Thinking of writing a Book.....
- Thread starter Cinvalo
- Start date
Cinvalo said:Yes. You are right. I was doing some research on self publishing on Amazon.com.
CreateSpace.com is the website which allows people to self publish on Amazon.
Unlike US authors, Australian authors will need to submit a set of documents like passport photos (need to get it certified) , a W7 form and a letter from On-Demand Publishing LLC in order to apply for Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). International Authors needs a ITIN otherwise IRS will withhold 30% of the royalties.
I have not got the ITIN yet. So i am still in the process of researching and setting up everything.
I never imagine writing a book can make me learn so many things.
Better than sitting in classes
We publish on Amazon (KDP & paperback via CreateSpace) - the ITIN is MUCH easier than that - one phone call is all it took me.
Follow the steps here (make sure you read the comments as the phone instructions are in there):
http://nailyournovel.wordpress.com/...us-individual-taxpayer-identification-number/
Amazon (& CS) will still withhold 5% as part of the wonderful "tax treaty".
And beware, if you have a US Bank Account to start with (need one with an ACH Routing Number) it will be easier as all sales revenue will consolidate from different currencies (US, , ) and you won't pay the nasty local bank "cheque processing fee". Payment by US Cheque - very antiquated!
'Cos it's gonna be a best seller isn't it!!!!!!!!!!
Let me know if you need any help, we earn a large part of our living this way so can help you avoid mistakes
G
Guest
Guest
Very impressive Cinvalo.
You have a mighty work ethic to get all this done so quickly, we'll done!
You have a mighty work ethic to get all this done so quickly, we'll done!
Cinvalo
Member
Dear Bros and Sister
FINALLY!! FINALLY!! After one year of hard work. This FINALLY becomes a reality.
I want to thanks silverstackers.com and all the members here for their ongoing support, encouragement and ideas. These are instrumental in bringing my book to fruition. In fact, I did face some difficulties in June and I did take some of the advices in this thread to overcome it. Big Thank You. Sometimes I find this project very meaningful as I meet a lot of people I never though of meeting, I also develop some skills (armature skills) in web design and marketing. In the meantime, please enjoy my video trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1O7evAomag#at=41
I am planning to price my book here for $25 AUD +signed. (incl regular shipping and handling for Australia only). [If you want the book to be covered for protection + $1 AUD]
Please feel free to PM me if you want to get a copy. I have ordered 100 last week, they will arrive sometimes in mid-August. Yes. Signed copy ofcourse if you order from me.
By the way, your name maybe mentioned in the acknowledgement page. you never know
My Book will be officially out in Amazon on 1/8/2013.
I would be happy if you guys can give me some advise me the pricing on Amazon.com.
In addition, I want to take this project a little bit further.
There are two things that will happen:
1 Video Marketing
(I will be making some short videos to describe what is happening to the global economy. I might sometimes mention silver stackers.com if it is revelent)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc2xVUPnRIE
2 Lucky Draw System
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz1yO83LJPA
(This video is just an example not ready yet)
So basically the idea is that each month I will be asking a question in video base on the book, my blog or videos, then if you have answered it correctly. You will be enrolled in a lucky draw system. The price of the lucky draw will be 1oz silver bullion coin (e.g. Canadian Maple leaf).
At the end of the month, the price winner will be announced in the following video, then I will contact him/her through facebook.
To enter the lucky draw, you must subscribe :
1 To the youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/Mckcvision [To keep up to the latest news]
2 Have a like on my facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/CorruptionOfRealMoney) [To allow me to contact you and stay in the loop]
You may also want to Following me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/CorruptionofMon) [optional as i am still adapting how to use twitter]
What do you guys think
FINALLY!! FINALLY!!
After one year of hard work. This FINALLY becomes a reality.
I want to thanks silverstackers.com and all the members here for their ongoing support, encouragement and ideas. These are instrumental in bringing my book to fruition. In fact, I did face some difficulties in June and I did take some of the advices in this thread to overcome it. Big Thank You. Sometimes I find this project very meaningful as I meet a lot of people I never though of meeting, I also develop some skills (armature skills) in web design and marketing. In the meantime, please enjoy my video trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1O7evAomag#at=41
I am planning to price my book here for $25 AUD +signed. (incl regular shipping and handling for Australia only
). [If you want the book to be covered for protection + $1 AUD]Please feel free to PM me if you want to get a copy. I have ordered 100 last week, they will arrive sometimes in mid-August. Yes. Signed copy ofcourse if you order from me.
By the way, your name maybe mentioned in the acknowledgement page. you never know
My Book will be officially out in Amazon on 1/8/2013.
I would be happy if you guys can give me some advise me the pricing on Amazon.com.
In addition, I want to take this project a little bit further.
