It went well.
As promised, I received the completed files for my e-book and paperback right on time, August 24th.
Everything looked good. One PDF, two JEPGS, and one EPUB, designed for an ebook and a paperback version (5 x 8).
Every piece of advice I read stated that when using both KDP and Instagram, two things were important. The first was to upload to KDP first. The second was to make sure that you don't check expanded distribution in KDP. Okay then.
There are so many ways to self publish, and my goal here is to learn the basics of the entire process. I expect to make mistakes as I go along, or, if not actual mistakes, just maybe learn that the way I've chosen to do this first book may or may not be the way to go in my next book. Either way, I can't claim a lack of information, it's ALL out there. I just have to figure out what works in me. I'll let you know how situation goes.
Anyway, everything I read said that KDP is the easier interface, but expect to get error messages and if you do, PAY ATTENTION TO EVERY ONE. It was with some trepidation that I attempted to load my information for the ebook. I was pleasantly surprised when I had only four items come up as possible errors, and none of them were. KDP was questioning the spelling of four gibberish words, and that was it.
So, after looking at the preview, I approved the upload. Just like that.
I set the ebook up with a release date of 11/1. KDP offers pre-orders on e-books (not paperbacks), so I opted in for pre-orders. Then I went to my bare bones website (www.carolmaticbooks.com), and added another section with a preorder button that links to the book's site on Amazon. To my wonder (I will post another time on what was involved in getting and setting up a website, I haven't got the strength for it tonight).
After that, I uploaded the files for the paperback, which also went smoothly. I did an online preview, then ordered two ARC copies through my author site. They should arrive this Saturday. I'll let you know how that goes as well.
Here was my biggest problem so far in loading the two versions of the book.
Categories.
I spent a fair amount of time previous to reading up on KDP categories, how important they were, how to make sure that you chose the most appropriate ones. Other indie authors placed great emphasis on a book's standing in the chosen categories. I, personally, have never even looked at that information when ordering books, but, hey, maybe it is a factor. I'll learn as I go along.
The problem I had with selecting categories was this. Prior to actually loading my books information, I went through the KDP site and reviewed all the categories, so when the time came I would have my list on hand to load them. My problem was that KDP didn't (or I didn't understand something that I should have) offer me the same extensive list of categories. When I got to that section of the upload, it offered a greatly abbreviated list, which did not even include all the categories I wanted. I couldn't find any other way to input a category except by the drop down box, so I just went ahead and picked the closest of the offered bunch. I'm going to have to delve further into this, but in the meantime, there are what they are.
The saving grace here was that I got seven keyword/phrase entries to add, and I am happy with the ones I entered (you pick your own keywords), so we'll see.
Next step: learning all about ARCs .
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