You are here: Home / Archives for Publishing

5 Step Conversion To eBook Process

November 5, 2012 by 1 Comment

Previously: Self-publish style preferences and eBook formatting

Once I had the complete manuscript file in OpenOffice format, I was ready to create the eBook. (Again, OpenOffice worked really well for this project.) The next step was to import the .odt file into Calibre, an open source electronic book management system.

Calibre is a great tool for converting a manuscript into the final stage—your completed book. Here are the steps:

1) Add book. First icon on the upper left of Calibre. Just select the file for your manuscript and Caliber loads it into the directory under that file name.

2) Edit metadata: Second icon from the left. This is where your book gets all that cool author and publishing info. And most important, this is where you can add a cover. However, when uploading to Barnes and Noble or Amazon, you also add your cover there as well.

3) Convert Books: Third icon from the left. This is where your book gets its “Look & Feel”. I generally use the icons “Look & Feel” and “Page Setup”. For the look and feel of the book, I prefer the selection “Remove spacing between paragraphs” and leave the indent size at the default 1.5 em. All other selections I have left at the default. For the page setup, I simply leave the “Input profile” at “Default Input Profile” and change the the output to the selected device I am targeting. I’ve only used .epub and .mobi formats, so I toggle between Nook Color and Kindle Fire for the output profile. I also leave the margins at 5.0 pt. Select OK to convert your book to the output format you chose.

4) Review Format: Now that your book as been converted, it’s time to review it and make sure it is properly formatted. I repeated this step several times in order to produce a product that met my expectations.

5) Proof and Correct: Don’t worry, you will have plenty of opportunity to create these files a few times over. Unless, of course, you’re a master at getting things right the first time. Now is the time to proof your nearly-finished book a few more times. Now that it is in it’s final format, simply upload your .epub or .mobi file to their respective devices and read through a few more times. Highlight those pesky errors and go back to your word processing document to correct the errors. (This is a main reason I tried to create a template that was as close to the finished format as possible. It made finding the fixes a lot easier.)

NOTE: When uploading a file to Barnes and Noble Pubit or Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, each publishing interface will accept native .epub and .mobi files. Using this process, I felt comfortable the finished product on each store looked like what I had created in Calibre.

Filed Under: Books, eBooks, Publishing Tagged With: , , ,

Self-publish style preferences and eBook formatting

August 14, 2012 by 1 Comment

As I talked about before, I used OpenOffice for setting up the electronic versions of our books, Eleventh Hour and Midnight Hour. I created a template that I copied each chapter into. The master template held all the formatting and style preferences, and as soon as I copied the text into the master, I saved it as its own chapter.

I made the template page dimensions approximately the same size as a standard electronic book so that what I saw in the word processing document would closely resemble what I saw in the finished product on my Nook Color. (This really helped when it came to proofreading.)

Once the working file was saved, it was time to begin formatting and correcting formatting issues. Of course, since we were creating a fiction book, there were not many styles to employ.

For the books Eleventh Hour and Midnight Hour, I was working with copy scanned using optical character recognition (OCR). Which meant a lot of conversion errors. Many of the errors were easily corrected by applying pre-designed body text and paragraph styles. However, text and paragraph styles don’t always convert the way they’re supposed to and often latent formatting continued to cause problems until they were completely removed from the document.

Filed Under: Publishing Tagged With: , ,

How to create an eBook: Scanning

May 28, 2012 by 1 Comment

With Midnight Hour soon to be available in electronic book form, I wanted to share the process of transforming our printed books from hard copy to an updated electronic version.

At first, the idea of turning a print book into an electronic book seemed simple. Since I have a background in design and layout, and I keep up on technology, the plan seemed doable.

And it was. The result are two books that look professionally designed. Currently Eleventh Hour is for sale and Midnight Hour is on its way.

The process wasn’t without its hiccups, however. First of all, the rights to the original printed works didn’t come with a complementary electronic file. The publisher was unable to provide one, which meant it was up to me to scan the pages and convert the content using OCR (optical character recognition).

