Posts Tagged Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners
All Change at Jenkins Towers …
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Events, Lifestyle, Non-writing, public speaking on February 6, 2024
There’s been a bit of stuff going on around here lately, which is making my long held vision of becoming a fulltime writer hover on the horizon. This is NOT because I have suddenly hit the New York bestseller lists and the money is pouring in, although as I write, Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners has an orange ‘bestseller’ flag in Amazon’s Electronic Publishing category – which may have disappeared by the time you read this.
119419479 © Monkey Business Images | Dreamstime.com
My current situation has arisen because of redundancy from my part-time job in IT and being at very high risk of losing my library position as well (due to council cuts). On top of this, the gearbox in my old car is making clunky noises and will cost more than the car is worth to replace. So, there’s been a lot to think about and not a lot of writing or blogging has been happening.
However, I have not been totally idle. I’ve been preparing an author talk based around the inspiration for Little Museum of Hope. The first outing for the talk is Friday 9th February at Mere Green library in Sutton Coldfield – I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will be well received!
And on the evening of Friday 23rd February I will be taking part in a Women’s Fiction panel at the Museum of Cannock Chase, organised by the lovely Kim Nash. It’s the first time I’ve been involved in a panel event so it will be an interesting experience.
Moving away from my life, I’ve spotted an unusual ‘competition’ for historical fiction writers from Sapere Books. On their website are a selection of outlines for historical fiction series. Choose one of the briefs and write a synopsis and the first three chapters of the first book in the series. As the prize will be a contract for a five-book series, ideas and outlines for the next four books in the series are also welcomed. The competition appears to be open to all writers, published or unpublished but do check all the details. The closing date is 31st May 2024.
Finally, if you enjoy reviewing WWII sagas, take a look at Helen Yendall’s latest book on Netgalley. I think it might tempt you!
To Blog or Not to Blog?
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Non-fiction, public speaking, Resources, Self-publishing on January 2, 2024
To blog or not to blog?
That is the question many are dwelling on at the moment. Some bloggers have given up, some have switched to Substack and some have decided to concentrate on newsletters.
I started this blog in the autumn of 2010 and love the fact that many subscribers have been with me since then (thank you! – and I hope we’ll continue to be virtual friends). I’ve gained a lot from blogging, including discipline (it’s not easy to dream up topics to blog about), contacts (it’s so lovely when people take the time to ‘like’ or comment, especially on a regular basis) and knowledge (from the lovely guest bloggers I’ve hosted and from research I’ve done for my own posts). I hope you’ve all gained something from it too!
For me, the answer to my initial question is: Continue to Blog.
I’ve thought about Substack but don’t know enough about it or how it beats a standard blog. If you’ve got experience – please enlighten me because I never seem to have the time to investigate it fully.
I have a newsletter but, so far, I’ve only used that for significant book or writing news rather than the general information and titbits I put on here. If you’re curious, signup here. Plus casual browsers stumble across this blog in a way that they wouldn’t find back issues of a newsletter.
I don’t want to abandon communicating with writers and readers because it’s taken a long time to capture you all (!) and I think an online presence is important.
So, you’ll find me here for a bit longer.
I’ve just looked back through my WordPress statistics to find out which have been my most popular pages over the last 13 years. Here are the top four:
Icebreakers for Creative Writing Adult Education Classes
The Seven Sisters Series by Lucinda Riley
The statistics for 2023 show that I wrote 31 blog posts and August 15th was the day this site got the most hits, which was also the day I published the post about My First RNA Conference and an Award.
Finally, given this is the start of a brand new year and many of us are setting goals and challenges, here are a few publications that might be useful:
For those dipping a toe in the world of self-publishing – Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners and Kobo Writing Life Publishing for Absolute Beginners.
For those wanting to build self-confidence or to promote their books via author talks:
Public Speaking for Absolute Beginners.
A Plethora of FREE 2023 Writing Competitions
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Poetry, Self-publishing, Short Story on July 4, 2023
Four writing competitions for you – in a mix of genres!
Short Story – Run by Green Stories and the theme is ‘Microbes’.
The main prize for the winner is £500 plus up to three runner up prizes totaling £300 (or the local currency equivalent).
It may help to have a scientific bent as the aim of the competition is to use fiction to raise awareness of Environmental Biotechnology and what microbial systems can do for us. However, the website has a video explaining Environmental Biotechnology and there is also a free virtual workshop linked to the competition.
Closing date is 21st September 2023. Full details are here.
Poetry – Poetry on Loan’s 2023 poetry competition is open to anyone who lives, studies or works regularly in the West Midlands (which is a very big area!). This year the theme is ‘Refuge’.
The prize for adult entries is a paid performance as part of a Poetry on Loan event. The junior prize winner will receive book tokens to the value of £25. Plus there is a special ‘fresh poet’ prize.
