The official publishing name for pages of text that appear at the start of a book is front matter. The front matter can include the book’s title page, a copyright page, the table of contents (TOC), a foreword, a preface, and an introduction. Of these items, a title page is a must. The book’s title and author should sit on a page by themselves at the start of your eBook. Most eBooks also include a copyright page, with information about the book, the publication date, and details about the publisher and author. Also include the eBook version number.
Back matter is any information that follows the main body of the text. Examples include a glossary, appendixes, a bibliography, endnotes, and — in print books — an index. The final thing in any book can be marketing material, as described in this chapter.
ằ Don’t fuss over choosing a special font. Many eBook reader programs let the reader choose the typeface and font size.
ằ Be careful when using special characters. Basic characters and symbols translate well into the eBook format, but some characters may appear as tiny squares (unknown characters). You might even see unpredictable characters, depending on what you’re trying to do and how the eBook reader app interprets the text. The only way to know for certain is to use the app’s preview software, as described later in this chapter.
ằ Text color transfers to the eBook reader app, though specific colors may not.
I would just avoid using special colors in your text.
ằ Paragraph formatting still applies to an eBook — specifically, the spaces before and after a paragraph as well as left-right indents and first-line indents.
Line spacing might translate to the final eBook, though some eBook apps let the user adjust line spacing.
ằ Though eBooks don’t feature page counts, your readers might want to know the word count; refer to Chapter 18. Another relevant eBook attribute is the final file size. That topic is covered later in this chapter.
Using pictures or graphics
Do you love to spice up your book with clever illustrations, photos, or even festive dingbats between the chapters? Don’t. One thing eBooks can’t handle well are graphics.
The problem isn’t with Word, which can deftly manipulate pictures and other nontextual elements. The problem is with the eBook software, which inconsis- tently translates the images in the final, published work. As with some formatting issues, the only way to know how pictures look in a final eBook document is to preview the document before you publish.
ằ Unlike printing on paper, in an eBook the graphic’s dimensions in pixels plays a role in how large or small the image appears in an eBook reader app. Don’t be surprised if one image is quite large and the next image — formatted the same in Word — appears tiny in the eBook.
ằ If you can, try to be consistent with the image resolution as measured in pixels, horizontally and vertically. Pixel depth is also important; an image set to 72 pixels will appear smaller than an image set to 300 pixels.
ằ Ensure that you know which file format the eBook publishing software uses before you create the images. Some eBook publishers may limit their documents to specific file types, such as JPEG and not PNG.
ằ When formatting the images, I recommend you use the inline-with-text layout option. Keep the images on a line by themselves, centered from left to right.
Any fancy layout options you attempt may not translate to the final document.
ằ See Part 2 of this book for details on how to work with graphical objects in Word.
Creating hyperlinks
When you need to reference another part of your eBook, insert a hyperlink into your document. People who read eBooks are accustomed to tapping a link as opposed to flipping pages. It’s natural.
A hyperlink is inserted directly, or it can be added as a cross-reference. I recom- mend inserting the links directly. Follow these steps:
1. Select the text that you want to appear as a link.
2. Click the Insert tab.
3. In the Links group, click the Hyperlink button.
The Insert Hyperlink dialog box appears, as illustrated in Figure 22-1.
FIGURE 22-1:
The Insert Hyperlink dialog box.
4. From the Link To list, choose Place in This Document.
The center portion of the Insert Hyperlink dialog box changes, showing only linkable items in the document. These include bookmarks as well as text formatted in Word’s heading styles. Of the two, I recommend setting book- marks as the target for your eBook’s hyperlinks.
5. Scroll through the list to find an item, a heading, or a bookmark to link to.
In my eBooks, I use bookmarks, which I find more flexible than Word’s heading styles.
6. Click the OK button to create the link.
The text stays linked to the bookmark or heading in the document. Even if you modify the text, the link remains valid. Only when you delete the heading or bookmark does the link cease to function.
The link appears in the document as blue underlined text. In Word, Ctrl+click the mouse on the link to follow it. When the document is published as an eBook, the user can click or tap the link to jump to another part of the text.
ằ Refer to Chapter 20 for information on creating bookmarks.
ằ Word can create automatic hyperlinks for its references, such as a table of contents. See the next section.
ằ The keyboard shortcut for inserting a hyperlink is Ctrl+K. Follow Step 1 in the preceding step list, and then press Ctrl+K to summon the Insert Hyperlink dialog box.
