Amazon Direct Publishing : For Dummies... The Clean Copy...

For Dummies? Maybe, just me...

For Starters:

Yesterday, I posted about my self-publishing adventure and introduced you to my brilliant editor and cover artist. These people are the "finishers" of the manuscript. Now let's start with the basics of loading up your work and making it become a book through self-publishing.

A Clean Copy....

I mentioned that to upload a book into Amazon Direct Publishing, you needed a CLEAN copy. Let me explain in detail what that means.

1. Open your word document
2. Click the Review Tab at the top of your page (usually center)
3. In the "Track Changes" drop down menu select "All Markup"
4. Start your cursor at the top left of your very first page
5. Now take your cursor and click "Accept"
1. If a box comes up saying there are no tracked changes in your document, you are good. Exit out and continue on to loading your e-book.
2. If the cursor moves to a highlighted section of your manuscript, read over the change and "accept" or "decline". 
3. Move your mouse to the "Next" button and click tour way through the document "accepting" or "Declining" each change.
6.  There are some comments that you will accept, that will not disappear once you've accepted them. 
1. Go to each comment, one at a time.
2. Right click in the comment box.
3. Choose "Delete Comment" from the menu.
7.  Once you see no more colors or comments anywhere on your manuscript you finally have a CLEAN copy and it can be uploaded.

 Trust me!

If you choose not to upload a CLEAN copy, you'll be surprised at the formatting errors that will occur in your book. This is just the first step... I'll be back with a few more goodies very soon.

Until then, Keep Reading!
~Lisa