Schewanick Computer Services

A comprehensive eBook 'how to' article from compiling to marketing.
Why Publish An eBook?
eBook publishing, publishing an electronic version of a print book and distributing it via a website, has the potential to change the writing market place.(1) Writers can now write, publish and distribute their own books and if they are very lucky make some money in the process. I've been looking into eBook publishing because I'm slowly putting the articles that I write for the web into eBook form and because I'm writing some short stories and a very short novel. Failing a publisher recognizing my efforts I want a second option. An eBook is that option.
eBook Compilers for Personal Computers
When I first decided that I wanted to publish an eBook I searched Google for eBook software. This threw up the usual gazillion results. Eventually I found that eBook compilers fall into three main categories. (2) First there are eBook compilers for Personal Computers. Basically these compilers generate HTML pages into an executable file that will run on a PC with a version of Internet Explorer installed.
I'm usually wary of marketing hype telling me that I can learn to use software in less than ten minutes but I tested three compilers and found that they really are easy to use. To create an eBook you import HTML files, order the pages and press a button to compile the eBook. Additionally, these compilers offer a range of security and password features for budding eBook entrepreneurs including the ability to password protect pages or chapters of the book. This allows the book to be distributed with the first chapter unlocked. If readers like the book they can pay you some money and you can send them the password to unlock the rest of the book.
Because the HTML compilers utilize HTML files you can include multimedia content in your eBooks. From the point of view of attracting a reading audience this strikes me as a good thing. It is notoriously difficult to get readers to sit down in front of a PC and read a book. I have a suspicion that this is one of the main reasons that the eBook market is struggling right now. Given the option between curling up with a paperback in your favorite armchair with your feet up on a nice comfy stool or sitting in your desk chair staring at your computer screen which would you choose? However, if the eBook offers you something that you can't get from your paperback then you have reason to spend time in front of the computer screen. Dynamic multimedia content gives you that reason.
The HTML compilers are very cheap. The ones that I looked at came in below a $100.00 U.S. Some of them cost as little as $50.00 U.S. If you're thinking about getting into eBook publishing then the small initial outlay means that you really have very little to loose. Even if you give up the whole idea you've only spent $50.00 or so.
Cross Platform eBook Compilers
The second category of eBook is cross platform. They use Adobe pdf files produced using Acrobat. These can be read using Adobe's free Acrobat eBook reader which allows you to navigate throughout the eBook, to zoom in and out on a page, to view single and double pages, to highlight text and add notes, to view your library of eBooks and, finally, to log on to an eBook store.
Producing your eBook as a pdf capable of being read by the eBook reader has obvious advantages. You can use Acrobat to easily convert your book from, for example, Word format to a pdf. You simply select Distiller as your printer and set some print options that are no more complicated than the print options that you would need to set for traditional printing. Acrobat Distiller 5 even has an eBook setting which will set the appropriate print options for you.
Before I started using Distiller a few years back I was not aware of just how much it can do. You can set bookmarks in your eBook. You can include full colour images and movies. You can include web links and set actions such as opening a web page when a reader opens a page in your book. Additionally Acrobat has security features including password protection, disabling printing and disabling copying from the pdf file. Given that eBooks in this format are cross platform the pdf format is tempting. However, Acrobat costs considerably more than the HTML eBook compilers.
eBook Compilers for PDAs
The final range of eBook software caters for the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) market. Broadly and in terms of significance in the market place there are three main types of PDA at the moment. The first is the pocket PC running the Windows CE operating system (similar to Windows 95 but for a PDA). Microsoft provide a free add on for Word that will allow you to produce eBooks for these devices. They also provide the reader for free.(3) There's another company offering free software as a Word add on to produce eBooks for pocket PCs.(4)
Franklin produce PDA devices in their eBookman range.(5) Software for producing and reading eBooks on these devices is available from mobipocket.(6) The mobipocket publisher will actually produce eBooks that can be read on a variety of PDAs including the third major player in the market, the PalmOS.(7) Unlike HTML compilers the mobipocket software is pretty expensive. The standard edition costs $149.00 US whilst the professional edition with a full range of security features costs $999.00 US for a single license.
