I started this blog in the hopes that it might help some one. That others might not have to repeat my mistakes. It is strictly from my own experience. It might not be perfect, but hopefully it is helpful.
Mistake # 1 Read the directions.
I know, I'm a guy. We view it as a personal failure if we read directions, even for something as complicated as a nuclear reactor. (Mongo no need little words, Mongo fix with club.) We as guys feel that it is natural instinct to instantly know how to do anything. Unfortunately, lots of times we fall flat on our faces. I had to republish my stories many times, for things as simple as forgetting to capitalize my title. (Duh) Seeing that republishing takes up to twelve hours, it becomes a pain. Not to worry, Amazon has a help page for authors. Author Central
They also have a separate kindle forum to discuss all things kindle.
Amazon.com: Customer Discussions: Kindle forum
If you can't find the answer from one, you should be able to find it from the other.
Mistake # 2 Typos
Everyone wants to get their story out there as soon as possible, I know I did. But make sure you read and re-read, eliminating typos as you go. Then, when you're sure it's perfect, re-read it again. You can always find one more. Typos not only look bad, they also shatter the spell your story is weaving. Who wants to be falling down a hole into wodnerland, or watching Cniderella arrive at the ball?
Another thing to watch for is typos that don't show up on spell check. While writing one of my short stories, I noticed the word 'out'. Which didn't make sense for the sentence. I re-read it, and found that the word should have been 'put'. With this in mind, skimming your writing, just looking for squiggly lines should be a no-no. Read the whole thing for content.
Mistake #3 Digital Rights Management
When you are going through the process of publishing your story, there is an option to enable or not enable DRM for your publication. When you click on 'what's this', a brief explanation says that DRM protects your work from piracy. Who wouldn't want that, right? So I checked on 'enable DRM'. Days later, I came across an article saying that all DRM does is anger readers, making them not want anything to do with you or your publication. So, trying to suppress my panic at potentially angering millions of people, I quickly went back to change my option to 'do not enable DRM', only to find that this choice is permanent. So let me take a moment to humbly apologize for my ignorance in enabling DRM on two of my stories. (Glow of torches starts to fade into background.)
To end this section on a happy note (sarcasm alert) the article went on to say that piracy is inevitable, and no matter how hard you try, someone can always steal your work. (Yay!)
Mistake # 4 Too much of a good thing (Freedom ain't free)
I tried the free promotion with KDP select. When I selected to run the promotion for five days, I had high hopes of people reading my stories, liking them, and maybe buying one of my other stories. At the end of day one, I had given away 121 copies of 'The Trail'. As of this writing, it is the middle of day four, and I have only given away 190, total. If I could do it over, I would only have used the option for one day giveaway. I still haven't sold a single copy of either of my other stories since the giveaway, but I am hopeful. If nothing else, maybe a few people will read and enjoy my stories. In the end, isn't that what it's all about? Sure, we'd all like to make a million dollars, or at least be able to make a living doing what we love. But if another person gets enjoyment out of my writing, then I am happy with that.
