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Dale L. Roberts's avatar

I love this! Everyone has a story to tell and I don't think money should stop them from telling it.

Of course, I don't want to see the market flooded garbage books, but that's possible at every turn regardless! I agree with you completely and I tell my audience, if you can afford to outsource, do it. If not, do it yourself and order a $5 cover from a specific designer.

But don't refrain from telling your story because some book snob said you can't unless you meet their criteria.

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J.R. Heimbigner's avatar

I completely agree. The story that is in them will stay with them if they don’t and lead to regret a lot of times. I don’t want that for people.

Yes, there are a lot of bad books out there, but they just need a little help and encouragement most of the time.

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JACQUELINE HOUCHIN's avatar

Thanks. Yes it helped a little. I'm looking forward to the book/course you are writing. Jackie

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J.R. Heimbigner's avatar

You bet! I’m hopefully to have something here in the near future.

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JACQUELINE HOUCHIN's avatar

I liked this post and the "broad" steps you mention. Easy, Free. BUT, do you have more detailed descriptions/instructions on working on Canva (I asked this before and you answered somewhat) and also on formatting this free book. I have a very little knowledge about this, but step-by-step instructions would be great. Also, do you need a special app to turn a Word document into a PDF file. Seems I remember you need to buy that option.

Hey! Why don't you write a detailed book on the EASY, step-by-step, process of publishing a free book, and then one for pay, in Section Two. I'd buy it.

Jackie

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J.R. Heimbigner's avatar

So I’ll start with the bottom of your comment and work my way up.

- I’m currently working on a written course to help writers create their first book that will be more detailed. It’s early, but I’ve had lots of interest from folks.

- Going from Word to PDF, I think there is a ‘print’ option for that. I know with Apple Pages and my Word app with work, I hit print, and then save as PDF. I’m not sure if that is a purchase only option or not.

- Canva. Two thoughts on this one. First, there are a lot of resources for this, YouTube and blog walkthroughs. However, here is a quick rundown:

1. Jump into Canva, create a custom dimension, if your using a pdf, I suggest te 8.5 by 11 dimension. If your are doing Kindle, you can Google the right dimensions (I’m on my phone and away from a computer/iPad at the moment).

2. Then pick a book cover template. Don’t use the exact template. Make changes for font, colors, and other parts of it. But a good start is using a template.

3. Ask at least five writer friends or three readers in your genre to give you feedback. Update based on that and you are ready to download.

- I’ll try and come up with a full post to help more that will likely make it into the book.

I hope this helps a little more!

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