First and foremost, it is very important to understand—from an editor’s perspective—that your manuscript has to be totally reformatted. It is also helpful to consider planning on doing an eBook in the beginning in addition to your print version. The reason is that it is less time-consuming to set up the eBook from the original manuscript than to take a version created for print and remake it for the eBook.
I use an excellent program called Atticus. It is a very good software program to use as a writer as well (if you don’t have Word®). In fact, I highly recommend to authors now that they create both the eBook and the Print-on-demand (POD), and that we do the eBook first. Why? Because Atticus can format the PDF that is needed in the POD effectively and pretty efficiently. The caveat is if you are writing a book with many images. Images can create problems (see below).
However, it’s a good program for fiction or memoirs, and using it correctly can save you some money. I can take your finished manuscript—or we can collaborate—and move toward polishing for design, layout and final distribution rather than having to spend extra labor here. (However, correctly is the operative word :-). Check it out (I receive no compensation for this recommendation). Atticus writing software.
If you don’t want to deal with another learning curve, here’s an excellent step-by-step guide by Bo Bennet, PhD, Founder of eBookit; it is an excellent overview of the process of creating and formatting a manuscript for publication when done manually and building it for distribution. Even with something sophisticated at Atticus or other writing programs, a clean manuscript is required to get from galleys to distribution.
Here are some things to remember when we work on creating your eBook:
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- If nothing else, follow the first step in his article in creating a clean, workable manuscript. I can help you with it, but it’s more cost-effective if you follow the suggestions he makes. And remember, Office Word® is very powerful and we can do a lot with it.
- Images in an eBook CANNOT be placed exactly in the same position as in a print version. The reason is that the actual number of pages in your book and how the book flows are dependent upon what the reader is using to access it. (A cellphone page is a lot smaller than a tablet, for example.)
- However, Ingramspark and KDP have made it possible to include images in your ebook. Best of all, with an ebook, images can be in color, and it won’t cost extra.
- PAGES® (on Mac OS)does a good job creating an eBook as well if you don’t have Word®. My least favorite is Google Docs, but it has its good points.
- Regardless of what program is used, usually there are glitches and tweaks required. It will probably take longer than you think.
- The eBook cover can be the same as the print version.
- The final is a pdf. I use Adobe Creative Suite®.