The Author's Manual

By David Waine

This new, revised edition of 'The Author's Manual' expands greatly on the original to include detailed instructions on how to create a Kindle ebook and paperback, using Kindle Create, as well as producing epubs and paperbacks with Word, Atlantis, Pages and Sigil, all to professional standards. It is a simple, step by step guide for new authors finding their way in the world of self-publishing. It also includes tips on creating and editing the book as well as marketing it effectively. It is a one-stop manual for the first time author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Waine
• Release date: May 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781386058588

David Waine

David Waine was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 1949. He is the youngest of three brothers, all of whom went on to become teachers like their father. It was during his teaching career that he developed an interest in writing, initially plays, and his adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' was performed at the Cockpit Theatre in London (the forerunner of Shakespeare's Globe) as part of the Globe Theatre restoration in 1991. He took up novel writing after leaving the profession, and his first published work, The Planning Officers appeared in 2011. He lives with his wife in the foothills of the Pennines. www.davidwaineauthor.com

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THE AUTHOR’S MANUAL

A Treatise for Self-Published Authors

By

David Waine

Turnspit Dog Publishing

© David Waine 2019

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This is a non-fiction work. Apple and Pages are trademarks of Apple Inc. and are used without permission. Amazon, Kindle Direct Publishing, KDP, KDP Print, Kindlegen, Fire and Kindle Create are trademarks of Amazon.com Inc. and are used without permission. Google, Android and YouTube are trademarks of Google.com Inc. and are used without permission. Microsoft, Microsoft office, Microsoft Word and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation and are used without permission. Apple, Apple Books, iPad and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc. and are used without permission. Barnes and Noble and Nook are trademarks of Barnes and Noble Inc. and are used without permission. Kobo is a trademark of Rakuten Kobo Inc. and is used without permission. Atlantis Word Processor is a trademark of Taras Push and is used without permission. Smashwords is a trademark of Smashwords Inc. and is used without permission. Draft2Digital is a trademark of Draft2Digital.com and is used without permission. Lulu is a trademark of Lulu Press Inc. and is used without permission. Sigil is the intellectual property of Kevin Hendricks and Doug Massay, and is used without permission. Calibre is the intellectual property of Kovid Goyal and is used without permission. Adobe Digital Editions is a trademark of Adobe Inc. and is used without permission. Shutterstock is a trademark of Shutterstock and is used without permission.

No challenge to any trademark or intellectual property is expressed or implied. The comments in this work are entirely those of the author. No criticism of the above organisations or products is expressed or implied. None of the above organisations has commissioned or endorsed this product. All mentions and screenshots of the above organisations and products are on a fair use basis.

David Waine has asserted his moral rights.

No part of this work may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the copyright holder.

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www.davidwaineauthor.com

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First published 2019

This edition published 2022

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Dedication

To my wife, Helen, and our sons, Michael and Paul

CONTENTS

THE AUTHOR’S MANUAL

PART 1. INTRODUCTION

PART 2: PREPARATION

2a. SOFTWARE

2b. RESEARCH

2c. MASTER DOCUMENT

PART 3: WRITE

3a. TYPES OF AUTHOR

3b. BACK-UP

3c. TYPES OF BOOK

3d. SPELLING, GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION

3e. STYLE

3f. PLOT AND CHARACTERISATION

3g. DESCRIPTION

3h. THINGS TO BEAR IN MIND

PART 4: EDIT

4a. EDITING PROCEDURES

PART 5: PUBLISH

5a. PREPARE THE BOOK FOR PUBLICATION

5b. DIRECT EBOOK UPLOAD IN WORD FORMAT

5c. EBOOK AND PRINT VIA WORD AND KINDLE CREATE

5d. EBOOK VIA ATLANTIS

5e. EBOOK VIA PAGES

5f. EBOOK WITH SIGIL

5g. PRINTED EDITION (NOT-KINDLE CREATE)

5h. PDF WITH WORD OR ATLANTIS

5i. UPLOAD EBOOK TRIM COPY

5j. UPLOAD PRINT EDITION(S)

PART 6: PROMOTE

6a. WEBSITE

6b. PROMOTION

PART 7: EARN

PART 8: FINALLY

ANOTHER ALLEGIANCE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PART 1. INTRODUCTION

WRITING A BOOK properly is not easy. Let us be clear about that before we go any further. Many people set out intending to write a best-seller but precious few achieve it.

There are two reasons for that.

