Thread: creating an ebook

Just notice this related article.

Budding authors getting into print with e-books

Budding writers know how difficult it is to find publishers, but the more enterprising among them are turning to e-books for publication.
The rise of e-readers, for instance Amazon Kindle, has allowed aspiring authors to bypass the hassle of finding representation as well as the cost of printing, binding and delivering books, reports the Daily Mail. ...

The company allows authors to sell their works via the Kindle Bookstore. Writers even get an incentive to use the platform, by rewarding them with close to 70 percent of the sale price if they set a download fee of between $2.99 to $9.99. ....

This is a long review article from C/NET. Quite useful, dated Nov 2010.

How to self-publish an ebook

I just published my first novel on Amazon Kindle. I followed the instructions, taking it from Word into their format and it went fine, probably because there were no embedded images or graphs, etc., that might complicate things. From what you are saying, it seems that all the ebook publishers use different software. That brings up another question that I had the other day as I hit the "Publish" button: what complications might there be if I tried to publish on, say, the IPad or Nook as well?

I'm thinking of setting up a website and posting all my non-commercial work there - pictures, fiction, and poetry. I can have the writing files available for downloads as txt, doc, or pdf. It would be sort of like a blog but without any kind of blog software.

I experienced a few problems with some of the reader apps out there. For example, Stanza, which lots of people use, lost all my formatting, chapter and title, dedication, copyright page breaks. This problem should resolve itself over time though, because the better, more robust reader apps and devices are pushing the others to improve.

Still, it frustrates me that someone might spend money on my books and then have this thing that looks crappy when it shouldn't. It's a balancing act though: some recommend not doing anything fancy in your formatting, but then your book looks amateurish and bland, but if you go fancy you run the risk it won't display correctly. I came down on the side of making it look as close to my desired result as possible and letting the reader technologies catch up. That made more sense than creating an eBook that was deliberately less than ideal.

I've put a bunch of stuff up, but it's all just txt. I think I'll leave it that way.

Edit - The link in the sig line was broken. Thanks to ppsage for pointing that out.

I already had eBooks of my novels available on my own website, but I wanted wider distribution, so I'm putting them through Smashwords.

I've converted my first novel, EVE, and it's available there. Their conversion process is (fairly) easy to do from a standard Word doc file. (They have a pdf available on their site spelling out their formatting requirements and recommendations.) Then you can choose your own pricing, format styles, and where you want it distributed--they can put it on Amazon and in the iBook Store if you pass their premium formatting check.

I had one exception to their requirements for their premium status vendors on EVE, so I'm waiting to hear back on that, but so far so good. Has anyone else used Smashwords, and if so, how was your experience?

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I have been trying to get a Kindle ebook self published. My manuscript is already in the pdf format. The re-formating to suit Kindle's format is complex. I go through kindle as I already have it. My 'problem' is that kindle's service is free and they don't offer much help.

Mobipocket Creator is a good conversion tool. You can also upload a Microsoft Word document to the eReader distribution platform of your choice, typically - I know Amazon Kindle allows it. Conversion doesn't always work great, though, so professional services are also available.

I've been using a desktop publishing program Pagemaker for at least 20 years. I started with PM3, now I'm on PM7 and I've created dozens of books plus 100s of newsletters with it. Recently, I've found it invaluable for outputting eoboks, with full graphics, to pdfs.

If you can manage the steep learning curve of a dtp program, it's worth the trouble. For book production, with multiple chapters, I'd say it's essential. Trying to play with graphics in Word is a nightmare that nobody needs!

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I've finally managed to get my kindle ebook self-published. My problem is that it can be bought ONLY by people with an US, Canada and UK address.

I downloaded Openoffice (it's free), converted it to a PDF which Amazon wants and did the whole thing there. I used Createspace for the paperbacks.

Until this week, I was a great fan of the Sony Ebook Reader (PS505). I've taken it everywhere for three year. It can hold an unlimited numer of books using both internal memory and mag cards and it has kept me sane during many long air and coach journeys.

Then, disaster. The battery gave out. Sony cheekily quoted me £176 to replace the battery. (I guess they don't want the work.) So I've just bought a Sony battery for £16, and am figuring out how to replace it myself. But maybe I won't bother. I can buy a whole new Kindle for £110.

I've always been wary of Kindle. The Sony Reader will display almost any format and is wonderful for downloading public doman rtf or txt files from Internet Archives, etc. But Kindle won't read some public domain files unless they've been converted. I also don't like Amazon's well-publicized habit of dipping into your Kindle while it's online and erasing a book you've purchased, without notice or permission, at the behest of its lawyers.

But I guess it's Kindle from now on. Well done, Sony. Your ebook reader is great but your customer care has never left the Gutenberg era.