Tools

SPQ 031: What is the Best Way to Format an Ebook?

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spq31 format an ebookThe Question…

What’s the best way to format my first book? Is it best to go to Fiverr, or is it better to learn how to do it yourself? I have an older version of Word that doesn’t seem to work with what’s out there. It seems very complicated.

Steve’s Answer…

Steve feels formatting is his Achilles heel. It’s the one aspect of his business he hasn’t totally nailed down, so he recently hired someone to format his books for him. When he first started out, he was really frustrated by the MOBI format, so he created books without formatting. He would use asterisks instead of bullet points so the formatting didn’t look all over the place. It didn’t give readers a quality experience.

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SPQ 030: Dozens of Ebooks, Low Review Numbers. What Can I Do?

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Magnifying glass focused on the word reviewThe Question…

Dennis has about a dozen books on Kindle and CreateSpace. It’s like pulling teeth to get people to review them, even on books that have been downloaded for free on KDP several thousand times. He wants to know Steve’s secret for generating reviews.

Biggest Takeaway…

[Tweet “Create a review-generating response to use when people reach out to you.”]

Steve’s Answer…

In episode 2, Steve talked extensively about generating reviews. It’s not a secret; just talk to people and build an audience. He feels it’s all about getting organic reviews and telling people why reviews are so important. Make sure you tell people exactly what they need to do to leave a review.

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SPQ 027: How to Organize Book Research Using the Evernote App

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spq27 newThe Question…

Rick is a prolific researcher who has trouble trimming extra information from his books. He wants to know how Steve decides how much research to do. Rick also wants to know how to use Evernote to organize his research.

Biggest Takeaway…

[Tweet “Ideas pop up at random times, so make a habit of writing down EVERYTHING.”]

Steve’s Answer…

Ideas pop up at random times, so make a habit of writing down all of your ideas. Steve does this with his Kindle publishing checklist. The checklist has all the steps needed to move from initial idea to published book.

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SPQ 014: Pretty Link vs. Bit.Ly — Why is Pretty Link Better for Authors?

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SPQ 014: Pretty Link vs. Bit.Ly – Why is Pretty Link Better for Authors?

The Question…

A listener wants to know why Steve recommends Pretty Links instead of Bit.ly for shortening links.

Biggest Takeaway…

[Tweet “Shortening links makes it easier to direct people to specific pages on your site. “]

The Answer…

It’s difficult for people to remember URLs with a lot of slashes or dashes. Shortening links makes it easier to direct people to specific pages on your website. Pretty Links and Bit.ly both shorten links and track clicks, but Steve prefers Pretty Links for several reasons.

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