Author: Melinda Clayton

Melinda Clayton is the author of the Cedar Hollow series, as well as a self-publishing guide. Clayton has published numerous articles and short stories in various print and online magazines. She has an Ed.D. in Special Education Administration and is a licensed psychotherapist in the states of Florida and Colorado. Lear more about Melinda at her Amazon author page

Do I Need Different ISBNs for CreateSpace and Ingram?

ISBNIn December 2016 I wrote about transferring my books from CreateSpace Expanded Distribution to IngramSpark.

The process was easier than I’d anticipated, because IngramSpark has directions for transferring title assignment right on the site, and both CreateSpace and IngramSpark were available to help walk me through the process.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I recently read a comment on a popular author forum stating that a different ISBN had to be used for each distributor. Now, this is true if you’re using one of CreateSpace’s ISBNs, because in that case, CreateSpace would be the publisher, and they’re the ones who decide how you get to use it. You can read more about ISBNs here.

But if you bought your ISBN, you’re the publisher, and that’s actually indicated within the ISBN itself. Without getting too complicated, that Continue reading “Do I Need Different ISBNs for CreateSpace and Ingram?”

Self-Publishing Questions and Answers, Round Two

self publishing question-1500086_960_720I wrote a post back in March answering some of the questions I most often see asked in writing groups and discussion forums. It seemed to be helpful, so after coming across more questions with iffy answers, I thought I should go for round two.

The first question is one I actually addressed in a post about book formatting back in May of 2016, but I’ve seen it asked so much lately, I thought it couldn’t hurt to repeat it.

Q.  No matter how many times I accept track changes in Word (or remove my header/footer), everything is still there when I upload to KDP. Do I have to retype the whole thing? Continue reading “Self-Publishing Questions and Answers, Round Two”

The Importance of Categories and Keywords for Your Books on KDP

dealing with book keywords on amazon headache-1557865_960_720I hate keywords. “Use keywords,” they say, for your blog post, your KDP book, your website, your AMS ads. Figuring out which keywords to use is harder for me than writing the actual post/book/ad. But I’m learning.

An example:  the other day while checking the Amazon rank of one of my books after a sale, I noticed something odd. The rank in three different categories was showing. The first one was: Continue reading “The Importance of Categories and Keywords for Your Books on KDP”

Help! Someone else is selling my book!

Dont-Panic1While taking a short break from obsessively Googling your name and checking your KDP dashboard, you wander over to search for your book on Amazon. Imagine your surprise when – gasp – you see two listings. Or three listings. Or even more! Someone named IHeartBooks is selling your paperback on Amazon! Not only that, but – horror of horrors – they’re charging more than you are. Or maybe less than you are. Or maybe you’re one of those authors who’s stumbled across a copy of your paperback selling on Amazon for $6,789 or some such outrageous price.

The stinkin’ pirates! You should immediately fire off a DMCA takedown notice to have your book removed. Shouldn’t you? Continue reading “Help! Someone else is selling my book!”