BookRix

Our free self-publishing services offers writers the opportunity to sell their eBooks in all major online retailers. The 'How to Format your eBook' guide provided here offers simple instructions to create and format an eBook using Microsoft Word. We also provide information on how eBook formatting is different from print formatting.

This is a serious issue and can get you into a lot of trouble. BookRix is protected if a member violates copyright or plagiarism laws. It’s up to you, as a member, to protect yourself from getting sued and paying A LOT of money.

BookRix has been flagged with many members who are in violation. We have also been flagged by the individual authors and artists who have found their own work on BookRix. Some have taken legal action against the members who may have plagiarized their work or have used their art in books and covers.

If BookRix is notified, about books on your profile, that you do not own the rights to, they will be removed immediately. If this offense is continued, your account will be deleted without warning.

Below is what could happen to you if you break copyright laws.

Be smart and protect yourself. It’s your responsibility.

Monetary Damages

• If you are found guilty of deliberately breaking or "infringing" copyright law, the owner of the copyrighted material can sue you for monetary damages. Damages in this case means the amount of money the owner lost due to a lack of sales of their materials because you were offering it without copyright. For example, if the owner claims and can prove a loss of $15,000, he can sue you for that sum.

Statutory Damages

• You may also have to pay statutory damages based on the value of each movie, piece of music or other material for which you broke the copyright. "Willful infringement"--meaning that you deliberately stole copyrighted material--can cost you $900 to $300,000 per work stolen. "Innocent infringement," in which you are deemed to have done the copyright breaking without intent, can still cost you $300 to $150,000 in statutory damages.

Fines

• Judges can also impose fines on individuals convicted of copyright infringement. According to the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005, individuals convicted of peer-to-peer sharing of movies, music or other materials worth up to $1,000 in a 6-month period can be given fines of $2,000 per infringement. Convicted individuals can also be banned from file-sharing sites or the entire Internet by injunctions, or orders, from a judge. Repeat offenders, or individuals or companies who are stealing copyrighted materials and selling them for profit, can be fined up to $1,000,000.

Let’s face it. We all know books are judged by their covers,  so to help you make your eBook as attractive as possible (especially when it’s for sale in the massive eBook market)  BookRix partnered up with Getty Images to bring you more choices for your eBook covers.

With this feature you have access to over 1 million images with thousands subject options. A simple keyword search will get you exactly what you are looking for. From a serene landscape to sci-fi spaceship, you will be able to find the best image for your creative needs.

To start your search, simply enter your keyword in the field, “Search your item”, and then click “Search”.  For example, if your book is a thriller you can search with words like “mystery”, “murder”, “mysterious", etc. You can also complete keyword searches for multiple words (separated by a coma and a space). For example, you can search “woman running on a beach” or “man, glasses, dark hair, middle-aged”.  It’s best to try various keyword searches to make sure that you find exactly what you are looking for.

Tip: If you are looking for a cartoon feel for your image (commonly used in Chick Lit), you can insert the word “Vector” as one of your key words.

Once you have found an image that you like, simply click on it to see a larger view in your cover display preview. Keep in mind that the quality of the image is delivered in a higher resolution after the image license is purchased. You can fit the image to scale so that it fills the proportions of the cover size. You can also choose to have a grey text background behind your text to make it easier to see your book title in a very illustrated image. Choose your title font and color and then “Proceed to check out”.  You must have a PayPal account to process the payment. Once your payment is complete, you can always reference your purchased image in “My saved images” or “Your own images”.

Choosing a Getty image will allow you to upload the graphic for commercial use in a high resolution quality which is required by the external shops. Once you have purchased the image (for only $9.99), which includes the license usage, you’re free to use the image again and again, indefinitely, for any book on BookRix. This is great news if you have a book that is part of a series and can use the same cover art. Unfortunately, the license is for BookRix eBooks only and can’t be used for print books.

In the near future, you will be able to tailor your title placement to better suit your cover graphic. This will make customizing your cover to make it unique and attractive as possible to attract those readers to your eBook!

Rejection Prevention - BookRix, as well as external shops, have quality control over the books placed for sale. Books that don't pass quality inspection will be rejected. When this occurs, they are not sent for distribution to our external shops and they cannot be purchased.

Here are some steps you can take to prevent your eBook from being rejected:

Cover

Put some effort into your eBook cover. A great cover can sell twice as many eBooks than one with a poor cover. It’s the first thing your reader sees and it’s often the first thing you book is judged on.

Be sure the images used on your cover (as well as images used inside your eBook) belong to you and are not protected by copyright. If you are unsure, we strongly recommend creating your own cover art or soliciting someone to create a cover for you.

Using a high quality image is essential for your book cover. Avoid images that are too small as these images can appear pixilated when enlarged for your book cover. Also avoid using images that contain text as it can conflict  with the title of your book and look unprofessional.

Hate messages and/or symbols, sexually explicit images or images containing illegal activity are not permitted.

If you are looking for graphic programs, ideas, tips or even someone to create a cover for you, check out our Art Writers group on BookRix: http://www.bookrix.com/_group-en-teaser-room

For more helpful information about covers, please click here: http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-publishing-tips-tricks-part-3-the-power-of-the-cover

Grammar & Spelling

Good writing involves proper grammar and accurate spelling.

