E-publishing made (not so) easy
Since I discoursed yesterday about e-publishing, I thought I'd give you a little insight into what is involved. Keep in mind, you still have to write a book but that just requires talent (cough, cough) and a computer. It's publishing the e-book that takes a blend of skills.
First, you need a cover. I have my fabulous, incredibly talented brother, Bruce, to thank for that.
A book cover for an e-book is very demanding because it has to look great at full resolution but also look good as a thumbnail. Bruce was clever enough to figure out how to render the title and my name so that even at the tiniest scale, they were still readable.
Next you had to go through the manuscript with a fine-toothed comb and remove every extra tab, space, carriage return and so forth. Word has this little paragraph mark which lets you see non-printing characters and it was tedious but doable.
Next was the formatting so that when you publish, there is a built-in table of contents and hyperlinks that go to the proper spots. I save the book as a filtered HTML page then import it into Calibre for converting to an Epub. Then I convert the Epub to MOBI which is the native format for Amazon. I used the Kindle Previewer for that. If I converted it directly into MOBI, you don't get the nice table of contents.
Then you sign up for Kindle Direct Publishing, fill out all the stuff and publish. No, wait, you need an ISBN first if you want to distribute it worldwide. They cost $250 for a ten pack. $25 apiece. One for Amazon, one for the Nook (and Kobo and Smashwords) and one for iTunes. Then you submit, check it out in the preview, revise, resubmit and so on.
In comparison, B&N Pubit, now called NookPress.com, was a dream. I could submit the Epub directly and it only took a few minutes to post. Once again, you have to use their previewer and revise and go back and resubmit but finally that was done.
Tomorrow, iTunes. What a nightmare!
First, you need a cover. I have my fabulous, incredibly talented brother, Bruce, to thank for that.
A book cover for an e-book is very demanding because it has to look great at full resolution but also look good as a thumbnail. Bruce was clever enough to figure out how to render the title and my name so that even at the tiniest scale, they were still readable.
Next you had to go through the manuscript with a fine-toothed comb and remove every extra tab, space, carriage return and so forth. Word has this little paragraph mark which lets you see non-printing characters and it was tedious but doable.
Next was the formatting so that when you publish, there is a built-in table of contents and hyperlinks that go to the proper spots. I save the book as a filtered HTML page then import it into Calibre for converting to an Epub. Then I convert the Epub to MOBI which is the native format for Amazon. I used the Kindle Previewer for that. If I converted it directly into MOBI, you don't get the nice table of contents.
Then you sign up for Kindle Direct Publishing, fill out all the stuff and publish. No, wait, you need an ISBN first if you want to distribute it worldwide. They cost $250 for a ten pack. $25 apiece. One for Amazon, one for the Nook (and Kobo and Smashwords) and one for iTunes. Then you submit, check it out in the preview, revise, resubmit and so on.
In comparison, B&N Pubit, now called NookPress.com, was a dream. I could submit the Epub directly and it only took a few minutes to post. Once again, you have to use their previewer and revise and go back and resubmit but finally that was done.
Tomorrow, iTunes. What a nightmare!
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Tales of the Vuduri
Tidbits and insights into the 35th century world of the Vuduri.
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