eBook Design Issues
I used to publish a hard copy magazine. A very successful businessman told me that if I really wanted to sell my magazine then I had to make the cover sexy. I'm an idealist and was convinced that people should have bought my magazine simply because of the quality of the copy so I didn't listen to him. I should have done because image sells which means that if you want to sell your eBook the first thing that you're going to have to do is get a good cover on it.
There are two ways to achieve this. If you've got the graphic skills then you can do it yourself. Whether you're working on an HTML or pdf version you'll need to design an eye-catching catching cover with a strong image. The colors that you choose are also very important. People connect with colors and in part they base their estimation of the nature of your eBook on the cover colors. For example, red is interpreted as an empowering colour, blue as the colour of responsibility and stability and brown as grounding, stable and solid.(8) If you don't want to or can't produce the cover yourself then there are plenty of websites that offer eBook covers both for free and for a price.(9)
Unlike hard copy books you can choose to use different background colors for your eBook pages and for your heading and body text. Choose a color scheme that works and keep to that color scheme throughout the eBook. If you're not sure about your color scheme do what I did when I first started to design. Visit some well-established web sites and look at magazines to see what they use.
You're going to be able to use a range of different fonts for headings and body text. Choose one or two fonts and use only these fonts throughout the eBook. Consistency is important because readers very quickly note the fonts that are used for headings and for body text. If they change halfway through your eBook you will confuse your readers and the image that you project will be somewhere short of professional.
Layout of your eBook is also important. Navigation should be intuitive and easy to use. The HTML compilers and Acrobat generate a book that allows you to add bookmarks to key pages such as the cover page and the first page of each chapter. Both reading formats have buttons that allow readers to move back one page or forward one page. Most eBooks also contain an initial contents page that allows the reader to jump to any part of the book. A lot of the HTML eBooks include this menu on every page so that readers can move around easily in the eBook.
The content of well-constructed eBooks is set out in a specific way. Paragraphs are kept short and pithy and the pages contain a lot of headings to break up the information. I've seen a number of eBooks in which each paragraph is no longer than three or four lines. There is good reason for this. Retention rate when reading from a computer screen is much lower and people are simply put off by a web page that consists of two massive paragraphs of text. Would you wan to sit at your computer screen and read two 1000 word paragraphs?
Some understanding of the Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organisation is handy when you're compiling your pages.(10) I like the Gestalt idea for two reasons. First it makes me sound incredibly clever when I talk to people about it. Secondly it's a pretty useful idea. Gestalt theory has to do with the fact that when you look at a web page you are breaking the bigger picture down into discrete parts and making associations between those different parts. For example, if things are positioned next to each other people will assume that they are connected or related. If your eBook pages have been well designed then the reader will make the associations that you intended them to make. If they're not well designed then the reader will get confused.
Promotion and Selling
Before I run through promoting and selling your eBook I should say that ultimately the success of your eBook is going to rest on its quality. There are millions of websites out there together with an awful lot of high quality eBooks on a whole variety of subjects. A lot of these are provided free by companies trying to promote themselves on the web. If you want a share of the eBook market make your book a good one.
Once you've got your eBook the most common way to promote it is through a website but you need to get visitors to your site. I'm constantly doing this for my own sites and it is an uphill struggle but it can be done. It just takes lots of work.
The most obvious way to get traffic to your site is to submit to search engines. You'll need to research the search engines in order to find out what criteria they use to rank pages. Google, for example, uses the number sites linking to your site in order to determine your ranking. There are good resources on the net for learning about submitting to search engines.(11)
Don't just rely on search engines to promote your eBook. There are other great ways to do it. If you've written a book then you can write. Write some short articles and submit them to writing sites, Ezines and magazines. Most publishers will allow you to include biographical information together with your web address at the end of your articles.
