Steps to Publishing a Kindle eBook

Many people wonder how to get their masterpiece published. In todays market it is just as important, if not more so, to publish for eReaders. I recently wanted to publish a book that I spent the summer writing and working on, but found that it's a lot more complicated than one would expect. I thought it was simply taking a Microsoft Word file that you have saved and uploading that to your publisher, I quickly found out differently. Luckly I am here to help you take the steps necessary to publishing your literature digitally. 

Step 1 - You will want to have your document saved on Microsoft Word for easy file conversion. File type is a big deal when publishing to the Amazon Kindle store. I recgommend saving your file as a .PDF 

Step 2 - You will need some type of software to convert your file to a .mobi file type. The software that I found that best works is Calibre, it's free, easy to use, and works on all operating systems! (CLICK HERE TO GO TO CALIBRE)

Step 3 - Sign up for Amazon Direct Publishing, just do a google search for KDP and you will need to fill out the required information in order to be a kindle publisher. You will need to give your tax information because come tax time, you are expected to file taxes on your earnings, don't worry though, Amazon said that they will mail all publishers who made a profit of any kind information that makes it easy to file based on your earnings. You can still file as an individual too, so don't worry about having to file as a company or business.

Step 4 - Submit your .mobi file to Amazon Direct Publishing and wait for approval. You will need all of the information on the title page to match the metadata and information you give, such as the editor, publisher, and photographers.

It's a time consuming process, but the outturn is great! Check out the book that I just published called Jim. 

Click here to see Jim in the Amazon Kindle Store

How to Direct Traffic to your Blog

This post was originally posted on BlogPressive.com for Impressive Blogging - http://www.blogpressive.com/2010/08/27/how-to-direct-traffic-to-your-blog/

I've always wanted a website that has grew and grew, and I've always wanted to give tips to others withsmaller blogs on how to make a success of traffic building. Since I started blogging in 2008, only 2 years ago, I feel as though I may not have made a huge success on those 'famous' names such as Lisa with 2CreateAWebsite or Rob with RobsWebTips but I feel as though right now, I have made enough traffic come to my site, and it'll keep growing but it's about time I shall share my tips on how to direct traffic and also target traffic to your blog.

Discussion Boards, Forums and Signatures

When I joined Host Gator to host my personal blog, JonnyRowntree.com, I didn't take much notice of how much the company helps out their customers reach maximum potential on the web. Yes, I've been with different hosts such as GoDaddy with the Hosting Connection and Squarespace with the Developer Forums, but there has never been a web host where I have been comfortable making posts with suggestions on how the host should grow, considering they may already be enough static websites and blogs on their servers. I do however communicate with the Hostgator (or sometimes I call them Gator) community and submit ideas about blogging packages and ask for feedback and information to others who use a package that is new to me. Now, discussion boards and forums are key to maximizing traffic to your blog or website. The past couple of the weeks I have been posting on the Hostgator forums, I must have received about 20 to 30 referrals per couple of days and on Wednesday, I made double the amount of traffic when I relaunched my website. Now, not only does posting on discussion boards and forums help you communicate with others who are interested in the same topics your website talks about but they are obversely interested in web hosting and website development, another reason you should find forums useful.

Social Media and Twitter Hashtags

Target traffic using social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Myspace because who doesn't use any of those sites at this moment in time? Make your readers stay connected to your blog using those sites, implement share buttons on your posts to enable sharing to these networks and you're going in for the kill. Now, how about targeting those readers? Well, on Twitter you can use #hashtags, which work with the search function and funnily enough, tweeters watch them for new posts and before you know it, you're targeting them. Of course, its different on Facebook as you can join pages that contain a discussion board and talk about the same topics you talk about on your blog. Overall, social media is sometimes off at targeting traffic in my opinion.

You can find our Twitter #hashtag, which is #BlogPressive.

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is great for connecting with new readers on different blog and forwarding them to your blog. Not only are you reading this on BlogPressive, but you may also be reading this on TekSocial (hello!) too! Allowing guest posters on your blog is a great way of directing traffic as now only are you sharing about your latest post but the guest poster is sharing about their latest post, making your traffic go through the roof and you're collecting more followers. For instance, I'm a guest poster on TekSocial and soon TutorialZip so I'll be targeting 3 audiences, my own environment and 2 out in the wild! I also accept guest bloggers on BlogPressive, like Jack Kirk who joined us yesterday for a Hostgator review.

Comment Discussion

How do you target traffic and visitors? Are there any tips you can leave us or others that are really helpful? Leave a comment below.