Thinking About Self-Publishing? Try Carolyn Wilhelm's UDEMY Book for Very, Very Beginners

My clients come in two sizes: Those who struggle with finding readers for their books or who are spending too much money publishing and marketing them and those who are toying with the idea of self-publishing but know nothing about it. Until now, I had no inexpensive resource for the latter to learn a bit more before taking the publishing plunge. But when I found this video (read that "video!") course at UDEMY.com today, I couldn't wait to let my #TheNewBookReview visitors and subscribers know about it. Please do any newbies you know a favor and let them know Carolyn's (another Carolyn, not me!) online tutorial. It's easy and truly very basic and quite all-encompassing view of what they need to know to get started--or to know what aspects of publishing they want to hire someone to help them with. 

Here is the course at UDEMY for you to peruse:

https://www.udemy.com/course/self-publishing-from-the-very-very-beginning/

And here is more information on Self-Publishing for the Very Very Beginning Writer: 

This course has video demonstrations, templates, and instructions for the beginner to create eBook and paperback manuscripts, learn some ways to get additional online links to the book sales page, prepare a cover as a print-ready PDF, learn how not to compress images in Word, and learn about ISBN's and copyrights. Adobe Pro is used in a few lessons but alternative methods are described. 

Step-by-step printable direction PDFs for working with book templates are included.

Easy templates include the following:

Chapter Paperback Word Doc Template 

Chapter eBook Word Template

Children's Picture Book PowerPoint Template for a Paperback and an eBook (8.25" X 6" paperback with bleed)

Children's Picture Book 8.5" X 8.5" Paperback Word Template

Videos include the following and more:

Free Accounts for Self-Publishing

There are several free online accounts that will allow you to publish eBooks and paperbacks. This video discusses Kindle Direct Publishing, the sales page, Amazon Author Central, Goodreads as a reader, and Goodreads as an author. 

Quick Overview of Social Media for a Book

Social media can be carefully used to provide links online to your book sales page. Quick overview.   

Copyrights

When the manuscript is finished (or finished and published) it should be copyrighted within 90 days. 

Begin with an End Plan

Begin with the end in mind so that decisions made later will not require revisions and extra work. Start out with a plan to be most efficient and reach your goals. 

Be Consistent with Metadata

Be careful to use the exact same title, subtitle, and author name on all documents to be published such as eBook manuscripts, paperback manuscripts, and covers.

Copyright Page 

Word Doc and PDF provided to edit for your own book. 

Set-up Word so Images will not be Compressed

If your book has photos or art, before typing the manuscript, Word should be set up to not compress images.

Set-up Acrobat Pro 

If using Acrobat Pro to create PDFs, set up Word so that images will not be compressed when saved as a PDF.

Prepare the Kindle Manuscript

This video has a demonstration of preparing a Kindle eBook Word document from scratch. A generic Word Doc is provided which meets the new requirements. 

Table of Contents for Kindle 

Learn to insert a table of contents that will have links for eBooks, learn to update it, and see how to see/check your work by downloading the Kindle previewer for PC or Mac. Two supporting documents are included in this lesson.   

Online Cover Creators

Kindle Create to Embellish Manuscripts

Convert Paperback Manuscript to eBook Format

Fonts in eBooks

Paperback Manuscript How to and Free Template 

Create your own paperback manuscript using the directions and lesson resource template.

Table of Contents for the Paperback

The Table of Contents (TOC) for a paperback is different from the eBook format.

Create a Full-bleed Children's Paperback with PowerPoint

This video shows how to use a PowerPoint file sized to publish a 8.5" X 6" children's paperback.  Template provided.

Create a No-bleed Children's Paperback with Word

This lecture has a video about creating a children's paperback using Word (no other software is required) to make an 8.5" X 8.5" book. A sample Word doc is provided. 

