Whoo-hoo! (I think…:-)) I just published “Joel’s BookProgram: The Simple Secret to Writing a Book in 30 Days at 1 Hour a Day!” and “Every Man a Hero, Every Woman a Coach” (on marriage) to the Kindle. It wasn’t easy, but I got it done. I don’t know how well they will sell, but I am hopeful.

Amazon’s conversion process runs through a website you access through Amazon.com, by going to the Kindle page. Uploads are accepted in Word doc, html, and pdf, but will be converted to html. If you have ever used Word’s html output, you know that it is–to put it kindly–quirky.

I fought my way through the weird artifacts in Word output with “The Simple Secret.” But the more extensive formatting in “Every Man a Hero” just was too much for the process. I wound up saving it as plain text, then going back and doing the formatting in Word’s weird html editor, keeping it simple.

Remember, Kindle (as well as the Kindle reader on the iPhone) doesn’t have a fixed page width, so the html needs to accommodate that–just as it would within a browser.

If you have a book, there is no reason NOT to put it on Kindle! More discussion to come, especially when I can report some sales stats.

Meanwhile, I am greatly enjoying the free Kindle app on the iPhone. Have read several books, mostly in Starbucks, waiting in line, and in bathrooms. Addictive–and a danger to the wallet…:-)

For book writers, I believe the big deal about Amazon’s Kindle electronic book reader is that it is a low-effort add-on publishing market. Following Amazon’s instructions, you can fairly easily edit your book into Kindle-ready format. You set the price on your book, and it is now available to the captive Kindle market.

So will the new, more-expensive large-screen version of the Kindle–the Kindle DX–increase the market? I don’t think it will do so by an appreciative amount. But the Kindle is a winner.

Much more important to the Kindle publishing market was the recent release of the Kindle app for the iPhone. It’s free. I’m reading “Cutting for Stone” by Abraham Verghese on it now, and it is simply a perfect pocket reader for me. Clear, has bookmarks–what’s not to like? (The book is amazing. Highly recommended.)

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences with regard to publishing for Kindle.

Author advances are mysterious to most would-be authors. This NYT piece sums up the current state of affairs, and is full of fascinating factoids. (Audrey Niffenegger, “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” just landed a $5 million advance for her next novel.)

Here you will find an outstanding article on how to select a book editor, what it will cost, and what to expect.

Have you been longing for Amazon.com’s electronic book reader, the Kindle — and now, the Kindle 2? Me, too. But I haven’t been able to justify the $360 price.

Long no longer. If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, you can download the Kindle app for free from iTunes AppStore. David Pogue tells all about it here; and whatever its limitations, for free, what’s not to like?

I attended a paid webinar ($79) with Jane Friedman, editor of Writer’s Digest, on non-fiction book publishing last week. If the recording becomes available, I will let you know. It was chock-full of useful info for aspiring non-fiction writers.

I was just sent a list of questions and answers that Jane did not have time for during the event. I think I can share one with violating copyright:

Q:  How do authors make money?

A:  In the most basic terms, authors make money when a publisher pays them an advance against
royalties for a book project. Then once the book starts to sell in the marketplace, the author has
the potential to earn more money (based on a royalty percentage specified in the book contract)
after the advance is earned out.

Most books do not earn out their advances, so usually the advance is the only money you’ll see
from a book project unless you are very good at marketing, promoting, and selling your own
work.

All of the information was at this level of directness. Hope they make the recording available; it was very powerful.

My friend and mentor Kevin Nations said, “Why don’t you not only produce a manuscript in 30 days, but actually have it available for sale by then? All you need is some quick editing, a cover, and maybe an ISBN!” Right on, Kevin! So that’s what I’m going to focus on today. As always, today’s post is viewable on Facebook, in “Joel’s book-writing mastermind group.”

Writer’s Digest editor Jane Friedman reports:

…We also closed the issue before the partnership announcement between Stanza and Smashwords. You’re probably thinking, Why do I care about the partnership of two companies I’ve never heard of?

True, it wasn’t until I had an iPhone that I became really aware of these two companies and understood what was happening.

Here are the basics:

• The iPhone is a mobile device that’s used by nearly 20 million people.
• Stanza is a popular e-book reader you can use on your iPhone (you download it for free directly from your phone).
• Smashwords is a self-publishing company that publishes e-books only. You can use their service without any upfront cost, plus you can make your book available for as little or as much as you want (even for free).
• Smashwords + Stanza means your self-published work can be available to millions of people, or at least the 1 million people who have downloaded the Stanza application onto their iPhones, as of January 2009.

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