Preview of my new book

Chapter 5

What To Do Before, While, And After Your Manuscript Is Uploading

The search terms you provide are essential in bringing readers to your book site

At some time during the writing of your manuscript, you need to set up an account in CreateSpace. It’s user-friendly. Go to www.createspace.com and click “Sign up” in the far left hand column. Completing all your information at this time is my recommendation.

Once you have an account and have completed your manuscript, Log in. Click the Add New Title icon, and then follow the prompts to start a new project. Below is a screenshot of that screen looks like after a project is available. What you see when you are adding a project will have empty checkboxes where you see checks below.

If you’ve never explored CreatSpace, it’s worthwhile to take some time to explore the links in the far left column. Exploring needs to head your “to do list,” if this is the first manuscript you’ve ever submitted anywhere.

After your tour of the resources available, move to the Setup column. Make sure you are prepared by having your complete title ready. The two top links attach an ISBN number to your title FOREVER.

Clicking Interior takes you to the screen where you upload your manuscript in CreateSpace—remember the file type requirements. Once you begin the upload, you must wait while their software runs a spelling and grammar check. The spell-checker is a good one, so be sure you review what they find. If you have names of characters that trigger the program, checking to ignore them will store that information and keep them from re-appearing when you make any corrections and resubmit.

The prompt while the manuscript is uploading suggests you work on your cover or go on to the next step in the process while the upload continues. Hopefully, you already have your cover in place before you upload your manuscript, but if not, you probably want to work on it then. However, I recommend you have prepared for this “downtime” differently than by planning on using it to finish your cover.

There are things you should have finished and ready to enter into the appropriate fields further down the process before you begin uploading your manuscript. There are also fields into which you can input data while—or after—the manuscript loads. Explore. See what’s available. But plan on using the uploading time for something besides staring at your monitor.

Once your interior and cover are uploaded, click the Review tab and follow the prompts. At the minimum, quickly proof your book online and download the PDF at this time. This is also the time you can order a physical proof.

The Distribute tab is where you make decisions on how and where you want your book marketed by Amazon. You’ll also need to determine your price for both print and electronic versions of the book. While a bit tedious, the prompts are clear and they programming keeps you from really goofing up.

The Description link is crucial to the successful marketing of your book. The entire next section will focus on that link. The figure that follows is a screenshot of the Description window for Idea Farming.

I suggest you follow the link “How do I use this page?” before you begin the first time.

Not surprisingly, the first field to fill is titled, “Description”—and it’s just that. What you put here is what shows up on your book’s Amazon page. Take your time. Remember this description is the only chance you get to make a first impression of your book with readers looking for material to purchase—see Chapter 6. Also consider what you have on your back cover—see Chapter 9.

Unless you’ve worked with a publisher at some time in your writing experience the next field, BISAC Category, is a mystery. Here’s what you get when you click on “What’s this?”

Book Industry Standards and Communications (BISAC) categories are used by the book-selling industry to help identify and group books by their subject matter. Choose the BISAC category that best fits your book.

Book buyers and sellers at the wholesale and retail level use the BISAC categories extensively. The screenshot below shows part of the list—specially, where you find the link to ALL fiction choices. Since Idea Farming is not a fictional piece, my BISAC categories will not be the same as yours.

Choose the options that provided the tightest focus on your book’s content. This is a major search pathway for bookstores and the starting point for almost all search engines when looking for books. Once you get to the “end” of the trail in this listing, the software automatically adds it to the box when you select “Choose this Category.”

Unfortunately, far too many authors skip the next optional areas—don’t you be one of those authors.

Begin by copying and pasting from your biography. If you didn’t include a biography on your cover compose one now and insert it. Chapters 7-9 describe my recommendations for completing the cover production process—including your Author’s Biography.

Arguably, the most important field on this screen is the Search Keywords field. In case you skipped the preceding sentence:

Arguably, the most important field on this screen

is the Search Keywords field.

Assuming you want to sell copies of your book, the search keywords you provide are essential in bringing readers to your book site. Very few readers just randomly scroll through Amazon’s nearly 8 MILLION titles looking for a book to read. People are with the process used in searching for specific items online. The better your keywords align with the search parameters of your potential readers…

…hopefully, you get the idea.

What should you consider before putting up your five (5) keywords?

 That’s right. Five is the maximum number of words and/or short phrases you can include in your keyword list. Think before you add them. Talk to your pre-readers before you add keywords. Pretend you were searching for a book like yours—what words would you use to narrow your search?

If your book has a target audience, that audience description should be a keyword. But, don’t put up a target audience unless you’re sure it’s a match with your books content and style—word gets out if you are considered to have misled your searchers.

Keywords for Idea Farming, the first booklet in this series, are intentionally visible. In case you haven’t read that book yet, it uses an analogy of different types of farming to describe the writing process. I think the keywords align closely to the book.

Good news is, once your book is available, you can go in and modify keywords, if you wish. While changing keywords on a whim is not the best strategy, listen to what people say about your book—modify when appropriate.

Remember the BISAC descriptors? Do not repeat your BISAC descriptors in your keywords—they are already attached to your book. You should choose specific keywords and add them here because of what your book is about.

Chapter 5 Takeaways

·      You need to open a CreateSpace account.

·      Explore the FREE and “for a fee” resources Create Space offers.

·      You will have to make marketing choices before your book is available for sale.

·      Have a description of your book and a brief author’s biography ready to post when asked in the Description stage of the process.

·      Five is the maximum number of words and/or short phrases you can include in your keyword list. Think before you add them.