Use Word and Adobe Pro to Create a Full-bleed Children's Paperback

This lecture has a video, a step-by-step guide, and a Word document that may be used to create both a paperback and an eBook from the same file. For this paperback, Word, Adobe Acrobat DC Pro, a story, and illustrations are required.

There are 41 videos in all. Other topics include figuring out which is the left-hand and right-hand page in documents, finding the financial information reports in KDP, uploading to KDP, and some troubleshooting. 

Also, students may ask questions and a video may be created which could be added to the course. 

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carolyn Wilhelm is the is an educator and author of an acclaimed Young Adults novel, Climate Change Captives 2035 and Project Save. She offers teaching aids, many of them free on Pinterest and is a great retweeter on Twitter @wiseowlfactory.  

MORE ABOUT BLOGGER AND WAYS TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS BLOG

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge.  Please contact the designer at:  cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!

 Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing

TheNewBook Review Honors Our Treasured Volunteer Reviewers

Hi, my name is Lois W. Stern and I want to welcome you to part three of TheNewBookReview's reviewer program, where we continue to celebrate the authors, readers, publishers and reviewers who capture our spirit of enthusiasm for the printed word.  

Now, as part of our "Authors Helping Authors" project, we want to honor each of our treasured volunteer reviewers who accept our offer to review a book from our growing list of review requests.  

Here are two ways we can celebrate you:

1) Once each volunteer reviewer has followed the steps below, Carolyn Wilhelm, our talented Image/Banner gal, will create a social networking image for you to use for any of your personal marketing endeavors.

2) Once you post a review for one of the books listed on TNBR Review Request list, we want to let all our viewers know that you have caught our Authors Helping Authors spirit. What better way to celebrate you than by placing a link to a review you have posted for another author under the Gold Star Reviewer emblem in the column on the genre chart where your book title is listed.

Lois W. Stern Offers Free Ethical Reviews and a Free Image/Banner for Marketing Purposes

How would you like a FREE image, similar to the one pictured above, but emblazoned with your name, book cover and headshot? Just imagine . . .  You will be able to place it on all your social media platforms, your website, Amazon profile page . . . even on places like your letterhead, signature file and more. Really, the sky's the limit. And did I tell you it's all yours free of charge?

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, the creator of this award winning blog, invited me to be her TheNewBookReview book review coordinator and Tweets these postings to her over 41,000 followers. Carolyn Wilheim is the talented IT smarty for this blog and designs our marketing images for this blog and our participants for free. What a generous offer from a multi-talented gal! We have become a Team of Three. 

Lois W. Stern

We are a team of three. You are part of our team too. All you have to do to get your own marketing image is read through our book descriptions and select a book of interest to you. What a gift just for reaching out to help a fellow author!

Learn more.

Book Review for Tales2Inspire ~ The Pearl Collection (Stories of Awesome Kids)

BOOK TITLE: Tales2Inspire ~ The Pearl Collection (Stories of Awesome Kids)

AUTHORS: Anthology of short stories written by Lois W. Stern (Publisher) and the following contributing authors and storytellers:  Mariah Rose Nablo, Elayna Hasty, Roman McConn, Jayla and Lakesia Newson, Mikayla Clarke, Carolyne, Rosie Westerbeck, Amariyanna ‘Mari’ Copeny’ story, Christian Bucks, Ethan Nielson, Sidney Keyes III, MacKenzey Kologlu, Jade Scott, Starling, Emma Gonzales

GENRE OR CATEGORY: Non-fiction, inspiring short stories

ISBN: 978-1798757772

FORMAT: Paperback, Kindle

PAGE COUNT: 123

AMAZON LINK:

https://www.amazon.com/Tales2I

Imaginative (and Humorous!) Young Adult Fiction Reviewed by Dr. Westley Britton

Title: Oops!: Tales of the Zombie Turkey Apocalypse 

Series: Life After Life Chronicles Book 4

Author: Andy Zach

Genre: Young Adult

Publication Date:  January 2, 2020 

 Publisher:  Jule Inc; 1st Edition (January 2, 2020) 

 ASIN:  B0825G9MPG

Purchase at Amazon 

 

Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton originally for BookPleasures.com 

 

You'd think after three oddball novels, Zombie Turkeys (How an Unknown Blogger Fought Unkillable Turkeys), My Undead Mother-In-Law (The Family Zombie with Anger Management Issues), and Paranormal Privateers, that Andy Zach would have exhausted all the comic possibilities in his world of killer zombie turkeys and superhero zombie humans.

