Have you written a book that you would like to publish or make available as an eBook? This tutorial will guide you through the process of preparing a text for digital publishing, formatting it and, once finished, personally following its publication. This information is useful both for the experienced writer who can manage the copyrights of his previous works, and for the novice who is trying to self-publish his first book. Read below to get started.
Steps
Method 1 of 4: Decide on your itinerary
Step 1. Experience self-publishing
If you want to maximize the earnings of your sales, maintain absolute creative control or adhere to non-traditional copyright structures, publishing an e-book on your own could be ideal for you.
- Taking this direction is much more difficult than it seems. It requires doing your own marketing and editing and dealing with sellers. Even if it allows you more control, you will have to work harder.
- Creative Commons licenses are useful for those who intend to self-publish. This way you will have a template in bureaucratese to protect your work, which will give you the freedom to decide how closely to monitor your work.
Step 2. Try a traditional publisher if you don't feel like publishing your eBook on your own
If you don't have time to spend on eBook marketing, design, editing, and formatting, there's nothing wrong with that. If self-publishing seems too complicated to you, you can find a traditional publisher to produce and sell your eBook.
- Keep in mind that a traditional publisher will have a stronger cut in book sales and will often exercise some level of control over content and copyright.
- Publishers will often be reluctant to take on new authors. If you wish, get an agent to help you find a publisher and guarantee the quality of your work. An agent will also help you negotiate a good contract.
Method 2 of 4: Before You Publish
Step 1. Review your book
Editing is one of the most important aspects of publishing your book. A poorly edited book will not appeal to readers, critics or potential publishers. By checking it, you can give it a professional look and make it more enjoyable to read.
- Correct all spelling and grammar problems. Too many spelling and grammar problems can make text unreadable. Use a word processor such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs to find grammar and spelling errors. Programs, however, cannot replace human eyes. They can only detect misspellings of words that don't exist. If you misspelled "them" / "li" / "gli", very trivially, the computer probably won't detect it. Ditto for grammar errors.
- Read it. Reread the book yourself, all the way to the end. This will help you catch spelling and grammar errors, but it can also give you a better sense of the book as a whole. Look for scenes that don't work side by side, characters who seem to change personalities from one chapter to the next or obvious changes in writing style. Since authors usually finish their books over a very long period of time and rarely write everything together, there may be bits of history that just don't fit together.
- Read it aloud. Once you've checked the text all the way through, one of the best editing methods is to read the text aloud. This will prevent your brain from self-correcting for missing or misspelled words, grammar and spelling errors. You will also notice if there are unnaturally sounding dialogue.
Step 2. Have someone try it out
Get a writer friend of yours to read it all, from start to finish. He will be able to look at it from the perspective of the professional, looking for weaknesses in the structure, in the characterization and in the choice of words. This works best if he's a neutral observer, but an objective friend can do just as well.
Have someone read it who normally buys books of the same genre. Only those who read similar books will truly be able to appreciate your work. It will help you understand if you have written and managed to reach your recipients and connect with them
Step 3. Hire an editor
If you don't have the skills or resources to write the book on your own, you can hire an editor. There are a large number of them who work freelance. Choose one that is reputable and trustworthy. If you want to save money, you can contact the language department at the local university and advertise for an editor. Language students who want to build a curriculum will appreciate the opportunity and the money, but the quality of the work cannot be very high.
Step 4. Use an eBook aggregator
If you don't want to deal with proofreading or publishing an e-book, you can use a targeted service, which will do these things for you. Be careful though. This is not only expensive, but there is also a high probability that your work will be exploited. Use reliable services and don't subscribe to anything that makes you uncomfortable.
Step 5. Decide on the device
Before you start formatting your eBook, you'll need to decide which device or devices you want it to be available for. You can make it readable with all eReaders to maximize your audience, or you can format it for just one and take advantage of programs offered by companies like Amazon when making your book exclusive.
Step 6. Choose your distributor
Once you have decided on the electronic reader, you need to choose your distributor. Where do you want your eBook to be sold? You can make it available on websites like Barnes and Noble, Amazon or Google Play. You can also take advantage of lesser known distributors or sell it entirely on your site.
- If you sell the book on your site, you will have a bigger share of the profits, but you will lose something in terms of the number of potential buyers and you will not have many marketing tools.
- Additionally, some distributors offer incentives if you keep your book exclusively in their service. Do a good research on these programs to help you make your decision.
- Kindle Direct Publishing: This is Amazon's distribution service.
- Smashwords: Publish in most major libraries, except Kindle.
- Nook Press: is the distribution service of Barnes and Noble.
- Lulu: It is very useful for distributing eBooks in the Apple store, which would otherwise be a complicated process.
Method 3 of 4: Formatting
Step 1. Try to understand how digital reading devices work and how text is displayed on the screen
If you can figure out what to expect, when you're done formatting, you'll know what your eBook should look like.
- To get an idea of what your digital book looks like, buy or borrow a reader. Look at the eBooks and find out how to interact with them and edit them.
- It is important to know that there are no "pages" like in traditional books. They are designed so that the text is fluid and resizable at any time. You can't format the book with that idea of a page in mind.
Step 2. Learn to use HTML
EBook readers work by converting the text of the book into HTML, the same technical language that is used for web pages. HTML is essentially a formatting language. Specifies to the computer how images and text should appear, regardless of device or screen size. You must acquire basic HTML skills to format your eBook so that it displays correctly on all devices. That is, you need to know how to use tags (specific words inserted in angle brackets) that refer to the normal formatting of any word processor.
