Cruising Past Seventy: The Inner Journeys: We All Have a Book In Us. Publish Yours for Free.

Friday, January 15, 2021

We All Have a Book In Us. Publish Yours for Free.


It is still being debated who, among many intellectuals, first wrote the very popular quote, “Everyone has a book in them…” Regardless of the origin, I believe in this. Each of us has a funny, inspiring, or informative story to tell. You may have a good idea about how to improve life for many, a special skill that will empower others, a view about the future that will make a difference.
  There are many other reasons.

What has stopped people from writing books then? One, it requires focus and time. I didn’t get the focus to write until I retired. And even then, I found the impetus only when I encountered dire situations that gave me the time. The first travel book, Carolina : Cruising to an American Dream, was born during a six-week separation from Bill. The second travel book, Cruising Past Seventy. It’s Not only about Outer Journeys. It’s Also about Inner Ones, was written and published while we were all trapped inside our homes during the coronavirus lockdowns.

But I think there is another even more compelling reason. It requires money to convert the book inside each of us to a publishable format, off the press, on to the bookshelves, and to the hands of readers. The traditional way to publish is quite unreachable to many. Your idea must be previously not thought of and you must be a celebrity who can pull readers in droves. Self-publishing has produced another way but it also required a couple of thousands of dollars. My first book, Carolina: Cruising to an American Dream, was done this way. It is good I was able to recoup my investment.


You will be very happy to know that there is a way that is now available absolutely free! It is called direct publishing. And Amazon has made it happen in its Kindle program. This is how I produced my new travel book, Cruising Past Seventy, It's Not Only about Outer Journeys. It's Also about Inner Ones. Its precursor was Amazon’s CreateSpace but that was difficult to use. It has since been moved into Kindle Direct Publishing that is surprisingly relatively easy to use although it still requires some tech-savviness and attention to detail. I found out even ordinary mortals like me can do it!

You can create both the ebook and the paperback using three steps:

1. set up the details,

2. upload the manuscript and create the cover, and

3. price the book. 


The first step includes the addition of the title, the author and other contributors, the book description, the publishing rights, the searchable keywords, and the ISBN, the unique book number. In the second step, the manuscript for the ebook can be input in MS Word, HTML, RTF, Text, GIF, JPEG, and PNG formats. Thankfully, there are also many tools, mostly free, offered during this creative process. This is the part that requires some tech-savviness and attention to detail. For the paperback, it must be in PDF. The third step takes you into the decisions on royalty, pricing, and territories.

After you have created the book in the section called Bookshelf, there are three other sections that will help you. “Marketing” lets you create your Author Page using Author Central and offers other ways to promote your book for free. “Reports” helps you track all your sales (quantity and dollars earned) by title and by date. Finally, “Community” helps you learn the ins and outs of KDP. There is even a KDP University that offers free courses and webinars.



So, what is the catch? No, it is not that your book can only be read in a Kindle Reader. KDP offers free Kindle apps that can be downloaded to a smartphone, a tablet, or a laptop which then becomes your reader. The catch is that to gain the maximum benefit of all the KDP features, your book will become exclusively sold on Amazon and Kindle. But the biggest catch is that not everybody wants to read ebooks. They still prefer paperbacks and shipping costs from a central location like the US is costly, especially during the time of Covid.

This may not be as bad as it sounds since Amazon dominates 80% of the ebook market and especially if your major market is the US anyway. Besides, KDP also has, since CreateSpace has moved to it, a print on demand feature that is cost-competitive. For example, I was able to price the print version of my second travel book, with all its 346 pages, at just $8.99 which already includes a small royalty. It is a more reasonable price compared to the minimum price of $16.95 I was mandated to use for my first book.


My experience with KDP has been good but since I was a rookie and not really a techie, I had to deal with some formatting issues until the end. But, since I do not worry anymore about recovering any cost, I can in fact now write as many books as I have in my mind. In addition, I can reserve my money for modest marketing spend to improve my sales.

The second part of the quotation, however, says “…but in most cases, that’s where it should stay.” Please tell me in the comments section what next books are lurking in your mind. Those that are topmost in mine are: “How to Find Your Lifetime Partner on the Net” or “Veggies beyond Salads.” What book that’s inside you wants to be published? That, probably, should not just stay in your mind! 

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55 comments:

  1. Kindle changes the game of publishinng. You can now publish the book you have in mind absolutely free!

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  2. Great information. I pinned it for future use. I have often thought I wanted to write a book about honest musings. I have found that most people seem like they have it all on the surface, but when I get the courage to divulge some severe issue I am going through I find that others have similar or just as bizarre problems. It seems it gives others the venue for opening up about things they were afraid to admit to before.

