Uploading to Amazon and Smashwords - it's easy, up to a point.

Right, I want to relay my experiences of self-publishing on Amazon.com and Smashwords.com.  For anyone who is totally new to all this, Amazon is the largest distributor of eBooks, and Smashwords is another eBook site which comes up frequently in search engines.  In fact, quite often indie book reviewers (subject to be covered in another post) ask where they can find your eBook on both sites, leaving out most others.  So I thought these two places were good to start with.

First, Amazon.

I found the whole upload process really easy, as they have a wizard which runs you through the whole process.  I started with the usual boring stuff, name, address, etc etc, then got straight to the good stuff, which is where you upload your cover design and book content.

All of these steps were really easy, but something to note:  With the cover artwork, it can arrive at your PC in a number of formats from the artist.  Mine was sent in CMYK format, and I saved it as a JPG file and uploaded it to Amazon, but it didn't look right.  The colours were way too vibrant, so something was definitely wrong.  Then I checked Amazon's submission requirements, and it turned out the JPG needed to be in RGB format, so I did a quick conversion using a Photoshop clone and re-submitted it...perfect.

Then I uploaded the book's content.  If you are using Word, which I did, then you will need to upload it in a .doc format, not .docx (the newer version of the MSOffice file format).  Basically, that's it though.  After that, you can preview the book.

Things to remember (I picked up these tips from blogs about the job Typesetters do (yeah, I wasn't prepared to pay for that either!)):

1)  For your book, choose the right font.  Here is a good link to the sorts of fonts you might like to choose.
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/07/top-font-links/

2)  It should be noted that Kindle and other e-reader users can mostly decide which font and font size they would like, so I suppose the decision it taken largely out of your hands.  However, I also wanted to publish an actual paperback with Amazon's Createspace (covered in another post), so for that I went with the Palatino font, and decided to use the same font for my eBook.

3)  I would recommend not getting carried away with fancy fonts (unless you are writing a children's book, of course).  The reason for this is your book will (hopefully) be read by many people, including those with impaired vision.  Therefore, swanky fonts that have thin bits as well as thick bits in the character set might be very difficult to read, ruining the experience for the reader, and giving you low reviews of your book.

4)  Start each new chapter on a new page.  In Word, use the "Insert Page Break" function.  Don't simply hit the ENTER key until it looks good, because if you change the content/font size/anything else, it will not marry up, and will CERTAINLY not look good when converted to Kindle format.

5)  Don't go larger that 14pt for chapter headings.  It just uses up space, and Smashwords' Autovetter absolutely hates it (I'm coming to that).

After that, my book was pretty much ready to go... with some caveats, covered later in this post.

Using Smashwords:

I found the upload process a lot less slick than Amazon's, but it's certainly not impossible.  Smashwords has an Autovetter function, which is an automated process that checks your book content over after you submit it.  Autovetter should be seen as the gatekeeper for Smashwords.  If you have errors, fix them, don't ignore them.  The reason for this is your manuscript will be passed to a more in-depth assessment process (which takes a couple of weeks) after Autovetter, so if you've not fixed the basics, you are back to square one.  Here is a useful summary of Autovetter rules & regulations, but please note a full version is available also.

http://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/52/15/smashwords-style-guide/-,Georiga

In Smashwords' favour, I like their "Dashboard", which is where you are taken after successfully uploading your ebook.  This is like the "Reports" section of Amazon (where you find out if anyone is actually buying your book), but has more detail than Amazon gives.  For example, the report contains how many people have downloaded a sample of your novel to their device (you can choose in the setup, as a percentage, how much you want to give away for free.  I used the default 20% option).  It also contains a "Libraries" field, which is where the users have added your book to their list of favourites, effectively.  It ALSO states, by drilling down, how many actual page views you have had (those who have clicked on your book to find out more).  As an ex-market-researcher, I really liked all this extra information.  If it is available on Amazon, I have not found it.  PLEASE REPLY TO THIS POST WITH MORE INFO IF YOU ARE ABLE TO HELP!

Finally, DON'T use the "Unpublish" option in the Smashwords dashboard unless you are intending to remove your book from publication permanently.  Instead, use the "Upload New Version" link if you wish to fix the Autovetter errors or update your book's content.  Removing your book from publication without good cause can seriously upset some of Smashwords' large partners, possibly damaging your reputation.  And one last thing.  Never delete your book from the dashboard and upload an updated copy of the same book.  Again, you really piss Smashwords off.

But what if you live outside the U.S.A.?

With all this relatively easy stuff, there HAD to be a problem lurking somewhere, and I just found it.  Amazon and Smashwords are U.S. companies, therefore they have some weird thing about withholding 30% of your earnings for tax purposes.  Therefore, if you don't do something about it, you will be that much poorer.  The slightly good news is the U.K. (where I live) has a tax agreement with the U.S.  Then, more bad news, as you have to write to the U.S. IRS and tell them about yourself, so they don't deduct tax from you at source.  You'll need this form http://www.irs.gov/uac/Form-W-7,-Application-for-IRS-Individual-Taxpayer-Identification-Number sent to America, then another form https://dwtr67e3ikfml.cloudfront.net/forms/itin-request.pdf, then another http://www.irs.gov/uac/Form-W-8BEN,-Certificate-of-Foreign-Status-of-Beneficial-Owner-for-United-States-Tax-Withholding.  The last two you send to Smashwords.  The last one only, you send to Amazon (plus, maybe another, like the Smashwords letter.  I've not don't that yet.  The first one you send to the U.S. IRS.  To coin an American phrase, Jeez.

OK, so forms are all sent off and my book is online for people to read!  Now it's time to sit back in my chair and wait for the money to roll in.  Yeah, right...