ằ Right-click on a hyperlink to change its target. Choose the Edit Hyperlink command, and then use the Insert Hyperlink dialog box to make any necessary modifications.
ằ To erase a hyperlink, right-click on the blue underlined text. Choose the Remove Hyperlink command from the shortcut menu. This command doesn’t delete the hyperlink text.
ằ The Select a Place in This Document list (refer to Figure 22-1) shows headings and bookmarks. Only those headings formatted by using Word’s built-in Heading styles appear in the list. If you’ve created your heading styles, they don’t show up. That’s another reason I recommend using bookmarks instead.
Adding document references
The number of references you place into your eBook depends on the topic. All eBook publishers, however, recommend that you place a table of contents in your document.
Chapter 21 covers creating a table of contents. Refer there for specific directions on adding a TOC to your eBook. Remember to use hyperlinks in the TOC, not page numbers.
Don’t bother with an index for your eBook. Readers use the Search command to look for text in an eBook. Also, the lack of page numbers in an eBook render an index useless.
eBook Publishing Tips
In a way, an eBook publisher is more like a vanity press than a traditional publisher.
The difference is marketing: A traditional publisher has a vested interest in selling your book. A vanity press doesn’t care, because you’re paying for everything. An eBook publisher provides the venue and markets its app or reading hardware, but it’s still up to you to pull more weight as an author than you would when using a traditional book publisher.
Titling your tome
Crafting a proper title for a book is an art form. It’s a lot tougher than you think.
In fact, you might be surprised to discover that most authors don’t title their own books. Even when they do, the publisher may devise a better title. And getting the title correct is highly important: The title is the first introduction to your book.
If an easy book-titling formula existed, I’d gladly pass it along. Yet even the big publishing houses struggle. To provide a suggestion, consider pulling text from your book — a quote or thought you find rather pithy. For example, Outnumbered, Outsmarted, But Not Defeated might be some text found in a book that the author would otherwise title That Time Those Aliens Came to Earth and Nearly Killed Everyone.
ằ Pull a quote from poetry or another source if you lack inspiration. I can’t imagine how many pieces of literature have been titled by taking quotes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
ằ Avoid starting your eBook’s title with How To. The Library of Congress doesn’t list any book that starts with How To. Also, it’s not that creative. (Yes, I know about the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which is why I wrote avoid instead of don’t.)
ằ You cannot copyright your book’s title. You might be able to trademark the title, which involves a legal process. Book series can be trademarked, or in the
ằ To help confuse you further, rules for naming books always have exceptions, such as Abbie Hoffman’s Steal This Book. Remember, the goal is to get someone to notice your eBook — and pay for it.
Generating a cover
After you dream up the perfect title, another important-yet-difficult job is to apply that title to a festive book cover. In the real world, publishers pay graphics artists way too little money to dream up professional covers. Even when the publishers chicken out and buy stock photos, a lot of thought goes into the selection — or at least one would hope.
If you want the best cover for your eTome, hire a professional graphics designer to create one. A designer is far better at the task than you would be. Otherwise, keep the cover simple and attractive.
ằ eBook publishers require that you upload a graphics file for the cover. This image is separate from the document, so you don’t need to include the cover inside the manuscript’s text, unless you really want to.
ằ Check with the publisher to confirm the graphics file format. You can use whatever means available to create the image, but it must be uploaded in a specific format, such as JPEG.
ằ Most images on the Internet are copyrighted — even if the image doesn’t say that it’s copyrighted or have the © symbol, you still need permission to use it.
Fair use doesn’t apply to an eBook you plan on selling. Only when an image is flagged as being in the public domain can you use it.
ằ A good source for public domain images is the government. NASA images are all public domain, though that may not help you design a cover for your 17th century romance novel.
Finding a publisher
Plenty of eBook publishers rim the online galaxy. That’s good news! The only bad news is that many of them mandate exclusivity. So my advice is to pick one pub- lisher and stick with it.
Any quick search of the Internet provides you with a list of eBook publishers. Of the lot, I believe that Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is the best choice.
Kindle offers a wide exposure, and Amazon is a Goliath of the online retail world.
Each eBook publisher has its own procedures for submitting your manuscript. The directions are found on the eBook publisher’s web page, and they’re written with the best intentions. Still, the process can be intimidating. Don’t worry if you screw up:
You’re given plenty of opportunities to preview the book and even to unpublish it.
