Tag: paperback

Converting Paperbacks from Createspace to Amazon

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

I’ve got over 30 books in paperback.  I’ve been with Createspace, KDP and Smashwords from the beginning.  Now Createspace is closing down.  Amazon started it and is folding it back into Amazon. 

I’ve tried the Amazon paperbacks and the process is about the same as Createspace and the quality is there as well.  Changing from Createspace to Amazon isn’t horrible but what to do about the 30+ novels I already have.  Do I want to keep them all in paperback?  Should I consider not publishing in paperback since most of my sales are ebooks?  What about the journal I created?  Should I keep that in paperback form?  It isn’t in ebook – obviously.

It’s a lot of work to set up each book.  When I’m publishing, it takes around 3-4 hours just to get them uploaded and all the settings the way I want the book to be.   Do I really want to take all that effort for items which I don’t get a lot of sales on? 

Also if I’m going to do this, then I want to redo some of the manuscripts.  I know there are spelling / grammar errors as I’ve reread them and been annoyed by them.  A lot of the newer books, I have a better routine so there are fewer but the earlier it was published the more likely I am going to want to update the manuscript.  In reality, I’ve already done updates to the ebooks.

All of this ran through my head but I decided I do want to continue offering paperbacks and it’s good to have paperbacks for my own purposes.  I wasn’t sure how it would work to discontinue my Createspace copies and go to the Amazon copies.

Thankfully all of this was addressed by Amazon.  I went in to see how complicated it would be.  It wasn’t.  The paperback option is listed right with each of my books.  For the latest, I was able to go in and use the same file and convert them in a under 15 minutes (roughly).  The longest part is when they do the review, which is typical.  Their message is slightly humorous and suggests a cup of coffee or making a sandwich. 

So far I’ve converted about half of them over to Amazon.  The ones I have left, I will spend a little more time reviewing the manuscript before I convert.  Hopefully this review won’t take me too long.

The nice thing, my prices to the public have gotten slightly lower in most cases.  This might encourage sales.  I had one book at 19.99 which no one bought but I revamped a little, changed margins and so on in an effort to reduce the number of pages.  To be fair, the book is long but still few people are going to invest that much in a book.  I managed to get the price down $7. 

Hopefully the rest of the conversions don’t take me too long and I’ll be all set.  The only other thing I have to figure out is how to get the books which don’t have an ebook converted over. 

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

While the saying “Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover” is one I’ve heard numerous times, it is also one that most people don’t pay attention to.  The cover draws the reader in.  If the cover catches your eye amongst all the other books on the shelf (or on the web page) and gets you to pick up you are much more likely to buy than if the cover doesn’t draw you in.  It is the first impression of the book.  I want to make a great first impression.

In creating and selecting the cover, much thought goes into the process.  There is composition with all of its details like font, font size, font color and so on.  There is the picture and what it represents.  I’m sure there are probably studies out there that people who read X genre are drawn to X colors or whatever.  I only have my gut instinct to go by and the opinions of the people I trust. 

In looking at all of my covers, I try to be as creative as possible and practical.  I have two versions I have to consider whether it looks good or not – ebook and physical book.  In some ways it is easier to create an ebook cover because it only has to be an electronic version. 

Suzanne and Vicki have provided me with some incredible pictures to pick from for Moments in Spirit.  In looking over the pictures, I cannot narrow it down to just one that I like.  This is what led to twelve covers. 

I’ve spent the last three days looking at them electronically and getting opinions from Suzanne and Vicki.  Next I’ll be asking others randomly which one they like best. 

It is a balance of the right pictures, the words standing out, drawing the eye, and representing what is inside.  My problem at this stage in the game is I like several of them and have to narrow it down to just one.  I think I have it narrowed down to four but getting from four to one is causing me some difficulty. 

Moon Affirmations is on Amazon!

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

The paperback of this book is now available on Amazon!  It looks a bit raw as I think they are still working on the page but it is available – see the link below.

Now I need to start working on how to create an audio book because that is the next step for this book.  I want it available in all formats that I think the end user will find helpful.  It is a matter of figuring out how to create an audio book. 

I know that sounds ambitious but I think for this book an audio book will help the reader to perform the meditations.  It will become like a guided meditation rather than having the reader memorize what they are supposed to be meditating on. 

Check out the paper copy here:
http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Affirmations-Daily-Meditations-Energy/dp/1499300069/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399383798&sr=1-2&keywords=moon+affirmations

Now Available in Paperback

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing
It seems silly but I was checking out my book on amazon.com to see how it was doing and if my paperback was available and what do I discover?  It is available in paperback.  I used the createspace.com to provide a POD (print on demand) version of my romance novel.  Here it is! 
I’ve also tweaked the description to be a bit more modern and romance novel like rather than – hey I need 5000 characters to describe my book.  It may not seem like a big deal to people but it is important to write this description, edit it and go through the normal writing process.  Actually it might be even more important to get this right because it is the window into your book.  What you put down in those 5000 characters can draw a reader in or completely turn them off. 
Now my book is available three different ways!  It sounds like a cliché for me to say I’m am super excited but I am.  This is the fulfillment of a dream.  I know the work isn’t done – I still have to work on marketing and getting people to come to my website http://eileentroemel.weebly.com/.  At the same time I need to move forward with the next volume I want to publish… on to my Moon Affirmations book which is a meditation book based on the moon’s phase.  Moving forward means I’ll be juggling a lot of different aspects of writing and publishing.  I’m ridiculously excited and almost giddy with anticipation of moving forward.  At the same time, I’m trying to make good business decisions about my brand and the products I’m creating. 
This first publication has given me ideas for other publications – like publishing some short stores and some poetry.  However, I want to make sure I’m putting out a really good product so people know that when they pick up one of my books it will be well edited and produced even if they don’t like the story or stories that are inside the book.

Getting this first book out there has been a boost to my confidence and belief in myself.  I noticed tonight that one of my customers was from Japan.  This couldn’t possibly be a relative or friend because I don’t know anyone in Japan.  That means that the description I wrote drew them in enough to have them buying the book.  That is an accomplishment for me.