Last night, Rebekah and I attended a presentation on KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) at the Joliet Public Library.
We're not new to KDP or self-publishing overall. We've been self-publishing books since 2011, and we have used a couple different companies.
However, we ARE much more familiar with Createspace and have encountered some issues with a few titles (mostly the Bertrand the Mouse picture books) that Amazon migrated from Createspace to KDP, necessitating a few phone calls.
So, since the presentation was free, we attended, hoping for a deep exploration of KDP. Instead, the presenter walked participants through the basic steps, which was a good introduction for people who are new to self-publishing.
I should mention here that Rebekah is not always on board in the moment about helping me out with some of the technical aspects (at which she excels). And when I mentioned about attending this program, she didn't exactly balk, but she didn't do handsprings either.
Ordinarily, she would still be at work when it started. But she had some professional development that day and knew she'd be home early. So we signed up.
Now on many nights, we go walking in the evening. And last night was a perfect night for it. So we were mildly disappointed at missing it. During the break, Rebekah bought M and Ms (which she shared with me) and a cold bottle of water for me.
We had a brief discussion at leaving and then decided to stay. We had, after all, just bought the M and Ms.
During the section of the talk on KDP's cover creator, and how some of the templates won't let you continue without an author cover on the back (which is a no-no for me), Rebekah shared with me how she bypassed it on two of my recent books. The result is at the very bottom of this post.
Afterwards, I talked to one of the participants who had a few questions. And I provided her with information about WriteOn Joliet.
While I was talking to her, the library did a drawing for a Kindle Fire. And suddenly, Rebekah was very happy she had attended.
Finally, the "author photo" does appear on the last two Bertrand the Mouse books. And here it is!
I'm going to leave it as an "editorial decision" on Rebekah's part. No objection from Bertrand!
We're not new to KDP or self-publishing overall. We've been self-publishing books since 2011, and we have used a couple different companies.
However, we ARE much more familiar with Createspace and have encountered some issues with a few titles (mostly the Bertrand the Mouse picture books) that Amazon migrated from Createspace to KDP, necessitating a few phone calls.
So, since the presentation was free, we attended, hoping for a deep exploration of KDP. Instead, the presenter walked participants through the basic steps, which was a good introduction for people who are new to self-publishing.
I should mention here that Rebekah is not always on board in the moment about helping me out with some of the technical aspects (at which she excels). And when I mentioned about attending this program, she didn't exactly balk, but she didn't do handsprings either.
Ordinarily, she would still be at work when it started. But she had some professional development that day and knew she'd be home early. So we signed up.
Now on many nights, we go walking in the evening. And last night was a perfect night for it. So we were mildly disappointed at missing it. During the break, Rebekah bought M and Ms (which she shared with me) and a cold bottle of water for me.
We had a brief discussion at leaving and then decided to stay. We had, after all, just bought the M and Ms.
During the section of the talk on KDP's cover creator, and how some of the templates won't let you continue without an author cover on the back (which is a no-no for me), Rebekah shared with me how she bypassed it on two of my recent books. The result is at the very bottom of this post.
Afterwards, I talked to one of the participants who had a few questions. And I provided her with information about WriteOn Joliet.
While I was talking to her, the library did a drawing for a Kindle Fire. And suddenly, Rebekah was very happy she had attended.
Finally, the "author photo" does appear on the last two Bertrand the Mouse books. And here it is!
I'm going to leave it as an "editorial decision" on Rebekah's part. No objection from Bertrand!