Tools for scanning and initial layout:
OpenOffice Writer: I used OpenOffice, not just because it’s free and I didn’t have Microsoft Office, but because it seemed to be easier for this particular application. I did compare the two, but OpenOffice worked very well.

HP F4400 flatbed printer/scanner: I did use this printer/scanner because it was the only thing I had available at the time. But it worked well for the scanning process and the OCR output was pretty accurate.

Scanning process and initial layout:
I set up an OpenOffice chapter template for the approximate size of fiction book, partly because I wanted an idea how it would look in its finished electronic format, and partly because when referencing corrections between the physical book and the electronic word processing copy, it would be easier to locate the correction if I were somewhere in the ball park of the manuscript.

Before scanning the book, I simply cut the pages from the binding. I scanned the pages using an HP F4400 flatbed printer and the accompanying software, which uses Readiris technology. I scanned using the Text (OCR) to RTF File selection. I then used OpenOffice and imported the .rtf file into the document.

Each chapter I scanned, I subsequently put into its own OpenOffice word processing document. It was easier to manage short files than one large file.

Although converting the scanned text to characters was pretty accurate, the formatting caused the most inconvenience. I was actually happy that much of the formatting transferred over, because purely plain text doesn’t keep preferences such as italics and even paragraphs. Still, there was some clean-up to do. At this point, however, all the manual labor was done and the next step was for us to do an initial edit and proofread of the chapters.

NEXT: Style preferences and proofreading

NOTE: Remember to respect intellectual property and copyright laws.

Filed Under: eBooks, Eleventh Hour, Publishing Tagged With: , ,

My social writers and their online presence

May 4, 2012 by 4 Comments

I read and article (complain) not long about writers who develop a social following via Facebook and Twitter mostly, if not entirely, to promote themselves. I would say the blogger was partially right. After all, that’s what authors have to do. Even big publishers expect their signed authors to go out and promote themselves. It can be time-consuming work, which obviously takes away from the true passion of an author.

So, I’m all for the authors I’ve met online who are working hard on their craft and then hoping to share their work with readers. It’s kinda what we have to do.

But . . .

Connections online are not about rising to the top by climbing over as many connections (friends and followers) online as you can get. For many of us, the people we meet online become friends in the true sense of the word as well as resources and best of all, It think, inspiration.

So, to all my inspirational friends, keep on getting your name out there!

Filed Under: Marketing, Publishing, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

Big publishers, little readers, and indie authors

April 20, 2012 by 5 Comments

I have found the debate over the DOJ stepping in with a suit against Apple and five of the largest publishers interesting, if not confusing after reading debates over the matter. As an author, a book reader, and a former publishing employee, I have mixed feelings about the lawsuit, but I also realize this is a dusting-out period for the publishing industry. It should definitely be a wake-up call. Here are a few of the issues I see that have brought us to this point:

Digital revolution versus tradition:
I get that Amazon is a big, giant machine that threatens the existence of traditional book marketing and publishing. But, this wasn’t a problem until digital books were here to stay, largely, I must say, because Amazon almost single-handedly created the eBook market. I actually wish the largest publishers had had more foresight and accepted that digital was the future. There was certainly a lesson to be had with the music industry, after all.

Amazon knows how to make the customer feel good:
Amazon knows how to make money, and it didn’t do it by repeatedly telling its customers why it has to charge high prices. Amazon makes money by giving customers a better price. In the case of the $9.99 eBook, Amazon found a price point that made customers feel they were getting a good deal compared with the alternatives. Despite the loss on each book, Amazon made money selling the much more expensive (than a book) Kindle. Obviously, it’s not about money, its about perceived value.

My thoughts? Given the expense of creating an electronic book, why does $9.99 even sound like a good deal? For big publishing to come along and tell customers  they can’t make money selling eBooks for even $9.99, they faced an uphill battle. It’s a hard sell to convince consumers that an electronic book costs as much to produce as a hard cover book. Perception is everything, and publishers were unable to make a convincing argument.

