How to Successfully Self-Publish a Kindle eBook

How to Successfully Self-Publish a Kindle eBook

I am on sabbatical for the next few weeks. While I am gone, I have asked some of my favorite bloggers to stand in for me. This is a guest post from Jeff Goins. He is the author of Wrecked and his forthcoming memoir, The In-Between. You can follow Jeff on Twitter or find out more about him here.

If you want to get noticed in the digital age, waiting for someone to choose you is the worst strategy. You have everything you need to start sharing your message today—fingers, keyboard, and the Internet.

Even if they don’t consider themselves writers, most people dream of writing a book. And there’s never been a better time to do so. The stigma of self-publishing is fading away, replaced by countless success stories from first-time authors making a name for themselves.

How are they doing it? Simple. By publishing eBooks on Amazon.com.

Why Amazon?

Forget what you think you know about Amazon. It’s much more than an online shopping cart or web store. There’s a reason guys like Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin have published exclusively to Amazon. It has a lot going for it:

• Amazon is largest paid search engine in the world. People don’t Google things with their credit cards out, ready to buy, like they do with Amazon.
• Amazon dominates the book market.
• Amazon’s review system is an authority metric (even if someone plans to buy elsewhere).
• Amazon is a marketing machine. Once you start selling a certain number of copies, it refers your book to others who have never heard of you.
• Amazon makes it easy. You can publish elsewhere, but few places get your book online and ready in a matter of hours. When you publish first (and maybe exclusively) to Amazon, you concentrate your sales in a single place and can climb the best sellers lists faster.

Yes, you can get published, see your message spread, and make good money using nothing more than a keyboard and your brain. Here’s how:

Step 1: Write

When publishing an e-book, the first step is, of course, to write it. Think in terms of three drafts:

1. The “vomit draft.” This is just what it sounds like—you’re throwing up on the blank page. Certainly not the most warming image, but you get the idea. Here, you will write the Table of Contents, sketch out each chapter, and put down all your ideas, scenes, and stories. Don’t make it pretty; just make it.
2. The review draft. This is where you spend some time developing what you want to say and how. At this point, you should share the work with a few close friends for feedback.
3. The editorial draft. This is where you get help from a professional or close friend who knows not only grammar, but story structure and elements of style.

Each draft may, in fact, have multiple versions and iterations. But this three-step approach will help you get the work finished without endlessly stalling.

Step 2: Format and Design

Once you’ve written a book you’re proud of, here’s what to do next:

1. Format it for Kindle. You can try this yourself using a program called Calibre, or you can just pay someone to do it—which I recommend. If this is your life’s work, it’s worth paying a few hundred dollars to get it done right.
2. Design the cover. Please don’t skimp on this or have your cousin Vinny who just discovered PhotoShop “take a whack at it.” If you’re on a budget, check out 99 Designs or Crowdspring, both affordable crowd-sourcing services. Ask for an image that is a JPEG file and at least 2500 pixels on the longest side with a height/weight ratio of 1.6 (what Amazon recommends in their publishing guidelines).
3. Double check everything and have friends proofread for errors.

This is an important step, so don’t blaze through it. If you need more guidance, check out TheBookDesigner.com.

Step 3: Publish

How do you actually make your book available for sale on Amazon.com? This is, perhaps, the part that intimidates most people. And the truth is it shouldn’t. All it takes is twelve simple steps:

1. Go to kdp.amazon.com and sign in (you’ll need an Amazon account).
2. Register your tax info for royalties.
3. Click “Bookshelf” and then “Add new title.”
4. Fill out the form, including book title, description, and keywords you want people to search to find your book.
5. Upload the cover file (JPEG format).
6. Upload the book file.
7. Test your book with Amazon’s online viewer to make sure it looks right.
8. Click “Save and continue” and advance to the “Rights and Pricing” page.
9. Choose “Worldwide Rights.”
10. Choose a 70% royalty rate and select your price, letting the international prices adjust based on the US price. Most e-books are priced $2.99-9.99 (this is what I recommend to maximize your royalty rate).
11. Click Save and Publish.
12. Amazon will email you when the book is ready, which may take 24–48 hours but often happens much more quickly.

