BookRix

Sometimes your computer gets tired. No, but really, if you are using the file upload option, your file may be too big. Files up to 8 MB are generally easy to upload. Anything above that will have difficulty getting uploaded to the site. Please try to break down your books into a series of books, or copy and paste the text instead if this is the case.

Our self publishing services make it easy to turn your book into an ePub file on our site and sell it to the world at no cost. Here are some details worth noting:

- The author contract between yourself and BookRix is clear, easy to understand and can be cancelled at any time

- You receive a minimum of 70% in revenue, from what BookRix earns, on each book that you sell

- An ISBN* is automatically generated for each eBook you submit for publication

- You determine the price or your eBook

- Your eBook will be distributed to major online eBook retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes, Google Play, and many more, with just one click of a button

- Royalties are paid out every month when the minimum of 10 Euros/approximately $14 US dollars, has been reached

- You can change, edit and add to your book even after it has been placed for sale.

*an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique number assigned to a book title by its publisher for tracking and ordering purposes

Some books are listed for free, while others have been published with sale price. After reviewing a book, you have some options to choose from within the book info page. You can add it to your favorites, share the book on your social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Pinterest), and add a comment for the author.

Buy this Book

If you read through the blurb and enjoyed the reading sample, you can take it a step further and buy the book if the author has listed it for sale. Purchasing a book is a simple process. You should see links to our online shops on this page (Amazon, iTunes, Barnes& Noble, Google Play). By clicking any of these links, you will be redirected to book purchase page of the corresponding website.

Add/Remove Favorites

Adding a book to your favorites is easy. Just click the Add to Favorites button on the Book Info page. A green confirmation bar will temporarily appear at the top of your screen. Once a book is added it can be retrieved by viewing Favorites within your Profile page. When a book has been successfully added, the text Add to Favorites will change to In Favorites. When you favorite a book, two things happen: 1. The book is moved to your profile so you can read it later, and 2. A notification is sent to the author informing them that you have marked their book as a favorite. Authors love to see that their books are being read and saved. Should you change your mind, and want to remove a book from your favorites, simply visit the Book Info page and hover over the text In Favorites. The text will change to Remove from Favorites. Click this option and you will be asked to confirm the removal of the book from your favorites list.

Share this Book

Sharing books on your favorite social networks is made easy with the Share this Book button. Selecting this option allows you to share the book of your choice with Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.

Posts and Comments

If you want to tell the author what you thought of their book, you can do so by adding a comment on the Book Info page. You can share positive thoughts (careful not to leave spoilers), or even constructive feedback. Just click inside the comment box and begin typing. Readers can also comment on another users post as well as send the author a private message. This can be done by clicking the author’s name. You will be redirected to their Profile and can click Send Message to the right of their profile picture.

Reading an eBook on BookRix is easy. Once you find a book you’re interested in reading, just click the book cover or book title and this will take you to the Book Info page. From here, you can either click on the book cover once more or click Read Book (this option is available on free books) or Reading Sample (this option applies to books for sale). Clicking either of these options will take you to our book viewer where you can begin reading.

Tip:  If an author has placed their book for sale, they will offer a free reading sample. This is approximately 10% of the book. It is intended to get the reader interested in reading more.

Tip: If you have not finished reading a book and want to return to it, you can add the title to your favorites and it will appear on your profile page. The book will automatically  be bookmarked for you.

When you’re reading a book within the book viewer, you will see two icons at the top of each page. The one on the left, shaped like a house, will take you directly to the BookRix homepage. The icon on the right, shaped like a list, will open the table of contents so you can easily move from one chapter to another. If you’re reading a sample of a book for sale, you will also see a Buy This Book button that will give you a list of online shops you can purchase the book in.

Group Contests

Every once in a while, there will be a small contest or writing challenge held in a group.  It will either be hosted by BookRix, or by a user.  Everyone is welcome to participate, just make sure you pay close attention to the contest guidelines.

Entering a Group Contest

If you are not already a member of the group where the contest or writing challenge is being held, you will first need to join the group. You can do so by going to the group’s page and clicking the Join Group button on the right. Then, scroll down to the submissions thread and enter your submission within the appropriate timeframe and be sure to adhere to the guidelines of the contest.

How to win a Group Contest

There are two ways to judge a contest: (1) A panel of judges, or (2) A Voting thread.

Sometimes group Admins or another type of panel will vote on the submissions instead of the community – creating a panel of judges.  In this case, the announcement of the winner(s) will be posted within that group and around the site. Otherwise, a voting thread will be opened once the submissions period is over, if that is how the group contest is being run. You can vote within that voting thread during the time period specified in the guidelines. These types of challenges/contests are fun because they are intended for short writing submissions and don’t last as long as a major contest.

