Details — Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can booksmith.ca provide an ISBN number for my book?
A: Yes we can. In the event that you currently lack ISBN numbers for your books, we can assign ISBN numbers at a cost of $15.00 per title. This only applies to books which we are managing on Kindle, or which we are arranging to have printed on your behalf. If you currently have ISBN numbers for your books, you don't have to pay us for new ones.
Q: Can booksmith.ca format my manuscript for uploading to Kindle, and then just send me the HTML file, rather than doing the upload for me and charging me to manage my account?
A: Yes we can. A simple format for a novel-like manuscript takes between three and five hours at $15 an hour, or in the neighborhood of $45 to $75. We can make arrangements for you to e-mail us your source document for a “no obligation” review and a firm quote if you like. See the contact page to get in touch with us about this.
Q: Hang on… didn’t your web page say that you charge $19.99 for a simple format?
A: It did. If we’ll be managing your account on Kindle — and getting paid for doing so — we’ll absorb most of the cost of formatting your manuscript. If you just want to hire us to do formatting, we’ll charge you a fair price for our time.
Q: The only electronically-readable version of my manuscript I have available is a PDF file. Can you work form this?
A: Probably. As long as your PDF file doesn’t include any password protection, read-restrictions or other forms of DRM, we should be able to convert it to an HTML file and then format it normally. The process of converting from PDF to HTML can go one of two ways — instantaneous or impossible. In the former case, it won’t make much of a dent in your formatting costs, and in the latter, it won’t make a dent at all, as we won’t be able to work with your manuscript in this form. We invite you to contact us to arrange to send us your PDF file so we can tell you the awful truth about it.
In practice, most PDF files convert without difficulty.
Q: The only electronically-readable version of my manuscript I have is a proprietary file or CD from an unknown desktop publishing program that hasn’t been heard of since the early 1990s, a typesetting system no one’s used since the late middle ages or a word processor even I can’t remember the name of. Can you format from these documents?
A: Maybe... but don’t get your hopes up. We’ll be happy to review your files and see if we can make sense of them. There’s no cost to have us look at them. See the contact page to get in touch with us about this.
Q: I don’t have an electronically-readable version of my book. Can you work from a paper copy?
A: We can arrange to OCR a paper book, or have it transcribed. Illustrations in paper books, if this is applicable, can be a larger issue. Please get in touch with us to discuss the details for your book.
Q: I’ve seen web pages for Kindle formatting that costs half what you guys charge. Why is your formatting service more expensive?
A: Really cheap formatting is typically handled entirely in software. Your source document will be run through a formatting program, and whatever comes out will be uploaded to Kindle. This really seems like it should work, but in practice, even experienced authors type somewhat erratically when they create a manuscript, and these minor variations in style will usually get past software-based formatting. Your final Kindle upload will have a few missing indents, odd extra blank lines, funky punctuation and so on as a result.
If you’ve noticed a lot of press of late about Amazon experiencing high numbers of returns of books from small-press publishers due to their low production quality, this is why. Few readers are prepared to pay for a book that looks like salad.
We use a formatting program to pre-process manuscript documents, followed by a real live human being with two authentic eyes to work through the documents and polish them up. This latter step is worth what it costs.
Q: Can I use booksmith.ca even if I reside in the United States?
A: Yes you can. American authors and publishers have found that it’s a lot more cost-effective to have us handle their electronic books through Kindle — bringing to bear our knowledge of manuscript formatting, cover design and the tricky bits surrounding Kindle’s on-line publishing process — than it is for them to learn all this stuff in house. Note that you’ll be paid in US dollars from a US bank, so the fact that we’re actually located in Canada won’t really matter.
Q: Can I use booksmith.ca if I’m outside North America?
A: Yes you can. We welcome clients from anywhere on Earth. We should point out that transferring money to banks outside North America can be a bit more expensive — we invite you to contact us to discuss how best to handle your account, such that a minimum amount of your royalties winds up in the pockets of bankers.
Q: Can you submit electronic books to reader tablets other than Amazon Kindle, such as Sony Reader, Fictionwise or Shortcovers?
A: Not at the moment... but we’re working on it.
Q: How can I make sure my book has been uploaded to Amazon Kindle?
A: Visit the Amazon web page. Enter the name of the author of your book in the Search field, select Kindle Store as the location to search and click on Go. The web page should find all the books submitted to Kindle with you as the author.