Step 4: Promote

Now, you’re ready to tell the world about your book. But before you do that, you need some reviews. Reviews are important, because they’re your “social proof” that will legitimize your work to new readers.
Before the book’s release, send the book to friends, family, and followers online who would be willing to leave a review. If you don’t know anyone who would be willing to do that, check out StoryCartel.com, a platform that helps authors get free, ethical reviews.
Once the book is published, remind your early readers to leave reviews. Expect 25-50% of those who promised, to actually comply. And they don’t all have to be 5-star reviews. In fact, having a few honest critiques of your work will give it a greater authority than a bunch of superficial praise.
People can leave reviews on Amazon only a few days before the book is published. So one way to get around this is to publish your book a week before you tell anyone about it. That way, you can build up a good amount of early reviews, which help sell the book to new readers. When it “officially” releases, you can then direct people to the page where they will see some glowing reviews of your work.

Step 5: Launch

After you get some reviews, it’s time to launch your e-book. Every book launch should be unique, but here are a few things that work every time:

1. Send an email to your list of friends, family, and/or blog subscribers, announcing the release of your book.
2. Offer an incentive for those who buy the book. This can be a time-sensitive offer or ongoing opportunity. Andy Traub, who made over $20,000 in 90 days with an eBook, gave away the audiobook, 30-day email course, and exclusive membership to an online community with his book. Make it a no-brainer that people can’t pass up.
3. Promote the book via word-of-mouth and social media. Clicktotweet.com is a great resource for hand-crafting messages that people can easily share. Another effective strategy is to use a launch team of volunteers to help you spread the word.
4. Share your e-book with online forums and book directories. Kimanzi Constable, who sold over 80,000 copies of his books, said this was a key strategy.
5. As the book begins to sell, tell people about it. This is called “social proof” and will create a snowball effect that can help you sell even more.
6. Give the book away. Brandon Clements, who struggled to sell more than a few hundred copies of his novel in a year, decided to give away the e-book version. And in a week, over 60,000 people downloaded it. The next week, he sold another 2,000 copies.

Books can spread pretty fast when everything is digital: the product, the promotion, the distribution. In other words, if you ever wanted to get a message in front of a lot of people, there’s never been a better time.
The days of waiting years to be picked and published are over. So what are you waiting for? (For more help on self-publishing for Kindle, check out the Kindle Publishing Guide, which is free this week exclusively for Michael Hyatt readers.)
Question: What’s one question or tip you have about self-publishing? Click here to leave a comment.

Merry Messiah-Mas (Christmas) from Tov Roe

Shalom Dear Friend!

I want to thank you for taking the time to open this letter and read along. Michelle and I understand how important your time is and we’re very thankful for your using some of yours to bless us and share in our lives. Don't forget to look at the article I am including at the end of this email!

There have been a lot of activity and change in our lives over the last six months. After nearly three years of looking for work, I finally found a job that I love. I get to help people with physical and mental disabilities find work and/or start their own micro-businesses. Several of the people I work with have been living normally for most of the lives, but because of life, accident, or illness have ended up relying on the state, or the federal government for their existence. For many, there are levels of shame, victimization, and other negatives and stereotypes to overcome in their own minds and the minds of others. Considering what Michelle and I have been through over the last twelve years, I can perfectly understand where these people are in their spiritual walks and physical realities. God has prepared me to be in their lives.

In other news, God still has an open door for me to host a local radio program here in Minneapolis. The program manager is still considering our proposal. Minneapolis is the 16^th largest media market in the country, which is significant. We've have been dedicating a lot of prayer to this opportunity and would be grateful if you would join us for God to open doors as only He can.

Finally,  on 12/19 Wednesday, my wife, Michelle, will have surgery. We’d appreciate your continued prayer for her recovery.

Blessings in Yeshua (Jesus)!

-TOV

Excerpt from The New Messianic Version of the Bible

ET

The First and the Last[1]

By TOV Rose

Although this edition will not incorporate notations for the ET in the Bible, I do feel is critical to comment on it.

The Hebrew language is read from right to left. The most common word in the Hebrew Bible is the t' (et). The first letter אis called an Aleph, which also begins the Hebrew Alpha-Bet. The second letter in the word t' (et) is ת (Tav),which is the last letter of the Hebrew Alpha-Bet. These two letters are the “first and the last,” the “beginning and the end” and the “Alephand the Tav” which is translated into Greek as the Alpha and the Omega — the first and last letters of the Greek AlphaBet. Jesus uses this as a term for himself several times in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 1:8 ~ ”I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

t' is used over 7,000 times in the Hebrew scriptures and beginning with the very first verse of the Bible. This brings us back to why the ancient Rabbis translated the Aramaic Targumim in such a manner as they did.

`#r,a'(h' taeîw> ~yIm:ßV'h; taeî ~yhi_l{a/ ar'äB' tyviÞareB. Genesis 1:1

B’rasheet bara Elōhim et HaShamayim v’et HaEretz

“In the beginning God created taeî the heaven and taeî the earth.”