ằ Amazon KDP requires exclusivity for a period of time, depending on which services you subscribe to. After that time, it’s possible to submit your eBook to another publisher. Check with the terms of your Amazon publishing agree- ment before you do so.
ằ You definitely do not need to pay a third party to prep and publish the book.
Though some services might be worth it, offering marketing advice and such, most are completely unnecessary.
ằ One of the beauties of eBook publishing is that it’s very easy to submit a new edition of your book. If readers find mistakes, you can fix them and upload a better eBook to replace the one currently online.
ằ Check with the eBook publisher to see in which formats it wants the material submitted. Word is capable of saving in a variety of formats, one of which is most likely what the publisher wants. Refer to Chapter 15 for information on saving a Word document in a special file format.
Publishing with Kindle Direct Publishing
Of all the online publishers, I believe Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) would be a good place for any budding eAuthor to start: Visit kdp.amazon.com to sign up.
After creating a KDP account, or using your existing Amazon account, obtain the Kindle Preview software for your computer. You’ll find it in the area where con- tent tools are located. You might also find a tutorial online that goes over the publishing process.
Kindle eBooks are submitted in the HTML or web page format. To convert your Word document into that format, follow these steps:
1. Save your document.
Ensure that your Word document is up-to-date before you make the conver- sion. Also, the book must be in a single file, as described earlier in this chapter.
2. Click the File tab.
3. Choose Save As.
4. For the file type, choose Web Page Filtered.
The File Type menu appears below the file name box whether you use the Backstage (full window) file manager or the traditional Save As dialog box.
5. Click the Save button.
A warning appears. What it explains is a good thing: Word is awful at creating HTML documents, but the Web Page Filtered option removes a lot of the crap.
6. Click the Yes button in the warning dialog box.
Your eBook is saved as a web page document. The view changes to Web Layout.
7. Close the document.
And keep in mind that Word may open again in Web Layout view. Refer to Chapter 18 for information about changing document views.
The original manuscript still exists as a Word document. The web page document is saved in the same folder, but with the htm filename extension. If the eBook contained any images, those files are stored in a folder with the same name as the document.
The next step is to archive the document along with the image file folder, if pres- ent. Here’s how to create such an archive in Windows:
1. Open your manuscript’s folder in Windows.
You see your Word document(s), plus the newly created htm (web page) file and a folder containing images, though if your eBook doesn’t contain images, you don’t see a folder. Both files and the folder have the same name.
2. Select the web page (htm) file and the image folder.
Ctrl+click to select two files.
3. Right-click one of the selected files.
4. From the pop-up menu, choose Send To ➪ Compressed (Zipped) Folder.
Another file appears in the folder window. It’s an archive (zip file) with the same name as the htm file or folder.
5. Press the Enter key to lock in the archive filename.
It’s the archive (zip) file that you upload to KDP to create your eBook.
The next few steps take place online, on the KDP web page. You fill in information about your book, including the title, your name, and so on. You upload the book’s cover file. Then you upload the archive (zip) file you created.
See the next few sections for what to do next. These tasks include previewing the eBook and setting the price point.
Previewing the final eBook
Before you click the big Publish button and offer your efforts to digital libraries across the land, I strongly recommend that you download a preview of your eBook.
All eBook publishers should offer this feature: On the web page where you describe and submit your document, an option is available to download the final product.
To view the eBook preview, you need eBook reader software. You can use a preview program, such as the Kindle Preview I mention earlier in this chapter. Use that software to see how your book looks in digital form.
Use the preview program to get the book’s big picture. Ensure that the chapter breaks look okay. Check the layout and graphics, if you dared do anything fancy.
You’re not proofreading at this point, though it doesn’t hurt.
If you see anything awry, fix it in the original Word document. Then follow the steps to convert and upload the eBook manuscript. This course of action is perfectly okay; not until you click the Publish button is the book available for purchase.
Even then, the book may require approval by the publisher.
Setting the price
No one is an expert at determining what a book should cost. A book is worth what someone will pay for it, and no one can tell you what that price can be.
Generally speaking, an eBook is priced lower than its real-world copy. A $39 hardcover mystery novel may have an electronic cousin that retails for $14. How was that price calculated? Possibly by witchcraft. I just don’t know.
Your best guess is to look at your competition to see what the prices are. That will