How to Design and Publish Your First eBook

This is a no brainer. You need this book, if you are an author who wants to convert their book into a digital format. Or you are a self-publisher, also known as an indie-writer, and want to convert your book into a digital format. Or you want to start a business converting documents into digital formats.

The phrase digital format is a broad-brush description. Unless you are still writing pen to paper, your manuscript is already in a digital format. What we usually mean when we say digital format is a portable and reusable format such as Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf), Amazon Kindle Mobipocket (mobi), Barnes & Nobles Nook Reader uses what is known as the Electronic Publication (ePub) format.

This book will focus primarily on the ePub format, which is currently ePub3. Because ePub is the most widely used format for digital readers, I will show you how to stay updated on the most current ePub standards. Even if ePub5 is out when you read this book, you will still know how to format your book to the highest current standard.

I will go into detail about system requirements, software (commercial, freeware and open source). Yes, there is a difference between freeware and open source and pirated software. Which brings us to licensing. You must understand licensing agreements you enter into when you utilize software or even hardware.

I will assume you know nothing when it comes to converting a manuscript into a portable reusable digital format. You will also learn HTML5 and CSS and a little bit of XHTML. Don't worry if you never heard these terms before, or you heard them but have no idea of what they are. I will assume you now nothing. They are not as scary as they sound but are vital to creating a custom eBook for distribution across multiple devices and formats.

This book is for people who have a serious interest in converting manuscripts and documents into an eBook or digital format for publication and mass distribution. It's a detailed course that is designed for novice to professionals. Although it is technical, it's also an art form and craft. You can only master it through repletion and practice. Let's get started.