An ancient reading of this text, blended with the knowledge that Jesus revealed himself as the two letters of this very word, which previously had no definition; would render the translation as:

“Everything that exists was created in the beginnings by though and for (Elōhim) [The Living Word], the tae[First & the Last] created the Heaven and the tae [First & the Last] created the Earth.”

Does this sound familiar? John 1:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness compre-hended it not.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:1-14)

Our Messiah Jesus is the tae Aleph and Tav in Hebrew[2], the Alpha and Omega in Greek and A to Z in English. Although much more could be said on this subject, I will point only to one more observation concerning the t' (et). It appears quite often that t' (et) seems to act as a sort of bookend around important words or phrases in Scripture, acting as more than just a notation pointing to the direct object of a sentence. It is as if the word has an implied meaning such as, “Author and Finisher accomplished what was described.”

Exodus 14:30 Thus the LORD saved ta,-Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw theta,-Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.

dY:åmi laeÞr'f.yI-ta, aWh±h; ~AYðB; hw”÷hy> [v;AY”w:

`~Y”)h; tp;îf.-l[; tmeÞ ~yIr;êc.mi-ta, ‘laer'f.yI ar.Y:Üw: ~yIr”+c.mi

In other words, the Book of Revelation is aptly named for both New Testament believers and his Old Testament covenant Jewish people. The Bible from start to finish is the Revelation to the world of the One whose name means, Behold My Hands Are Pierced, The God of Israel[3].

The Rabbis have a very interesting saying that seems to apply here: Shiv’im Panim la’Torah: “The Torah has 70 faces[4].”

Want to read more? Follow this link: http://www.amazon.com/Tov-Rose/e/B004WLJN1K

---

[1] Isaiah 44:6; 48:12

[2] Talmud: Yalcut Rubeni, fol. 17, 4: Adam transgressed the entirety of God from aleph to tav; i.e., from the beginning to the end. Abraham observed the entirety of God, from aleph to tav; i.e., he kept it entirely, from beginning to end. When the holy blessed God pronounced a blessing on the Israelites, he did it from aleph to tav; i.e., he did it perfectly.

[3] See 1 Peter 1:19-20 and Rev. 13:8

[4] Talmud: Bamidbar Rabbah 13:15

Would you Help Me with a little project?

Greetings! I wanted to take a moment and let you know about two upcoming events where I will be with a book table, sharing The New Messianic Version of the Bible -- a labour of love that has taken 12 years. You can find those dates and information below. 

I also want to make a special request:

I am in the process of working on my schedule for the next six months and am looking for opportunities to share the Jewish/Hebraic Roots and background of many of the things Jesus (Yeshua) did. Would you be willing to help me be in touch with your pastor friends about me? Thank you in advance! 

Here is a short sampling of the many topics I would love to share:

MESSIAH IN THE PASSOVER 
         1 hour standard
         11/4  to 11/2 hours with communion
         11/2 hour with Sample Foods & Communion
         21/2 hours or more Banquet
It was no coincidence that Jesus chose the Passover now celebrated as communion, the Lord's supper; for the story of the Passover lamb, Jesus the Messiah could best communicate the course he would be taking over the confusing hours that were to follow. During the Passover/Easter season, representatives of Tōv Rose is available to speak to your group or church. The "Messiah in the Passover" demonstration is ideal for any Sunday, but a demonstration that includes your communion service is especially meaningful. Passover banquets are appropriate all year, but are very popular during the Passover/Easter season. Many churches find that a banquet works well on a Friday or Saturday.
FALL FEASTS OF ISRAEL 
1-hour to 90-minutes length
This can be presented in one or a series of messages that explain how the Messiah is related to the following Jewish feasts:

            Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets), which celebrates the beginning of the Jewish Civil year.
            Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), which is considered the holiest day of the Jewish year.
            Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles/Booths), which recalls 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, living in tents (booths) and worshiping in a portable tabernacle.

MESSIAH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 
45-minutes to 1 hour length
This is a sermon outlining the major prophecies in the Old Testament, which predicted the coming of Messiah. It is a faith-building message that explores the plan of salvation in the Old Testament and helps Christians to better understand their Jewish neighbors.

FUTURE OF ISRAEL
45-minutes to 1 hour length
God's plan for the Jewish people is presented through the exposition of various Old and New Testament texts. We also preach a message on the future of Gentiles and their role in the redemption of Israel. A combination of these messages makes a wonderful series that is well suited for either a Sunday morning or evening service.

