Are you thinking of writing an eBook? If so, and you are planning on using Word, before uploading to Kindle Create, I would like to share with you the mistakes I made. Hopefully, you read this first and avoid following in my footsteps!

Now, before I start, please be aware that I am not an expert. I am simply someone who decided one day to write an eBook. With no help from anyone else, I fumbled my way through the process. Looking back now, I can see I wasn't fully prepared and the mistakes I made were silly. What I was... was too eager. I couldn't wait to finish my book and gave no thought to the process. But hey, we learn by our mistakes. Or rather... you can learn by mine!

Over the next few posts I will talk about how I got it wrong... and the consequences of my errors. Before explaining a better way...

EDITING ON KINDLE CREATE WAS A MISTAKE!

After all the drama I endured trying to format my manuscript into something which KC actually liked, I was chomping at the bit to get to the next stage... the final edit!

So, again I was too eager to race to the finish. I sent it across, marvelling at how my eBook looked professional, (while patting myself on the back). And then I started to edit in earnest.

Reading through the story again, I found little errors. Easy to correct, right? Yep, I thought so. So off I went, making alterations here and there. And then I made some pretty big changes. As in, I wanted to alter the storyline slightly.

Which is where I came unstuck!

Because KC isn't like Word, like at all. It's more like a word processor. Once you start injecting extra words in, it alters the whole thing! Blank spaces appeared, were out of line, they just didn't look right at all. Which is when I then researched the pros and cons of editing in KC. You would think I'd learnt my lesson by now, about being unprepared. But no, it was another headache in the making.

You see, because I'd made such huge alterations, it did not resemble the Word document I had originally uploaded. So, what did I think the answer would be? I thought (who knows where I came up with this, by the way), that I could take my newly improved story back from KC... and return it to Word to mess around with! Simple, right? No, not happening I'm afraid. You cannot do it like this.

So, I had another dilemma.

I researched like a maniac but could not find an answer. There may well be one out there, but I couldn't find it. So, I had to do it the only way I could... I opened another blank Word document, (the Kay Franklin template) and spent way too much time cutting and pasting my whole story from KC into it. You'd think this was bad enough, but to make matters worse... when you use this method you lose all the formatting! So, once it was cut and pasted across, I then had to go through it again, reformatting everything. Because it pasted as a big lump of text. Even the headings had disappeared!

By the way, as a little tip, I also found out there's no spellcheck function on KC. So, keep this in mind if you rely on it. Once your final piece is uploaded from KC to your bookshelf for sale in Amazon, they will let you know if they find any spelling errors. But to get to such a late stage to find them means heading back to KC and making further alterations, before uploading it again.

WHAT DID I LEARN?

While researching the internet to find answers, I came across lots of sites where similar cases had been highlighted. Some were people asking for advice, and some were people making fun of us for making such silly mistakes in the first place. (Insert eye roll, but I can laugh about it now)

I will list points which I think are the most important to follow...

1. Before starting to write on your Word document (or template), press control + A, to select the whole document. Then choose a writing style. I usually opt for normal. I'm not sure why but KC is more likely to keep your formatting just as you have it if you do this. It works for me anyway.

2. Before you even think about sending your piece to KC, use spellcheck. Even if you don't think you need to, use it anyway. You'd be surprised how you miss little errors, because reading the same pieces over and over means we often miss things.

   ( Just so you know , I still find little mistakes in my work now, in eBooks that are published and being read. It's disappointing, and I have spent many hours going back to correct things. And no matter how many times I go over them... if I take a peek at a later date... I sometimes find more!)

3. I'm sure it goes without saying, but make sure your story is finished and ready for publication. I'm not talking about little alterations, but the actual story. If you're just not sure, don't send it to KC just yet. You need to be really confident that it is, in fact, ready. That you are simply sending it to KC as a means to upload to your Amazon bookshelf.

4. And for the love of God, the most important thing I found is this... If you do have to make any alterations on your story once it's in KC, then make the same alterations on your Word document at the same time. It may be a pain to have both applications open and flit between the two, but trust me, you will be grateful you did it later on. (More on that in a later post)

5. And lastly. Once you have followed all the above and your finished piece is in KC, ready to be sent to your Amazon bookshelf, use the preview function. You can flit between tablet, phone and Kindle e-reader. This will show you how your book will look to someone reading it on those devices. Often you will find that some words or lines don't sit right, and slight alterations are needed. Because after all your hard work, you do not want it to look unprofessional to your readers.

Next time...

I hope you have found my post useful and informative. If so and you want more... my next post re mistakes will be about writing a book series... and what to avoid doing, (to keep your sanity).

If you missed my last post and want to know about the template I used to create my book on, I've added it again below.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me.

Always dreaming... Tia KENZIE x