Self-publishing Amazon, Smashwords, Book Cover and Marketing
What you'll learn
- You'll be able to self-publishing your manuscript on Amazon Kindle and paperback for free. Self-publish everywhere bu Amazon via Smashwords.
- You'll be able to create a free professional looking book cover using Canva
- You'll be able to market your book to get readers
- You'll know how to fill in every KDP field during Amazon Kindle and POD paperback publication.
Requirements
- You'll require a finished book manuscript that has been copy edited
- You'll require a copy of Microsoft Word 2010 or later to format your manuscript
- You'll require a web browser to create a Canva book cover and publish via KDP
Description
How would you like to be a published author by the end of the day... for free?
Welcome to the only complete Udemy self-publishing guide that shows you how to do it all yourself for free. Nothing is left out of this video guide that covers everything from creating a book cover to marketing your published book. This course is now 15 hours long.
My name is Brian Jackson and during the last 10 years, I've created hundreds of book covers and published well over 100 books. In this course, I'll explain the entire process to you allowing you to quickly become a published author given nothing more than a finished manuscript.
This course covers:
Book Cover
Fast and easy, create a free professional-quality book cover using the Canva online graphic design tool and free images from Pixabay. All you need is a web browser to have a finished book cover in under 10 minutes. The process I demonstrate utilizes free Canva Kindle book cover themes to quickly create professional-quality book covers including free images from Pixabay.
Format Your Manuscript
Quickly format your manuscript for Amazon publication using Microsoft Word 2010 or beyond (Word 2016 running on Windows 10 is demonstrated). Learn both traditional style formatting and use the free Kindle Create Word plugin to format your manuscript. Following my detailed instructions guarantees a polished finished product. The process I demonstrate ultimately augments the use of the free Kindle Create Microsoft Word plugin with traditional formatting techniques to produce very clean manuscripts that are a pleasure to read.
Note: I personally never use Kindle Create and instead use the traditional formatting method explained and demonstrated in the course.
Self-publish on Amazon
Self-publish your book in minutes on Amazon in Kindle and Print on Demand (POD) paperback formats using the free Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) web-based interface. Once complete, you're a published author, but that doesn't mean that you're done...
Market Your Book
Take the first steps toward marketing your book for free to become an Amazon bestseller. Make money and friends as you gain readership.
Self-publish Off Amazon via Smashwords
Learn to self-publish an e-book everywhere but Amazon via Smashwords. Smashwords is a one stop publishing option that distributes your e-book to the Apple Store, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and more.
And the whole process is free because you do it yourself. Given a finished manuscript, a copy of Microsoft Word 2010 or later and a web browser, you can become a published author by the end of the day.
In fact, I'm embarrassed to have to admit that purchasing this course could be your greatest expense... though I assure you it's well worth any reasonable cost considering the money and time you'll save to become a published author today!
*** On 6/2022, I merged all of my self-publishing courses to produce a single 15-hour course ***
Here are the courses that were added:
Self-publishing: Free Amazon Kindle eBook Self-publishing
My original self-publishing course contains details on formatting and filling in every KDP field during publication.
Self-publishing Amazon Books (CreateSpace Self-publishing)
A course specifically on self-publishing POD paperbacks on Amazon via KDP.
Self-publishing Smashwords Books: Non-Amazon Self-publishing
Information on self-publishing an e-book everywhere but Amazon via Smashwords.
Amazon Self-publishing: Self-publishing in Kindle/Paperback
Additional publishing information extending the other courses.
Mac users should be aware that the Kindle Create method is currently only available on Windows. However, the traditional method is my preferred method anyway ;-).
Don't forget the Udemy 30-day no-questions-asked money back guarantee. If you're not happy with the course, just return it. So, there's no risk involved. That should make your choice a no-brainer.
Enroll in the course and I'll see you in the classroom,
---Brian
Who this course is for:
- Anyone with a finished manuscript wanting to self-publish their book for free
- Anyone needing to create a free professional looking book cover
- Anyone wanting to market their published book using proven techniques
Instructor
- 4.5 Instructor Rating
- 6,051 Reviews
- 157,627 Students
- 31 Courses
I was born in the middle of the last century in Los Angeles, California. After moving for a time to the Silicon Valley, I graduated from Humboldt State University amid the redwoods of Northern California.
Two weeks after graduation I was working as a computer systems programmer for Lockheed Missiles and Space (LMSC) back in the Silicon Valley. Two months after that and I was married as I have been happy ever since (for 40 years).
After 14 years at Lockheed, I moved from working on IBM mainframes to using PCs running the Unix operating system and encountered a thing called the Internet. Cisco Systems seemed to be the right place to work, so I joined the company as their 650th employee. Eleven years later Cisco had grown to over 20,000 employees.
I retired at the age of 48 and instantly became bored!
Throughout my professional career, I'd always enjoyed both writing and providing technical training. So, I attended creative writing classes at my local junior college and began to write.
I managed to write and self-publish a handful of books, but things didn't take off until my wife, Melanie Jackson, an established author with a New York company, left traditional publishing to join me in self-publishing.
In 10 years, from 2010 to now, Melanie and I have made half-a-million dollars self-publishing well over 100 books. I also managed to record a pair of audiobooks for Amazon and Audible sale.
By 2014, our rapid rise to Kindle fame had already dwindled. I decided to pursue my second passion of giving training presentations.
Since 2014 I've published over 48 online video training courses for training sites such as Udemy and Skillshare. My goal is to provide low-cost high-quality screencast-based educational material focusing on my areas of expertise; namely, self-publishing and book cover design using the GIMP. I continue to expand my video training catalog while focusing some energy on resurrecting our flagging book sales using various marketing techniques. Finally, I spend a portion of my time maintaining both my website and my wife’s website, which was developed using WordPress.
I currently live in Las Vegas, Nevada, with my lovely wife and Butterscotch the cat.
I'll see you in the classroom,
---Brian