How I Self-Published on KDP

I recently collected a bunch of my previously published short stories and poetry and bound them together in a self-published collection titled Classic Camp's Classic Horror Emporium. It is available now on Amazon here. After doing so, several people asked me how I published through Kindle Direct Publishing, and I kind of stammered through the answer. Not trying to be rude, but it was just one of those things that I figured out as I went along. So, I thought a blog post about how I self-published my first short story and poetry collection would be fitting since I have not blogged in a while.

First go to Amazon.com and sign in. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Kindle Digital Publishing. I actually Googled KDP and found this shortcut later, but it brought me to the same page.  Click the big yellow button that reads + Create at the top. The next page asks what you would like to create, a Kindle e-book, paperback, hardcover, or a series. So far, I have only created a paperback and a Kindle e-book, but it appears the hardcover is pretty much the same as the paperback. I am not sure about how to create a series, yet.

So for the sake of this blog, I clicked paperback. It then asks you type in your book title and subtitle (the subtitle is optional). It is also optional to enter the edition number. You can then add up to nine other contributors, which is important if you ever want to create an anthology instead of a collection (an anthology being a collection of short stories and poetry from different authors and a collection being works from only one author).

Scrolling down the same page a little further, it then asks for a description of the book. For this, I used the forward from my collection. Next, you choose if you own this work or if it is a public domain work. I checked off that I own the work. After that, it asks if there are any sexually explicit images or language, and I checked off no for my work. Then it asks for the minimum and maximum ages for the work, and I chose 12 to 18+ because these works do not contain any real explicit language. They are pretty much PG-13.

Next, it asks for the primary marketplace, and I chose Amazon.com because all of the other choices are international markets. Choose your categories, such as "mystery, thriller, and suspense," or "fiction & literature" from a dropdown menu. This is so Amazon can categorize the work. There are also subcategories and placement to choose from. It asks for some keywords so your book can come up when related words are searched. I chose words like short stories, collection, nature poetry, gothic, etc. You can choose up to seven of them. Then choose if your publication date is the release date or if it was previously published, and finally choose if you want today to be your release date or if you want to schedule it for a future date. I chose the same day, but in the future, I may try to build some anticipation and choose a future date. Click save and continue.

Here you can let Amazon give you an ISBN number or enter your own if you have one. I just let Amazon give me one. Next, choose if your book is in black and white or color and if you want white or cream paper. Then choose the trim size. This is the size of paper your book will be and determines how you will need to format your file to upload. Choose bleed or no bleed depending on if the book has images. This is all laid out in the KDP instructions. Choose if the book cover should be matte or glossy. I like glossy book covers, personally.

Now you finally get to upload the manuscript, and this is where things grew a little hairy. I write everything in Microsoft Word, and through trial and error, I have learned that single space in Times New Roman works well for books, but you can choose whichever font you like. I do suggest single space, however, because it looks more professional. Then click the previewer to see how it lines up. Likely you will need to adjust the margins of the Word document until they align into the margins of the trim size you chose earlier. If you want page numbers, this can also be accomplished by clicking insert, and then going to page numbers and choosing the placement of those page numbers. To adjust margins in Word, go to view and check the box next to ruler, then click and drag the tiny box on the left to where it you want to margins. Click and drag the tiny triangle on the left because the pages have to be centered. Then click the part of the ruler on the left at the top of the page where the shaded portion meets the dark part of the ruler and drag it where you want the top and bottom margins. However, to get the page numbers into the trim margins on Kindle, double click in the top margin to open up the header and hit enter as many times as needed until the page numbers appear within the trim margin. I wound up readjusting my manuscript several times and reuploading it and previewing it over and over until I got everything to line up correctly. I believe there is a way for KDP to do this automatically, but I kind of liked doing this part manually so I know it was done right.

Next, choose the cover photo. Kindle has an option of uploading cover you have already created, or you can choose among the many covers they have created. I chose one of Kindle's previously made covers because I'm on a slow track of learning about this stuff on my own. You can also choose where the book title appears in various styles and fonts. I chose a different style for the title across the same cover image for my paperback and e-book versions, just to have some differentiation.

Amazon also asks you to indicate whether or not generative AI was used in the creation of the book. I obviously chose no.

Finally, choose the pricing for the book. I chose to have my book available in all territories. Pricing, royalties, and distribution gets a little confusing. My first self-published book, a short story titled, "House of Vergosi," which is also included in this new collection, I did not include in expanded distribution because it keeps the price down. This one I did choose expanded distribution because I believe it is available to more people in more areas around the world. I'm still not fully sure what the difference is, honestly, but I do know the book has to have a higher price if you choose expanded distribution. It will tell you what the whole sale price of the book will be and you can figure out how much you want to charge for it to earn a profit.

Finally, click publish your book. It is pretty much the same for the e-book version. Choose the price at the end again, and the break-even price is far lower for e-books. That's how I did it. Every author should try to self-publish at least once just to see what goes into the process. There are other platforms that will allow people to self-publish, but from what I've heard, Kindle is still the easiest and the best way to make any money. Speaking of which, getting the money earned from book sales is another process, which I may blog about at another time. I hope everyone found this process helpful.