Creating Your Own User Contest in a Group

Feel free to do whatever you would like with your user contest.  Anyone can host a user contest, and you don’t need to contact BookRix.  If you’re an Admin or Moderator in a group, you can hold the contest there, or you can host the contest on your own profile.  You can create your own contest/challenge idea, create your own guidelines, fix your own start and end dates, and provide your own prizes.  You can even decide how the winner will be chosen (voting/panel of judges/yourself).  Post the information about your user contest in the I Love BookRix Writing Contests group and BookRix will help by promoting your user contest in the sidebar.

Generally, this is how you should run your contest:  First, the contest or writing challenge is announced and guidelines are set forth. Then, the entry/submission thread is posted. Make sure you mark the thread as Important (using the settings tool icon) so that it’s easy to find.  Submissions can be entered into the thread by adding a comment with a link to your submission or by posting your entry directly in the comments (depending on the contest guidelines).

Edit Book Content will take you to the BookRix editor where you can either upload a file or add text directly.

How to upload a file

BookRix makes it easy for you to upload your work to our site. If you already have a file in your computer, you can use the File Upload button which inserts the text into in our BookRix Editor. Currently we support the following formats: .doc, .docx, .odt, txt, .rtf, .epub. To make things even simpler, if you use the Heading feature in Microsoft Word, the heading text will automatically be converted into chapter titles. You can also include images in the file you are uploading.

Once you’ve uploaded your file, you can use our BookRix editor to make updates, modify your text or add new chapters to your book. Please see the section below for more information regarding our BookRix editor.

Important: If you choose to edit an existing book and decide to upload an additional file, it will replace all the previously stored book content.

Tip: To help you create a perfect ePub file and prevent getting your eBook rejected from sale, please carefully read through our ePub Style Guide

How to Use Our BookRix Editor

The best thing about our BookRix Editor is that it’s so simple to use. If you want to create your book from scratch, click the Type in Content button to begin using the BookRix Editor. This is the same page you would see after selecting file upload.

In this section, you can Add New Chapter, Delete chapters (select the trash can icon) and even change the order of your chapters. This can be done by dragging the arrow button near the Chapter numbers up or down.

Once text has been added to the chapter field, you can make other changes using the tool bar. Options from left to right: Alter text with Bold, Italic, and Underline; Change text alignment from left (default), center or right; Undo or redo an action; Add an image or link; Show/hide block elements (this displays each time of text inside a block). If you aren’t sure what a tool is used for, simply hover your mouse over the icon and a description will appear.

Tip:  Always save your changes.

Creating an eBook on BookRix is easy! Log into your BookRix account and click the Create New Book button highlighted on the upper right hand side of your screen. You’ll be prompted to enter a book title. But don’t worry, this can be changed at any time. After you enter the title, click Create Book to get started.

On the book editing page, there are three options to choose from: Edit Book Content, Edit Book Info, and Edit Cover. Completion of all three fields is required to share or publish your book, but you can decide which section to fill out first.

Please note: There is a 2000 word minimum to publish and distribute your ebook.

After you have filled out all the information in the 3 required fields (content, book info, and cover), please select whether you want to sell your eBook in the external shops or publish your book for free, only on BookRix.

If you select Only on BookRix  and determine who is allowed to view your book (All Users or Friends) you can now click Publish Book. If your book is missing information, you will receive a notification directing you to the section(s) requiring your attention with a pink outline around the fields. If your book is published for free on BookRix you can edit it an any time. If you wish to remove the book from public view you can undo the publication by clicking Undo Publication when you are in the Edit Book section.

If you select All shops, you are agreeing to sell your book in the shops that we distribute to (Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, Kobo, iTunes...). From here, click on Sell Book and then choose your price from $0.00 to $49.00.  Check the box that you have read and understood the Author Agreement and then click Sell Book.

If you have already published your ebook on Amazon, we can still move forward. But to do this, we will need the ASIN number associated with your ebook on Amazon. Currently, Amazon is the only exception we can make. If your book was published and sold on iTunes, we would be unable to accept your ebook for publication. To move forward with BookRix, you would need to remove your ebook from iTunes completely. Once removed, you would be able to use our services.

If you haven’t filled all of the required fields of the necessary areas (Content, Book info, Cover), you will receive a notification alert.  Then you will know which area is missing content because a pink line will appear around the Edit Book Content, Edit Book Info and/or Edit Cover button(s).