One is talent, or more often, the lack of it. The other is the drive to meet the demands of the work. This is also missing in most cases. That may seem a harsh judgement, but I am not lying. Anyone who has never written a book can have no idea of the demands it will make of them.

Until they try.

Literature is a form of expression that brings out the genius in us — or at least as close to genius as most of us are ever likely to aspire. It isn’t just a question of being clever, or good at what we do. Genius goes beyond that. It defies the petty classification to which lesser people try to subject it. There is something intangible about it that raises it beyond such things. Thomas Edison defined genius as 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Despite the numerical disparity, they are of equal importance, and neither cannot achieve its potential without the other. Not a bad definition, that. Most of us can manage the 99% perspiration if we really set our minds to it, but the 1% inspiration eludes all but the talented. Equally, if you are lucky enough to be among the 1%, but you are not willing to supply the other 99, you will never write a good book.

We have all heard of the glass ceiling, although usually in a different context. It is a metaphorical barrier through which the majority cannot pass. We can see what lies beyond it, but we cannot go there. It takes talent and drive to do that. In the book world, this has nothing to do with a writer’s gender, merely their ability. It is talent that shows us how to break through the glass ceiling and drive that gives us the strength and determination to do it.

If you succeed, there is no limit to what you can achieve. The most successful authors receive huge sums for sitting at a computer and tapping out a story. Surely, anybody can do that? True. Anybody can, but there is a world of difference between tapping out a story and writing Literature.

Consider this as an analogy. Premier League footballers are paid huge wages for kicking a ball around a field. At first sight, that may seem a valid criticism until you consider that those who berate them usually know nothing about market forces. Or football, for that matter. Place a ball at their feet and ask them to play to the same level. See if they can.

They can’t, and they never will, even if given the same training and support. Why? Because the ability to do that is rare, and rarity has a value — especially in any area related to entertainment. Although anybody can play football, only a handful have the ability to play at the highest level. That means that they can name their price.

Why are they paid so much more than, for example, a midwife? No disrespect to midwives intended. This is where market forces come into play. Who does the more important job? She does, obviously. Lives may depend on her. Who works harder? The midwife again, in all probability. Labour often lasts many hours and she must be present and giving of her support, skills and empathy throughout. Footballers do not work long hours, although those that they put in are much more physically intense than the majority of us ever experience.

All of this is irrelevant in the marketplace. We are not paid according to how hard we work or how worthy our job is. We never have been. Regardless of the merits of the two occupations, people will not turn up in their tens of thousands and pay money to watch a midwife deliver babies, no matter how well she does it, but they will do exactly that to watch a star footballer perform. That is why the most successful entertainers are so highly paid, and why people who are arguably more deserving are not.

At the time of writing, a top player can cost tens of millions of pounds on the transfer market, and hundreds of thousands, per year in wages. Over the time that he stays with a club, however, he will more than pay for himself in gate receipts, prize money and sponsorship. On top of that, the club can get its outlay back when they sell him on. Thus, they make a healthy profit on the deal, so it makes business sense. The midwife, on the other hand, costs far less over the same period but generates no income for her employer whatsoever. She is a drain on resources — albeit an essential one, of course, because she provides a vital service.

That is how market forces operate.

Authors are no different. The most successful have become seriously rich on the back of the work they have done. That is because it has enormous market appeal. It isn’t a question of how hard they worked to achieve it or how worthy they are as human beings.

For the other 99% of us, it is different, unfortunately.

Like many independent writers, I tried and failed to engage the interest of an agent or publisher for years. Many authors could tell a similar story. They rarely tell you why they have turned you down, just that it is not for them. Even successful writers often struggled to attract a publisher early in their careers. Submissions can be rejected for any number of reasons, however, not just because they are no good. Do not forget that, although publishers are the face of the Book World, they are its commercial arm — salespeople. Their overriding concern is whether a book will sell. That is why inferior, but saleable books are sometimes published while better, but less commercial works are rejected.

Every so often, of course, a new writer creates something so compelling that a publisher decides to take a risk on them lest a rival should sign them up and uncover a gold mine. A hugely successful series about a teenage wizard is a case in point. The opening book of that series went through many, many submissions before it was accepted. Those cases are rare, however. Publishers are reluctant to invest in somebody no one has ever heard of. Regardless of how good your work is, you represent a financial risk to them. Writing might be your life, but it is their business, and their bottom line is profit.

