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SELF PUBLISHING! A Tutorial
Self publishing sounds great, but what are the steps?
The following is a brief tutorial on E-publishing
 STEP 1. Getting Started
Of course the first step is to write your book. Do your research, create your ideas and then put them on paper. Be sure to have an electronic copy, preferably in the form of a good word processing software. We recommend Microsoft Word for compatibility.
 STEP 2. Edit your copy
Be sure all of the punctuation is perfect, and have someone read it just for the format. When you complete the electronic copy, there are a few things that you should be cognizant of that may be slightly different from what you would do in a print edition because reading on a computer screen is much more difficult than reading from paper.
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Use one space only between the period of one sentence and the start of the next.
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Keep your writing short and to the point and avoid any filler information.
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Write your text in small blocks and leave a space between each paragraph.
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Use an easy-to-read font such as Arial or Verdana, and use black text on a white background. In addition, use white space effectively.
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Colorful borders, subject dividers and relevant images are great additions.
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Enlarge your subtitles to enhance navigation.
 STEP 3. Design Your "Cover" Carefully
Of course, there is no printed cover for an E-book, but a "cover" will appear on
your website as your entry page, and it must attract attention and create
interest just the same as a cover on a book on a shelf.
The "Cover" that you design will be a large part of
the "Look and Feel". Keep it simple, easy to understand and attractive. Use
colors that reflect the content and mood of your book. If you are
marketing online, don't assume that you don't need a "cover".
A B C STEP 4. Print Layout
Because your readers may want to print your book, you must consider the layout.
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Layout your book for 2-sided printing. That means you will have some totally blank pages within your book. For example, the back sides of chapter pages will be blank.
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Number your pages and be sure the correlate the numbers back to any index that you provide.
 STEP 5. Online Publication
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Once you have your copy, you are ready for the website to sell your book.
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After your site is set up, submit your manuscript to us as a PDF file ready to download. PDF files are a very good way to make your book available to the most people on the most computer systems. Please note that your PDF file should be optimized and images DO NOT have to be print quality.
 STEP 6. Taking Payments
There are several options for taking payments. PayPal is one solution, but there are others such as complete merchant accounts. We will help you decide on what is best for you so that you can set it up correctly.
STEP 7. Promotion and Marketing
When you are all set, it is now up to you as to how successful your sales will be.
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Domain Names
Be sure you have a top level Domain Name that begins with www.
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Search Engines
Your site must be up on the search engines, and keywords are a critical part of this process. Determine what words are likely to be use with potential customers. Then optimize your pages for those words. That means using them in the page title and about 3 times in the text.
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Cards
Make business cards with your book title and website on the card. Distribute them where ever you go.
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Local and Media Promotions
Contact your local newspaper and arrange for an interview of you about your book. If you know of other business that might promote your book, contact them. Organizations to which you belong might also have a place for your book information. Be creative and persistent.
 STEP 8. Author Websites
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Looking for an agent or print publisher?
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Do you need to promote yourself or just provide information for your loyal readers?
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Author websites are targeted to presenting you and your biography. They are simple and straight forward to provide specific information about you and your work. They can hook into your E-Book website, or even be combined with it.
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