We recommend that you have various readers review your work prior to publishing it. These “test readers” should check specifically for grammar and spelling. Your book will be rejected if it’s poorly written, appears confusing or has too many spelling and grammatical errors.

If you need assistance editing your eBook, please join our “Editing 101” group here: http://www.bookrix.com/_group-en-teaser-room and our members can help you further.

If you feel as though you need some additional assistance, we encourage you to check out our Publishing Tips and Tricks series. Part 7 focuses specifically on spelling, grammar and typos. You can read it for free here: http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-publishing-tips-tricks-part-7-typos-type-nos

Blurb / Book Description

First impressions matter.

When a potential reader views your book, the first thing they read after the title is your book description. Don’t overlook this step. You want to entice your reader by being creative and using descriptive words. Focus on what you want to say, choose your sentences carefully, and make it count.

Books with generic or weak blurbs can be rejected. Put some thought this space. You have a minimum of 140 characters and a maximum of 3000. If you need some inspiration or ideas, look up some of your favorite books and read the synopsis.

Copyrighted Text / Images

If the image is not owned by you, or you have not received permission from the owner to use the image, don’t use it.

Books containing copyrighted material (text and/or images) will be rejected. If you do not own the rights to it, you are not authorized to upload it. Any copyright violation made by a BookRix member is their own responsibility and legal action can be taken by the copyright holder against you.

Author Name, Pen names and Anonymity

To prevent your book from being rejected in external shops like Kobo, iTunes and Amazon, a first and last name are required. A pen name can be chosen, however it must be a first and last name and cannot contain titles such as PhD, Mr., etc.

Table of Contents & Page Numbers

These are automatic. Manual input is not necessary.

A table of contents is automatically generated for your book (with a minimum of cover, body of your text and the imprint), when the chapter feature is used, and you will not need to create an additional table of contents. If you enabled the Chapter function and entered a table of contents manually in your text area, please remove the manual table of contents as this can cause your eBook to be rejected.

Page numbers are automatically inserted into ePub files and eReaders. Please remove manually inserted page numbers in your text, as having them can cause your eBook to be rejected.

External Links/ Shop Names

Avoid a conflict of interest.

Your eBook will be rejected from external shops if you post links to books and/or products within your book. In addition, you are not permitted to mention names of online shops. Books containing names to online shops, such as iTunes or Barnes & Noble, will also be rejected.

Authors are free to insert links to their author page, sources for education and finance, help sites, businesses, etc., However “Direct-to-buy” links are not permitted.

Word, Line, & Page Breaks / Formatting

Presentation is everything.

Words on a page attract a reader but the way they are laid out on a page is equally important. The formatting of your eBook is essential to it being well received.

Most external shops have formatting standards that they require all authors to abide by. Stores like iTunes will reject books that have more than 2 line breaks and/or page breaks. This extra spaceing can cause blank pages in an eReader. Colored or bold fonts can also cause a book to be rejected.

Most eReaders are designed to break words for you. When a word at the end of a line doesn’t fit properly, don’t worry. Continue typing and the BookRix  editor will break a word when necessary. This also applies to hitting the “Enter” key on your keyboard and manually breaking a word. Doing this will distort your text and can cause your eBook to be rejected.

Keep it classic and clean and don't use the "Enter" key in excess as this will minimize your chances of getting rejected from the external shops.

Hate Messages

Hatred is not permitted.

Books containing hate messages directed to any race, ethnicity, gender, political party, religion, etc., will be rejected unless depicted in the plot of the story.

Illegal Activity

Illegal activity is not permitted.

Books containing illegal activity such as pedophilia, how-to’s for crimes, etc., will be rejected unless depicted in the plot of the story.

Book Pricing

Determine the appropriate price for your eBook.

A good thing to consider when pricing your book is the number of pages it contains. For example, if you penned a short story and intend to sell it for a high dollar amount, a potential buyer could be turned off by the price. If your book is priced too high, you may receive a message from us encouraging you to adjust it.

For helpful tips about pricing your book, please click here: http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-publishing-tips-tricks-part-10-pricing-your-book

Click below for more Publishing Tips and Tricks:

Become Active
http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-publishing-tips-and-tricks-part-1-become-active
Link Cleverly, Earn More Money
http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-publishing-tips-tricks-part-2-link-cleverly-earn-more-money
The Power of the Cover
http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-publishing-tips-tricks-part-3-the-power-of-the-cover
The First Words Matter
http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-publishing-tips-tricks-part-4-the-first-words-matter
Choose a Good Title
http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-publishing-tips-tricks-part-5-choose-a-good-title
Get a Good Review
http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-publishing-tips-tricks-part-6-get-a-good-review
Typos? Type No’s!
http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-publishing-tips-tricks-part-7-typos-type-nos
The Book Blog
http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-publishing-tips-tricks-part-8-the-book-blog
Become Active on BookRix
http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-publishing-tips-tricks-part-9-become-active-on-bookrix
Pricing Your Book
http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-publishing-tips-tricks-part-10-pricing-your-book

Click HERE for our ePub style guide that will help you prevent your eBook from rejection

Click HERE for Marketing Tips that will help your book get noticed