Indie authors, the other elephant in the room:
While the DOJ, big publishers, and Amazon are still fighting over eBook pricing, indie authors are the next issue on the horizon for traditional publishing.

Back when I worked in the publishing industry, the idea of digital books had a sputter of a start with the eRocket ereader. I realized then that digital books would become the future of reading. The publishing industry, however, didn’t. Despite that first real trial, traditional publishers didn’t prepare for the future, didn’t develop a game plan, and amazingly, are still behind. Enter stage left, the indie author and self-publishing.

Traditional publishing used to decide who it signed as authors and how the product was edited, marketed, and sold. Now that publishers have been called out on collusion over the prices of eBooks and are still struggling to hang on to an old paradigm, I wonder if they recognize the threat from authors who are more interested than ever in self-publishing.

I think many authors realize they are the important commodity in the publishing world, which is the way it should be. Furthermore, authors today are savvy business people who embrace technology. They are obviously persistent, creative people—which as far as I know, is a dangerous combination. They are developing ever more publishing options. I am very interested to see how indie authors turn publishing on its head . . . again.

I welcome your thoughts on what is happening in the publishing industry.

Filed Under: Authors, Books, eBooks, Marketing, Publishing Tagged With: , , ,

Tweeking Twitter: Why pushing a sale isn’t for me

April 2, 2012 by 2 Comments

I realized something today. My welcome greeting was all wrong. By all wrong, I mean, it’s not really the way I wanted to project myself as an author. What prompted the realization was a post by Nick Thacker, a blogger I respect and who is creating, I think, a positive influence in the world of self publishing.

Nick has a post titled, The Ultimate Social Media Guide for Writers. The general theme of the post is that Twitter, and other forms of social networking, can be a pleasure and benefit to use if you figure out how to use them effectively. Nick refers to it as “add[ing] value to the conversation.” He draws from his experience in marketing and what he professes were a lot of mistakes starting out, but what he brings to the table now is certainly worth noting.

There’s something about Twitter that’s always bugged me. It’s a great platform, don’t get me wrong, but it seems like so many people treat it like it’s a gigantic networking event.

You know the type–slick salesmen walking around throwing their business cards at people like ninja stars, and forty thousand Avon or Sensy candle reps trying to get your attention.

Sometimes people treat Twitter like that as well. For those of you who think Twitter exists solely to slam your wares down other people’s throats, let me be clear:

Stop.

Sure, I would like to sell a few (more than a few) books. But, I know those books will eventually sell themselves because they are well written and have an interesting story. They probably won’t sell themselves, however, if all I do is tell people to buy them, which is why my greeting became something of an embarrassment to me.

I didn’t really want my first interaction with someone to be for them to check out my books. After all, I know how it feels to receive a greeting telling me to buy something. I don’t think I have yet clicked on a “buy this” link someone told me to go to. I have, however been intrigued through my interactions with fellow social media users to see what they’re all about.

I certainly have been pleasantly surprised by many of the people I have met through Twitter. And after meeting many of you, I decided that the best use of a greeting isn’t to push you to buy something, but to wish you the best in wherever life takes. you. After all, no one ever gets there alone.

Filed Under: Marketing, Publishing Tagged With: , ,

Authors, where to go from here

March 26, 2012 by 3 Comments

With an eBook put up on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, I have entered the world of promotion (which should probably have happened before now). And right now, I don’t feel I have entered that world very effectively. I’m thinking I’m one of those writers who writes because he isn’t very good at talking about himself.

I’m sure many of you have come across books with substandard writing and editing, and yet you marveled at the sales the author was able to generate. You shake your head and murmur: how did that happen?

Darn good marketing and self promotion!

Autheteering
Entering the world of the marketer, one can instantly become overwhelmed. It appears to be a viscous circle of people marketing their wares. Indie authors, if you have spent any time at all studying how to market your work, then you know everyone wants to sell you something in an effort to help promote your work. And as an indie author, you probably don’t have a budget to spend on cover design, editors, advertising, and marketing. Now, not only do we have to be good writers, we may have to be even better marketers.