Join groups

Groups are a great place to share ideas, give and receive support and engage with the BookRix community. To view available groups, you can click on the Community page, select All Groups and you’ll see a listing of all the groups BookRix has to offer.

Joining a group is easy. Select a Group that interests you and click Join Group. This button will immediately change to You Are a Member, and you will be notified of new group discussions and group news. Feel free to browse through current topics and add your own comments.

You can resign from a group the same way you joined. Simply click You Are A Member once and you will see Resign from Group. Clicking this will remove you from the Group and you will no longer receive notifications associated with it.

If you want to be a member of a group, but you don't want that group to appear on your profile page you have the option to hide it.  Also, you have the option to stop receiving notifications from any of your groups. Simply go to Groups from your profile page and access the Settings tab.

Create a new post

Public Groups: If you are on the group page and you are able to leave a comment immediately, then the group is open to posts from non-members and you can go ahead and start typing your message in the comment box.  If you can see comments, but there is no box to create one, then you must first join the group.  As soon as you click the Join Group button, you will immediately be a member and have access to the group.

Private Groups:  If the group is listed as private, you will not be able to post a comment as a non-member.  You must first click the Join Group button which will then change to ? Request Sent.  Your request to join the group is sent to the group’s Administrator who will decide if you are able to join the group (pending age restrictions, etc.).  If the Admin accepts your request, you will get a notification and then you will be able to access the group.

To create a new post, all you have to do is click inside the comment box (where it says “Write a new post…”) and start typing.  When you’re finished, hit Send.  You can also leave a comment under another user’s post by clicking inside the box (where it says “Add a comment…”) and typing in your text.  At this time, you will not be able to edit your posts or comments, but can easily delete them by clicking on the settings tool icon to the right of your post and then clicking on Delete.  After confirming that you want to delete your post, it will be immediately removed.

If you want to include a link to your book, an external link, or an image into your post, all you have to do is paste the link (URL) into the comment box and then hit enter.  The thumbnail for your link will immediately appear and if you don’t want to show the image, simply click on No Thumbnail.  Then click on Send and your link will be displayed.   If you insert the link and hit Send without first hitting enter, you will not be given the option to display an image beside your link.

Start your own group

Each BookRix member has the option to create a group of their own. You can invite BookRix members, host group contests and discuss topics that interest you.

You can invite BookRix members, have group contests and talk about anything under the sun. Your group is your group so do what you wish and have fun!

To create your group, you need to go to the Groups listing page.  On the right hand side, you will see a button that says Create a New Group.  After you click on this, you will be asked for the group name and a description of what the group is all about.  On the left, you can also upload a group picture, decide the status of your group (Public or Private), choose your language, and also (for Public groups) you can decide if you want to allow non-members access to posts and comments.   Then click Create New Group.  Now you’re the Admin of your group and have full access to all features of the group.

Once you have created your own group, you are now the Administrator and have access to all features of the group. Feel free to get comfortable with the features.

Posts: After members start creating posts and comments, you can use the settings tool icon to monitor all posts.  By clicking on the icon, you can (1) Delete the post, (2) Create sticky threads by clicking on Mark Post as Important (This will move the comment to the top of the posts, where it will stay unless you choose to click Remove “Important Post” Mark) and (3) You can also Disable Additional Comments so that other users can’t comment on a specific post (this button will then change to Allow Comments, in case you change your mind).

Members: You can also monitor the members of your group by clicking on the Members tab.   You can search for members and you can also edit a member’s role (as Administrator, Moderator, or Member).  If you decide to upgrade a member into an Admin, you are giving them the same rights as you have.  If you upgrade a member into a Moderator, that member will be able to access all the features in the Posts tab, and search through members in the Members tab, but nothing more.

Settings: If you select Administrators and Moderators in the drop down, you can search for a member and appoint them (using the drop down) as either a Moderator or an Admin.  You can also remove a member from their role as Moderator or Admin by clicking on Remove next to their name.  If you select Block User from the drop down, you can search for group members and block them.  Blocked members will not be able to create posts or comments and will not be able to rejoin the group.  You can also use the same tab to Unblock members.

If you want to edit the group details, just click on the Edit button at the top of the group page.  There, you will have access to all the information you filled in when you first started the group.

Tip: ALWAYS remember to save your changes.

Keep in mind that BookRix reserves the right to delete your group if it's not active within 4 months. In addition, all groups must follow our Code of Conduct.

If you have any questions about your group, please email us at support-en@bookrix.com anytime. We are happy to help you out.