Post: #1

Hi,

does anyone have any experience creating ebooks?

I thought it would be as simple as creating a PDF with InDesign and then uploading it to Amazon .. well not quite.

Amazon doesn't convert PDFs to ebooks very well. Actually, the converted ebooks look horrible. It says on Amazon that PDFs normally yield bad results tho.

I know there is the option of creating ebooks from a Word doc. Has anyone experience with this? Maybe even have a good Word template?

The problem I see with Word though is that it's harder to create a good layout. I want to include images in the ebook too, and with Word creating a layout just doesn't work very well.

What are your experiences with creating ebooks?

Post: #2

What do you mean Word doesn't create a good layout. You create the layout in Word.

What type of layout are you trying to create that can't be done in Word?

Post: #3

(03-10-2015 11:15 AM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  What do you mean Word doesn't create a good layout. You create the layout in Word.

What type of layout are you trying to create that can't be done in Word?

Yeah if you use images it can be tricky to place them correctly in Word.

But I just did some more research and I found the program Sigil. One still has to use Word as a basis, import it to Sigil and then one can edit it there and convert it into an ebook.

I find it weird tho that some people refer to a PDF as an "ebook". A PDF is not an ebook.

Post: #4

(03-10-2015 11:32 AM)Ice Wrote:  

(03-10-2015 11:15 AM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  What do you mean Word doesn't create a good layout. You create the layout in Word.

What type of layout are you trying to create that can't be done in Word?

Yeah if you use images it can be tricky to place them correctly in Word.

But I just did some more research and I found the program Sigil. One still has to use Word as a basis, import it to Sigil and then one can edit it there and convert it into an ebook.

I find it weird tho that some people refer to a PDF as an "ebook". A PDF is not an ebook.

I would also suggest checking out youtube to see if there are some videos talking about book layouts.

PDF is just a file format. Ebooks are electronic books which can come in different formats like pdf, mobi, epub...

Post: #5

(03-10-2015 11:38 AM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  

(03-10-2015 11:32 AM)Ice Wrote:  

(03-10-2015 11:15 AM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  What do you mean Word doesn't create a good layout. You create the layout in Word.

What type of layout are you trying to create that can't be done in Word?

Yeah if you use images it can be tricky to place them correctly in Word.

But I just did some more research and I found the program Sigil. One still has to use Word as a basis, import it to Sigil and then one can edit it there and convert it into an ebook.

I find it weird tho that some people refer to a PDF as an "ebook". A PDF is not an ebook.

I would also suggest checking out youtube to see if there are some videos talking about book layouts.

PDF is just a file format. Ebooks are electronic books which can come in different formats like pdf, mobi, epub...

Thanks -

Yeah I will check Youtube for tutorials. There are some good ones on Sigil.

As for PDF: Yeah but if you want to sell your ebook for kindle or nook it will need to be in the mobi or epub format. You cannot sell PDFs on Amazon as far as I know.

Post: #6

Personally I use Atlantis word processor. It converts to epub/mobi and then I use Kindle Previewer (downloadable at Amazon) to, well, preview it.

The other thing to remember is that what works on Kindle might not work the same if you upload it to any of the other distributors like Lulu, Smashwords, Bookbaby, etc. So it's good to test for those as well.

Also, CreateSpace for paperbacks as far as formatting goes is a completely different beast than Kindle. If you're not familiar with it, it can be a bit of a nightmare. Fiverr's always been good to me when I had to get something out in a hurry.

Post: #7

(03-10-2015 12:00 PM)Soothesayer Wrote:  Personally I use Atlantis word processor. It converts to epub/mobi and then I use Kindle Previewer (downloadable at Amazon) to, well, preview it.

The other thing to remember is that what works on Kindle might not work the same if you upload it to any of the other distributors like Lulu, Smashwords, Bookbaby, etc. So it's good to test for those as well.

Also, CreateSpace for paperbacks as far as formatting goes is a completely different beast than Kindle. If you're not familiar with it, it can be a bit of a nightmare. Fiverr's always been good to me when I had to get something out in a hurry.

Hey thanks for the info on Atlantis - the program looks interesting. Will look into it.

Do you know some good people on Fiverr for ebook creation?

Post: #8

Follow this guy's advice to the letter and you'll do fine. No costs involved. And I too recommend Createspace.

Post: #9

(03-10-2015 03:08 PM)Spike Wrote:  Follow this guy's advice to the letter and you'll do fine. No costs involved. And I too recommend Createspace.

Hey great - thanks!

Post: #10

For all your e-book needs (management, conversion, creation, etc.) there's one and only Calibre. It's completely free, and has all the features you'd ever need.

http://www.calibre-ebook.com

It supports conversion to/from all widely accepted formats. And is compatible with pretty much all ebook readers.

Post: #11

(03-10-2015 05:29 PM)Reaper Wrote:  For all your e-book needs (management, conversion, creation, etc.) there's one and only Calibre. It's completely free, and has all the features you'd ever need.

http://www.calibre-ebook.com

It supports conversion to/from all widely accepted formats. And is compatible with pretty much all ebook readers.

Hey thanks for the info!