There are two things that will happen:
1 Video Marketing
(I will be making some short videos to describe what is happening to the global economy. I might sometimes mention silver stackers.com if it is revelent)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc2xVUPnRIE
2 Lucky Draw System
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz1yO83LJPA
(This video is just an example not ready yet)
So basically the idea is that each month I will be asking a question in video base on the book, my blog or videos, then if you have answered it correctly. You will be enrolled in a lucky draw system. The price of the lucky draw will be 1oz silver bullion coin (e.g. Canadian Maple leaf).
At the end of the month, the price winner will be announced in the following video, then I will contact him/her through facebook.
To enter the lucky draw, you must subscribe :
1 To the youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/Mckcvision [To keep up to the latest news]
2 Have a like on my facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/CorruptionOfRealMoney) [To allow me to contact you and stay in the loop]
You may also want to Following me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/CorruptionofMon) [optional as i am still adapting how to use twitter]
What do you guys think
Brilliant - and congratulations!
I'll probably wait til you are on Amazon (have gift cards to use).
Re Amazon pricing - I would first use a POD (Print On Demand) service. We use CreateSpace, owned by Amazon. They are easy to use; very responsive to customer service and free to setup.
A massive number of print books are now POD (even the big publishing houses). The benefits are:
- Always in stock
- No inventory
- Not a lot more expensive per copy than short runs
- If you use CreateSpace, it's user-friendly
- CreateSpace auto-stocks Amazon (no "out of stocks; out of prints")
Only real downside is a lack of choice in paper stock and it can only be a paperback - but the quality is excellent.
Re pricing - I'd price to your competition and number of pages/number of words.
CreateSpace have a royalty/price calculator on their site that allows you to play with margins etc. For example, one of our books is a 220-page US-letter size b/w non-fiction cookbook that sells for US$16.95 and we "make" US$6.97/copy for every Amazon sale.
You can order your own stock from them too.
Happy to help if you need to know more
I'll probably wait til you are on Amazon (have gift cards to use).
Re Amazon pricing - I would first use a POD (Print On Demand) service. We use CreateSpace, owned by Amazon. They are easy to use; very responsive to customer service and free to setup.
A massive number of print books are now POD (even the big publishing houses). The benefits are:
- Always in stock
- No inventory
- Not a lot more expensive per copy than short runs
- If you use CreateSpace, it's user-friendly
- CreateSpace auto-stocks Amazon (no "out of stocks; out of prints")
Only real downside is a lack of choice in paper stock and it can only be a paperback - but the quality is excellent.
Re pricing - I'd price to your competition and number of pages/number of words.
CreateSpace have a royalty/price calculator on their site that allows you to play with margins etc. For example, one of our books is a 220-page US-letter size b/w non-fiction cookbook that sells for US$16.95 and we "make" US$6.97/copy for every Amazon sale.
You can order your own stock from them too.
Happy to help if you need to know more
Oops, meant to add link:
https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/
Look at "Royalties" tab and "Buying Copies"
https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/
Look at "Royalties" tab and "Buying Copies"
Cinvalo
Member
Yes actually i am using createspace for this project. It makes everything so smooth and easy. The quality is good. I am very impress with the service and quality.
By the way, I want share my story for my publishing journey. When i look back today I find it quite funny and a bit silly.
When i finish my first draft in Dec last year, i start to think about how to make it into a book. Believe me that I was clueless as my focus was on writing. Publishing was so foreign to me.
But deep inside I want to go into the direction of self publish. It was very exciting and i know i will definitely learn something.
The first concept of self-publishing was embarrassing, before i find out about createspace and blurb. I did some research of the price of making a book. Almost every store i found in Sydney was outside my budget and not meeting my expectation.
It amaze me to find out that the cost of making a 9" x 6" paperback cost that much? (approximately $30 something). I know silver producers mines silver at a loss but i do not want to follow as it defy common sense anyway to create a product and sell it at a loss. I was not discourage yet and I find it an excuse for me to make a book from scratch! I want to find out the true cost of production if i really want to make a book myself. (The Free Market Price). Then i did some research on how to make paperback in Youtube. It was quite challenging as I need special glue and thermal binding equipments. I need to trim the thick pile of 200 pages of paper seamlessly which is not easy at all. This exclude the correct paper type for the cover (matte or glossy ) ,the right printer to feed these paper, and the lifespan of my poor printer.
