I've been using Kindle Create and Calibre to generate ePub files from docx sources.

Both generate decent files that require editing... Sometimes a lot of editing...

It's time to "up my game" and generate high-quality files that require less format editing.

Q: Which WINTEL apps for ePub creation does the cohort recommend?

TYIA

R.C.

I get it, but authors who do this don't appear to be sharing and I have no time to do the research.

But you have time to post, argue and insist that it works without the evidence to back it up?

With regard to the first part, I think some of us are frustrated by assumptions being presented as fact.

I think a lot of us are willing to put in the work to be successful or to increase sales or whatever, but, at the same time, since time is limited, we want to be sure that we are using that time for things that will be effective, for things that matter.  Busy work is not appealing.  Productive work is what we want to be able to spend our limited time on.

This is why I'm skeptical about some ideas presented without real data. It's earned skepticism.

A long time ago, at The Place That Shall Not Be Named, I remember an author that always insisted that to be a successful author you must do these certain things.  In plenty of threads there where people were asking how to sell more books and so forth, he would argue that you must do these certain things.  If you are not doing them, you will not be successful.  When pressed, a lot of times this author could not produce comparable examples but would insist that you must do these certain things because that is what successful authors do.  And this author was not a big name but bigger names would agree with said author and others would agree as well.  You must do these certain things or you will not be successful.  End of story.  Not worth debating.  You had to do these certain things.

I eventually tuned that author out and stopped paying attention.  Also, said author's books weren't rising in the charts either.  One would assume if someone is so insistent on doing these certain things, they must be doing them.  And if you must do these certain things to be successful, said author should be a roaring success, right?

Some time later, as in years later, said author admitted that these certain things were not working for them, had never worked for them and they had only been parroting what others had said must be done because they seemed to make sense and they seemed logical so said author agreed that, yes, you must be doing these certain things to be a successful author.  Said author admitted they were wrong to parrot that information, to not have any evidence or firsthand knowledge that any of these certain things worked and so on.

So, yeah, when someone says you have to do these certain things they outline and have no evidence that it works and can only offer apples and oranges comparisons to demonstrate their supposed effectiveness, color me skeptical.

Additionally, I have too many years of experience participating in marketing forums where people peddle all sorts of schemes and promises that "guaranteed" to help you sell more stuff and make more money and a lot of them do so without any evidence, proof that any of it actually works, or they have one example where it worked and assume it will work for anything or everything else.  Because stuff is stuff and selling is selling and whatever.

So, no, I don't want to hear theories or apples and oranges comparisons or but ifs or whatever.  I want to see apples vs. apples comparisons and I want verifiable information and examples.  And in well over a year of theories and arguments and conjectures, we have yet to see any concrete proof that any of these schemes will work for selling books.

Basically, all we get is the promise of "exposure" in exchange for putting time and effort into writing stuff for free.

"Exposure" doesn't pay the bills unless maybe you're a stripper.

It's always hard to lose an animal you've known for a long time. My condolences!

As for checks, yes, people who do some kind of work at my home (plumbing, painting, etc.) are normally set up only for cash or checks.

Here, no-one takes cheques anymore. Not for home visit services. They do credit card on the spot, or they do electronic transfer from invoice.

The ones still doing cash are deliberately avoiding paying GST, or having a traceable income. There are plenty of people who want to pay less that enable this. That's what cash machines are for.

I get it, but authors who do this don't appear to be sharing and I have no time to do the research.

So, tell me again what moving production line did Henry Ford study before he invented the moving production line? Or which printing press did Guttenberg use as a model?

Sometimes we have to think for ourselves.

With regard to the first part, I think some of us are frustrated by assumptions being presented as fact. Having spent a large part of my professional life working 10-12 hour days on weekdays and 4-5 hours on the weekend, I totally sympathize with not having enough time. That was me for over thirty years of my life. Being a successful author obviously takes a lot of time, and we all have to deal with personal stuff on occasion. I totally get why you wouldn't have time to do a lot of research. (Although what you would research if none of the authors involved are talking, I'm not sure.)