- Tags are almost always written in pairs: an opening tag and a closing tag. The first will contain a keyword and the second will contain that same word, but preceded by a slash, always inside a pair of parentheses. Between the two tags there will be all the text with the formatting indicated by the code. In other words, what you want italicized in a sentence will need to be placed between the italic-specific tags.
- Certain characters do not render well in HTML, especially if they are automatically formatted by programs like Word: you will have to change them or code them directly in order to display them correctly in your eBook. These characters include quotation marks, apostrophes and an ellipsis, that is, the three dots. Use the search function of the text editor to manually change these characters or replace them with a specific HTML code. For example, to make sure the three dots are always encoded correctly (regardless of device) replace them with "& hellip".
Step 3. Study your tags
There are several tags you need to know to properly format your text. There are, of course, plenty of HTML tags, but here are some examples that are relevant and key to building an eBook:
- text will create bold text.
- text will put the text in italics.
-
text
will turn the text into a paragraph.
- Another important HTML tag is the image tag, which works a little differently from the previous ones. You must include the image identifier, that is, the name with which that file is specified, whether it is on the web or on your computer. You also need to add a basic description so the publishing program knows what it is. An image tag is formatted like this:.
Step 4. Size the text
As discussed above, the text size in an eBook is fluid. Readers can adjust the size of the text, making it larger or smaller, according to their needs and preferences. This means that you cannot use the normal font size, like in word processors. Instead you will use HTML and a related text sizing system. The best unit of measurement to use is called "em".
- The 1em size will have the base size. 2 em will match the following and so on. Labeling your text in this way will allow you to change size relatively, so that when the reader changes the size of the text, it will remain proportional and legible.
- The indentations will also be sized the same way. That size, however, is completely up to you.
- The em units can also be halved (for example: 1, 5; 2, 5; etc.). Use the half stitch if you can't get the look you want using just the normal size.
Step 5. Create an HTML page
After you have done all the formatting of the text, you need to create a real HTML file, with the correct encoding, to arrange the content inside. This will need to be set up with all the usual tags of a normal HTML page, like,, etc. You can read how to set up a basic HTML page on the Internet or on specific texts.
Your HTML page will also need to include a style section. This will help you format all the text of your eBook, keeping it consistent. You can get information about it by searching online
Step 6. Choose the format for EPUB and MOBI
The simplest and cheapest software to use to create an eBook in these formats is Caliber. It is available for free. However make sure you download it from a reputable source.
- Start by opening the program. Click "Add Books" and then choose the HTML file you created.
- Highlight your book in the list and press "Edit Metadata". This will allow you to change the author's name (under Author - surname, first name format) and comments, as well as add a cover image, ISBN number, publisher information, etc. Make sure you save all this data by pressing "OK".
- Now choose Convert Book. Select the format you like from the drop-down menu. EPUB and MOBI are used by the largest number of reading devices.
- Then you will want to format the table of contents. There are, of course, many ways to code the table of contents - use whichever one you think is best for you. If you used the model offered by the program, go to the "Level 1 TOC" field and enter the following code: // h: p [re: test (@class, "chapter", "i")]
- After creating the table of contents, go to "Output Epub". In the left bar, search for "Keep Cover Proportions" and make sure the option is selected.
- Click on "OK" and let the program work. When finished, you can save the eBook file. Now you are done!
Step 7. Format it with Word
There are several services that work with raw Word files. The most common is Smashwords. To properly format a Word document for digital publishing, you need to review the document and manually re-enter all automatic formatting (such as indentation and capitalization). With this procedure, you can be sure that everything is displayed correctly after it has been converted to HTML format.
Method 4 of 4: After Publishing
Step 1. Put the book at a good price
If an eBook is too expensive, it is unlikely to sell many copies. If it is too cheap, you will only have minimal profits. An adequate price will probably be around € 1.99.
Step 2. Promote your book
Promotion is key to making a profit. The internet is a huge place, and there are many authors who take advantage of the ease with which books can be published. If you want to get noticed, you have to do a great job promoting your book.
- Use social media and blogs. Find popular blogs that feature books of your genre and send them a copy for review. Spread the word of your eBook being published on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. The most important thing is to interact with customers and enthusiasts to encourage them to spread the word.
- Advertise your book. You can advertise it, both within the site chosen for sale, and through the web. Use an advertising service or contact individual websites and blogs to introduce it. Make sure any site you advertise it on can reach the right audience for you.
Advice
- Choose an effective cover. There is a reason for everything, as the old adage states. People often judge books by their cover. Choose one professionally if you want to help your book sell. You can do it yourself if you have extensive design experience and the proper tools or you can hire someone to do it for you. Many publishing services will also offer the cover, for a surcharge.
- Choose an impressive title. Nobody wants to read a book that sounds boring. Put an exciting title that catches the attention and curiosity of readers. Make sure the title fits the content. People won't be happy to buy a book titled "Best Cheesecake Recipes" and then end up with a vampire novel.
- Find your niche. It will be easier to sell your book if you find a niche market. Find out what's popular and what's not. Create something unique and quality that appeals to your niche and you'll be able to sell right away.
Warnings
- Beware of people trying to take advantage of you. There are many fake companies ready to take the money or the rights to the book if you are not careful. Do thorough research on each company you decide to work with before giving them anything.
- Don't have too high expectations. The publishing world is very competitive and people rarely get famous, especially unexpectedly. Even if the book is the next great American novel, it doesn't necessarily sell well if people don't hear about it or if luck isn't on your side. Many classical authors in life were neither known nor appreciated. Don't take it personally or you risk getting depressed.
