Self-Publishing on Amazon (Kindle / Print / Audio and BEYOND!) - Flex

Hello  parents and students

This is a flex version of my live publishing a fantasy book class that I am offering.  After getting some feedback and working with the great kids on Outschool I found that many students want to go deep into the publishing aspect of Amazon and not focus on the writing or book / character creation aspect that I offered in my other class.  So, this is why I decided to offer this flex class version of the course where you can watch me go through the process step by step, take your time and really put your skills to the test.  

What is different between this version and the live version?

In the flex version we will not meet one on one.  I will be available to any student that would like to schedule some office hours time to go over something or offer a group chat session but for the most part everything in the class will be pre-recorded and ready to view on your schedule.

In the flex class I can go into more detailed information than I can in the live class.  I can really get into the hidden gems of publishing your book, advertising your book and much more.

How will the class work?

The class will work very simply.  

1. You will register with our Google Docs / Drive account.  Here you will find your materials and will submit materials for review after each class.

2. I will setup a discussion board / forum for students to interact with each other as well as with me.  This board will have daily questions posed by me as the teacher as well as questions and conversations I will monitor on a daily basis.

3. At the end of the week I will ask you to post in the form what you have learned, what you have questions on and what I can do to help you learn more.  I will record any additional videos as well as have live chat access to me if requested.

4. Side Projects - I will have side projects that you can use to write some original content.  This will help you to improve your writing skills and maybe give you ideas for your own books and stories.

This is what we will learn over the 5 weeks.

Session #1 - Understanding Amazon and their publishing platform

In this session I will go over all of the different aspects of Amazon and how their publishing platform works.  I will show you the different types of books you can use, the different software programs and more. We will take a manuscript and cover and publish it online live.  It will be our sample book that we will track through the course of the class.  I will also go over the difference between publishing a fiction book compared to a non-fiction book.  This week will give you a lot of information that we will expand on in future sessions.

Session #2 - Book and Cover Creation and Formatting 

In this session we will go over how to take your book and format it for Kindle and Print.  I will go over the type of fonts to use, how to deal with images and much more.  Then we will go into cover creation.  I will show you how to create a cover for your kindle version of the book as well as how to create the print cover for your print version of the book.

Session #3 - KDP Select, Book Promotion and Dealing with Reviews

In this session of the class we will go into book promotion and how to get your book out there getting sales.  I will supply you with resources to get book reviews, how to do review swaps and how to start developing a promotional campaign to start making money with your books.

Session #4 - Audio Books

In this session of the class we will go over how to turn your books into an audio book.  I will talk about how to find voice talent, how to make covers for your audio version of the book, how to promote your audio book and how to use your Free 25 coupon codes.

Session #5 - Creating your Author Persona

From this point forward you have all of the core information needed to come up with a book, format it, publish, promote and deal with sales.  In this final session of the class I am going to go into more advanced topics that you can use to promote yourself as an author, use your skills to start your own publishing company and how to really take advantage of Amazon, move beyond Amazon and really make money with your books.  This section will be a little more advanced so it will be up to you if you want to review it but you will get a lot of information that can be applied to other aspects of publishing, online business and self-promotion!

Overall Objective - The overall objective of this class is to give you everything that you need in order to get your book out on Kindle and in print.  You can take what you have and advance it into audio and beyond.  This class isn't complicated but there is a lot of information to take in.  

Interactive Element - I will have discussion  questions, small writing projects that you can do and publish and even offer office hours if you want to meet live and chat.  

Additional information - If you have questions or want things shown in a different way please let me know.  I will record additional videos answering these questions for you to view and review.  I am here to help if you get stuck and don't want you getting frustrated.  The class is just like the live version of the class except that it is recorded in advance and you can take it when wish.  But don't feel that we can't talk.  I want to meet you, talk with you and help guide you along the way.  Learning and success is the key.  Don't be afraid to message me direct.

Side Projects - In the class I will have side projects.  The side projects will be book ideas and concepts that you can take and write your books on.  These are totally optional but if you don't have a book that you are ready to publish or if you want to take an idea and make something and publish it then these side projects will be a great way to learn and to start having real life publishing experience.