Announcing a Title on eBooks Just Published

In this recent post I mentioned eBooks Just Published. I thought I'd try out the service myself, so this is my report on how I got on.

To remind you, eBooks Just Published is a resource for authors who want to announce their ebooks free of charge. It's not a sales site; in your announcement you have to include links to somewhere people can buy and/or download your ebook.

eBooks Just Published allows you to promote your title to a growing group of enthusiastic ebook readers, some of whom subscribe via email or RSS. You are allowed to upload a 'cover image' and up to 400 words of promotional text, which can include up to three testimonials.

The site announces both fiction and non-fiction, the only major criterion being that the ebooks are DRM-free. The normal rule is that ebooks to be announced on the site should have been published within the last six months, but during the launch period they are extending this to 18 months.

I thought I'd try out the service using my latest WCCL title Essential English for Authors. This was actually published more than six months ago but less than 18, so it qualifies under the current rules.

To announce an ebook on eBooks Just Published, you first have to register. This is free and takes only a few minutes. You'll find a link allowing you to do this near the bottom of the left-hand menu.

Once you're a registered member, you'll want to upload details of your ebook. Instructions for doing this can be found by clicking on Authors near the top of the left-hand menu (read this before you log in). I recommend printing this page out, as the process can be a bit tricky at times, and it helps if you know a bit of HTML. However, the site owner Mark Gladding is on hand to provide help if required.

It took me a morning to get my entry uploaded and displaying to my satisfaction in preview mode. A fair proportion of that time was devoted to creating a cover image to the specifications required. Otherwise, though, it all went reasonably smoothly. Here are just a few tips from my experience...

* If you're not sure how to format text when creating your announcement, try using View Source to look at the HTML of another published item on the site. For example, by doing this I discovered that the HTML tag blockquote was used for testimonials.

* A good screengrab program can be invaluable for creating your cover image. I used CaptureIt, a neat little shareware program that lets you capture any image on your screen and resize and/or manipulate it in various ways.

* There are more instructions and a checklist in the template you use to create your announcement. Scroll down the template to view this. Again, I recommend printing out the instructions in the template, as they will help you to format and upload your cover image in particular.

* Don't forget to include links to your sales page from the image and the ebook title. I used a customized tracking link provided by my publishers, so that I can see how many clicks I get from this source. Mark says he has no objection to this.

* You can preview your announcement at any time by clicking on the Preview button to the right of the template. Don't worry, only you will be able to see this! Once you are happy with how your announcement is looking, click the other button to submit it for review.

Overall, I was pleased with how my announcement turned out - you can view it here for yourself. It took me a bit longer than I expected, but I know that next time I should be able to get the job done much faster.

If you've written an ebook (even a free one), in my view you have nothing to lose, and potentially a lot of extra readers to gain, by submitting an announcement about it to eBooks Just Published.