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963)

 

I thought it might be good to occasionally use this blog to discuss some of my favorite topics, such as Classic movies and Classic rock music as well as the usual writing and publishing. These topics bring the blog back to some of the origins of the name Classic Camp. So today, I thought I would blog about one of my all time favorite movies, King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963) and the first time I had the opportunity to see this movie. Some sources might place that film at 1962 because that was the year of the original Japanese release, but because I have not seen the Japanese version (but I would love to) and this is mainly about the American version of the film, I place it in its American release date of 1963.

This film always had an aura about it for me. I mean, how could it not? The two biggest and baddest monsters of all time duking it out on screen. I had seen photos of the movie in several books about horror movies, which were my first introduction to the genre. I wanted to see so badly, but it seemed to only come on cable, and my family did not have cable yet. I asked friends and relatives to record it on their VCRs for me when it came on cable, but it never seemed to work out. We didn't have our own VCR yet, so I would have to see at their place.

Finally, in the spring of 1984, when I was 11 years old, my family got cable. I used to the check the TV schedule every week to see when some of my favorite movies that I had never seen were going to come on, like the 1933 King Kong or the one for this blog. At last I saw it there on the schedule, in black and white. King Kong vs. Godzilla was coming on WGN channel 9 in Chicago, but at 4 o'clock in the morning on a Saturday night. I contemplated if I should even attempt to see it, but decided I just had to. I would not tell my parents I was going to do this.

I slept on the couch that night, which was not unusual for me then since I used to stay up late watching all the great television, such as Night Flight on USA network, which introduced me to many Poverty Row Horror movies. I set an alarm next to the couch and set it for a few minutes before 4 am so I could wake up and see the movie. I stayed up until around 2 or 3 am, as I usually did, watching late night movies. But when my head hit the pillow, I could not sleep a wink. I was too excited to see the greatest movie battle of all time. So I just laid there for over an hour until my alarm went off. I stopped the alarm instantly so my parents would not wake up and tell me to get back to sleep, or worse yet, make me go to bed in my own room.

So I got up and turned on the television, but kept the volume down low, again so I would not wake up the parents. Because it was so low, I had to sit about two feet from the screen. And I stayed up for the whole thing. My heart was pounding so hard, I never even felt sleepy. I don't think it's much of an exaggeration to say I lived for that moment.

At 6 am the movie ended. The sun was starting to glow over Lake Erie, the first time I stayed up until the sun started to show. I went to bed, but even then I still found it hard to sleep. I figured I would sleep until noon or later since I stayed up so late, but I wound up waking up around 10 or 11 am to the sight of my mom sitting in the living room reading the Sunday morning paper. I told my mother I stayed up to watch the movie, and she actually said that was fine, like she knew I would be doing this at some point after we got cable.

After that, I caught that movie every chance I could, and found it often came on WOR Channel 9 in New York, which has since gone defunct. When we finally got a VCR around 1989, one of the first VHS tapes I purchased was, of course, King Kong vs. Godzilla, and I used to watch it about once a week for the first few months after I got it. Then I slowed down to about once a month. I'm surprised the tape did not grow worn out. In fact, the DVD version of that film I own today is still a transfer of that old VHS copy I purchased so long ago. And I still watch that film about once a year to this day. I would say it is the movie I've watched more times than any other in my entire life.

I assume most monster kids have similar stories about a movie they were forbidden to watch, either because of the content or the time it came on. But don't those make the best memories? Don't they make those movies the most special? There is something about the forbiddeness of horror movies and horror stories that make them that much more special. Feel free to share any of your own similar stories and memories in the comments.

The Origins of Classic Camp

I am Classic Camp, and I really should have done this blog post some time ago to let everyone know exactly how I earned this moniker. Although this really should have been one of the first blog posts I ever made, as they say, better late than never. I have been known in some circles as Classic for over 20 years now. It comes so second nature to me now that I almost forget some people may not have any idea how I earned the name at this point. So here it is:

I first earned the name "Classic" in college. I was a staff writer for the college newspaper, The Speciator, and worked my way up to News Editor and then Features Editor. As such we had a certain amount of space for weekly editorials and features. Often the other editors would complain that these articles would come in late and sometimes at all. Between semesters, we had a meeting about what to do about this, so I suggested doing a weekly column on one of my favorite topics, classic rock music. I could use cover art for each feature to add a graphic and even one or two trivia questions. We just needed a title for the weekly feature, so one of my fellow newspaper editors suggested Classic Camp.

The column became a big hit.I did columns on rock groups such as Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Bob Marley, Janis Joplin, and many others. While sitting in class I would hear other students discussing the feature, and my professors brought it up in class from time to time. People began to refer to me as "Classic" Camp. After a semester, even my professors were calling me "Classic" Camp.

Well, not everyone loved it. At one point a group of art students got together to complain that they weren't receiving enough press coverage, and even named my column as part of the problem. To counter this I tried to prove by writing a column on the Sex Pistols, but in doing so I also proved that music is an art form and even a group such as the Sex Pistols contained artistic elements, such as the style of music fitting the message of anarchy within the lyrics. Secretly, of course, I like art and felt it did indeed deserve more coverage, so I even began dedicating a section of the features pages (which I was editor at the time) to upcoming art events and shows.

After college I joined the message boards on the Internet Movie Database, and needed a name, so of course, I chose Classic Camp. To this day I still have a presence online as Classic Camp, including my own Facebook group, Classic Camp's Classic Horror Emporium. It has been an adventure, which I hope will not be over any time soon.