You'd be wrong.  How about flying zombie pickles? Zombie zucchini? Zombie caterpillars? (How can you tell a zombie caterpillar from a normal one? Andy Zach can tell you.)

 

How about being injected with zombie blood which can cure any ill, regrow any lost limb, and be quickly cured with a widely available antidote? Who needs insurance with that sort of help?     How about organizing a zombie worker union at Amazon when zombies can outperform robots? And suggest the story is based on two real people, Anthony and Ravan Jones who contribute the foreword to the book?  Or zombie residents of a nursing home taking over the place? 

 

But all this silliness is just part of what Andy Zach has collected in Oops.  He has included other short stories by other authors like "The Story of Sound" by Olivia Smith and his own "A Phoenix Tale"   before diving into his zombie world. Then he offers a batch of stories based on his other book series featuring disabled  middle-schoolers who become superheroes,  the Secret Supers. Oh yea, there are the aliens who first appeared in Paranormal Privateers who are defeated by zombies working for the U.S. Government.  The aliens can provide you legal assistance in the form of a sexy avatar who looks exactly like Marilyn Monroe.

 

If you're getting the impression that one Mr. Andy Zach has a wide and wild imagination, you are on the right track. One obvious audience for his quirky tales is the YA readership, especially for all the contemporary references like video gaming and computer lingo. But even grumpy old sixty-somethings like me can have a lot of fun with Andy's characters, scenarios, and plots. I'm still laughing at the image of migrating flying zombie pickles.  Hard to get more original, unique, or surprising than Zach's "Life After Life" series. Have some fun with Andy Zach in 2020!

 

More About the Reviewer

 

 Dr. Wesley Britton is the author of The Beta Earth Chronicles and reviews for BookPleasures.com and #TheNewBookReview. Learn more with these links:

Reviewer, BookPleasures.com

 

Explore the Beta Earth Chronicles website:

 

Follow Wes Britton’s Goodreads blog:

 

Check out Wes Britton’s Beta Earth Chronicles Facebook page:

 

Enjoy the videos at Wes Britton’s YouTube Channel:

 

More About the Blogger and What This Blog Offers

  

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Note about other #TheNewBookReview free services: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge.  Please contact the designer at:  cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!

Lois W. Stern, educator, anthology editor, and authors' advocate, offers a way for authors, readers, and publishers to find new reviewers for their books. It's also a way for reviewers to find new books at no charge. Find her submission guidelines in the tabs at the top of The New Book Review home page.  

 Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing

Join Our Team as a Volunteer Reviewer and Get a Free Image for Your Own Marketing

How would you like a FREE banner, similar to the one pictured above, but emblazoned with your name, book cover and headshot? Just imagine . . .  You will be able to place it on all your social media platforms, your website, Amazon profile page . . . even on places like your letterhead, signature file and more. Really, the skies the limit. And did I tell you it's all yours free of charge?

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, the creator of this award winning blog, invited me to be her #TheNewBookReview review coordinator. She then Tweets these posts to her over 41,000 Followers. Carolyn Wilheim is the talented banner/image gal for this blog. What a generous offer from a multi-talented gal! So now we have become a Team of Three.

You are part of our team too. All you have to do to get your own image/banner is read through the book descriptions below, select a book of interest to you, and click here to follow the posted directions. What a gift just for reaching out to help a fellow author! 

      _____________________________________________________________________

Get a Free Copy of Any of Our Books to Read and Review.