.If i print one book, it drys up half of my ink and i am talking draft quality only. Doing that will definitely kill my printer which is my friend as he accompanies me through a lot of sleepless nights in my university life. I even looked into Espresso Book Machine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJUla8xJ5BM
Anyway, then later on i try to find something from U.S. i found blurb, Lulu and createspace. Since Blurb had the best review and it has the exact thing i am after, i decided to go for Blurb. My first draft was originally written in word but they Adobe Indesign package seems to be the option i should go for because it gives me alot of flexibility which is otherwise a pain in the ass in word. Then i decide to learn the software. I still remember how exciting it feels when i am designing the book cover. Since then i fall in love with this software. Normally i use Adobe dreamweaver, flash and photoshop, the indesign, after effect were just sitting there as i rarely use them. Now i am forced to learn it and i was addicted to it. The entire process was seamless. Then i was researching the ISBN and QR code. That was really interesting as well to understand what these 13 digits actually means. The first copy i received was in march. I still remember my college and I were anticipating what the book will look like on the day it arrive. I was pressing the refresh button frequently to track down where was my parcel. By the time i received the parcel on that day, I was speechless to find out how good the quality was. There was a few print margin issues. But it was not something which could stop me from going forward. Before i went back to HK for holiday in late March, Mike Maloney was in Australia presenting. I really want to go to his conference and give him a copy because my book has his NAME on it!!!!! But unfortunately I was flying on that night and i do not have a correct version yet. If anyone know Mike Maloney in person, please let him know. I think it would be very very meaningful for me to give him a copy because his book started me on precious metal investing.
Anyway, when i come back from HK. I really have to start researching on getting my book out in Amazon. After all, this is the only platform which can reach large audience and i had plenty of experience buying books from Amazon. Then i discovered Createspace and Lulu. I have to tell you how glad i feel when i discovered Createspace. Even so, i was doubtful about its quality and i have to redo my layout of the book which was a bit frustrating. Then i was facing the problem of grammer since my background is from Hong Kong. Some mistakes are invisible to me. I have at least 7 to 8 copies of incorrect revisions sitting in my draw. At last, i feel satisfied myself and have the courage to give it to other people to read. Guess what. The cost of proof read ranges from $5 for every 1000 words and there was no guarantee that the final copy is error free. My problem is that this is a book i am publishing under my name. Fortunately, i discovered Fiverr.com. I shop around in the proofreading services and found some gems with a little bit of luck. Jan Jackson was a true professional grammar checker. She is a very detail proofreader with a fine eye for details. Very high quality and low price services.
http://fiverr.com/prowriterjan
So this is it. This is my journey of publishing and i am beginning my next journey on marketing.
By the way, I want share my story for my publishing journey. When i look back today I find it quite funny and a bit silly.
When i finish my first draft in Dec last year, i start to think about how to make it into a book. Believe me that I was clueless as my focus was on writing. Publishing was so foreign to me.
But deep inside I want to go into the direction of self publish. It was very exciting and i know i will definitely learn something.
The first concept of self-publishing was embarrassing, before i find out about createspace and blurb. I did some research of the price of making a book. Almost every store i found in Sydney was outside my budget and not meeting my expectation.
It amaze me to find out that the cost of making a 9" x 6" paperback cost that much? (approximately $30 something). I know silver producers mines silver at a loss but i do not want to follow as it defy common sense anyway to create a product and sell it at a loss. I was not discourage yet and I find it an excuse for me to make a book from scratch! I want to find out the true cost of production if i really want to make a book myself. (The Free Market Price). Then i did some research on how to make paperback in Youtube. It was quite challenging as I need special glue and thermal binding equipments. I need to trim the thick pile of 200 pages of paper seamlessly which is not easy at all. This exclude the correct paper type for the cover (matte or glossy ) ,the right printer to feed these paper, and the lifespan of my poor printer.
.If i print one book, it drys up half of my ink and i am talking draft quality only. Doing that will definitely kill my printer which is my friend as he accompanies me through a lot of sleepless nights in my university life. I even looked into Espresso Book Machine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJUla8xJ5BMAnyway, then later on i try to find something from U.S. i found blurb, Lulu and createspace. Since Blurb had the best review and it has the exact thing i am after, i decided to go for Blurb. My first draft was originally written in word but they Adobe Indesign package seems to be the option i should go for because it gives me alot of flexibility which is otherwise a pain in the ass in word. Then i decide to learn the software. I still remember how exciting it feels when i am designing the book cover. Since then i fall in love with this software. Normally i use Adobe dreamweaver, flash and photoshop, the indesign, after effect were just sitting there as i rarely use them. Now i am forced to learn it and i was addicted to it. The entire process was seamless. Then i was researching the ISBN and QR code. That was really interesting as well to understand what these 13 digits actually means. The first copy i received was in march. I still remember my college and I were anticipating what the book will look like on the day it arrive. I was pressing the refresh button frequently to track down where was my parcel. By the time i received the parcel on that day, I was speechless to find out how good the quality was. There was a few print margin issues. But it was not something which could stop me from going forward. Before i went back to HK for holiday in late March, Mike Maloney was in Australia presenting. I really want to go to his conference and give him a copy because my book has his NAME on it!!!!! But unfortunately I was flying on that night and i do not have a correct version yet.
