Kindle Scout’s potential landmines

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LAST UPDATED 9 September 2015 Back in October 2104, when Kindle Scout was first launched, I wrote a blog post of my opinion on the program. I also directed readers to Writer Beware’s post evaluating the program’s contract. Recently, I was approached by a journalist for my current opinion on the program, and the request made me take a look at the contract myself, a contract that was updated just recently, on 3 March 2015. In it I found two items in particular that raised a red flag for me, Read More …

Changes to EU VAT affect all sellers, not just Amazon

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In my previous post on the January 2105 changes to the VAT system in the EU, the focus is on Amazon since the VAT changes mean a change to Kindle Direct Publishing’s pricing system and royalty structure. However, authors need to be aware that these changes do not affect only Amazon, they affect all ebook sellers across the EU. Kobo’s system is currently VAT-inclusive for the EU, so authors will not see a change to Kobo’s system; however, authors will see a change to their royalty payments since VAT is Read More …

Third edition of The Global Indie Author now available in Canada

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Well, after much trial and tribulation, the third edition of The Global Indie Author is out now in Canada. Readers can find it on Chapters/Indigo and Amazon.ca. By the way, that “Usually delivers in 3-5 weeks” declaration on the Amazon.ca website is nonsense; the book delivers in less than a week. The extended delivery time is just part of Amazon/CreateSpace’s strategy against competitor Lightning Source, which, incidentally, is covered in detail in the book. If you want to avoid supporting Amazon, buy from the Chapters/Indigo website, where the book is Read More …

Third Edition of The Global Indie Author is now available in U.S. and Europe

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The third edition of The Global Indie Author is out now in print on Amazon U.S., UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. All other territories coming soon! eBooks are also on the way. As mentioned in my previous post, the third edition features a new cover, new subtitle — to reflect the truly global phenomenon that self-publishing has become — and a great deal of new content (over 80 pages). The technical chapters have been completely overhauled to deal with the complexities of image handling, the increasing frustrations of font Read More …

B&N’s new Nook Press: who owns your ebook?

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Barnes and Noble’s new Nook Press platform is making headlines among bloggers, but what I haven’t seen addressed yet is what happens to your original content if you decide to leave Nook Press. The Terms and Conditions state that: You hereby grant to Barnes & Noble, its distributors, licensees and partners a non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable right and license to make your eBooks available for sale, marketing, display, distribution and promotion in any commercially available electronic or digitized format or on any electronic device platform whether now existing or hereafter created Read More …

Should indie authors embrace Kindle Format 8? Not yet.

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UPDATE DECEMEBER 2013: Kindle Format 8, when properly coded into your CSS, is now more stable across the Kindle platform for those devices able to read it. However, authors using Word and exporting to HTML, then uploading to Amazon for automatic conversion, cannot take advantage of this stability. Why? Because Word unfortunately does not create the kind of CSS required for proper KF8. For example, the drop cap in Word is created using a form of table code that does not translate well across Kindle devices. To create a proper Read More …

KDP authors can now download mobi files to test before publishing

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Amazon have made yet another unannounced change to the Kindle Direct Publishing author interface, this time to preview files. Previously, when an author uploaded a file to their dashboard, they had the option to download an HTML version to test and, if necessary, edit. This option to download an HTML file is gone, replaced with the option to download a mobi file. Authors now have two options to preview: the Simple Previewer, which is the same e-ink previewer as before; and the Enhanced Previewer, which is actually just the same Read More …