Driftwood XXXVIII

Published on Amazon

Print-on-Demand and Kindle eBook

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Driftwood XXXVIII – the thirty-eighth annual anthology produced by The Scribblers of Brevard – was originally published in print by Blue Note but this year we decided to venture into the world of online, self-publishing, provoked in part by the impact of Covid-19. In pre-Covid years, the group has enthusiastically marketed the anthology at various literary and community events in Brevard County, Florida with great success but social distancing and isolating made that almost impossible in 2020.

Online publishing, via print-on-demand services and ebooks, provided the solution to the problem of how to promote and distribute the anthology and, despite the negative press that Amazon often receives about its monopoly of this publishing market, it was the logical choice, as a platform of distribution, because at the moment it’s the one everyone knows.

Preparing a manuscript for print and ebook on Amazon can be challenging as a first-time experience but once the process has been learned, it’s very easy to replicate for subsequent manuscripts, and it facilities an extra skillset for whoever takes on the task.

Ten Top Tips for Publishing on Amazon Kindle and Print-on-Demand

• Format your source manuscript so that the font type and size, body paragraphs, punctuation and line spacing are uniform throughout.
• Make sure your work is proof-read independently before publication.
• Print out all the instructions provided by Amazon and follow them in the order they provide them.
• Prepare images in an image editor like Photoshop so that they fit Amazon’s recommended sizes.
• Use the provided Amazon templates to create the print-ready book pages.
• Make sure that the size of your dust-jacket is the same as the size of your book.
• If you design your own dust-jacket, remember to create bleed-areas at edges and folds.
• Make sure that any images you use are your own or they are free of any copyright issues.
• Choose book titles carefully – try to use an original title.
• Market your book across your social media sites at regular intervals.

Driftwood XXXVIII is available on Amazon here.