If anyone know Mike Maloney in person, please let him know. I think it would be very very meaningful for me to give him a copy because his book started me on precious metal investing. Anyway, when i come back from HK. I really have to start researching on getting my book out in Amazon. After all, this is the only platform which can reach large audience and i had plenty of experience buying books from Amazon. Then i discovered Createspace and Lulu. I have to tell you how glad i feel when i discovered Createspace. Even so, i was doubtful about its quality and i have to redo my layout of the book which was a bit frustrating. Then i was facing the problem of grammer since my background is from Hong Kong. Some mistakes are invisible to me. I have at least 7 to 8 copies of incorrect revisions sitting in my draw. At last, i feel satisfied myself and have the courage to give it to other people to read. Guess what. The cost of proof read ranges from $5 for every 1000 words and there was no guarantee that the final copy is error free. My problem is that this is a book i am publishing under my name. Fortunately, i discovered Fiverr.com. I shop around in the proofreading services and found some gems with a little bit of luck. Jan Jackson was a true professional grammar checker. She is a very detail proofreader with a fine eye for details. Very high quality and low price services.
http://fiverr.com/prowriterjan
So this is it. This is my journey of publishing and i am beginning my next journey on marketing.
Nice one! If your book is as thorough as your research, you'll have a winner
Thanks for the Proof Reader referral too.
The good thing is, you WILL get readers/buyers pointing out typos and with POD, it's pretty simple to upload a corrected version. Obviously you don't want to use this as a proof-reading process; or start with something less than perfect (hello one-star reviews!).
One thing you could consider (to help with writing style/grammar/general typos) is offer free Advance Review Copies. These get you two outcomes - the first is they will pick up on typos etc, but more importantly will give you feedback about general structure and flow. The second is that, if they like the book, they can give legitimate reviews on Amazon.
Keep up with the updates here when you can - I'd love to keep hearing about the journey
Thanks for the Proof Reader referral too.
The good thing is, you WILL get readers/buyers pointing out typos and with POD, it's pretty simple to upload a corrected version. Obviously you don't want to use this as a proof-reading process; or start with something less than perfect (hello one-star reviews!).
One thing you could consider (to help with writing style/grammar/general typos) is offer free Advance Review Copies. These get you two outcomes - the first is they will pick up on typos etc, but more importantly will give you feedback about general structure and flow. The second is that, if they like the book, they can give legitimate reviews on Amazon.
Keep up with the updates here when you can - I'd love to keep hearing about the journey
Cinvalo
Member
Hi All, my Book is now officially released!! 1/8/2013
Please PM if you you want a signed copy. [$25 inc shipping for Australia silver stacker members only.]I only have less than 50 copies left!!
If i really run out i will re-print it again but it might take up to 2 - 3weeks. (same as amazon anyway)
Alternatively you can now order it on Amazon.com
Please help me to share it with other people and write some reviews for me (Good reviews).
Once again thanks for all your support.
Got Physical?
Please PM if you you want a signed copy. [$25 inc shipping for Australia silver stacker members only.]I only have less than 50 copies left!!
If i really run out i will re-print it again but it might take up to 2 - 3weeks. (same as amazon anyway)
Alternatively you can now order it on Amazon.com
Please help me to share it with other people and write some reviews for me (Good reviews).
Once again thanks for all your support.
Got Physical?
Congratulations and very well done Cinvalo, really great to see an idea become a reality especially one like this. Even if it only opens one mind it will be worth all the effort. (insert non existent multiple thumbs up smiley here)
mightymatt
Active Member
PM'd for 2 copies and signed
Put me down for 5 - PM already sent....
I will take one, thanks
Send me payment details Marco
Send me payment details Marco
Cinvalo said:Hi All, my Book is now officially released!! 1/8/2013
Please PM if you you want a signed copy. [$25 inc shipping for Australia silver stacker members only.]I only have less than 50 copies left!!
If i really run out i will re-print it again but it might take up to 2 - 3weeks. (same as amazon anyway)
Alternatively you can now order it on Amazon.com
http://www.corruptionofrealmoney.com/images/Amazon.jpg
Please help me to share it with other people and write some reviews for me (Good reviews).
Once again thanks for all your support.
Got Physical?
Well done Marco.
The way things are heading so quickly, you may have to do a 2nd edition as a follow-up.
I Pm'd you for a signed copy this morning.
If you are wanting continual support to buy your book as well as showing your appreciation to GP you might like to become a SilverStacker.
It's a fraction more than one of your books.
Am sure that would be one of the best investments you will have made. If it becomes a bestseller you might even like to upgrade to Site Sponsor