If you are new to online publishing, then it is important to start at the right place and know how to publish on an online bookstore. Learn about the process and the best tool to use when doing the formatting.
Today's question that was sent to me was, "how do I publish an ebook on an online bookstore? So, this is an excellent question to answer.
It's a little unclear if the person who was asking the question has already written the book. And just simply knows how to get it into the right format and which store you should put it on. Or is there a store you can put it on?
So when you're first getting started, everything can be very confusing. But before I answer the question, you can grab my free Self-Publishing Secrets Checklist.
Now, let me start with my story. When I first started getting publishing, I started with Amazon. I have read a Kindle book. I was into really big, was and still I am into reading Kindle ebooks.
It's my favorite way actually of reading. I don't even like to read through paper anymore, only ebooks. So, I read a Kindle book that cost me a couple dollars.
Check out this related article: Self Publishing Low Content Books?
I think it was the one that talked about how exactly to get started in publishing ebooks. And so, I followed the steps and was able to get my first book. Now I made an awful lot of mistakes in the process.
Later on, I learned about a lot of other options that you can also do for your ebooks. But I am going to see if I can answer your specific question which is, where to publish? and how to publish on an online bookstore.
The answer is you should start definitely with Amazon like I did as well, which is Kindle Direct Publishing. That means that the ebook that you are going to have is going to be in the Kindle format. This is by far the easiest way to start.
Jutoh Makes Formatting Easy
There are other options and you can do things. Like if you want to do it the free route, you can get your manuscript from Word and go directly from Word into the platform. Though, this is not recommended because you are going to have a low-quality book.
My biggest one for me was the Table Of Contents is not going to properly work. People are going to complain about the book, if anybody buys it. That will create a whole series of problems for you.
So for me, when I was going to put it into the ebook format, I played with a lot of different tools and options. The tool that I discovered is called Jutoh and it was by far the best tool for doing the formatting. Because the formatting can be done both in your ebook.
Then, when you are done, you can export it directly to the print edition, for the Amazon Print On Demand. I also use it for Lulu for the hardback books and also for IngramSpark books. So that gives you an option on that one.
Check out this related article: Can You Edit Your eBook After It Is Published?
You can find my affiliate link here for the Jutoh program. It is fantastic. It is very easy to use, so I would highly recommend you to take a look at that.
One of the things that is also important to remember is there are other options. You can use Smashwords like publishing instead of a Kindle format, you can do your ebook into an ePub.
There is also Drafts2Digital, there is a number of different other options available. But Amazon is the biggest bookstore in the world so it is a great place to start and you can change your mind later.
One Thing At A Time
If you want to run ads against your Amazon Kindle book, then you need to ensure that, that book is not to be found anywhere else. They won't let you do that so you need to make sure that it is in Amazon, it's in Select. So that you are not going to have an issue when want to run ads against it.
It is by far the best way to make money off of your book and to bring attention to your book. So that is something to keep in mind also.
The final thing to keep in mind is that, it sounds to me that you are getting started and it is important to do one thing at a time. I know I have mentioned a number of different options. I have also mentioned a series of things that you are going to want to keep in mind when you are doing this process.
Just start with one thing at a time. First is to get the formatting and I suggest going the Jutoh route to get the formatting in place for the book itself. Pay for the cover or build a cover yourself.
Put it together with a good description and title and then just get the book out there. Find out how you are able to do with the book. So that would be my suggestion and I know a lot of self-publishers that I have worked with over the past, that was exactly what they would suggest.
The most important I have seen is, again, back to making self-publishing easy now, it is all about breaking it down into simple steps and to get started on the right path. But the questions we are answering are excellent as opposed to getting in to some sort of analysis paralysis.
It is where you don't get the answers and you don't make the daily progress that you are going to need in order to succeed. Well, what have you found? Have you tried other platforms than Kindle or Amazon for publishing your book?
Have you found how to publish your eBooks on an online bookstore? Also, check out my other blogs and videos like this one. Hopefully, I'll be able to help you there.