# Anyone self publish on Kindle/Nook/iBookstore?



## Conker (Jun 11, 2011)

I have a lengthy short story that I'd like to toss on Kindle/Nook for the lowest price they will let me charge, because why not? I'm quite proud of the story.

But I'm kind of worried. I have accounts on both places, read the ToS's as well as I could (lollegalize), but it seems...OMINOUS or something.

Has anyone here ever done it?

Like, first I'll have to convert the files to ePub I think. There are some guides out there, but it seems like an overly complex thing to do. Dunno why .doc or .pdf files wont' work. Then I gotta download some ePub readers to make sure my ePub files aren't shitty.

Kindle will assign me an ISBN type number for free (it's some Kindle version of the ISBN), not sure about Nook. Costs money though, if I need one. That sucks :[

And then tax shit. I don't really plan on making much money off of this (or any lawl :V), but in the off chance I do, I guess I have to worry about that to! YOU MADE TEN DOLLARS WARBLE WARBLE TAXES 

I've never done tax shit >.> 

Currently have both accounts just set up to my regular savings, but maybe I should get a separate bank account for this? But I probably won't make much money, if any, so I'm not sure that's needed. 

I feel like I might be getting in over my head :[ 

So, I repeat, has anyone done this before? Tips would be nice. Things to avoid, things to try and do, etc.


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## mbwolverine (Jul 21, 2011)

Here is a link explaining the process (for iBooks at least):http://www.macnews.com/2010/08/10/gregs-bite-how-publish-apple-ibookYou get to set your price and Apple pays you 70% of your sale price. They only pay out once you have hit a certain threshold. You might also consider an aggregator, as they handle the hard parts and you get paid sooner, although less.


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## Antonin Scalia (Jul 21, 2011)

Move thread to Writer's Bloc... for great justice.


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## Ryffnah (Jul 22, 2011)

I've been happy working with Smashwords.  They'll put your book up on their own site, as well as work with Nook, Kindle, and everywhere else for you.  All you have to do is create a word document that meets their style guidelines and upload it.  They also give you a lot of flexibility in pricing:  you can charge anything from $0.99 on up or even allow readers to set their own price.  Or make your work free.  You can also change the price any time you want and create coupon codes.

Here's a link to their FAQ:  http://www.smashwords.com/about/supportfaq


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## Poetigress (Jul 22, 2011)

Seconding the recommendation for Smashwords. As Ryffnah said, all you have to do is upload a .doc, and their software converts it for you to the various formats. You can offer your work in pretty much any format (even rtf or plain text if you want). They'll also assign an ISBN for free and list your work in their premium catalog, as long as it meets the (fairly simple) formatting requirements, which will then get the book listed on B&N, iBooks, the Sony ereader store, and the Kobo store. They take a reasonable cut and pay out to your PayPal account quarterly as long as you've made at least $10 (otherwise it rolls over to the next quarter until you hit $10).

If it helps to see what a book's page looks like on the site, here's the page for my first Smashwords offering, "Real Dragons Don't Wear Sweaters":
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/63869

And here's the page for it on B&N (which was automatically created after Smashwords submitted the file and info to them):
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/real-dragons-dont-wear-sweaters-renee-carter-hall/1103715098


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## M. LeRenard (Jul 22, 2011)

So far as taxes are concerned, technically, you don't have to declare income that's under a certain threshold, so probably it wouldn't be necessary to put all this crap on your W-2 (or whatever form you use).  If you're making $20 a year on this story, the Feds aren't going to come pounding on your door in the middle of the night telling you you're under arrest for tax evasion if you don't declare it.  So consider all that tax info as being there for the benefit of people who actually make a good chunk of profit from their books.  It's sort of like how you don't have to declare the profits you made from the yard sale you had last weekend, or from that old television you sold somebody on Craigslist.


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## Poetigress (Jul 22, 2011)

True. But if you're using Smashwords, they do report the income to the IRS, and they do send you a 1099. So yeah, even though it's incredibly unlikely the IRS would consider it worth dealing with unless it's a large amount, it still seems safer to add it on there under "other income" or wherever's appropriate, just because the official documentation is there. Not an accountant, though, and we have our taxes done by other people, so... *shrug*


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## Shouden (Jul 22, 2011)

Anyone know if Smashwords will provide you with a buy button that you can say, put on your own website? I might start publishing there...once I get money to pay for a cover artist.


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## Conker (Jul 22, 2011)

Ha. I forgot I made this thread. Been about a month now.

I ended up getting my novella on Nook and Kindle, but not iBOOKS because of ISBN such. Thought about using Smashwords, but ended up doing it myself. I've only sold five copies so the "tax issues" were a bit hopeful on my part


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## Poetigress (Jul 22, 2011)

Shouden said:


> Anyone know if Smashwords will provide you with a buy button that you can say, put on your own website? I might start publishing there...



They don't have widgets and such yet, but they're hoping to add them eventually. For mine, I just put it with the other books on my website's "shop" page, linking to the story's Smashwords page where people can get all the info and purchase from there. Anyway, there wouldn't really be a good one-click type order, since the customer has to choose what format they want to download. (Incidentally, this might not be clear from Smashwords' setup, but as a customer, once you buy a story, you can download it in multiple formats at any time afterward; it's not just a one-time thing.) 



> once I get money to pay for a cover artist.



*nods* That's the rub. Most of the furry writers I know of who have a large number of things on Smashwords either are artists themselves and do their own art, or have the type of relationship with an artist where they can get work for free/low cost. Good cover art is important, but the more you have to spend on it, the more you have to sell to break even. Sometimes you can use stock photos and such, though, depending on the story.

And of course, the biggest issue is, it's like any self-publishing -- you've got to market it if you want to sell.


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## Shouden (Jul 22, 2011)

Okay. Thanks, Poetigress. That reminds me...eventually, I got to get my website up and running again...or a completely new one (which is more likely) and then I need a good editor...publishing stories is a lot of work.


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