You are done writing your masterpiece. You have received final edits, have your book cover designed and are ready to move forward with releasing your work into the world. When you get to this step, there are many factors that go into publishing, such as choosing your platform (self or traditional) and format (print or digital)—and from there, even more decisions need to be made.
Coming from the self-publishing route, you may find yourself not moving forward as fast you would like because of the research, work and troubleshooting that may be involved in getting your work out there. When you decide to offer an e-book version, the file format and setup differs among distributors, so unfortunately, there is no all-in-one solution to convert from a print setup to digital.
Here are some decisions you might need to consider on the path to an e-book publication:
Platform. Consider from where you would like to distribute your book. Will it be from Amazon, Ingram Spark or another similar platform? If you think it doesn’t make a difference, it does. Aside from range of distribution channels and royalty percentages, each has its own unique requirements for e-book publishing. Amazon, for example, has its own kindle creator program, requiring a .mobi file for upload, which responds best to word documents and pdf files. Ingram Spark, on the other hand, requires an .epub file, which you can convert from a more complex Adobe InDesign program, for example, or work with an app like Calibre to setup. Look into the nuances of your platform before the publishing step so you can understand the specific requirements.
Print to E-book Conversion. Before embarking on creating your print version, figure out the ease in which you can convert that to your selected platform’s e-book—or be prepared to spend some time on the conversion. I personally work with Adobe InDesign to create my printed books, and found that with Amazon, setting up a completely separate word document worked better for my e-book, and with Ingram Spark, simply saving it as a new web document setup in InDesign and making some tweaks worked well for the conversion. Again, have a solid understanding of what both print and e-book expectations are before you begin.
Validate and Review. Before hitting the submittal button, make sure your book looks exactly the way you want it to on the digital screen. In the Kindle Creator, there is a preview option, plus you have the opportunity to view your final upload in Amazon itself before you approve. Amazon also specifically advises of issues concerning the file as part of the proofing process. For a site like Ingram, it is advisable to use an Epub Validator site (I use http://validator.idpf.org/) first to check to see if there are any issues prior to uploading it to the site. If there are issues that cannot be resolved in the host program (InDesign, for example), you can use an app like Calibre to view, edit and finalize the document based on the errors you received. Once the epub validator clears your file, you should be ready to upload—and any other issues will be pointed out by Ingram as well.
It may seem like multiple versions of your book may not be worth it at this point, but rest assured, once you work through your platform’s requirements, you will find that many programs are user friendly. Of course, I am also available to assist anyone in their book publishing journey, as I bring an extensive experience of research, trial and error and troubleshooting on my own path to publication success. Reach out to me at jennydeecomm@gmail.com or www.jenniferdeecomm.com and I’ll be glad to help!
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