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    1. It is therapeutic that way m we understand ourselves better and hopefully it helps others, too.

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  3. Loved your post! Funny recently I have contemplating writing my own book or even eBook. At my age just learning SEO and analytics have been challenging! You answered alot of questions I was wondering about with self publishing. As well motivated me to bring that book out in me tucked away! Very inspiring <3

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    1. Yes, please! You never know how many people it will help!

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  4. Congrats on you book!! Thank you for sharing!! I'm working on my book and hope to publish this year! Thanks for the info...

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  5. This is really an incredibly useful post. I actually bookmarked it. It looks so easy. Now I "only" need to finish writing that book! Haha. Good luck with your sales and projects.

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  6. This great! So happy for you for your book! Congratulations!

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  7. What an interesting tool for those who have write a book on their bucket list! I created a Cuba Coloring Book one time and self published it. It can be a bit tricky like you say if you aren't tech savvy but I am glad that Amazon is helping people make their dreams come true! Can't wait to see what the 3rd book will one day be about!

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  8. What a lot of useful information! I would never had had a clue how to do any of that!

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  9. Thank you so much for posting this. I have considered self publishing a book so this is so great!

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  10. Very interesting and great overview of how to publish a book through amazon. A couple years ago when I started considering the possibility of writing a book, the publication process seemed so difficult and it didn't likely that I would be able to achieve it. But amazon makes it seem like much more of a possibility. I wasn't sure exactly how it worked, so I'm glad I can across your guide.

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  11. I was aware of the Amazon self publishing platform but hadn't given it much thought. Thanks for outlining all the reasons to do it and also how simple it is to use! Especially the piece around formatting.

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  12. Ebooks definitely make self-publishing easier, and means more people can get their content out there for others to read. I think still a lot of work, and self-editing is particularly hard, but can be rewarding!

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  13. I haven't thought about going this route, thanks for sharing some inside tips and ideas about doing this and the entire process.

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  14. Wow! Who knew it was that simple?!? Now I have to decide if there's a book in me...

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  15. That's really cool, Kindle has made it a lot easier for many people to get published. I know a lot of friends who have recently turned into authors and its quite inspiring. Thanks for the tips, should I plan to follow their path and consider writing myself some day!

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  16. Thank you for this information. I just contributed one chapter to a book and now I feel I am ready to go solo now that I know the process.

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  17. I had no idea that you could publish through Amazon, but I think that ill contest to just read and let people like you publish. I would love to know how to find my soulmate on the net!

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  18. I love how easy it is nowadays to publish your own book! I was thinking about it myself but haven't had the time to put it into reality so far.

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  19. Your statement is certainly true. I know that I have at least one, if not a series of books in me. Now to find the time to get them written down.

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  20. Writing a book has never been on my radar, which is odd considering I'm a travel writer, lol! Maybe one day I will be inspired to write a book. Congrats on yours!

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    1. I just compile my blog posts into a threaded collection.

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  21. I love the quote you open up with. It's so true, we all have a book in us, it's just a matter of having the patience and practice to sit and write it!

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  22. I did publish a couple of books many years ago. Today, I enjoy the freedom of publishing my stuff online so that I can constantly adjust and update it. Also, online, there is less dead weight... ;-)

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    Replies
    1. My blog posts are the foundation of my book. The best-lived ones!

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  23. This is so true, And so many useful bits of motivation here. I think it’s a case of taking the leap and managing expectations of the extra bits of work that go into writing one versus a changeable digital article.

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    1. My blog posts, the best-lived, are compiled into a book.

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  24. That is a lot of insightful information Carolina. I always wanted to learn more about direct publishing, for when/if I am ready to release the "book(s) inside me" :-). Thanks for sharing.

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  25. A great step-by-step look at self-publishing!f

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  26. This is true these publishing softwares had made it quite easy to go for self publishing. What one needs, is definitely a nice story to share with the audience. Well written and throughtful article.

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  27. Wow that's awesome. I had no idea that Amazon offered that. It's a great option for potential authors for sure. Not sure if I'll ever write a book, it's not in my plan but like you said, everyone has a story in them! So who knows!

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    Replies
    1. If you're a blogger, just compile your best-lived posts. That's what I did!

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  28. We're so glad to see this post. We've talked about writing a book but have always put it off. We appreciate the information and inspiration.

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