THE CHURCH AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE 
45-minutes to 1 hour length
This sermon is rooted and grounded in Romans chapters 9 through 11, and examines the relationship that exists between Israel and the Church. Why it important for Churches and non-Jewish Christians to understand that they are Jewish evangelism.

UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES 
45-minutes to 1 hour length
The Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, Wars & Rumors of War, is America coming to an end? What is happening in our world, and what should be our response and perspective?
Tōv is intimately acquainted with America’s history, history in the Mid-East, our national security threats, our most serious outside threats- radical Islam and virulent Hindusim in Government, and what to watch for in the future.
An expert Bible prophecy teacher, his biblical worldview helps him address with clarity the unique complexities in Israel, the Middle East, with Russia, China and Europe, and provides an understanding of how events will unfold in the days ahead.

THE REVELATION OF JESUS 
45-minutes to 1 hour length
(“...which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.”  Revelation 1:1)
 A prophetic teaching combining Bible text and current events to consider the possibility that we are very near the end of the End Times.

PERSONAL TESTIMONY 
20-minutes to 1 hour length
Tōv is a Jewish believer in Jesus.  His story and background which will encourage your church.

CHAPEL SERVICES 
20-minutes to 1 hour length
In addition to ministering in the local churches and conferences, Tōv also partners with schools and seminaries, and many on our volunteer Chaplain staff are available to come bring various presentations. You can schedule a speaker for a chapel service, a class or perhaps be part of your missions' emphasis fair and conference. This would be a great opportunity for the students to learn more about Entertainment & Jewish missions and how they can participate in short-term ministry in Israel, New York City, south Florida, Los Angeles, and many more places in the North America and around the world.

THE GOD OF THE HEBREW BIBLE 
45-minutes to 1 hour length
Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day I am the One who is speaking, ‘Here I am’. Isaiah 52:6
Tōv’s research began with a simple question based on the statement made by Jesus, “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27 KJV). Tōv says, "If no one has known God the Father, then who have my Jewish ancestors worshiped?"
This sermon exposes the secrets of “The Emmaus Road Revelation,” and promises to challenge believers to step out from behind the skirts of Jesus to “approach the throne of grace boldly” (Hebrews 4:16): The Throne of GOD, Our Father. 

Conference Schedule:

1) Thursday, November 1 - Sat, November 3

Meet & Greet/Book Table
Hebraic Roots Conference 2012
St. Michael's Church
9201 Normandale Blvd
Bloomington, MN
952-931-5276
Speakers & Performers:

Clyde Billington

(Music by) Marty Goetz

Wesley Hall

Chris Heeb

Keith Johnson

Bill Morford

Barry Segal

Lois Tverberg

Scott Volk

2) Fri, October 26 – Sat, October 27
Meet & Greet/Book Table
Bless Israel Conferenc
Redeeming Love Church
Where 2425 White Bear Ave Maplewood, MN 55109

If you haven't already, check out my books at: amazon.com/Tov-Rose/e/B004WLJN1KHave a blessed week until we meet again! :-)
-TOV

Amazon Best Seller!! The New Messianic Version of the BIble, by Tov Rose

The New Messianic Version of the Bible (The Book of GOD: Volume 1 - Torah/Moses) 

Made it to the TOP 100 on Amazon's Best Seller List today at 7:00PM! Here come the screen shots!

Thanks for all of you have been Praying! :-)

-TOV

Ancient Maps of the "Sea Kings", Proof of King Solomon's World-Wide Navy?

Ancient Maps of the "Sea Kings"

In his book Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings, Charles H. Hapgood tells of the Piri Re'is map of 1513 A.D. Studies of this map show that it correctly gives latitudes and longitudes along the coasts of Africa and Europe, indicating that the original mapmaker must have found the correct relative longitude across Africa and across the Atlantic to Brazil. This amazing map gives an accurate profile of the coast of South America to the Amazon, provides an amazing outline of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico (supposedly not yet discovered!), and -- incredibly enough -- shows a part of the coast of the Antarctic Continent which was not discovered, in modern times, until 1818!

This map does not stand alone. A world map drawn by Oronteus Finaeus in 1531 gives a truly authentic map of Antarctica, indicating the coasts were probably ice-free when the original map was drawn (of which Oronteus Finaeus' map was a later copy). The Oronteus Finaeus map was strikingly similar to modern maps of the Antarctic. How could this be?

Another fascinating map is the map of Hadji Ahmed of 1559. It is evident that the cartographer had some extraordinary source maps at his disposal. Says Hapgood: "The shapes of North and South America have a surprisingly modern look, the western coasts are especially interesting. They seem to be about two centuries ahead of the cartography of the time. . . . The shape of what is now the United States is about Perfect" (p. 99).

