by 168 people |
How to make an eBook in just a few steps
I've had a lot of success with eBook publishing and I get asked a lot about the mechanics. Here's my version--your mileage may vary!
It's just a few steps
And they're all free
- Write something worth reading!
- Put it into Word or a similar word processor.
- Change your page layout to wide.
- Even better, change your page size to eight inches wide and six inches high.
- Use a legible font for the body copy. Times is fine, but boring. Don't use something fancy.
- Use a headline font with bravado!
- Now, if you have a Mac, just choose, "print to PDF".
- If you don't have a Mac, go buy one and repeat the previous step, or, if you must, figure out how to do that step with a PC or a Commodore 64 or whatever it is you're using. [Easy tip: visit http://www.openoffice.org/ it's free and has print to PDF built in].
- Your eBook is now basic, but done.
- If you open it in Adobe Acrobat (not the Reader, but the for sale version) you can add hyperlinks. Recommended.
Copyright and distribution
Now that you've got a PDF, what to do with it? First question is: copyright. If you live in the US or the EU and you do nothing, then your work is automatically covered by copyright. You can cover your bases by clearly stating this and by indicating your website so people can find you.
I recommend you consider a creative commons license, because it makes it more likely your idea will spread. Why? Because you leave no doubt about your intent and because no one needs to ask. They can just email it or post it.
See below for the link to the Creative Commons site where you can choose the license that works for you.
How to distribute? If you have a blog, post it. If you know people with a blog, ask them to post it. Make it clear in the eBook itself that you want people to post or email (which is a good reason to make sure that the size of the PDF is less than 2 megs... otherwise, it's hard to mail.)
I didn't go over the point of the exercise yet, but I think it's obvious: if your ideas spread, you win. So, if you write something that people want to spread, if you make it easy to spread, and if you benefit from the spreading, then you've won.
I recommend you consider a creative commons license, because it makes it more likely your idea will spread. Why? Because you leave no doubt about your intent and because no one needs to ask. They can just email it or post it.
See below for the link to the Creative Commons site where you can choose the license that works for you.
How to distribute? If you have a blog, post it. If you know people with a blog, ask them to post it. Make it clear in the eBook itself that you want people to post or email (which is a good reason to make sure that the size of the PDF is less than 2 megs... otherwise, it's hard to mail.)
I didn't go over the point of the exercise yet, but I think it's obvious: if your ideas spread, you win. So, if you write something that people want to spread, if you make it easy to spread, and if you benefit from the spreading, then you've won.
Useful links
- Choose a creative commons license
- You choose the parameters, it finds the license.
- Some of my ebooks
- There are three or four here.
- The ideavirus book
- This was my first and most successful eBook. I wish the formatting was cooler.
- Change This... the gold standard
- I'm proud I helped start this site.
I'm looking for great examples
If you know of one, put the link here.
Write Your Ebook and Start a New Phase In Your Life
How to Write Your Ebook and Start a New Phase In Y more...0 points
by sethgodin
Seth Godin is the bestselling author of ten books. He writes about marketing, the spread of ideas and managing both customers and employees with respe... (more)
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