be.

Extent - The extent of a book is its length or number of pages.

Front matter - Front matter is all of the material you include at the beginning of your book before Chapter 1. Front matter includes the title and half title page, copyright page, and can include any acknowledgements or dedications and any other material you’d like to include up front such as reviews.

Goodreads - Goodreads is a social media site built around reading. It’s a great tool for authors to promote their books by adding them to the site, participating in groups and discussions, hosting a giveaway, and being an active member of the site. All authors should be on Goodreads, whether you’re self-published or not.

Google Play Books Partner Center- Google Play Books Partner Center is where users can upload their books to sell on the Google Play store for Android and to the Google Books database.

GSM - GSM stands for “Grams per Square Meter” and refers to the weight of the paper used in books. The higher the GSM, the heavier the paper.

Half title page - A half title page is a page at the front of the book that only contains the title of the book.

Hybrid Author - A hybrid author is an author who has both self-published and traditionally published through a publishing house.

iBooks - iBooks is the Apple bookstore. Authors can self-publish to iBooks using the iAuthor program for Mac or through a distributor.

Indie Author - An indie author is an author who self-publishes their own work.

Ingram Spark - Ingram Spark is the POD service offered by the print book distributor Ingram. You can use Ingram Spark to print both hardback and paperback copies of your work and distribute them to online eBook retailers.

ISBN - An ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number, standardized by the ISO (International Standards Organization.) The ISBN is the unique identifier for your book. Every book should have a unique ISBN for each edition. This means your eBook should have a different IBSN than your paperback version and vice versa. ISBNs can be bought from your national ISBN agency but some self-publishing services provide ISBNs to their authors free of charge.

KDP Select - Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Select is a program run through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service which allows authors to offer their book for free or for a discounted price for up to 5 days every 90 days their book is in the program. Opting into KDP Select also means the book will be put into the Kindle Unlimited program. Books that are opted into KDP Select are Amazon exclusive. Books put into the KDP Select program will be in there for 90 days and books are automatically renewed unless the author unchecks the “automatically renew after 90 days button” after the book’s publication.

Kindle Unlimited - Kindle Unlimited is a subscription program through Amazon which readers can read unlimited books in the program for $9.99 a month. At the beginning of the program, authors were paid a certain amount every time someone borrows a book and reads more than 10% of it. Starting July 1, 2015, authors will be paid based on the number of pages read in their Kindle Unlimited books. The rate varies per month due to the varying number of borrows and the amount in the KDP Select funds. To enroll your book in Kindle Unlimited, authors must put their book in the KDP Select program and make their book Amazon exclusive.

Kobo - Kobo is an eBookstore and an eBook distributor. Kobo has relationships with bookstores around the world to distribute their eBooks through.

Lulu - Lulu provides print on demand and book distribution services to self-published authors. Lulu also serves as an eBook distributor as well, distributing your books to online eBook retailers.

Mirroring - Mirroring is when an author takes a previously written book and reworks it to be told from another perspective in order to publish under a different title. A good example of a mirror would be E.L. James’ new book Grey which is 50 Shades of Grey told from Christian’s perspective.

Mailing Lists - Most successful indie authors have built up a sizeable email list of readers who are interested in hearing more about upcoming releases. There are many free email mailing list websites that offer authors the tools they need.

Mobi - Mobipocket or Mobi files are compressed eBook files. Mobi is owned by Amazon.

Noisetrade - NoiseTrade is a website built for authors and musicians to give away copies of their books in exchange for the email address of the readers who download their books. This is a great way to start building an author mailing list.

Nookpress - Nookpress is the self-publishing platform run by Barnes and Noble (the largest book retailer in the USA). Nookpress allows authors to upload their books directly to the Barnes and Noble online bookstore.

O P

POD - POD stands for Print on Demand. If a self-published author wants to have a print copy of their book available, they can go through a POD service to distribute. POD means that when someone purchases your book from an eBook retailer, the POD company will print and ship you book directly to them. This means there won’t be 500 paperbacks hanging out in your basement just so you can have a print book!

Pomodoro technique - The Pomodoro Technique is a time management strategy that works to help eliminate distractions by working for 25 minutes straight with a 5 minute break between sessions. Many writers who write daily use this technique to help maximize their daily word counts and stay away from distractions.

Prelims - Another “fancier” term for front matter.

Print Run - A print run is the number of books printed. For instance, if you order 50 books, your print run will be 50.

Proofs - If you want your book in print, no matter what website you decide to print you book with, you will want to order a “proof” of your book to examine. A proof is a one off copy of your book which allows you to see how it will look before the book goes to print or to market (depending if you’re ordering a large batch of books or going with a POD service.) Inspect the proof for margin size, fonts, page number locations, and other common issues. Be sure the cover image is free of pixelation or distortion and that all interior images are in the correct location and also appear without any pixelation or distortion.

Publication date - The official date your book goes onto the market. This date can vary with self-publishing since not all self-publishing websites have a system for authors to set an official launch date for their book and upload/approval times can vary per site.

Q R

Recto - The right page in a spread. Odd page numbers are always on recto pages.

Resolution - Resolution refers to the quality of your images. Standard image resolution for print is 300 DPI and 72 for web publishing.

RGB - RGB is a color model which Red, Green, and Blue are used to create colors on screen. RBG is for web and eBooks. Your eBook cover and interiors should be formatted in RGB color.

Royalties - Royalties are the money you earn from your book sales. For instance, if your book is priced at $2.99 on Amazon, you will receive 70% royalties or $2.09 per book.

Smashwords - Smashwords is one of the largest eBook distributors for indie authors.

Spread - A page layout that shows two facing pages (left and right) side by side in order to see how they would look in a book.

Summer Slump - It’s a fact of life that book sales (both for indie authors and traditionally published authors) slump in the summertime. It happens to everyone (despite what they may tell you) so don’t get down because you were doing really well in the winter and suddenly your sales are rock bottom. Keep writing, keep publishing. Give it some time.

Title Page - A page at the beginning of the book that contains the title of the book, any subtitles, the author’s name, and the publishing company’s name.

Traditional Publishing - Traditional publishing is publishing a book through a publishing house. This can involve having an agent and being published with a large “big 5” publisher or may involve the book being published with a small “independent” publisher.

Trim size - The trim size of a book refers to the final size of the book once it is cut and bound. A common trim size on POD websites is 9”x5”.

U V

Vanity Press - A vanity press is a publisher which requires the authors to pay for their editorial services or print runs. Before self-publishing became very DIY, vanity presses were very popular and a lot of authors spent a lot of money on their books only to end up selling hardly any copies. The Author Beware website has a very good list of vanity presses to avoid.

Verso - The left page. Even page numbers are always on verso pages.

Wattpad - Wattpad is a social networking site that allows authors to connect with readers by uploading novels in serial form.

WIP - WIP stand for “work in progress.” Many writers refer to the book they’re working on as a WIP when discussing their work online.

XML - Extensible Markup Language (or XML) is a markup language that works with HTML to help tag parts of your book to help both people and machines read your book. XML does not focus on the style of the book or the way it looks, but contains information about the structure and hierarchy of the book (chapters, body text, etc.) It sounds much more complicated than it is but if you’re creating your own eBooks, you should have a general idea of what XML is and how it works.

Y Z

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