It’s That Easy

1. Start at: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/
2. Set-up profile
3. Create new book option to upload book content and book cover.
4. Wait up to 72 hours for it to be approved by Amazon.
5. Voila. You’re a published author.

Well, Maybe Not That Easy.

Points to Remember
When uploading manuscripts, be sure to do the due diligence your masterpiece deserves. Simple editing conventions like page breaks (that’s a biggie) need to be adhered to, but by and large if the manuscript is done on Word (DOC/DOCX), HTML (ZIP, HTM, or HTML), MOBI, ePub, Rich Text Format (RTF), Plain Text (TXT), Adobe PDF (PDF), or Kindle Package Format (KPF), the upload is generally easy. Most fonts are accepted, so whether you are artsy-fartsy or downright serious, it should take the font of your choice. Heck, I use Old English, Edwardian Script, Garamond, and Times New Roman in each of my books. (No wonder traditional publishers run screaming when I come their way!)
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Uploading your manuscript is easy. As to the cover, maybe not so much. E-covers are fairly straight forward, but print covers come in an infinite amount of sizes; dependent on the page length of your book. (You have to allow for the thickness of the spine.) My experience with covers created by cover artists is that they are usually very easy to work with and will send your full wrap cover in the correct size as long as you provide them with the appropriate information: type of paper, CORRECT number of pages, and book size—4x6, 6x9, and many sizes in between. Make sure your cover artist/designer is in for the long haul. They should have the means to resize your cover with ease. Here is a handy little link to figure out your print cover size:  File Setup Calculator Don’t worry, it’s safe. It’s from KDP.😊

   Knowing now what they did of their heritage, Melody found herself full of unanswered questions about her mother. Why hadn’t their mother told them of her lineage? If the Grimward could be trusted, and she saw no reason why the old spirit would lie, Mase Storms End descended from a long line of magic users. Sure, her mother would’ve been discreet with that knowledge. Had she been found out, she would’ve been hunted and killed by the ignorant, idol worshipping, peasantry.
   Melody sniffled, wiping her wet cheeks on her robe. In the end, what difference did it make? Death at the hands of the people, or being murdered by Helleden’s minions? Either way, her parents were dead. They had lived a lonely life in exile from their own people.
   “It’s not fair.”
   Silurian stopped clearing the unmarked graves and looked her in the eyes. “No, it’s not, but I’m damn well going to make someone answer for their deaths. Mom and dad were quiet, unassuming, caring people who never did anybody wrong. Mom’s only crime was being born a Storms End. Dad’s only fault was loving her.”
   Melody put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him in close. His words sparked a feeling deep inside her she hadn’t known herself capable of. Revenge.

For me, the process of writing a story is an adventure. As a writer of epic fantasy, people often ask, “How do you world build? How do you establish plot lines? How do you create characters? How do you build magic systems?” To each and every one of those questions the answer is simple. I don't.

​So many people devote countless hours (some take years!) building a fantastical world. They spend days and weeks fretting over magic systems. They agonize until the sun comes up about plot. I get it. There are a lot of people who require structure. Hey, if that works for them, great, but I don't have the patience, nor the time to devote to these things when I could be writing instead. I don’t need to stress over things my characters are going to sort out for themselves anyway.

What do I mean by that? Well, in some circles, I am called a ‘pantser.’ I had never heard of this term until a few months ago. It means I fly by the seat of my pants. Truth be told, I like to think I fly by the seat of my character's pants.

​ Opening scene:

  A storm was imminent. It promised to be a bad one. It would rain hard, and with the rain would come death.
   Within a grotto, high atop an active volcano, a wizard hunkered over a vision within the flames of a modest campfire, holding back long wisps of golden hair.
   Something strange was occurring hundreds of leagues south of the cave. Something catastrophic. Tears dripped from the tip of the wizard’s nose. The omens foretold the return of a devastating power. A power that had annihilated the unspoiled tracts of the Innerworld a few moon cycles earlier. The same power that had besieged Quarrnaine Svelte and her expedition four years ago, but this time it was different. This time, the signs pointed to an absolute apocalypse—a total annihilation of Zephyr, and there was nothing the wizard could do to prevent it.
   A cold wind swirled ash into the wizard’s face, burning small holes in the silken robes fluttering about the magic user’s slight frame.
   Ignoring the acrid smoke, the wizard leaned closer to the flames, willing the vision to reveal a deeper understanding. Helleden Misenthorpe was at the root of this storm, of that there was little doubt, but there were other participants involved this time. One bigger than the malign sorcerer himself. If this magical storm of doom wasn’t strange enough, there was also something familiar about it. Something that shook the wizard to the core.