CLICK HERE TO DISCOVER THE MAGIC OF THESE BOOK TREASURES.

_____________________________________________________________________

PRESSED FOR TIME?

CLICK HERE

FOR SOME GREAT HINTS ON WRITING TIME SAVING REVIEWS,  

 FRUGALLY  AND  ETHICALLY.

_____________________________________________________________________

www.tales2inspire.com

More About Lois W. Stern

Tales2inspire® was a kernel of an idea I initiated in 2012, growing in proportions even I didn’t dare to envision. My innate curiosity about potentially fascinating human interest stories was the spark that ignited this idea, but there was something more propelling me forward - my belief in the power of stories to shape our thinking. Famed biographer, Doris Kearns Goodwin has repeatedly written about this theme in relation to some of our greatest presidents, who recognized the power of stories and used their storytelling abilities to reach the people they were chosen to govern. Each of the non-fiction stories published in one of the Tales2inspire® books was selected similarly - not only for its artful writing, but for its skill in delivering an underlying message to inspire each of us to reach for the best within us. Try us out. You can get a FREE sampler filled with six published T2I stories at: www.tales2inspire.com/gifts

Learn more about me and the Tales2Inspire® project at: http://www.tales2Inspire.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/tales2inspire

Twitter: www.twitter.com/tales2inspire2

Carolyn Wilhelm Reviews "Flash Fiction for Animal Lovers"--an Always-Free Ebook

Title: Flash Fiction for Animal Lovers

Author: Theodore Jerome Cohen

Genres: Flash-Fiction, Animal Fiction

Available free at Amazon

Flash Fiction for Animal Lovers is always and permanently free! 

The eBook is FREE from Amazon, B&N, and Kobo. 

Reviewed by Carolyn Wilhelm

Dr. Theodore Jerome Cohen begins his book with a photo to inspire his flash fiction writing. Often the stories he imagines from the pictures are from actual historical or cultural events. They are from different time periods and countries, as well. Each piece ends with a zinger to ponder. 

Flash Fiction for Animal Lovers is always and permanently free! The eBook is FREE from Amazon, B&N, and Kobo.  Cohen uses both footnotes and end-notes, and this last section in his books are as entertaining and interesting as the stories. For instance, in Flash Fiction for Animal Lovers, the writing piece “Valor” (about a bomb-sniffing dog) has the following footnote. [iii] Valor U.S. Marines from 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 8, carry Drak, an injured bomb-tracking dog, to an awaiting helicopter at Forward Operating Base Jackson, Afghanistan, on September 8, 2011. Both Drak and his handler, Sergeant Kenneth A. Fischer, were flown out of the country for surgery and recovery. Eventually, in line with military custom, Fischer will adopt.

English teachers will be able to use this free eBook as a mentor text for writing students when teaching flash fiction. Students may think a short piece is easy to write but that is not necessarily so as the writing must be concise and thought-provoking. 

More About the Author

Theodore Jerome (Ted) Cohen is an award-winning author who has published more than ten novels--all but one of them mystery/thrillers--two books of short stories, eight flash-fiction anthologies, and an anthology of short stories and flash fiction. 

More About the Reviewer 

Carolyn Wilhelm is the author of The Wise Owl Factory site and blog. She has an MS in Gifted Education, an MA in Curriculum and Instruction K-12. She also offers free Twitter social media images to participants on this blog with permission for them to use in their marketing campaigns. Reach her at 

cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com

 Tweet with her @WiseOwlFactory.

More About This Blog

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page and in a tab at the top of this blog's home page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites so it may be used a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. 

Carolyn Wilhelm is a blog associate who contributes study guides for books and film suitable to be used as teaching aids. She has an MS in Gifted Education, an MA in curriculum and Instruction K-12. 

Lois W. Stern, also an associate,  edits an anthology series and is an educator. She provides a free service for authors to find new reviewers and reviewers to find new books to read. Find her submission guidelines in a tab at the top of the page of this The New Book Review blog. 

Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing