A Journey into Ebook Publishing

byMHainsworth

1.9K followers

9 years ago

So I finally did it, I took the plunge and decided to publish my first ebook. I wasn't looking for perfection (luckily) but I wanted to explore the whole process and see if this was a feasible route to go down.

The verdict - well lets just say it will be easier next time, on the plus side at least I'm still talking about a next time.

Why did I do it?

The idea was really to make life simpler because I had written a whole series of blog posts connected to one subject and I had reached a point where I knew it would be easier for the reader if these posts were all in one place. A blog roll does have it's limitations especially when your content is across five or six different posts.

So my ebook is not long, about 7,000 words in total. However it does link the posts together and makes it easier to read, and obviously it's available off line as a resource tool.

How did I do it?

In short probably not the easiest route (I'd love to here from others how they publish ebooks). I had the posts written in Wordpress so each one had to be copied and pasted into my own writing software programme (I use Scrivener).

One of the advantages of Scrivener is that it offers to compile the work into a kindle format. The bad news is that it took a while to figure out how the compilation works and whether chapter headings come from folders or text etc. (anyway very frustrating although I'm sure if I read a manual it would explain all this).

I then decided to publish it through the Amazon kindle store. Now this did get a bit frustrating because I had to download the software, then download the Mac reader and then some other thing until eventually I had everything. Then (and again I'd love an easier solution to this) I found you couldn't edit the kindle version I had to go back to the compilation process in Scrivener each time I needed to make changes.

Publishing through Amazon

As you can image in true Amazon style they take whatever they can and leave you with nothing, but actually I would have been happy with a free version in an easy to read format, but at Amazon you have to set a price.

The only other difficulty was uploading a cover as they kept suggesting versions and then telling me they couldn't load it when I chose their design. In the end I uploaded my own image (and said something along the lines of 'well I don't need your image anyway!")

So that's it

So despite the initial teething problems it is possible and I would encourage people to give it a go especially if it's in the back of your mind. The smaller the initial project the smaller the problems so at least you learn the ropes.

Good luck, Marie