Get with the program
As authors, promoting our books isn’t a new idea. Even a publishing company expects its authors to self-promote. But it is one thing to answer questions about your work, shake hands, and sign books during an organized event. It’s another matter entirely to learn how to effectively use social media, organize your own events, and create the discussion in the first place. It’s not all that easy to learn. I will say this, though, it sure makes the difficulties of plotting and character development seem easier.

Filed Under: Marketing, Publishing Tagged With: , ,

Technology on the Farm: Looking for a Few Good (Wo)Men

March 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Eleventh Hour

Re-post from from the author’s blog

Reindeer Station Farm

Allrighty boy and girls, I’m about to go all techie on you; stand back. I have to admit, I’ve spent the last few years trying to get AWAY from technology and back to the simple pleasures of living in real time. I created a serious learning curve for myself which was less than fun to surmount, but I digress. Point is the bunnies have decided that it’s time to get with the program. When they found out I got a Kindle Fire (after swearing up and down I’d never read a digital book. Like. Ever.) they started taking turns using it whenever my back is turned. I mean, like seriously, they hide it from each other and someone has nibbled a corner of the jacket, probably St. John. Good thing I got that super-duper screen protector. I think they downloaded Watership Down even though I warned them it had some scary bits in it. They are also very fond of LOTR because they like to imagine they are hobbits.

Anyway, it should be no surprise that they are anxiously awaiting the digital release of a book I co-wrote with Eric Stoffle. I should state now, right here, for the record, that it ends on a cliff-hanger so if you decide to read it get the sequel, Midnight Hour, before you finish and save yourself the kind of knuckle-popping anxiety that people raked me over the coals for when it came out in print and they had to wait years – yes, years! Oh the agony! – for the sequel. You can thank me later.

Anyway, Eleventh Hour is going to be released digitally on March 12 – ta-da! – and we’re looking for a few good men – and women, and even bunnies – to give away some pre-release copies to in exchange for an honest review – seriously, dude, you won’t hurt our feelings, we can take it, we’ve got big strong backs from hunching over keyboards every spare second – and post it on Amazon.com or wherever else you like to post reviews of eBooks. So if you want to be one of those people please send me an email at c.perrinowalker@gmail.com and tell me which format you’d like (I think your choices are .mobi or .epub but you’d have to ask Fergal because he’s the geek in the house.)

A bunch of my other print books are about to make the leap into technology and become eBooks as well through one of my publishers, Pacific Press. As resistant as I am to change, and technology, this is actually a good thing. People often ask me where they can find some of my earlier work and a lot of it has gone out of print. Now they’ll be able to get their hands on it again. Wait, maybe that’s not a good thing . . . By the way, may I state, also for the record, no one, and I mean no one, has guessed who the real people were behind the characters in Playing God. No one. But if you’d like to try, you’ll soon have the digital opportunity to give it a shot. Ain’t technology grand?

Filed Under: eBooks, Eleventh Hour, Publishing Tagged With: , , ,

Eleventh Hour: Upcoming thriller to be released

February 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

In March, 2012, the suspense thriller Eleventh Hour will be released as an eBook. Eleventh Hour explores the power of religion, the abuse of power, and the tenuous relationship between religion and government in the last days.

Readers will find themselves drawn to the characters who must make difficult sacrifices as the end of the world draws near. Share Brian Willis’s journey as he re-examines his beliefs. Fear for Dani Talbot’s safety as she witnesses a murder and flees the man who killed her boyfriend. Cheer for Jack Talbot as he searches desperately for his daughter. These are just a few of the characters who negotiate Earth’s last days in this exciting apocalyptic story.

Celeste Perrino-Walker and I co-authored Eleventh Hour. We are excited to bring readers the thrilling series Eleventh Hour and Midnight Hour.

Filed Under: Authors, Books, eBooks, Publishing Tagged With: , , ,