In February this year, online retailer Amazon had some startling news to share. Self published author Kerry Wilkinson, had become the best seller author of ebooks on Amazon.co.uk for the last quarter of 2011. Clearly, independent publishing can be a very successful career indeed. If you have always had the dream to self publish your book online, the time is just right for you to enter the arena right now. After all, e-readers are selling like never before and tablets with e-reader capabilities are hugely popular today, giving you easy access to an immense audience.
The First Steps
The very first and most obvious step to self publish your e-book is to actually get the book completed, edited and finalized for distribution. Get an editor to take a look at your book and give you his comments/ corrections. Remember that your editor is your first reader and if he cannot understand what you intend to convey through your book, no one else will either. Take his suggestions/ recommendations into account and make changes where necessary. An edited ebook is much more likely to be a successful publication.
The Finishing Touches
Once your ebook is written and ready to go, it is time to put the finishing touches to it. Create a cover page that can captivate the audience. Get the formatting done in line with the requirements of the publisher you choose and have the ‘manuscript’ ready in the file format they accept.
A basic knowledge of which epublisher needs what will prove to be immensely helpful at this stage of your ‘how to publish an ebook’ story, because the needs vary quite dramatically. For example, Barnes & Noble converts your files into a readable book with Publt!, whereas Apple’s iBookstore needs manuscripts to be in ePub format.
If you are not quite sure about what to do, get some professional help with the formatting. This is not very expensive but it will give you your ebook in the right format to submit with some of the best epublishers there are.
How to Publish an ebook?
Next comes the question of where and how to self publish your ebook so that the maximum number of people will get to read it. There are quite a number of options today and we will have a quick look at a few of the most popular ones here:
Lulu
With Lulu you have the choice of doing your own distribution or taking the publisher’s distribution package for a fee. Since the fee is quite affordable, it does make sense to opt for the second since your ebook’s reach is likely to be so much better with this option. Your ebook will get into Apple’s iBookstore and in Lulu’s Marketplace as well.
Kindle
Sign up for KDP and self publish your ebook on this hugely popular virtual library. Since Amazon apps cover iPhones, iPads, iPad Touch, Macs, Blackberrys, Androids and PCs, your ebook can be read using any of these on the Kindle library. You can choose between two royalty options here but understand the nitty- gritties of either before making your final decision.
Barnes&Noble
B&N’s Publt! makes self publishing incredibly easy and it also converts your ebook to a format that is compatible with B&N’s apps for PC, iPhones, iPad and MAC in addition to Nook. Royalty varies with the pricing of your ebook.
As the epublishing industry takes off, there are many more companies joining the race with their own ebook publishing software. It is well worth your while to carry out some research to see which ones offer you the greatest convenience, most exposure and the best royalties before you decide how to publish an ebook you have written.
Consult a content writer if you want an ebook written.