Closing date is 1st September 2023. Full details are here.
Novel – The Writers College is running a novel writing competition. Any genre of novel qualifies. Submit the first three chapters plus synopsis.
First Prize is a full ‘Write a Novel Course’ and ‘Advanced Novel Course’ (value $4000; 24 months of mentoring with an award-winning writer up to 70 000 words) from the Writers College.
Closing date is 31st July 2023. Full details are here.
Self-publishing – Amazon is running its annual Kindle Storyteller Award. This has a massive £20,000 prize and is very competitive (full disclosure I interviewed Rachel McLean, the 2021 winner, for Writers’ Forum magazine and she worked extremely hard). However, anyone self-publishing a novel on Amazon KDP before the closing date of 31st August 2023 can enter by including “StorytellerUK2023” (without quotation marks) in the “keywords” metadata field as they publish the book. Full details are here.
And if you are thinking of taking your first steps into self-publishing, you might find Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners (newly updated for 2023!) or Kobo Writing Life for Absolute Beginners useful.
Good Luck! Let me know if you’re successful in any of these competitions – I have the bubbles ready to celebrate!
Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners – 2023 Update
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Computers & Technical, Self-publishing on June 20, 2023
I’ve just updated Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners again. I first published this e-book back in February 2014 – nearly 10 years ago! Over that almost-decade it has continued to sell and I’ve continued to update it every 12-24 months in the hope of not misleading readers with outdated information.
This time, as I was going through the manuscript checking links, processes, new facilities etc., it struck me that over the years it has become much easier to self-publish on Amazon and no one should be frightened of the technicalities – because, mostly, it’s not technical!
Here are a few examples of the changes I’ve seen:
- Product Description (on screen equivalent to the back cover blurb) – In the early days if you wanted to include bold, italics or other formatting it was necessary to use html coding. Now Amazon provide a facility similar to Word where you can select this formatting from a bar on the screen.
- Manuscript Format – In the beginning the self-publishing gurus advised uploading the manuscript in html format, however I now simply upload the Word .docx and find the results are just as good (applies to text-only manuscripts with no illustrations).
- Paperbacks – In the early days these had to be published separately using the Createspace platform and author copies were shipped from America, meaning extra expense plus a time delay. Now paperback publishing can be done via the same Amazon KDP Dashboard as the Kindle version and the books for the UK are printed in Europe, saving time and money. (By the way, if you use one of the Amazon-provided templates, I find formatting a print book is simply a copy and paste exercise).
- Amazon Ads – Those who want to get serious about marketing can now pay (according to the number of clicks on their ad) for the books to show up when shoppers use specific search terms.
Does anyone else think Amazon KDP is getting easier and more user-friendly?
If you’re contemplating self-publishing, Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners does what it says on the tin. It will hold your hand and guide you through the various topics and processes you should know about before you take the plunge.
These reviews sum it up:
“My third time of re-reading this excellent how-to book and getting more out of it each time.” – Tektron.
“This book is clear and concise and is a very good guide for beginners. Topics are clearly explained and are well covered.” – John Parnham.
On Submission! (Again)
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Non-fiction, Self-publishing, Successes on November 23, 2021
463434 © Judwick | Dreamstime.com
For the greater part of this year I’ve been working with my wonderful agent, Juliet Mushens, to get my current manuscript into tip-top condition. She is now happy with it and last week it went out into the big wide world of publishers. My fingers are firmly crossed but, as I know from my experience two years ago, there is many slip between cup and lip. I’m not saying much about the actual story except there are no murders and it’s infinitely more cheerful than Bedsit Three or The Promise.
Juliet recently re-opened to submissions if you’re currently querying agents and think she might be a good fit for you.
I’ve also continued writing occasional articles for The People’s Friend and was asked to pitch ideas this week for Christmas 2022! As I’ve said before, finding the ideas is by far the hardest part of article writing. Correction: finding ideas that haven’t already been covered in some shape or form by a magazine with such a long history is the hardest part of article writing. The good part about writing for The People’s Friend is the quick response to most pitches – I usually get a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ within a week to ten days and the ‘pitch black hole’ of many publications is non-existent.
There are submission guidelines on The People’s Friend website if you fancy having a go at writing features for them.
Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners was selected by Amazon as one of November’s Kindle Deals. Amazon have discounted the book to 99p and given it a little bit of a push. So far it has sold about three times more than in October which is good! And it’s currently got orange bestseller flags in both the Amazon Electronic Publishing and Digital Media categories. But at 99p my royalty rate drops to 30% so financially I won’t make any more money, however I’m hoping the boost the Deal has given me will generate a head start for December when the price returns to normal.
If you’d like to nominate any of your books for an Amazon Deal, go to your Amazon bookshelf and click the Marketing tab along the top of the page. Scroll down to see the option to nominate your e-books. It’s free of charge and so worth a try. There’s more information on the Amazon help pages.
