Creating ebooks

The path to seeing your book in print is long and complicated, but creating ebooks is a much quicker and relatively stress free experience. Many of us cherish a dream to be an author, this is a far more practical way of achieving that. Cut out the agents, publishers and printers, avoid all the 'vanity printing' sharks lurking in the background - just take your words straight to a global market.

Whilst some authors get all sniffy about anyone having a go ("Most people have a book inside them. Usually, that is where it should stay"), I disagree wholeheartedly. The critics and the public often disagree about a play, film or book, and it is usually only through practice that we can improve. An ebook can be edited or expunged if, on reading the final product, it is not yet as good as you think it could be. No trees are killed in their production, and you can send copies to friends, family and colleagues without incurring either postal or vanity publishing costs. If the comments are genuinely positive (use a very finely tuned ear), ask around to see if there would be interested in a printed copy. Check the ebook to see if you want to make any changes (you probably will), then commission a 100 copies or so directly from a printer.

Although I started the other way round, with a 'dead tree' book first, I would strongly recommend that creating ebooks should be the newbie's first choice. The entire process can be entirely free until you start making sales, and then you only pay a % of the proceeds. And, rather than having to bag up and post out individual books, all you have to do is log on occasionally and see how your little darlings are doing. For all you parents out there, this must seem like heaven on Earth. You can release your offspring out into the world when they are a day old, and wait for them to start sending YOU money, rather than the other way round.

I've covered a lot of the basics in Creating ebooks