But (yes, there's always a but!) claiming that something must be true without having the data to back it up is not especially persuasive. It reminds me a little of Aristotelean science. Aristotle created a scientific system based on what seemed logical. It's logical that heavier objects would fall faster--except that they don't. Actual experimentation proved Aristotle wrong on a number of assumptions.

As for Henry Ford,

In October 1913, Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line at the Highland Park factory in Michigan. The moving assembly was inspired by other industrial companies that used similar production processes, which could be found in bakeries, mills, breweries, and meat packing plants.

(emphasis mine)
https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/October/Ford

In other words, Ford applied the already existing principle of a moving assembly line to the automotive industry. But he certainly didn't dream it up out of thin air.

The printing press, too, is a product of long evolution. https://jhfrench.com/blog/the-printing-press-invention-history-important-dates-amp-facts

That's not to say that no one ever made a big leap forward. But for every big leap forward, one can find all kinds of leaps sideways or even backwards. That's why new approaches need to be tried out. It's normally possible to find someone enthusiastic about a different approach who wants to try it out. (For example, you in this particular case.) That's a way to gather hard data which can then be reported back. That doesn't even mean a whole bunch of numbers. General trends would probably be enough. I know we are often shy about sharing our experiences, but leading and/or teaching by example is one of the most effective methods.

It's logical to think exposure on social media would be a good thing. But as the social media landscape change, such exposure became more costly, so the question naturally arises, is it worth it? The answer is sometimes. I think at least one author on here has had good results with FB ads. But that's hardly a universal experience. Before they were practically required, I used to spend a lot of time designing FB ads, testing them, etc. I found they did FB things, like getting people to like my page, very well. But for book sales, they did almost nothing in the short term. As I've mentioned, I also posted consistently and spent a lot of time curating what I posted. I gave up only when it became apparent that all that effort was getting me nothing. It had originally gotten me a fair number of people who became fans, but as Reachpocalypse continued, that effect faded to zero, so you'll understand my wanting actual data before I plunge headlong into doing the same thing that didn't work for me before.

And yes, the algorithms do have a content-based component. But that still means in practice that people need to constantly engage with my content in order to get shown more of it. And most platforms, still wanting to sell ads, will make sure that part isn't as effective as it could be.

This leaves us in the realm of opportunity costs. Every hour I spend on social media could be an hour I spend more productively doing something else. So it's not just that social media needs to demonstrate that it has some marginal benefit. It needs to demonstrate that such a benefit outweighs what other uses of my time could do (like, say, focusing on Substack, which doesn't strangle organic growth). For a better explanation of this idea, I recommend Cal Newport's Deep Work, which explains, among other things, that social media is not as valuable as sometimes argued. To be fair, none of his examples are indie authors, but he does provide evidence that professionals and companies often do better with less social media--the assumptions about its value often overestimate its actual results.

Having worked in education for so many years had made me cynical about sweeping claims without much data. Unfortunately, education tends to be fad driven. A lot of administrators, looking toward their next job or their next promotion, want to bring the Next Big Thing to their campus or district. The Next Big Thing always sounds logical. It gets adopted, districts spend money from their already strapped budgets to train people to use it--and then, more often than not, it does a slow and painful death because it doesn't produce the advertised results. But it's okay, because there's always another Next Big Thing to take its place. The districts that do the best tend to be the ones which wait until there's a significant amount of research supporting a new approach before going all in on it. Pilot programs have a purpose (besides alliteration).

This is why I'm skeptical about some ideas presented without real data. It's earned skepticism.

...some companies have more resources than others.

Yes. Social media is a lot of work.

And yes, like Post-Crisis D, I like relevant examples that I can study in detail.

I get it, but authors who do this don't appear to be sharing and I have no time to do the research.

So, tell me again what moving production line did Henry Ford study before he invented the moving production line? Or which printing press did Guttenberg use as a model?

Sometimes we have to think for ourselves.