When self-publishing, formatting your ebook often is a challenge, especially for newcomers. Here are some tricks, hacks and tips for ensuring the process goes smoothly. For the full article, click the linked title.
• Will you take advantage of ebook’s opportunity for innovative storytelling, content presentation?
All too often, writers see ebooks as an afterthought to their paper book, as an “Oh yeah, some people prefer digital books, so to maximize sales, I better sell my book on Kindle or Nook, too.” While that attitude may be fine for books published prior to the widespread use of ereaders, such flippancy fails to acknowledge potentially innovative new ways of storytelling or presenting information.
• Consider differences between paper, ebooks
Arguably, an ebook is as different from a paper book than a TV show is from a radio production. While both the TV and radio show may tell the same story or provide the same information, how they do so is significantly different. So it is with a paper back and an ebook.
• Basic guidelines for self-publishing ebooks
When uploading an ebook to a specific self-publishing house, be sure to first read through their guidelines. Some have very specific rules and recommendations that will make your upload go much easier.
• Four main ways exist to present your ebook
Among the important concepts to know are the various ways that an ebook can be presented to readers. There are fair major formats – PDF, Epub, Mobi and AZW.
• Know parts of an ebook when creating one
When creating an ebook, thinking about its basic parts can be very useful. While some elements of an ebook are the same as that of a paper books, others do differ. Knowing those differences can save you time when creating an ebook and allows you to create a better book by utilizing the format’s advantages.
• Getting started with formatting your ebook
If you have a completed manuscript, you actually should to format two ebooks – one for Kindle Direct Publishing and one for Draft2Digital. This actually is less work than it sounds as you can format an ebook that will work for both Kindle and Draft2Digital.
• Select different fonts for paperback, ebook
You’ll want to use different fonts for the paper and any ebook/Web versions of your book. That’s because the eye responds differently to varying platforms for reading.
• How to format line spacing for an ebook
One of the common problems indie authors run into when formatting their ebook text is line spacing. This is the amount of space between lines and paragraphs.
• Use consistent quotation mark, apostrophe style
A common problem that can sneak into your manuscript when self-publishing is a mix of quotation mark and apostrophe styles. That’s because some software programs use smart quotes, or those that are curved (e.g. “”), while others use dumb quotes, or those that are straight (e.g. “”).
• Use consistent style on chapter, header titles
When writing chapter titles and section headers in nonfiction books, you’ll want to use a consistent style. For example, if one section title is written as What Hiking Apparel to Buy for Children, but the next one is written as Where to buy hiking apparel, the styles are inconsistent as the former is capitalized but the latter is lowercased.
• Avoid introducing wrong styles into your text
Among the most common yet avoidable errors when formatting a book to be self-published is inserting the wrong font, font size and or other style into the manuscript. Not fixing the problem results in an unprofessional-looking paperback and can get your ebook rejected from print of demand houses.
• If using MS Word, don’t place tabs in your ebooks
When formatting your manuscript for conversion to ebook, don’t use the tab key to indent paragraphs. Doing so usually results in your manuscript being declined for publication…or worse, being accepted for publication while looking like a mess.
• Skip headers, footers, page numbers in ebook
Among the most common novice writers formatting their ebooks run into is including headers, footers and page numbers in their manuscript. Unfortunately, this often leads to the book’s title, author’s name, and page numbers appearing in the middle of the text on an ereader.
• How to create bulleted lists in ebooks
One of the big problems with ereaders is that they lack the ability to translate fancy symbols used to make bulleted lists in Microsoft Word. The result is that a bullet point ends up being a letter or set of numbers, which looks unprofessional and can confuse readers.
• How to format drop caps into your ebook
In paperbacks, drop caps are a nice touch giving your book a professional, sophisticated appearance. Unfortunately, those drop caps don’t translate well to ebooks, especially Kindle.
• Consider adding artwork to interior of your book
Especially if writing nonfiction, you’ll likely want to include artwork inside your book. Such artwork will help better illustrate your points (pun intended). Novelists, as well, might wish to use artwork such as illustrations if creating books for teens or young adults.
• Great tips for placing photos in your ebook
When formatting your ebook, photos are a must if you’ve written nonfiction. Pictures, maps and illustrations can add value to your book in a number of ways and unlike a paper book, won’t drive up the title’s price.
• How to link your ebook’s table of contents
Though the table of contents is one of the first pages readers will see, it’s one of the last you’ll actually complete. Because it must perfectly match the names of your various sections and chapters, as well as have the correct page numbers (if doing a print book anyway), it is always in flux as you write and format the book.
• How to create page breaks in your ebook
When creating an ebook that you’re self-publishing, you want it to appear as professional as possible. Appearance, of course, certainly is no substitute for content. Still, a good, reader-friendly layout can make the ebook easier to follow.
• Ask at end of your book for a review
You always want to encourage people who’ve read your read to write and post a few positive words. After all, if someone has made it all the way through your book, they probably enjoyed it. So a good spot to make such a request is after the last page of your book.
• Add social sharing links to your ebook
One great way to generate ebook sales is word of mouth. You can get readers who liked your title to spread the word via social media simply by including a few social media links at the back of your ebook. These are called social sharing links.
• Consider exercising ‘nuclear option’ on ebook
The reason your formatted ebook looks like a mess when uploaded is because somehow in MS Word extra coding (or text instructions) have been added. The nuclear option wipes out all of this coding and lets you start afresh without losing any text.
• Do Kindle DP pre-orders help or hinder sales?
As of summer 2014, indie authors can take pre-orders for their ebooks published on Kindle DP. But do pre-orders make good marketing sense?
• Sell more ebooks by writing shorter ones
With ebooks making up an increasingly larger segment of all book sales, authors ought to consider writing shorter pieces that better match ebook readers’ habits.
• Guidelines for creating an ebook cover
Despite the old adage, people will judge your book by its cover. As humans are visually-oriented, the first thing a potential buyer of your book will spot on a web page is your cover; almost always the words come later. In addition, that cover typically will just be a thumbnail.
• DRM: To enable or not to enable
When self-publishing your ebook on Kindle, you’ll be asked if you want to enable “Digital Rights Management.” If you enable it, the Kindle version of the book will include coding that makes the copying of it more difficult. The goal is to eliminate piracy.
• How to write an author’s bio
If writing a nonfiction book, the author’s bio helps establish you as a qualified expert to write about your book’s topic, encouraging potential readers to purchase your writing.
• Pay attention to your author’s bio pic
One of the elements of a self-published book that shouldn’t be overlooked is the author’s photograph. While the photo often is a thumbnail or even smaller, it can subtly affect a reader’s decision to purchase your book.
• What is a “text-to-speech” ebook?
Among the many but little-known advantages that an ebook can offer is text-to-speech, also known as TTS.
• What is the X-Ray function in an ebook?
Among the many features often noted on Kindle book sales pages is the “X-Ray function.” Besides sounding like it’s out of a superhero comic book, the option for adding this feature is never offered when writers upload their book at KindleDP, leaving many of them to wonder what it is.
• Pros and cons of using Draft2Digital for ebooks
A number of self-publishing companies exist, and most are rip-offs. Yes, they may turn out a quality-looking product, but they don’t get you an Amazon.com landing page for your title or you’re unable to sell your title across several platforms such as Kindle or Nook. Worse, they are extremely expensive. How does Draft2Digital size up?
• Common questions about publishing ebooks
As a book editor, I get a number of questions about publishing ebooks, especially since this is such a new field. Here are the answers to a few that have been asked a lot of me during the past few weeks.
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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.
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