Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 2 Volume 9 | Page 19

nect the reader to the author's (and pub-
lisher's) credibility. Self-published authors
can do a pretty good job of producing a de-
cent cover using the free app provided by
KDP on the website.
2. GREAT EDITING. Too many authors and e-
book publishers think that great editing
is merely the process of eradicating typos,
but it's a lot more. It's grammar. It's the
conventions of writing (like punctuating
dialogue correctly). It's even the formatting.
And it’s knowing about the things that your
English teacher may have considered cor-
rect, but they’re things that tick publishing
professionals like agents and publishers
off! If an author can’t afford (or won’t!)
spend the money for a full-service editor,
read The Frugal Editor, make corrections as
you go and then get a few extra pairs of
eyes to give you additional input.
3. FORMATTING. I list this last because most
e-book services like Amazon, BookBaby etc.
make it clear that formatting is essential
and provide guidelines for getting it right. I
included expanded step-by-step instruc-
tions for formatting your book for Kindle in
the Appendix of my multi award-winning
book on editing, The Frugal Edi-
tor (http://bit.ly/FrugalEditor).
Note: You should know that when a
reader buys your e-book on Amazon, he or
she gets to choose what reader format they
prefer for his or her preferred device after
clicking the buy button. When you use KDP
for Kindle or Draft2Digital or Smashwords
for e-books, you reach most everyone and
you save accounting time tracking different
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE
online e-book distributors. You will also
save time reformatting from a print version
to an e-book and get distribution and mar-
keting benefits when you use them.
PS: The fourth most important compo-
nent of e-books is marketing. No e-book—
no book!—is truly published if it hasn’t
been marketed. It’s part of the publisher’s
job no matter how it is published or who
the publisher is. And if it is self-published,
marketing is as much the author’s job as
the writing of the book. Everything you
need to know to market your book the way
a professional would if you had the money
to hire her is in The Frugal Book Promoter
(http://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromo).
-----
C AROLYN H OWARD -J OHNSON , author of This
Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Sto-
ries Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of
poetry; and how to books for writers in-
cluding the award-winning second edition
of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get
nearly free publicity on your own or by part-
nering with your publisher; The multi
award-winning second edition of The Frugal
Editor; and Great Little Last Minute Editing
Tips for Writers .
The Great First Impression Book Pro-
posal is her newest booklet for writers. She
has three FRUGAL books for retailers in-
cluding A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store
Promotions: How To Increase Profits and
Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with
Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Her
blog TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com,
P AGE 14
S UMMER 2019