Step-by-Step to Amazon By Jack Purcell Copyright©2003 Jack Purcell Printed books If you have books now in print and own the rights to distribute them all you need to do is go here( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/partners/direct/advantage-rules-terms.html/t/102-5071115-7968150 ), read the agreement and membership information, pay $30 US and apply.
The Ebook / Edocument Process
This pamphlet presupposes you have created a book, ebook or edocument worthy of distribution through a major distributing house. The work should contain no spelling errors, grammatical errors or typographical errors.
If the work is an ebook or edocument you need to create an attractive front and back cover.
Once the document is created and converted to Adobe or PDF format the process described here begins. Ebooks on Amazon.
Electronic media carried by Amazon is handled entirely through Lightning Source Inc. (https://www.lightningsource.com/). Lightning Source deals only with publishers. You need to 1) become a publisher to get them to handle your material, or 2) get your publisher to submit your book to Lightning Source. Alternative 1 is usually the least expensive and easiest of the two approaches. It’s also the approach that gives the writer the greatest range of options for the future of the book.
Becoming a publisher:
ISBNs: The difference between a publisher and a non-publisher, for the purposes of this process, lives at http://bowker.com/bowkerWeb/ , the home of the ISBN. Bowker distinguishes a publisher from a non-publisher by looking at their list of accounts showing ownership of ISBNs. If a name is on their list of accounts the entity the name represents is a publishing house. If a name isn’t on the list it is not a publishing house.
Think of the name of your publishing house and go to this URL: http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/us/index.asp and register. . Be prepared to give a name, a physical and a mailing address, a phone and fax number, and a credit card or PayPal payment of $245. The ISBNs cost $225 for a block of ten numbers. There’s also a $15 registration fee. In ten days Bowker will email you with a block of 10 numbers. At that point they will also issue you a password to get into your account and assign the numbers to books. They’ll send you the following letter:
Dear Publisher:
Your ISBN logbook and instructions are contained as attachments in this e-mail and sent to you by the US ISBN Agency. In order to ensure your title(s) are available for sale worldwide, it is critical that you provide Bowker with detailed information about each one for inclusion in its Books In Print(R) database. Books In Print data is used in Barnes & Noble and Borders stores, thousands of independent bookstores and bookstore chains, and every major library in the country.
Once you have assigned ISBNs to your books, videos, books on cassette, calendars and other such non-book items, please register your titles/products through www.bowkerlink.com Basic listings in Books In Print are free of charge. For software, please return the forms by mail or fax to: 813-855-2309 or call 800-824-2470.
When registering your titles/products at Bowkerlink, you can access your online ISBN logbook using the username & password listed below. This site can be located at http://www.bowkerlink.com. There is no need for you to complete another registration form to access this site. The username and password listed below gives you direct access. Please allow 24 hours from the time you receive your e-mailed ISBN assignment before accessing your bowkerlink account and online ISBN logbook
Standard Address Number (SAN) -- a unique identification number that is mandatory when dealing electronically with many distributors, wholesalers and vendors including Barnes & Noble, Baker & Taylor, Ingram and Spring Arbor. You may obtain more information and apply for a SAN at http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/us/san/index.asp
Publisher Solutions
Publisher Home Pages -- Bowker creates and hosts your website and provides you with your own URL and online ordering system which is viewed by major retailers and libraries as well as tens of thousands of consumers who visit our bookwire.com site daily. If you don't need a web site, there are also opportunities to highlight your titles through descriptive content, book covers and author interviews. Please contact us at advertising@bowker.com
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Congratulations. You are now a publisher.
Now go into your Bowker log and assign one of your shiny new ISBNs to your book. The process involves recording the title, the author, the size of the file in kilobytes, the retail and wholesale price of the book and uploading a front and back cover image.
A couple more things about ISBNs: 1) Once an ISBN has been assigned to a book it can be retired, but it can’t be used again on another title. An ISBN can be reassigned to a different publisher. 2) Whenever you submit a title to Lightning Source, Book Surge (Barnes and Noble) or other distributors they will require that the ISBN registration be in the name of your publishing house If the ISBN for your title is registered to First Books, IUniverse or some other publishing entity they will not accept your application. They will insist that they be contacted by the owner of the ISBN. 3) If your book is listed in pdf format and you want to supply it in MSReader you’ll have to assign it a different ISBN for each format it’s listed in. (Don’t ask me why.) Lightning Source Inc. Now go to https://www.lightningsource.com/ and complete the initial registration document. You’ll need to list three ISBNs registered to the name of the publishing house you’ve chosen for yourself before they’ll allow you entry to the system. Once you’ve provided the required information they’ll direct you to download and complete the attached application document and fax it to Lightning Source. Within a few days you’ll be notified of acceptance or denial of the account. If you’ve been careful in completing the information there should be no question of denial.
Now you are ready to upload your content to Lightning Source. They’ll examine it for a few days and notify you of acceptance for listing if you’ve provided them with worthy material.
Once you’ve got your titles up on Amazon (and Powell Books through LSI) you can go to other distributors and do the same thing. Book Surge handles ebooks for Barnes and Noble. If you want them to list your already-in-print book you sign with them, pay $100 per title and they’ll list you with all the bookstores they supply to. Book Surge pays 75 percent royalties on e-titles they list. Amazon pays 45 percent. Other distributors pay other percentages and charge different amounts for listing the titles.
I hope this helps. If there’s anything else I can do to help you get your titles listed email me at petrodactl@zianet.com.
Keywords: publishing, listing, amazon, writing, marketing, ebooks, listing, isbn
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