| Ebooks are the fastest growing segment of the | | | | 3. Avoid common bad formatting habits - Print |
| book publishing industry. Each year, more and | | | | publishing is very forgiving, because as long as |
| more new and established authors digitally publish | | | | your manuscript looks the way you want it to |
| their fiction, non-fiction, poetry, screenplays and | | | | look on-screen, it usually prints out fine. Ebooks |
| scripts in ebook form. | | | | are less forgiving. Some of the most common |
| One of the most common hurdles authors face is | | | | ebook formatting mistakes include: Using tabs or |
| how to make their ebook readable on as many | | | | spaces instead of Word's indent feature; using |
| different ebook reading platforms and devices as | | | | multiple paragraph returns to designate page |
| possible. There's the Amazon Kindle, the Sony | | | | breaks (creates blank pages in your ebook); and |
| Reader, the Apple iPhone and iPOD Touch, just | | | | using multiple body text styles instead of just |
| for starters. | | | | "normal" text (creates inconsistent looking text). |
| Here are five ebook self publishing and formatting | | | | 4. Publish your book in as many ebook formats |
| tips to help make your book as successful as | | | | as possible - It's impossible to predict which |
| possible: | | | | ereading device or platform your reader will use |
| 1. The Page is Dead - In traditional print publishing, | | | | to read your book. They might read it online over |
| the notion of the "page" is critical. All your pages | | | | a web browser, they might download to their |
| have numbers, and these page numbers are | | | | home computer to print it, they may read it on |
| probably referenced either in your table of | | | | their Kindle, or maybe they want to read it on |
| contents or your index. With ebooks, the notion | | | | their iPhone or Blackberry. They might also want |
| of the page is turned upside down, literally. All | | | | to read the same book on multiple devices |
| ebook readers have a different idea of what | | | | simultaneously. Therefore, you should publish in |
| constitutes a page, because they may have | | | | multiple ebook formats so the reader can read |
| different screen heights and widths, or the | | | | your book their way. Popular formats include |
| number of pages may change based on whether | | | | HTML (readable on web browsers), .txt (Plain |
| your reader is holding their iPhone vertically or | | | | text, readable on nearly everything), PDF (good |
| horizontally. The number of pages may also | | | | for books for which strict formatting is essential |
| change if the reader increases the font size or | | | | to reading enjoyment [picture books, books with |
| changes the font style, or chooses to read your | | | | charts, graphs, tables of contents and indexes]), |
| book with double line spacing instead of single | | | | epub (an open industry ebook format used by |
| spacing. So bottom line, try to avoid page | | | | more and more e-reading devices and |
| numbers, especially for long form narrative. If you | | | | applications), and .mobi (used by the Kindle). |
| MUST include page numbers, then limit your | | | | 5. Avoid DRM - DRM, or "digital rights |
| ebook outputs to PDF files, because PDFs do a | | | | management," refers to schemes that seek to |
| good job of maintaining formatting (even though | | | | prevent illegal copying or pirating of a digital work, |
| PDFs are a horrible e-reading format). | | | | like an ebook or music. Customers hate DRM, |
| 2. Keep the formatting simple - Readers buy your | | | | because DRM treats them like a criminal and |
| books for the words and stories, not the | | | | prevents them from enjoying your book in the |
| formatting. Complicated formatting can get in the | | | | way they want to enjoy it. Don't use DRM with |
| way of the reader consuming the words in your | | | | your ebook. Market research shows that DRM |
| book. You want to make sure your book is | | | | cannot prevent piracy, and it just angers your |
| optimized to be read as plain text, which is how | | | | customers. In fact, research shows that books |
| most e-readers display your book. | | | | without DRM outsell books with DRM. |