Kindle NightmareIt was a nightmare in every sense of the word.  The old saying, “No good deed goes unpunished” comes to mind every time I tell the tale.  I was bound and determined not to go through that ordeal again.  My past experiences with publishing Kindle books taught me well.  But I’m excited to say things have changed radically in the Kindle world.  And (while I’m tossing clichés around) all’s well that ends well thanks to some pretty snazzy new strategies and tools.

The Nightmare of Kindle Publishing

About four years ago, a bunch of us were having a pool party and I agreed to do a friend a favor.  (That right there should let you know something was about to go horribly wrong.)  She had written a novel and her dream was to hold that book in her hands but she couldn’t get a publisher to give it a second look.  I suggested she self-publish and I could help. This one novel turned into three. The paperback versions were no problem as we had CreateSpace doing most of the formatting.

About that time Kindle was getting pretty popular so it was a natural extension to offer her books on that format. Converting the novels into Kindle, however, turned out to be a lesson in all things evil.

You see, just a few years ago, things were drastically different than they are now.  For instance, the document for CreateSpace (service used for paperback publishing) couldn’t easily be reformatted for Kindle.

That’s because, several years ago, Kindle was a quirky beast.  You had to use Amazon’s version of html, the document had to be totally clean of any formatting and conform perfectly to (past) Kindle standards. You could never start with a Word document and convert that to html like you can now.

If that weren’t enough to drive a woman to drink, you also never really knew what the finished Kindle book was going to look like until it was actually published. Even creating a simple table of contents was a trial.

I vowed I’d never to go through that again.

A Light in the Dark

It was not too long after I’d recovered from the mental anguish of the whole experience that I heard about a new program from two good friends, Mark Hendricks and Cindi Dawson.  It promised to teach simple strategies that would get your Kindle book done and published in just two days.

If it had been offered by just about anyone other than Mark and Cindi, I would have thought it was 100% hype.  After all, I’d been through Kindle purgatory and lived to tell about it.  And they were talking about “simple” strategies, “easy” ways to format, “step-by-step” systems and whatnot.  I was intrigued enough to attend the event in Florida if nothing else to catch up with some friends.

My, how things have changed in such a short time!

Kindle Bestseller

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The workshop started bright and early on Saturday morning and by Sunday afternoon, Digital Content Lockdown was published and proudly being displayed on Amazon.com. A couple of days later, it was in the top 100 in 2 categories!

If you’ve been longing for your own Kindle book, you don’t have to travel into Disney territory. Mark and Cindy have turned this course into an online e-learning course.

The course is called “Ultimate Kindle Publishing” (and rightfully so).  In it, they’ll show you the same simple (yes simple) strategies I learned in Florida that will allow you to:

  • Easily clean up a Word document and export it to the exact format that Kindle will accept. What I struggled with for weeks can literally be done in an hour or two.
  • Get your book in the right categories on Amazon even if the one you want isn’t in the initial list.
  • Write your book faster than you thought possible.

Plus, now there are very good Kindle simulators that let you see exactly what your book will look like before you publish.

From coming up with content to include in your book to designing the cover, setting up your Kindle account, uploading your materials, marketing your Kindle book and even taking it into print version… it’s all here. Man! I wish they’d come out with this four years ago.

Even if you’ve tried to publish Kindle books before, you need to give it another shot.  Having books on Kindle is smart for a lot of reasons including building credibility, boosting your marketing efforts and reinforcing your brand.

It’s never been easier to get things done.  With Ultimate Kindle Publishing, you’ll learn step-by-step how to take a document all the way from draft to “for sale” in just two days.

Once your book is up, Mark and Cindi show you how to get readers using various promotions and then get those readers to your website.

I’ve seen a lot over the last four years and this is the most comprehensive and easy-to-use system I’ve come across.

5 Star RatingFive stars for Ultimate Kindle Publishing!

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