EPUBBING with NICOLA FURLONG

Several months ago, I succeeded in loading four titles (two mysteries, one non-fiction and one short story) onto the Smashwords.com database (here’s how). Step 1 to my ultimate goal of having my ebooks available on Amazon.com.

Mobipocket.com Logo

Step 2 was to use Mobipocket.com (owned by Amazon.com) as my way through the back door into the huge online bookseller. After some internet research, I had learned that you could upload ebooks onto Mobipocket and by extension, eventually into Amazon, and you didn’t need Amazon’s trifecta of account information. You only needed two bits of key information: a bank account in the United States and a United States tax number. You didn’t need a US mailing address.

So I went for it. After some searching, I discovered that one Canadian major bank has a US version, based in Florida. A few phone calls, two meetings at my local branch and three weeks of impatient waiting later, one key bit was accomplished.

I must admit I was intimidated about applying for a US tax number. That meant calling the Internal Revenue Service. Yikes! But I pushed through, figuring I would only run into trouble if I made money. And if I made money, it’d be worth it.

Amazon requires one of two types of tax numbers: a Tax ID number or an Employer ID number. The former is really hard to get; the latter a relative breeze, which I learned with the assistance of a kind and helpful IRS employee.

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