Ever thought about writing a book? Now you can go from thinking about it to seeing it in digital print in a very short time by publishing your work as an Amazon KINDLE book. With over 700,000 books in the Kindle library and an estimated 5 million Kindle sold going into 2011, there is a huge market 'out there'. You can join in to this by using the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program that provides a revolutionary method to see your work published almost immediately.
When I decided to take the opportunity to publish for Kindle, I found KDP to be a bit daunting as a first time user. I tried to try to get up to speed by purchasing several books written about Kindle publishing and KDP. Most of these books were helpful and while I got something from each one, I found that these books most often told me a lot more than I really wanted (or needed) to know to get my first book in print. Many of these "how to" books delved into working with HTML as being the important way to get one's book in the right format. I had already decided that learning HTML was one dog I wasn’t going to chase. The bottom line is I like to write and I don’t care to get into the technical side of publishing.
Well, the great “Type and Publish” program hasn’t arrived just yet, but between the latest version of Amazon’s KDP and Microsoft’s Word 2007, it seems close, and that is what this little book is about…publishing a simple book with relative ease using Word and KDP to get your work on the Kindle Bookstore shelf. I used Word 2007, but other versions of Word should work well too. The idea was to set up Word in a format that would allow me to type my manuscript/book so that when I finished, the basic format of the book would be ready for Kindle to format with a minimum of changes. I also noted things I needed to do and things I should never do to make this format work. The end result is what I call my "Kindle Shell." It worked so well for me that thought other Kindle authors might like to try it.
As a former military helicopter instructor pilot, I was often asked, “Is it hard to fly a helicopter?” My answer was an honest one when I said, “Not if you know how.” Kindle publishing is the same way; it’s not hard if you know how. Hopefully, this little book can show you how.
When I decided to take the opportunity to publish for Kindle, I found KDP to be a bit daunting as a first time user. I tried to try to get up to speed by purchasing several books written about Kindle publishing and KDP. Most of these books were helpful and while I got something from each one, I found that these books most often told me a lot more than I really wanted (or needed) to know to get my first book in print. Many of these "how to" books delved into working with HTML as being the important way to get one's book in the right format. I had already decided that learning HTML was one dog I wasn’t going to chase. The bottom line is I like to write and I don’t care to get into the technical side of publishing.
Well, the great “Type and Publish” program hasn’t arrived just yet, but between the latest version of Amazon’s KDP and Microsoft’s Word 2007, it seems close, and that is what this little book is about…publishing a simple book with relative ease using Word and KDP to get your work on the Kindle Bookstore shelf. I used Word 2007, but other versions of Word should work well too. The idea was to set up Word in a format that would allow me to type my manuscript/book so that when I finished, the basic format of the book would be ready for Kindle to format with a minimum of changes. I also noted things I needed to do and things I should never do to make this format work. The end result is what I call my "Kindle Shell." It worked so well for me that thought other Kindle authors might like to try it.
As a former military helicopter instructor pilot, I was often asked, “Is it hard to fly a helicopter?” My answer was an honest one when I said, “Not if you know how.” Kindle publishing is the same way; it’s not hard if you know how. Hopefully, this little book can show you how.
