Well, not only has the publishing world changed, but manuscipt formatting has also undergone a transformation. Finally, after schooling myself on the rapidly changing world of indie publishing, I've gotten to the point of formatting my novel St. Anne's Day for Smashwords, Kindle and CreateSpace.
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| I'm on Kindle! |
The process was relatively painless--although I have been working with Microsoft Word forever. For others not so familiar with word processing, it may seem a bit confusing. However, Smashwords Style Guide was a great aid as was my "bible" Dollars and Sense: The Definitive Guide to Self-Publishing Success. I thought the CreateSpace instructions were a bit vague, but perhaps that is to encourage you to buy their formatting services. With a little adjustment, I was able to upload there without much trouble as well. Now I'm waiting on my cover from my designer so I can "go public" on Amazon.
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| homeaccentstoday.com photo |
One thing I will do differently now that I've been through this far of the process is ditch the manuscript format. Headers, page numbers, etc. are useless when indie publishing. Also, when it comes to indenting paragraphs, double spacing, and page breaks, I'm no longer going to include them, because when you convert the files, you end up taking them out anyway.
So for all of you embarking on prepping a new manuscript, it's time to break the manuscript format mold.
**Look for the debut of St. Anne's Day on the July 26, St. Anne's Day. Please sign up for my emails so I can keep you up-to-date on my progress. I plan free downloads for those who sign up for the newsletter!
***One bright note. Although the book is up on Kindle and Smashwords, I'm still reading through those versions to make sure everything converted right. But today I got my first sale through Smashwords without even letting anyone know that it was there.
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