Kindle Direct Publishing. Getting a proof copy

[PADDY]

I have read that you can get your completed electronic manuscript transformed into a print, proof copy, on this site for modest expenditure . [clumsily phrased but I hope you know what I mean]
Would anybody care to give a step-by-step guide on how to do this? I intend to try and get the manuscript traditionally published.
Thanks

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I have read that you can get your completed electronic manuscript transformed into a print, proof copy, on this site for modest expenditure . [clumsily phrased but I hope you know what I mean]
Would anybody care to give a step-by-step guide on how to do this? I intend to try and get the manuscript traditionally published.
Thanks

If you go to KDP boards, there are help articles that will include templates etc to upload, and how-to guides

 

[PADDY]

Thank you

 

[HareBrain]

Once you've got the manuscript formatted, the actual KDP process is pretty straightforward. I would just start it off and Google if you get stuck on a choice (like what "bleed" means).

 

[PADDY]

Thanks. I wanted to know if I could go so far as to get a proof copy and then stop the publishing process. Is that acceptable to KDP? I don't want to self-publish but find a traditional publisher if possible. I just want a print copy to aid in editing.

 

[HareBrain]

Thanks. I wanted to know if I could go so far as to get a proof copy and then stop the publishing process. Is that acceptable to KDP? I don't want to self-publish but find a traditional publisher if possible. I just want a print copy to aid in editing.

I've done it loads of times over several years, so don't worry about that. They're not giving you anything for nothing, as you pay the printing costs.

By the way, there is a point in the process where it asks if you want to "publish now" or at a specified date. Don't worry, this still doesn't commit you to publishing, so choose "publish now".

Obviously, choose to get proof copies at the earliest opportunity (the third page, I think) and once you've ordered them, just quit.

 

[Karapace]

Just to add proof copies are worth it. I didn't with my first book (assuming all was hunky dory) then found the mistakes. All corrected afterwards, but daft bugger me had already ordered 60 copies

 

[PADDY]

I've done it loads of times over several years, so don't worry about that. They're not giving you anything for nothing, as you pay the printing costs.

By the way, there is a point in the process where it asks if you want to "publish now" or at a specified date. Don't worry, this still doesn't commit you to publishing, so choose "publish now".

Obviously, choose to get proof copies at the earliest opportunity (the third page, I think) and once you've ordered them, just quit.

Thanks. It was exactly that 'publish now' box that got me worried. How do they send you the proof copies and at what stage do they bill you?
I appreciate your time. I am OK with formatting my manuscript but a bit slow on the admin side. Thanks.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Thanks. It was exactly that 'publish now' box that got me worried. How do they send you the proof copies and at what stage do they bill you?
I appreciate your time. I am OK with formatting my manuscript but a bit slow on the admin side. Thanks.

Through the post and you pay on before they despatch

 

[HareBrain]

How do they send you the proof copies and at what stage do they bill you?

It's done as a normal Amazon order.

 

[sknox]

If I publish it on Amazon, won't that interfere with me finding a traditional publisher?

 

[HareBrain]

If I publish it on Amazon, won't that interfere with me finding a traditional publisher?

Very probably, but we're only talking about proof copies here. You're effectively using Amazon as a different kind of printer.

 

[PADDY]

HareBrain and Jo Zebedee

Thanks for the info I will give it a go

 

[Astro Pen]

I ordered a proof copy of Changebringer and it took forever.
After 3 weeks I got fed ended up publishing regardless. I ordered an authors copy corrected the book and got it out again, corrected, before the proof arrived.

Note. The Amazon proof will have 'not for resale' emblazoned across the cover art thus:

 

[Jo Zebedee]

If I publish it on Amazon, won't that interfere with me finding a traditional publisher?

for that book, only. You can still sub for others. Hybrid is very common these days. Although, as Harebrain says, you aren't actually publishing on them.

 

[sknox]

I'll echo what others have said. If you are publishing via Amazon, do take the time to have an author's copy. You *will* find new errors. It's worth a few bucks. It is hard to accept yet another delay, but you could definitely take Astro Pen's path.

 

[Astro Pen]

I'll echo what others have said. If you are publishing via Amazon, do take the time to have an author's copy. You *will* find new errors. It's worth a few bucks. It is hard to accept yet another delay, but you could definitely take Astro Pen's path.

I would just add that, at that point, I had done no marketing other than a mention on here, so only 5 copies went out with the typo. If I had done a lot of pre launch publicity I would have definitely waited till it was proofed.
That said I had considerable trouble getting those corrections into the eBook. KDP introduced errors that were not in the submitted MS. They were minor but are still there
But @sknox is quite correct in that no matter how hard you try, errors slip through on the first pass. We are so used to print being perfect that they grate more than they did when it was just a stack of A4.

 

[HareBrain]

KDP introduced errors that were not in the submitted MS.

What kind of errors?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I've noticed a lot of Kindle books—and not just self-pubbed ones, either—have many pages where the formatting is a bit off, and hardly seems like something that would be in the original manuscripts. Is that what you mean Astro Pen? Or have you found other kinds of errors that KDP was responsible for?

 

[HareBrain]

I've noticed a lot of Kindle books—and not just self-pubbed ones, either—have many pages where the formatting is a bit off, and hardly seems like something that would be in the original manuscripts.

I once tried uploading a Word document, which came out looking a bit different from what I wanted, even though I'd used styles properly. PDFs have always turned out perfectly for me, and I would highly recommend that's what people use.