Since I plan on publishing a number of books this next year, I decided to write down the step-by-step instructions for how I make my ebooks.
There’s 50 steps altogether and the process can get a little complicated, but if you follow the instructions it should all be very straightforward. It takes me about two hours now to run through all the steps, and when I’m finished I have a .mobi file for Amazon, an .epub file for Barnes & Noble, a .doc file for Smashwords, and a couple .jpg files for cover art and thumbnails.
The best part is that all the programs are free, so once you know what you’re doing, it costs nothing but a couple hours of your time to actually make the ebook files. Other than maybe another hour (if that) to upload the files to Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords, that’s all it takes to publish.
Since publishing isn’t a zero-sum business and all of us benefit when writers have options, I’m making this short manual available as a free PDF. It may or may not work for you the way it works for me, but if it helps you to climb the steep learning curve that all of us face when we first start out, then I’ve done my job.
Also, if any of you are more knowledgeable about formatting than I am, please let me know if you have any suggestions. I’m always looking out for ways to make my books better, so none of this is set in stone (or print, for that matter 🙂 ).
O.o… this looks hard.
Eh, it’s not so bad once you figure it out. A lot of people just skip everything after step 15 and let Smashwords do their formatting for them, but I don’t trust the “meatgrinder.”
This is great, Joe. Thanks! What about ISBN numbers? HOw is that handled when an author epublishs a book? Might make a good post.
To be honest, I have no idea how to buy or use ISBN numbers. They aren’t required for Amazon or Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords gives you the option to use one of theirs for free (for eretailers like iTunes that require ISBN), so I just do that. Someday, when I get around to doing a POD version of my books, I’ll have to figure that out. I’ll be sure to blog about it then.