Category Archives: publishing

epublishing, publishing

How to Create an EBook, from Sheila’s talk in August 2014

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HOW TO CREATE AN EBOOK

 

  1. Ignore pictures at the start and combine all your writing into one document, if it’s not already stored in one doc. Problems might include
    1. Different fonts used in different docs, particularly if you’re making an anthology of work you’ve done over the years.
    2. And different formats too –
      1. Line spacing – Do you double-space everything? With digital formats it’s easier to have fractional line-spaces. I like 1.15
      2. Paragraph spacing – Do you separate paragraphs with blank lines? With digital formats, the paragraph spacing doesn’t need to be a whole line. Half a line is more visually appealing.
      3. Sentence spacing – Do you use double spaces at the end of sentences? This was necessary in typewriter days to provide white space and a visual clue to the reader. In the digital age, an appropriate space is created for you.
      4. Paragraph indentation – Do you use a tab at the beginning of each paragraph? Tabs drive ebook conversion crazy, but digital formatting can set an automatic space at the start of each paragraph.

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publishing, self-publishing

Self-publishing for the Writers’ Mill Journal

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What do you need to decide if you’re going to produce a journal, poetry book, picture book, birthday gift book, etc…?

Taken from a talk in preparation for producing our next Writers’ Mill Journal

  1. Format
    1. Hand-made books
      1.   Good for small quantities, short books, gifts
      2. Bad for life expectancy of your printer and sanity of the person putting copies together
    2. Locally copied and printed
      1.   Good for getting a good price on a fixed number of copies
      2.   Individual price might be higher. Probably spiral bound rather than “perfect bound.”
    3.  Espresso machine at Powells
      1.   Good for quality, writing on spine, easy availability (just go to Powells to buy another copy)
      2.  Print cost might be higher than online self-publishing
      3.  For a fee, they will give you lots of great help and advice
    4.  Internet, privately at createspace.com
      1.  Good quality. Cheap, especially if we order in bulk from the account owner (cuts down postage)
      2.  Good availability—createspace address where more copies can be ordered (https://www.createspace.com/4068825 for our last journal)
      3.  Might have some “bleed” on cover, and no writing on spine (unless it’s a thick book), so not quite as good as the espresso machine.
    5.     Internet publicly, on Amazon via Createspace
      1.    Good because we become authors, get author pages on Amazon, and claim publishing credit
      2.    Problem is, it increases internet sale price (because of hosting and distribution fees) but
      3.     price to us, bulk purchase via the account owner, remains the same
    6.   Distribution to Barnes and Noble and Powells
      1. Good because they might even put it on the shelf at Powells!
      2.  Increases internet sale price again (because of more distribution fees) but price to us is same.
      3.  Doesn’t take much more effort once the book’s been done
  1. ebooks via smashwords, kindle, kobo, ibookstore…?

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