Q: Can I do all the copy-editing, formatting and graphic management for my electronic book myself, and just pay you for uploading it and transferring my royalties to me?
A: Yes you can. Be advised that formatting a manuscript for Kindle is a bit tricky, but you only need buy those services from us that you actually require.
Q: How long does it take for an electronic book to appear at Kindle after it has been submitted?
A: Good question. We’ve had them go live in fifteen minutes. We’ve also had them take the better part of a week. Amazon’s web page says that they’ll appear in 12 to 72 hours, but there would appear to be some human intervention in the process, and as such, it probably depends upon how busy Amazon is at the time a book is submitted. We have no control over what happens after we click on Publish.
Q: What document format should I use to upload my manuscript to booksmith.ca?
A: Our preferred format is Microsoft Word 2000. Newer versions of Word can save to this format. It’s complex enough to handle all the text formatting options you’ll need, but it lacks a number of funky elements that crept into later incarnations of Word. If you can’t save your document to a Word DOC file, please contact us so we can assist you in choosing a suitable document format that won’t mangle your book or increase your formatting costs.
Q: Can I include formatted text in my manuscript, such as tables, bulleted or numbered lists and equations?
A: Some formatted text options can be reproduced in Kindle — please contact us to discuss what you’d like to include in your book. In most cases, these objects have to be formatted by hand — this will impact your formatting costs. Some complex text, such as equations, will actually have to be implemented as graphics. Keep in mind that a Kindle tablet doesn’t actually display a great deal of text per page — it’s designed to be comfortable to read, rather than to manage a lot of information at a glance. Large, complex tables may not prove workable in this environment.
Q: Can I submit a book with lots of pictures or diagrams to Kindle?
A: Yes you can — with a few catches. The Kindle reader tablet has a display screen that can only display eight levels of gray. Kindle 2 can display up to sixteen levels of gray, but you can’t assume that everyone who reads your book will have the latter device. This being the case, you’d need to manipulate your pictures to look reasonable in eight gray levels. We can assist you with this — we do it all the time for the cover graphics included with Kindle submissions. Keep in mind that the formatting costs for a book with numerous graphics will be somewhat higher than the "novel-like manuscript" prices stated elsewhere at our web page.
Q: How long will it take for me to receive my royalties after someone buys one of my books?
A: Amazon’s web page states that we’ll receive payment within 60 days of a sale. We’ll forward you your royalties once a month, so you’ll receive your money no more than 30 days after we receive payment from Amazon. We’d like to point out that we have no control over when Amazon transfers funds to us — if we don’t get paid on time, neither will you.
Q: Do I have any control over the customer reviews that appear at Amazon’s web page for my book?
A: Not really. You can report them as inappropriate, and Amazon might spike them if they agree — this doesn't usually work. For the most part, this is actually a beneficial situation for authors, as it means that when a favorable review appears, your potential readers will know that they can trust it. Admittedly, bad reviews — and this includes bad reviews written by idiots, or bad reviews by authors with an axe to grind — are the price to be paid for this objectivity.
Q: Can I change the cover blurb, search criteria and other submission fields after booksmith.ca uploads a book to Amazon Kindle?
A: Yes you can, but we’ll need to charge you for another upload if you do. Your updated fields won’t be reflected at Amazon’s we page until the publishing process at Kindle is complete.
Q: How soon after I publish a book at Kindle can I expect to see people buying it?
A: That would be up to you. Keep in mind that Kindle is essentially a book shop — it’s not a marketing agency. Your book will be one of about a quarter of a million titles available at Kindle. If it’s going to be successful, you’re going to have to promote it. You might want to see our discussion of Marketing elsewhere at our web site.
Q: I read somewhere that the upload format for Amazon Kindle is HTML. Does this mean I can just create web pages and have you upload them for me?
A: Not if you value your sanity. The upload format for Amazon Kindle is a subset of HTML — the reason we get paid the big bucks is that we’ve worked out what the subset is, and how it behaves when it touches down in a Kindle pad. This assumes that you consider $19.99 to be "big bucks," of course.
Q: If I pay booksmith.ca $19.99 to format a book for me, can I have the formatted HTML text?
A: Yes you can — a year from now. Our low-cost formatting for account holders is really inexpensive, considering the amount of human intervention it includes. If you'd like to have us format your book and provide you with the formatted document immediately such that you or someone else can manage it on Kindle, we’ll be happy to do so. Please see the questions earlier in this document that deal with this.