Self-publishing an ebook: Where to Start

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I've decided for my first book I want to start small and self-publish. So I'm writing a pretty simple book that will pair well with my later intended longer book. I want to self-publish this simple book, but I have no idea where to even start. Is there a book, guide, website, anything that could show me exactly what to do from the time my book is written to my first sale? I know I want to put it on Amazon Kindle, but other than that I haven't made any decisions. I need guidance and ideas on everything from formatting to getting an isbn to where I should even sell my ebook. I'm willing to pay for a great guide or website or book, but I want to know it is worth it before I spend my money. Maybe one of you have already created such an item :)
 

Ann Joyce

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Sarah, the very best advice I can give you is this: Go read the 9th sticky down right here in 'Publishing: Print, Digital, Papyrus, or Clay' titled "Index of Self-Publishing Diaries..." by Old Hack. These are people's actual experiences in self-pubbing and will cover all of the things you asked about and more. There is a wealth of information there; you'll feel like you hit a vein of gold. I hope everything goes well for you.
 

merrihiatt

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Seconding Ann's wise counsel. I would also suggest, since you are just starting your journey, you may want to find out about all forms of publishing before you decide to self-publish. You may find trade publishing or smaller e-publishers can offer you more than self-publishing. Alternately, it may simply reinforce your decision to self-publish. Knowledge is power. Good luck to you.
 

mcsolas

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Ahhhh.. thank you! I kept searching in this forum to revisit this post and couldn't find it. I forgot it was in the FAQ section:
[Ebook Production] Basic HTML

Also downloading the The Smashwords Style Guide now which was linked to in another FAQ just below that one.

Here is another good link that relates to publishing on Kindle: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A1KSPVAI36UUC1

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One question I have relates to previewing the work. Is there a way to preview how the book will appear on a kindle reader if you don't have one? I have the Kindle for Mac app installed on my machine here.
 
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mcsolas

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Thanks. I am downloading that app to give it a look. After posting I went over the publishing requirements in more detail and I have my work cut out for me to get my book into a Kindle friendly format. This will definitely help while I work out how to handle compressing images and reformatting my tables.
 
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