Now I’ll stop typing so that I can cross my fingers again!
An Update on Me
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Books, Lifestyle, Non-fiction, Self-publishing on August 9, 2021
What’s been going on in my writing life recently?
At the end of June I completed the second round of agent edits on my current WIP and submitted the manuscript again. Over the last few weeks I’ve been biting my nails while I wait to hear if more work is needed or whether the novel has reached the standard for submission to publishers. You may remember that a previous manuscript went out to publishers a couple of years ago but failed to sell.
While I wait for the verdict I’ve found it difficult to get back into fiction (a new novel or short stories), so I’ve been doing bits and pieces of non-fiction writing.
I’ve taken the opportunity to update Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners. The book was first published back in 2014 and has consistently been one of my best-sellers. Every year or so, I’ve re-read it and made changes/additions/deletions to reflect the ever changing landscape of self-publishing on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback format. It contains lots of useful information if you’re thinking of self-publishing for the first time.
I’ve also written a few articles for The People’s Friend. The hardest part of this (like any writing, I think) is generating ideas that are appropriate to the readership and haven’t already been covered in the magazine before. The magazine holds weekly editorial meetings and so I usually get a ‘yes’ or, more likely, a ‘no’ on ideas quickly. The downside is it’s no longer possible to earn any ALCS money on articles or short stories published in the magazine.
In June I had my first post-lockdown holiday. My husband and I walked the first five stages of the Cost to Coast. We started at St Bees and finished at Kirkby Stephen five days later. Physically it was much more difficult than we’d envisaged but great to finally get away. I took notes along the way and am currently turning those notes into a short e-book. It will be partly a personal experience narrative and partly resources for those planning to do the walk themselves. If you enjoy walking (or are just nosy about what other people get up to on their holidays) watch this space!
Finally I’ve recently got into the crime novels of Jane Harper. Jane was born in the UK but now lives in Australia. Her novels are set in the Australian outback which gives them quite a different feel to more urban murder stories. I started with The Lost Man and am now half-way through The Dry. In 2014 a short story submitted by Jane was included in the Big Issue’s annual Fiction Edition. This inspired her to pursue creative writing more seriously. Big things from little acorns grow!
An Update on Me
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Self-publishing, Writing on March 9, 2021
I’ve been rather quiet about my own literary endeavours of late, so here’s a quick update.
Pre-Covid Memories from March 2020
At the beginning of February the first three chapters and synopsis of last year’s NaNoWriMo manuscript generated a call for the full manuscript from my agent. Since then I’ve been working on bringing the rest of the manuscript up to scratch. Today I pressed ‘send’ and now have around six weeks to wait for the verdict.
I’ve also completed a training course (via Zoom) to become a Shared Reading Group Leader. I’m looking forward to the end of restrictions and the opportunity to get a real-life group started.
So what do I do while I wait for the above two things to come to fruition? I’ve made a little list of possibilities. They won’t all get done but, hopefully, the list will mean I don’t waste too much time procrastinating:
- Complete article commissioned by The People’s Friend
- Chase up pitches outstanding with other publications.
- Attempt to win my way to the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School by entering their short story competition.
- Publish my short story collections on Kobo when the relevant KDP Select enrolments end. This will involve sourcing new covers. Kobo cited the existing covers as a factor in stopping the books being accepted into their promotions.
- Investigate whether I have enough short stories to publish another collection.
- Revisit the categories/keywords on my existing KDP publications.
- Update Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners.
Watch this space to find out how I get on!
What’s everyone else working on? Are you a list-person or do you just go where the whim takes you?
Kobo Writing Life Publishing for Absolute Beginners
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Computers & Technical, Self-publishing on May 26, 2020
Many of you are familiar with my e-book Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners. Now there is a sister publication: Kobo Writing Life Publishing for Absolute Beginners. Both books are structured in a similar way, taking the novice e-publisher from the definition of an e-book and deciding what to write to uploading a manuscript to either Amazon or Kobo and using the marketing tools provided by these respective platforms.
The idea for the Kobo Writing Life book was born after a consultation with Tara Cremin, a Kobo Author Experience Manager, about making the most of the Kobo platform.
Kobo is based in Canada and has a large audience share there and in Australia. The company’s market share is also growing very fast in the Netherlands and Kobo’s partnerships with bookshops around the world, including Bookworld in New Zealand and FNAC in France and Portugal, are a factor in its increasing popularity. Importantly for self-published authors, in 2019 one in four of the titles sold by Kobo in Canada was by an independent author published through Kobo Writing Life. This love of new independent voices is a growing trend across Kobo’s major markets. More than 30 per cent of the titles sold in Australia are from independent self-published authors, 27 per cent in the United States, and 20 per cent in the United Kingdom. These statistics are a compelling reason for making your book available on the Kobo platform. Another good reason is that Kobo Writing Life is one of the easiest and friendliest e-publishing platforms to deal with. Kobo has a personal touch with authors that Amazon often lacks. If you have any questions, Kobo Writing Life is very approachable which means that some writers choose to cut their e-publishing teeth with Kobo instead of publishing on Amazon first.