Next blog: Proofreading Epiphany Revealed

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com

It doesn’t matter what you write… My Position

It doesn’t matter what you write… My Position

This is the third of three blogs on what you should be writing. What follows the ellipsis in the title is “…as long as you’re writing something.” PRO and CON arguments in support of that statement were presented in previous blogs. This week I’ll present the ”what I believe” position.

Keep in mind as you read this that the purpose of a blog for a writer is to extend your brand, communicate with your readers, and offer insight into the writer of the blog as a person. Hopefully, each of my blog entries does a bit of each.

Since writing is a process that spans genres in both fiction and non-fiction, writing something, then editing it, and revising it, and editing it, and having the writing critiqued, and editing, and revising it, is valuable practice.

If you are writing something to avoid writing something else, well, that could be a problem. I am not advocating writing as an avoidance strategy in any sense. Sometimes, you just get stuck—perhaps your protagonist has landed in a situation from which there seems to be no escape. Sending your mind on a trip down another pathway—by spending time writing on another project—might be just the trick to unleash the idea that’s holding your character prisoner.

However, intentionally avoiding one project for a prolonged period of time just because you don’t want to work on it probably indicates that the project you’re avoiding should be removed from your radar screen entirely.

I just scanned the area around my computer and I see no dead horses. But, I suspect an equine corpse is lurking close by, so let me cut to the chase.

If you are a writer, you should be writing. Period.

Writing isn’t just pounding keys and watching words appear on the screen in front of you. The process varies a bit by author, but the a good overview is provided in my booklet, “Idea Farming – Volume #1 – A Science Guy’s Read on Writing.”

This blog was written while I’m also working on production of a new book, editing an existing manuscript, and finalizing the formatting of “Book Creation – Volume #2 – A Science Guy’s Exploration of Publishing Resources”—which will be out by the end of March 2015; and adding ideas to the outlines of two other book ideas.

Once again, if you are a writer, you should be writing.

Next blog: Using Search Terms/Keywords to Attract Buyers to Your Book –an excerpt from my latest booklet, Book Creation – A Science Guy’s Exploration of Publishing Resources

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com

It doesn’t matter what you write. . . as long as you’re writing something. CON

It doesn’t matter what you write… CON

This is the second of three blogs on what you should be writing. What follows the ellipsis in the title is “…as long as you’re writing something.” Last week was the “pro” arguments in support of that statement. This week I’ll present the opposite side of the argument—the con position. I’ll take the position of compromise in the next blog. Two blogs from now, I’ll present my conclusion/compromise/”what I believe” position.

Of course it matters what you write when you write. Each type of writing has its idiosyncrasies, whether in different fiction genre or switching from fiction to non-fiction. When you switch back and forth, you force your brain to “reset”—something that takes some time and diverts your thinking process from what you were writing to what you are now going to start writing.

When you are writing a story, you (should—see earlier blogs or Idea Farming A Science Guy’s Read on Writing) have an end point in mind. When you divert your thinking from the goal, you derail your train of thought. Like any train that’s derails, it takes time and effort to get the locomotive back in place and moving forward.

If you stop writing a story and work on another story or a non-fiction piece, you will have to retrace your plot before you pick up where you left off. If you don’t review what you have written and where the story ends, you will most likely end up somewhere off the pathway you envisioned for your story. Worse case scenario: you’ll have to backtrack and rewrite part/most/all of what you started because you’ll not be able to reconstruct the pattern your brain was using for the story you stopped writing.

Unless (s)he has a masochistic tendency, and enjoy self-inflected pain, “do overs” in manuscript writing are not something a writer looks forward to. Retracing steps in the writing process leads to frustration. Frustration leads to worry. Worry leads to writer’s block. Writer’s block leads nowhere.

If you’re stuck, take a break. Take a nap. Read a book. But, don’t deflect your writing process by “writing something else.”

In my New Writers Corner  is Kayla Bluster (@kaybulster). She’s got a Young Adult book out now. Titled, Wishful Thinking, it’s a very good read. I suggest keeping your eye on her progress.

Next blog: It doesn’t matter what you write… My Position

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com

It doesn’t matter what you write. . . as long as you’re writing something. PRO

It doesn’t matter what you write… PRO

This is the first three blogs on what you should be writing. What follows the ellipsis in the title is “…as long as you’re writing something.” This week I’ll discuss why this statement is true. I’ll take the opposite side of the argument in the next blog. Two blogs from now, I’ll present my conclusions.

Writing is a linear process that forces your brain to look for connections. Your brain sometimes stops looking for connections when it finds the first one. However, it frequently finds several possible connections and offers those options of connecting information—whether you’re writing a story or an article.

You, as an author, have control over which of the proffered connections between pieces of information you wish to use. You might even try one connection, find it does not lead to the next story arc or conclusion that you want. When that happens, you frequently try a second of the options first offered. If you’ve been writing long, you’ve probably continued this process through multiple iterations of plot lines or conclusions until you find one that suits your mood.

But, it’s entirely possible that none of the original connections are headed in the direction your conscious thought wishes to take your story or article. This situation is a form of writer’s block. When I continue to write in this state—frequently in a different genre or on a non-fiction piece—I often find that, when I return to my dilemma, a solution is “right there.”

Your brain is an intriguing neurological amalgamation. While it can be bored by similar stimuli over extended time, adjusting the focus of thinking usually provides an adequate different stimulus to encourage new patterns of thought.

If you’re a writer, writing is what you do. So, write. Write some more. Keep on writing.

If you’re stuck, write. Write some more. Try writing something completely different, then come back. Regardless, keep on writing.

The next in my New Writers Corner: Kayla Bluster.

Next blog: It doesn’t matter what you write… CON

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com