The Positive Side of Publishing E-books, Tiny Tidbits on Writing and Living,This Week

Girl reading an e-book
Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.com by patrisyu

The new technology never ceases to amaze me. I seem to adapt to it well. For instance reading e-books on my Kindle reader has become a part of my daily life.

According to guru Jim Edwards, amazon has the lion's share, 75%, of the sales of e-books in the world market. Every day more and more fiction and non-fiction is loaded into this powerful bookseller.

The e-book was a curiosity when I first self-pubbed my non-fiction e-book for girls in 2012. In fact, I was a bit ahead of the game in 2011 when I included links to the websites of the amazing women I interviewed and to sites about their careers. I didn't realize the technology for making them active links in e-books hadn't been developed yet. In order to visit the website, the reader would have to type it into the browser. I was thrilled when the technology was later developed so I could add hyperlinks to the pages to enrich the reader's experience.

Talk about the Positive Side of Publishing E-books! Being able to change the book and re-publish a better version is the biggest advantage for the publisher. I've done a third version of Girls Succeed! and just released it on Friday. This version has a completely different book cover that illustrates the energy and enthusiasm exuded by 9-14 year old girls, the target audience (and their moms).

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Girls Succeed! Stories Behind the Careers of Successful Women
To inspire and empower girls

I also added new hyperlinks and deleted broken ones. Gurus are suggesting adding videos to ebooks. I loved the idea of a welcoming video at the front of the book, so I added this one to introduce the women interviewed in the book. Okay, the music is pretty spunky, but remember my target audience!!!

In  addition to all these changes, I included a Reader's Guide at the end of the book making it an excellent resource for the home school curriculum and classrooms. 

These "extras" would not be available in a print book. Now you see why I am so positive about e-publishing.

Revising your word doc and uploading it again to the KDP book page is simple. After I uploaded my new doc, the new version was live on amazon within eight hours. Be patient for the new book cover to appear. It took about two days to replace the old cover. While you're at it, take the time to check your copy for the description. Maybe you can improve it to increase the interest in the book. And re-think your price for the book. All these are simple changes--just remember to tick the box to the publishing agreement again and hit PUBLISH!

Have you self-pubbed an e-book? Have you revised and re-published it again with the changes? What was your experience?

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Tidy Tidbits on Writing and Living

• Thank you to Shelley Hitz for this tip--An easy way to create the link for your book on amazon is to use this formula http://amazon.com/dp/ASIN number Here's what the link to Girls Succeed looks like 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NY6ZASTry it for your books.

• A simple way to kick up the flavor of ham and bean soup is to add ketchup to the pot.
• Use dryer sheets to wash windows and polish the car.

This Week:

Wednesday, April 6--Join in The Insecure Writers Support Group blog hop. Visit  100's of writers' blogs for inspiration, fun and wise advice.

Romamce Readers Want to Know
Every Thursday on the J.Q. Rose blog

Thursday, April 7--Sweet romance author Joselyn Vaughn answers reader's questions. Come back and ask her about her writing process.