Find user groups on the net who are interested in the subject matter of your book. These groups will look askance at you if you plunge in announce that you've got a book that you want to sell. However, if you establish a presence over time and contribute to the group they will not mind you mentioning that you have a very handy little book on a subject that might interest them.
Beyond promoting your eBook yourself there are 'publishers' on the web who will sell your eBook for you. Some will provide eBook covers, compile the eBook and actively promote it on the web for you. Others will simply promote your eBook and sell it for you. You might be tempted to go down the route of getting a company to compile, promote and sell your eBook. However, these companies will take as much as 50% of the 'cover' price. If they increase sales beyond anything that you might conceivably achieve on your own then this is a good deal but remember to research these companies very carefully. See how long they've been in business. Take a look at the other eBooks that they're selling. See what they do to promote the eBooks that they already have. See which companies and websites they are associated with.(12)
Copyright
Check out that you will retain the copyright on your eBook before handing it over to an electronic publisher. As far as copyright is concerned you are protecting your intellectual property. As the writer of the book you own copyright.(13) You may, however, feel that you need something more if you're going to put an eBook out there in cyberspace. There are companies that will copyright your work for you.(14) The advantage of this is that you will have a public record of your copyright and, as far as the USA is concerned, registering copyright means that you can sue for infringement of copyright.
Conclusion
The advent of eBooks is incredibly empowering for would be authors. Rather like the dot com boom and subsequent burst eBooks have gone from a high point to something of a low at the moment. However there are still many companies actively selling eBooks.(15) Furthermore, in the last eighteen months major publishing companies have bought up over 40 self-published authors.(16) You could be number 41!
References
(1)EBook defined at http://www.netwrite-publish.com/what_is_an_ebook.htm [Accessed 10.01.03]
(2)http://www.ebookapprentice.com/compiler/index.html & http://www.ebookcompilers.com/ [Accessed 10.01.03]
(3)Go to http://www.microsoft.com/reader/info/rmr.asp to find out about the Microsoft eBook publisher and reader. [Accessed 10.01.03]
(4)http://www.overdrive.com [Accessed 10.01.03]
(5)For the Franklin eBookman range go to http://www.franklin.com [Accessed 10.01.03]
(6)http://www.mobipocket.com/en/HomePage/default.asp [Accessed 10.01.03]
(7)http://www.palm.com/products/handhelds/ [Accessed 10.01.03]
(8)http://www.netwrite-publish.com/color_psychology.htm [Accessed 10.01.03]
(9)This site offers free eBook covers. http://www.netwrite-publish.com/free_ebook_covers.htm [Accessed 10.01.03]
(10)On design perception laws see http://www.echoecho.com/dzine007.htm [Accessed 10.01.03]
(11)For helpful information on search engine submission see http://www.searchenginewatch.com/ & http://www.jimworld.com [Accessed 10.01.03] (12)http://www.1st-in-ebooks.com/ebook-publishers.html [Accessed 10.01.03]
(13)http://www.benedict.com/info/notice/notice.asp & http://www.whatiscopyright.org/
(14)This company, for example, offers a copyright service. http://www.clickandcopyright.com/why_copyright.htm [Accessed 10.01.03]
(15)Companies selling eBooks include http://www.puff-adder.com/index.html & http://www.ebooksnbytes.com/ebooks.shtml & http://www.ebookpalace.com & http://www.ebrary.com [Accessed 10.01.03] (16)http://www.books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,796592,00.html [Accessed 10.01.03]
About the Author
Dr. Iain Doherty has a BA Hons in Religious Studies, an M.Litt in The Philosophy of Religion and a PhD in the Philosophy of Religion from the University of Edinburgh. He taught computing and multimedia for two years and now works as a web designer. He continues to research and to write on a variety of subjects.