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Article by: David Viney
Set up a good working environment
An important first step is to create an ideal workspace. This
should protect you from distractions, be ergonomic (a “u-shaped”
desk works best) and be well-stocked with stationary and equipment.
I would upgrade your PC, monitor and internet connection (if you
have not done so in the last four years). I would also recommend
getting top-notch software; main priorities being Microsoft Word,
Adobe Acrobat Professional, Adobe Photoshop, FTP Voyager and Mobipocket
Creator Professional. Check out eBay for second-hand copies to
cut costs.
Set yourself up as a publisher
Most authors would like to think that their eBook could one day
become a printed book too. As such – and to give yourself
maximum flexibility – I would recommend setting up as a publisher
in your own right. Don’t both creating a limited company
(unless you plan to also publish the works of others in large
quantities and for this to be a full-time job). Instead, just
simply select a single-word imprint name and register with your
local International Standard Book Name (ISBN) Agency (e.g. Nielsen
in the UK).
Purchase a minimum ISBN allocation to begin with (currently £77.50
for 10 in the UK) and obtain from the ISBNA an ISBN logbook and
a Publisher Prefix certificate. Then complete the form to notify
the ISBNA of your first title and it’s details.
Set up your eBook template
In what remains a relatively immature market, there is a great
diversity in the hardware, operating systems and file format used
to view eBooks. You may wish to convert your book from a master
copy to a variety of different formats (including PDF and PRC).
I would thus opt to create your master book in Microsoft Word.
I would standardise on a 1:1.5 ratio of width to height (which
is that most commonly observed); using a Page Set-up (custom size)
of 6 x 9 inches and an all-round margin of 1 inch (leaving a visible
text area of 4 x 7 inches). With that size, you can halve any
print-on-demand costs through two-up printing (i.e. two pages
on one A4 sheet).
Formatting the text
In print media, serifed fonts like Times New Roman, Courier or
Georgia are commonly used. Serifed fonts have tiny horizontal
lines at the end of each character stroke which create a horizontal
"track" for the eye to follow. However, computer screens
are much less precise than typesetting machines and do a poor
job of displaying serifs. For this reason, I would recommend you
choose a non-serifed (also called “sans serif”) font
for the main text formatting of your eBook. Popular examples include
Helvetica, Arial, and Geneva.
You could also adjust the spacing between lines (“leading”)
and space between characters (“kerning”) to help the
reader scan the text. Use a bigger font than you might for a printed
book and stick to even numbered font sizes. Avoid hard page-breaks.
As you are not limited by printing costs, make your book colourful
and fill it with attractive illustrations! Stick to the so-called
web-safe palette of 216 colours to avoid cross-platform issues.
The title and cover
The normal rules of book naming (short, punchy and 68 point font)
do not apply to eBooks! Use a main title and a sub-title which,
together, tell the reader exactly what the book is about and are
loaded with “keywords” that search engines will love.
The title of my book, for example, is “The eBook Self Publishing
Guide” and the sub-title is “Desktop to Amazon in 10
easy steps”.
Your front cover should, above all else, be professional (use
Photoshop!) and observe the rules of contrast. White on dark-blue
or black works well! Use a strong cover image but make sure you
have obtained permission from the copyright holder or – better
still – find “royalty free” images through a simple
search on Google. Either way, always credit the image provider,
optimise the image file to less than 50kb and save in a .jpg format.
Back cover, front and back matter
The content of the front inside flap is laid down by convention
and law. Your ISBNA (Nielsen in the UK) will require you to send
a copy of this page to them. You should include a copyright statement
and the name of the imprint first publishing the book (together
with the date of first publication). You should also include the
ISBN number and any printing and distribution instructions.
You can use the 2-3 pages after this for a preface and table
of contents. When formatting titles, use the Heading 1 and Heading
2 styles in the Microsoft Word format menu. Then when you create
a standard table of contents (again from the menu) it will produce
consistent and attractive results. Using a standard table of contents
will also allow you to create bookmarks in your finished PDF eBook
(more on this in the next chapter).
The back cover in a traditional book is what most prospective
purchasers browse first. The page summarises the content of the
book (by means of a “blurb”) and often contains some
select reviews (e.g. from newspapers) or endorsements (e.g. from
an eminent person in the field). Online, such pages receive less
attention (which is good news for the new author). Most of your
punters will instead place reliance on the Amazon sales rank,
the number of online reviews on and the star rating given to those
reviews.
I would thus advise using your back cover to provide a simple
summary of “why would I buy this book?” and save your
efforts on reviews and endorsements for your Amazon marketing
efforts (covered in a later chapter). I would recommend including
a barcode (in case you want to sell printed books in the future)
and you can find out more at http://www.bowkerbarcode.com/barcode/
The back-inside-flap is normally where the “about the author”
content best sits. Alongside a (preferably black-and-white) picture
of yourself, you might consider something short and punchy that
conveys your credibility & competence as an author.
Conclusions
Before you start writing, create a great working enviornment.
With so many target eBook formats, it makes sense to build your
master copy in Microsoft Word first. Use 2:3 ratio of width to
height and remember that the conventions of traditional printed
publishing do not apply to you.
David Viney (david@viney.com)
is the author of the eBook Self-publishing Guide; Desktop to Amazon
in 10 easy steps. The book is a handy pocket guide on how to get
your eBook distributed via Amazon and other sites in the UK and
US and marketed for maximum sales.
Read further free extracts from the guide at
http://viney.com/free-ebook-self-publishing-guide/ or download
the full copy of the book from there.
In the chapter 4 of my free eBook Publishing Guide ("compile
your eBook"), I explore how to convert your master into
the main eBook formats and upload them to the different sites.
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