How to write an e-book

Hi!

Suppose I want to write an e-book...how do I go about doing it? I don't mean doing the research or writing the actual book, but rather how to sell it on the net, the software needed, etc...

Do I absolutely have to sell it through an e-publisher? I don't really want to go that way.

Any suggestions? Any experienced e-book writers out there?

Littlecupofjoe :coffee

Hi,

I am currently writing an E-book right now. I've been interested in creating an E-book to offer as a freebie from my Web site, but I don't know all of the details about that yet. I do know that using Adobe Acrobat is the best way to go with an E-book because it is the most common program people have already on their computers (and it can be downloaded for free). I have also heard to make your E-book as a .pdf file and not .exe because viruses can easily filter into an .exe file.

If you don't want to use an E-book publisher, you can create your E-book with Adobe Acrobat Reader. There's a command on there to convert your Word file into a .pdf file.

Also, it would be a good idea to get a book cover for your E-book. There are a lot of free book covers available on the Internet but my sister does book covers, too. She has reasonable rates and I can drop you her e-mail address, if you'd like.

I hope someone who has already been through all of this will reply. I'm using an E-book publisher for my current E-book but will work from scratch for my freebie one.

Good luck!

--Dawn

ebook questions

Heya,

I've written an ebook, although it's for a rather small niche market (written for a specific online game). I made the book itself using the extended pdf macro for Open Office which converts your .doc or whatever format into pdf, and also kept my bookmarks and url links intact. I didn't think that reader on its own would convert it,although I'm sure that Word has its own pdf converter.

Definately seconding the cover suggestion, I've seen some rather bad covers out there from ebooks I've read

You can certainly host the book on your own site if you don't want to go through an epublisher, especially if you're offering it for free (since you wouldn't have to worry about order fulfillment or shopping cart intergration).

Thanks for the info!

Sure, Dawn, I would love to see your sister's work.

Now, another naive question: what is the advantage of going to an e-publisher vs selling it on my own? Maybe my impression of an e-publisher is mistaken.

I do want to make money selling it.

Littlecupofjoe :coffee

Epublisher

Heya again What my publisher did for me was pay for google adwords advertising and take out banner ads on various sites that dealt with the subject (gaming related), as well as having his own network of popular sites to advertise on.

Re: Epublisher

I have written two e-books for writers: The Writer's Forum and Writing Careers Guidebook. I have self-published both on my website, and also have them on other sites. On the other sites I receive royalties, and on my site I receive payments via PayPal. I have sold way more copies on my own than with other sites.

I would recommend to go it alone, but you have to be ready for a lot of work. Will you hire an editor? Will you write your own press releases? How will you market? Will you build your own website?

Some things to think about. Let me know if you have any further questions!

Best Regards,

Nicole Allard
Writer's Success
writerssuccess.netfirms.com/

Re: Epublisher

Thanks everybody! Lots of things to consider.

Nicole, you gave me the answer I wanted to hear

One simple question: how expensive is it?

I may have more questions later.

Littlecupofjoe :coffee

Re: Epublisher

Hey there,

Glad I could answer your question. My budget when I started was $0. I found a program for free that converted my word documents into PDF files-search on CNET downloads. I use a free web hosting service. With Writer's Success a lot of my marketing is done with my subscribers. I'm more of a business person rather than marketing! The only thing I wish I could do is get listed in Yahoo, Google, and other large search engines. When I have the budget for it, I will do that!

Regards,

Nicole Allard
Writer's Success
writerssuccess.netfirms.com/

E-books

Out of interest, how easy is it to put an e-book on Amazon? Is there a channel for doing this without a regular publisher/distributor?

Lisa x