Another map of the Middle Ages, the Reinel Chart of 1510 -- a Portuguese map of the Indian Ocean -- provides a striking example of the knowledge of the ancients. Studying the identifiable geographical localities and working out from them, Hapgood was astounded to find that "this map apparently shows the coast of Australia . . . The map also appeared to show some of the Caroline Islands of the Pacific. Latitudes and longitudes on this map are remarkably good, although Australia is shown too far north" (ibid., p. 134).

How can such remarkable accuracy be explained on the basis of almost total ignorance of the earth during that time? Obviously, at an earlier period of earth's history, sea-faring nations must have travelled around the world and accurately mapped the major continents, and fragments and copies of their ancient maps survived into the Middle Ages and were copied again.

Concludes Hapgood: "The evidence presented by the ancient maps appears to suggest the existence in remote times . . . of a true civilization, of a comparatively advanced sort, which either was localized in one area but had worldwide commerce, or was, in a real sense, a worldwide culture" (p. 193).

How advanced was this ancient culture? Says Hapgood, "In astronomy, nautical science, mapmaking and possibly ship-building, it was perhaps more advanced than any state of culture before the 18th Century of the Christian Era." He continues: "It was in the 18th Century that we first developed a practical means of finding longitude. It was in the 18th Century that we first accurately measured the circumference of the earth. Not until the 19th Century did we begin to send out ships for purposes of whaling or exploration into the Arctic or Antarctic Seas. The maps indicate that some ancient people may have done all these things" (Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings, p. 193).

What ancient society could have been responsible? Is there really any doubt?

The evidence is overwhelming. The Semitic features discovered in Mexico and South America, the Hebrew and Phoenicians inscriptions, the Hebrew religious customs found in the Americas, and similar customs in far off New Zealand among the Maories of ancient times, all attest to the fact that worldwide oceanic travel, trade and commerce was occurring during the time of the Solomonic Empire!

Hapgood says such mapmaking would indicate economic motivations and vast economic resources. Further, organized government is indicated, since the mapping of a continent such as Antarctica implies much organization, many expeditions, and the compilation of many local observations and maps into a general map under central supervision. He adds that it is unlikely that navigation and mapmaking were the only sciences developed by this ancient people. Such a comprehensive enterprise could only have been achieved during a relative time of world peace, and by a very powerful and extremely wealthy kingdom! What ancient kingdom could have accomplished this?

Discoveries in South America, Did King Solomon's Navy Make it this Far?

Discoveries in South America

In the past century, several Brazilians have found inscriptions on rocks along the Amazon river. Over a period of 50 years, four men, including two who were scientists, uncovered inscriptions which they independently concluded were Phoenician in origin.

The first man, Francisco Pinto, in 1872 found over 20 caves deep in the Brazilian jungle and uncovered about 250 strange inscriptions upon the rocks. He thought they were Phoenician, and Brazil's Director of History and Geography corroborated his suspicions. A German philologist who studied the markings in 1911 felt they were genuine.

In the 1880s, Ernest Ronan, a French scientist, combed the jungles and found several more inscribed stones. In the 1920s a scholar by the name of Bernardo da Silva discovered many more inscriptions along the Amazon. It makes good sense. It explains why the Mayans,who considered Quetzalcoatl as the bringer of their arts and laws, depicted him as being unusually blond!

When the Spaniards discovered the New World in the early sixteenth century, perhaps fifty million inhabitants lived in the Western Hemisphere, speaking over 900 languages. Such linguistic diversity has long puzzled scholars, and logically attests to a diversity of origins. Carleton S. Coon reported that the conquistadores "commented on Montezuma's light skin, but did not remark that this ruler rarely exposed himself to the bright sun." Coon adds: "George Catlin, in his portraits of the Mandan Indians, depicted some of them as blond. . . . Another case of allegedly abberrant Indians is that of the Pomo, Hupa, and neighboring tribes in north-central California whose beard growth seems to have been Caucasoid when they were first seen" (Coon, The Living Races of Man, p.154).

Another mystery to ethnologists is the existence of a white skinned, red-bearded tribe discovered by builders of Brazil's Trans-Amazon Highway. Called the Lower Assurinis because they live south of the route of the highway, they have ear lobes (which is uncharacteristic of other tribes), and their language differs from traditional dialects in the region.

Sir Walter Raleigh in his History of the World mentioned that the Indians he encountered used many Welsh words long before the Welsh were known to have come to America. Linguistic studies prove that the Welsh language is very closely akin to ancient Hebrew!