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Like most people in this group, I've been writing a book which is now finished, but I'm not sure what to do next. It is a children's book featuring a twelve year disabled boy who finds escape through his drawings which come to life. Can anybody recommend a publisher to approach? Should I self publish and if so, would I end up with a room full of books? How do you sell online or on Kindle? Not being a computer expert, I'm finding some of the threads a bit bewildering. Help!

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I'd certainly say you don't have to be a computer expert to get published online, but it will require some research, I have a kindle and there are some really decent books available on kindle for free about publishing your own work.

 

If you haven't got a kindle, you can download an app from amazon that will emulate a kindle on your computer. Bear in mind you will need to have an amazon account.

 

From here I'd visit the kindle section of the amazon site and search for e-books on self-publishing, I read a good one called 'publish on amazon kindle with kindle direct publishing' this ones free and pretty good, but there's plenty others too.

 

Hope this helps and best of luck, btw, what's the book about?

 

I'd be happy to help design a cover if you need one

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Like most people in this group, I've been writing a book which is now finished, but I'm not sure what to do next. It is a children's book featuring a twelve year disabled boy who finds escape through his drawings which come to life. Can anybody recommend a publisher to approach? Should I self publish and if so, would I end up with a room full of books? How do you sell online or on Kindle? Not being a computer expert, I'm finding some of the threads a bit bewildering. Help!

 

First question is, what's your network like?

Do you know a lot of people?

Do you know anyone in the media?

Have you had it proof read?

How many words is it?

Is it in a word format?

 

I think I've mentioned this on here before, but I approached a few publishers, two of whom wanted to take it further. One of them wanted to list the thing at £16.95 with me on a 10% royalty, the other was worse with 7.5%. I'm pretty sure this was what's known as vanity publishing as they wanted me to do my own marketing.

 

I suspect that as a new author you would need all of the following to hope for a publishing deal.

a/Its absolutely brilliantly written

b/The subject matter is of interest to the masses(and you don't appear to have written about a vampire who likes bondage)

c/a massive amount of luck.

 

If you dont think all of the above will apply then self publishing is the answer.

In effect, ebook publication can be cost free, you just have to do the work.

Paperback publication needs cash up front and I think is viable if you have a good network of friends.

 

Happy to help with advice if you need any contacts.

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Some good advice from Gary there.

 

I'm feeling a little disillusioned with the whole self pubbing experience. It's a slow and very long game to get anywhere, I think.

 

Is your children's book illustrated? Only I can't imagine it working on a Kindle or Kobo if it is. Also children aren't really ebook readers. You'd need a really good printer/publisher to get good quality books to do it justice which could turn out really expensive. That's one thing to consider.

 

You could try http://www.feedaread.com/ or https://www.createspace.com/ who provide a 'print on demand' service, meaning that you don't have to buy a bulk of books or pay money up front. They give decent royalties and take the money spent printing the book out of the overall price. But, the quality of the books are not amazing and if it is illustrated I'd definitely get a proof before deciding.

 

Another thing to consider before self publishing is marketing, something I'm not great at. There are squillions of self published books out there and no one knows who you are. I hate to be the voice of doom but it's pretty tough!

 

I would start researching publishers and agents. Most publishers will only accept queries from an agent so it might be best to start there. Or you could go straight to small/independent publishers. The Writers and Artists Yearbook is an essential read. Make sure you read all the requirements and follow them very carefully.

 

This is really great section on publishers to watch out for. Unfortunately there are people out there who want to rip you off http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=22

 

Good luck with it!

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Thanks to everybody who has replied to my thread. It all sounds a bit depressing, especially as there are so many books competing for people's attention. I might start by using Amazon's Kindle service.

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Thanks to everybody who has replied to my thread. It all sounds a bit depressing, especially as there are so many books competing for people's attention. I might start by using Amazon's Kindle service.

 

If you do, use the smashwords 'machine' its quite labour intensive but at least you get a manuscript that is easily put into kindle.

As a note I was with smashwords, sold about 6 plus approx 20 on kindle. I then enrolled my book into the 'select' option, which means you have to come off smashwords. I haven't sold a one on kindle since, so its not worked out for me.

 

Good luck

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If you do, use the smashwords 'machine' its quite labour intensive but at least you get a manuscript that is easily put into kindle.

As a note I was with smashwords, sold about 6 plus approx 20 on kindle. I then enrolled my book into the 'select' option, which means you have to come off smashwords. I haven't sold a one on kindle since, so its not worked out for me.

 

Good luck

 

I'm afraid I've no idea what the smashwords 'machine' is. It sounds like another piece of mysterious modern technology that leaves my head spinning. Thanks for the advice though.

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Smashwords is actually quite user friendly and comes with a guide. The only thing is that you need to have the manuscript formatted well ie not using tabs for paragraph indents, putting in a table of contents etc. But when you're done it'll convert the book into an epub (for Kobos and Nook), a mobi (kindle), a PDF, web copy and tablet compatible.

 

If you want to go into their Premium catalogue it has to be perfect, and then they distribute to Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iBooks etc but if you aren't bothered about that then as long as it's okay you should be fine. https://www.smashwords.com/ The guide is quite comprehensive so I'm sure you'd be fine.

 

There's a lot to take in about self publishing and if you're not familiar with ebooks it's a little daunting. http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/board,60.0.html is a good place to browse and ask questions.

 

Sorry if we depressed you! When I first started I got frustrated with all the depressing replies from other writers but there are lots of people who haven't done as well as they expected (me included).

 

But on the flip side there are people who just hit it and somehow get it right and have huge amounts of success. :)

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I'm afraid I've no idea what the smashwords 'machine' is. It sounds like another piece of mysterious modern technology that leaves my head spinning. Thanks for the advice though.

 

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52

 

Apologies that wasn't very helpful. It's called the 'metagrinder' I believe.

You can download the ebook above for free. If your document is in word and you have a basic knowledge of word then you should be able to produce a reasonable ebook. It's time consuming, but it worked for me.

 

Gary

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And I agree with Sarah, don't give up.

 

What I've found is even though you may think you've written a great book, what does it matter.

You have to convince others, and that's the hard bit.

 

The mantra for the rest of my life will be 'the easiest thing about writing a book is the writing bit'.

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And I agree with Sarah, don't give up.

 

What I've found is even though you may think you've written a great book, what does it matter.

You have to convince others, and that's the hard bit.

 

The mantra for the rest of my life will be 'the easiest thing about writing a book is the writing bit'.

 

That's my new mantra as well. Thanks for all the advice

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I wouldn't recommend that anyone uses FeedARead: it's vanity publishing, not self publishing. One has to pay them to publish your book and although it's only a small amount of money, I've read some very troubling accounts of the way their authors have been treated.

 

CreateSpace and Kindle Direct are both self publishing through Amazon.

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