Amongst other things Kobo Writing Life Publishing for Absolute Beginners explains how Kobo can make your e-book available for purchase by public libraries via Overdrive and how to get access to promotions run by Kobo where your book may be mixed in with titles on sale from major publishers. In common with the original KDP book, it also covers more general e-publishing topics such as how to obtain a book cover and writing a series of books. This is in order to fully inform the newbie e-publisher.
Kobo Writing Life Publishing for Absolute Beginners is available on Kindle and Kobo.
And I’m delighted to say that Kobo Writing Life Publishing for Absolute Beginners is currently featured on Kobo’s Best Books for Writers page.
In tandem with producing the Kobo e-book I have also revised Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners for 2020. The tweaks are mostly small, the only major change is the removal of VAT from e-books sold in the UK. This means that the 35% KDP royalty rate now applies to books priced from 77p to £1.76 and the 70% royalty rate is from £1.77 to £9.99.
The revised version of Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners is available now from Amazon.
Achieve Your Writing Goals
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Events, Self-publishing, Successes on August 26, 2017
Back in May I went on a day course in London run by the very successful Joanna Penn and Orna Ross entitled How to Make a Living (and a Life) from Writing. 
We covered lots of topics to do with writing, publishing, money, income streams etc and I came away inspired. Needless to say, these things take time and I’m not yet (!) making a living from writing. However, I wanted to tell you about one very simple but motivating exercise that we did.
At the end of the day each course participant was given a sheet of paper and asked to note down their writing goals for the next three months. We were also given a stamped envelope, asked to address it to ourselves and put our sheet of writing goals inside. Joanna and Orna collected the envelopes, stored them for three months and then posted them.
My list of goals arrived through the letterbox a couple of weeks ago. I couldn’t remember exactly what targets I’d set myself (they’d been written at the end of a long day when I was full of enthusiasm for everything I’d just learned) so I was prepared to see a list of over-ambitious stuff I hadn’t done. But there was a nice surprise – all three goals had been achieved:
- Started the publishing process for my second grip-lit novel, The Promise. At the time I wrote this goal the novel was under consideration by The Book Guild and I’d decided that if they turned it down I would embark on the self-publishing route rather than join the masses knocking at every agent’s door. Happily, The Book Guild felt The Promise had commercial potential and I’ve now seen the cover (it will be revealed it in a later post), had a lovely endorsement by crime writer Judith Cutler and had the typeset proofs. Publication day is 28th January 2018!
- Create a boxed set of my three short story collections in e-book and paperback format. Done and blogged about. The proof (should you need it) is on Amazon and Kobo in the form of A Coffee Break Story Collection : 36 Short Stories
- Update Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners to reflect the lessons learned as I created the paperback version of the boxed set and also to include other changes in KDP since I’d last updated the book. A tick for that one as well! The updated book is now available.
Last weekend I exchanged my next set of goals with my writing buddy, Helen Yendall (we managed to talk writing for 4 hours – can you believe that?!) and we’ll meet again in November to see how we did.
Do you make goals? How do you make yourself accountable?
International Women’s Day 2016
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Events, Self-publishing on March 14, 2016
Last week I took part in an event for International Women’s Day organised by Birmingham Adult Education Service . 
I was asked to speak about something to do with women and writing. Women are flourishing in the field of self-publishing so that’s the area I chose to focus on.
An early female ‘self-publisher’ was Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility was only taken by the London publisher Thomas Egerton on the condition that the Austen family made good any losses suffered by the book if it didn’t sell. In my mind that equates to self-publishing because the author was taking all the financial risk. This story removes much of the stigma attached to self-publishing – showing that even classic writers have done it.
Jump forward 200 years and books by indie women authors are outselling those by men. An article in the Guardian stated that in early 2015 67% of the top-ranking self-published books were by women, compare that to the Telegraph’s ‘Best Books of 2014’ list – 70% of those were by men.
This article in the Daily Mail showcases three women who’ve sold thousands of their books on Kindle. We all know that they are the exception but they provide inspiration to the rest of us and show that it is possible, with hard work and an understanding of the marketplace, to make it big.
Having (hopefully) enthused my audience with these facts, I went on to give them a whistle stop guide to self-publishing on Kindle, based on Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners. Afterwards a couple of ladies came and told me that they’d been inspired which was very gratifying.
Just in case I’ve inspired you too, my non-fiction e-books on writing are both only 99p/99c (UK & US only) until Sunday 20th March 2016. And men are allowed to make use of them too!
Sally Jenkins 