All publishers accept submissions from new writers from time to time, and some encourage it, but they are usually inundated with the things, and they have only a limited number of human beings available to read them. This creates a lengthy queue with you at the wrong end. Even if you are accepted, you may still face a considerable wait before your work goes on sale. Even then, there is no guarantee of success.

There is none in self-publishing either, of course, although you will be spared the wait. There again, being conventionally published does give a writer a degree of credibility, which the independent is denied, at least to begin with. That is a powerful reason to create your own.

Nevertheless, I must be honest here. Not being good enough is the most common reason for rejection. If the author does not have the innate aptitude and the drive to make their work as good as it can be, it won’t be up to much.

If that sounds harsh, I make no apology. It is the truth.

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THIS GUIDE WAS created by an independently published author for the benefit of others hoping to do the same. In it, I will discuss the nuts and bolts of how I go about creating, editing, publishing and marketing a novel, in both electronic and printed forms. I stress that these are my methods, my preferences and my opinions, all gleaned from experience. They are not fundamental principles, applicable to all. My recommendations are suggestions only. What you do is your choice. Much will depend on the sort of individual that you are and how you like to work. All I am saying is that I have tested them thoroughly and found them to be effective and reliable. If they suit you, that is fine. If they don’t, that is also fine.

Read it through or dip into it, as required. It is a practical guide, aimed, primarily, at the first-time author. It assumes that you have little knowledge, other than a basic familiarity with a computer and that you might benefit from a refresher course in the use of English and how best to employ it in creative writing. Please don’t be offended by that. I have seen too many independently published books written by people who should have paid more attention to their English teachers when at school. If you don’t need the refresher, you can always skip that section.

I recommend reading it while sitting at your computer with a document open on screen. Whenever I give an instruction, try it for yourself and see what happens. It doesn’t matter if you mess the whole thing up. As long as you don’t save the document, the original will remain unaltered. That is the best way to learn.

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SOME INDEPENDENT WRITERS are experts. Some know less than they think. The writers’ forums on the Kindle Direct Publishing website are full of authors giving advice to newcomers. In fairness, there is a lot of good advice there, but not all of it is wise or knowledgeable. You will need to be discerning and test their suggestions before submitting your work. I don’t claim to be all-knowing, but experience is the best teacher of all, and I have years of it. Everything that I recommend in this book does what I say it does.

Writers have been publishing their own work since the first alphabet appeared back in the Bronze Age but, until recently, it was only on a very small scale. It was the introduction of the Amazon Kindle in 2007 that finally gave the independent writer a chance to build a career. A minimal chance, to be sure, but a chance.

On the face of it, the Kindle is just another ebook reader. It wasn’t the first on the market, but that did not stop it from becoming the company’s biggest selling product or from launching what has become an industry in its own right.

So how did Amazon jump-start a revolution in self-publishing? Today, the company sells all sorts of things, but it launched originally as an Internet-based book store in 1994. The expansion into electronic publishing was a natural progression for them. At the time, other major booksellers tended to regard their e-readers as sidelines. Amazon saw the potential of the platform early and went all out to develop it by setting up a subsidiary to handle self-publishing for the Kindle. This was Kindle Direct Publishing — or KDP, for short. Where they scored particularly was in their distribution system. You don’t need an actual Kindle to read Kindle ebooks. The app can be downloaded, free, to computers (Windows and Mac), tablets (iPad and Android - and already present on the Fire) as well as smartphones (iPhone and Android). This gave Kindle immediate dominance over its rivals. It has retained that dominance ever since by developing the product continuously and backing it up with an enormous library of affordable and even free material. The second-biggest player in the marketplace, Apple, use their iPad tablet and iPhone to double as e-readers. As the Kindle App can be downloaded to both, millions of owners simply add it rather than purchase a Kindle. Add to that all those who use Android devices, and the Kindle has access to a much greater market share than is initially apparent.

Not to all of it, though.

Fortunately, there is no insurmountable problem in submitting your work to the devices not accessed by Kindle (i.e. Kobo, Nook and online libraries). All take the epub standard file format, as does Apple if you don’t want to rely on iPad users downloading the Kindle App.

Self-publishing is a two-edged sword. On the plus side, your book goes on sale, and worldwide. Conversely, you must market it yourself because you are the publisher. Today, marketing can be done over the Internet and in every country, which is a massive improvement on the previous situation of trying to hawk a handful of printed books around as many independent bookshops as you could reach.

That doesn’t mean that everything will fall into place for you automatically. Writing and publishing a