Showing posts with label paypal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paypal. Show all posts

Monday, May 31, 2010

Self Publishing Notes For Beginners

Here's a few notes from the field, your early steps on the yellow brick road to self publishing on line.  It's simple, not to be confused with easy.  Please know that the journey is worth the drama.


HOW TO CREATE YOUR BOOK?:


Kathleen Gage has a great course on how to create a money making product. I recommend you take her class.  It's one of the few paid steps you will read me recommend in this process.


How you create your book is basically up to you. A basic outline I use for folks with research material is to take their papers and organize them so that they tell the story that leads to your conclusion.  Step away for a few days.  Come back and write an outline of your story, either on a computer or by hand. 



An old school set of computer training notes on how to use a computer are posted at www.computerhealth.org/htc, lessons 3-5 are on word processing & desk top publishing basics.  The program has been updated since these notes, but the basics are the same.  


The book publishing process is in essence you write and edit your book (or pay someone to to that for you), then make (print) a .pdf file (which is the file professional printers use to make books) of your interior. Your cover can either be made by you or use one of the online tools to build it.  Two files (cover and interior) equal one book. Printer specifications differ and they tell you about page and file size. Upload to an on demand printer and sell your books.  You can also sell cheaper ebook editions on various sites.


In most cases, setting up accounts or subscribing to a newsletter are free. Only a few of the services and sites listed come with minimal charge, especially considering the value for the dollar. This process can be done with no money down, then invest profits in sales and marketing. Choose based on your needs and budget.


Set up your accounts, follow instructions and you're on your way.  This list is limited to my experience and intended as a starting point. Use your search engines to find companies that best suit your needs.  I'll update later this spring to add more services, teachers and opportunities to promote your work. Search the web for more information on things like free press release services.  Also consider your own show on www.ustream.tv 


There are paid services on some of these sites, like CreateSpace, that offers professional editing, video making, etc. so if you have the funds go for it.  Otherwise, start with the free account and build from there.


Reorganize the information to fit in the story outline.


Edit, Edit, Edit. Add images if any. Proof, Proof, Proof. Make a .pdf and upload to www.createspace.com account.  Below are the details for after you've made your final .pdf, as per size specifications found at createspace.  


MONEY ACCOUNTS


Sign up for PayPal and start accepting credit card payments instantly.


www.bankofamerica.com (or your bank's web address i.e. www.chase.com ) to accept and make payments
www.createspace.com and/or www.lulu.com - on demand printers and book builders


SALES TOOLS


www.cafepress.com - promo items for sale
www.ebay.com - on line auction site for books an ebooks
www.jagetit.com - on line auction site
www.amazon.com - Under features and services consider registering for Amazon Associates, and Sell Your Stuff
www.clickbank.com a vehicle to sell electronic versions of your book (ebook) It's free to sell other people's products on commission and fee based to have other folks sell your books.
www.youtube.com free place to run book promos, hold classes.
www.moodle.com set up interactive classes 




MARKETING TOOLS


www.streetsmartsmarketing.com Kathleen Gage is a great resource person to help with marketing.  Sign up for her free newsletter and as soon as you can afford it, take some of her training.


www.facebook.com - free social networking tool
www.skype.com - free video phone
www.twitter.com - free social networking tool
www.myspace.com - free social networking tool
http://www.posterous.com/ - cross platform (different sites) posting 


Do an On line press kit. How to build an online marketing kit?
Free Press Release distribution www.free-press-release.com , www.prlog.org , www.newspapersol.com


This one is not free.  www.godaddy.com is an inexpensive way to hook up your own website.


Plan a virtual book tour - no cost promotion via on line radio and tv shows on ustream, youtube, cable, satellite, broadcast via Skype http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/virtual_book_tour_magic


HOOKING IT ALL UP


www.tweetdeck.com - allows you to cross post on myspace, facebook, twitter and other social media
www.linkedin.com - professional social media network.
www.google.com (your google account gets you a Youtube channel and a blogspot blog, and many other benefits,  www.hotmail.com or www.yahoo.com - to set up secondary email (consider one personal and one for business)


That will get you going. Happy Publishing.




On demand books the railroad has helped publish that use the above links  include (soon to be promoted through Kathleen Gage's system) :


On CreateSpace / Amazon


Alternative Medicine: Hemp For Victory: The Wonder Herb  by Richard M. Davis, USA Hemp Museum


Based on the USA Hemp Museum's Medical Room, this book is a tour of information, a sampling of articles and photographs explaining how medical marijuana works from the perspective of the doctors, patients, caregivers, farmers, cooks and the Physicians Desk Reference Herbal Edition.


Every medical marijuana clubs, professional and customer should take this tour and better use the hemp tool that we have.


Black History: Black People And Their Place In World History by Dr. Leroy Vaughn, MD, MBA
I met Dr. Vaughn via my cousin Lloyd Hardin when I first came to California.  He had written a series of articles for the Los Angeles Sentinel from his floor to ceiling room of Black History books.


Black history is Dr. Vaughn's passion and his insights revolutionized my life.  From his articles I learned about Black Wall Street, who the 5 other Black presidents are, Queen Nzinga, Henry Flipper and the real wild west.  This book is a combination of Dr. Vaughn's articles and photographic supporting evidence…a wonderful journey that helps with the transformation from history to truthstory.


Economics: Hemp For Victory: The Trillion Dollar Crop by Richard M. Davis, Founder & Curator
If you're tired of the whining about how we are in economic trouble as a town, state, nation and world, then this is the book for you.


This museum tour takes you on a journey among business people, professors and lawyers who make the case in plain language for the many benefits that come from the simple change to a hemp based economy.  This trillion dollar crop is key to helping us save ourselves.


Read, meet many of the leaders in the movement to restore sanity to economics by removing the barriers to freedom, hemp prohibition.


Environment-Global Warming: Hemp For Victory: A Global Warming Solution by Richard M. Davis
The solution to global warming is simple.  Since the problem is too much excess CO2 in the atmosphere the solution is to remove the excess CO2.


Hemp is a biomass champion that removes the excess CO2 as it grows, aerates soil up to six feet deep, burns clean as biofuel and can be made into 50,000 plus products.


To learn how to use hemp to help us reverse global warming, this is a great place to start for an understanding of the hemp solution.


LULU / AMAZON


Justice: Prelude To Intimacy by Ira Einhorn


This first Earth Day team member was framed without evidence  


Ira Einhorn is still serving jail time for a murder there is no scientific evidence he committed…no blood, DNA, hair, witnesses, nothing.  He claims his attorney, who was shortly after that “elected” to the senate, told him to run because it was a frame.


Read about his years on the run and the reasons he thinks he was framed. 


LULU


Magnetic Energy: DePalma Free Energy And The N-Machine by the late MIT Professor Bruce DePalma


The late Bruce DePalma created a magnetic generator that works with a Faraday motor to generate free energy.  His death, like that of other free energy inventors, was mysterious.


With DePalma’s friend David Crockett Williams, we compiled his papers in a logical manner and as per Bruce’s instructions, making it available for future research.

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