BellaOnline Forums Computers Desktop Publishing Have you written a book?

A lot of the people who haunt these forums are writers by trade, hobby, or burning inborn desire, so I suspect that many of you have written or have always wanted to write your own book, either fiction or non-fiction. If you're one of those people, you'll want to check out my recent article, Publish Your Book for Free!. In it, I talk about the newest and best ways to turn your writing into an ebook and get it out there for sale (or to be given away).

In the coming months, I'll be providing lots more details and stepy-by-step instructions for those of you with the moxie to embark on this journey.

--Maria

I'm working on a book right now and have done about 57,000 words with about 20,000 to go.

I was thinking about the e-book format but I've never purchased an ebook so don't really know how it goes. If someone purchases an ebook what is it like on your computer? Is it like a separate file, kinda like a pdf and can you move it from one computer to another with a flash plug in?

If you set up with one of those companies that does ebooks do you get a link that you can post on your blog to connect you to the purchase place? I have a very active blog where I think I could sell my book (if I ever get it done!) but wondered how to set it up there. Can you tell me more about this?

Wow--congratulations on your accomplishment so far. Was that a NaNoWriMo effort, or an ongoing project?

You ask some great questions, all of which I hope to answer in detail as I build out the articles on my site, but I'll try to hit you with some quick answers right here.

If you have an active following already, then you've got the hard part--marketing and sales--licked. The reading software, purchase transaction, and delivery are all handled by Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, etc., as I mentioned in the article. As far as the links, yes, you just link to the sales page on their site, just like with any other book, for example, here is my Amazon book page for Little Miss Straight Lace .

If you sell through these retailers, people can read your book on pretty much any electronic device with a screen, such as a PC, a smartphone, or a dedicated reader like the Kindle or the Nook. There is free software available that handles the different file types on these different devices, so pretty much anyone can read anything anywhere, as long as it's not DRM'd (digital rights management protected). I get into this topic a bit more in this article, Ebook File Formats (apparently, a very popular topic, as it's had almost 900 reads since I wrote it last week!).

The different retailers have different ways of handling the files, but for the most part, yes, you can produce a file, such as in the epub format, which is portable across systems & devices. If you'd like to see some samples of the different sofware and ebooks, just go on any of those three sites and "buy" one of the many free ebooks they offer, download the PC version of the software, and try it on your machine.

Well, I should say, Smashwords doesn't offer their own reading sofware, but they offer all books in mulitple formats, including HTML and PDF, so that would work for anyone.

Good luck and let me know if you have more questions!

--Maria

Maria, I glanced at your article.

So where does it start to cost you?

I guess at age 52 I am "skeptical" when I see the word FREE

Well I can't blame you for being skeptical, since everything on the internet has a pricetag, but in the case of publishing ebooks, you really can do it without cash outlay, at least with the sites I named.

The real cost is in your time. If you do it all yourself--write, edit, proofread, graphics, publication--it can take a lot of time, and that's just the beginning of the process. Finding buyers and convincing them to break out their wallets is the hardest and most time-consuming part. If you want to spend money rather than time, of course, you can buy any or all of those services, but again, you don't have to. You truly can do this without paying a dime!

--Maria

Great article Maria! I'm GOING to do this!! I have a couple of things in the works, and had been investigating both Amazon and Barnes and Nobles publishing.

I like that at Amazon you have the option to get it printed out in paperback format for those who still love to hold the book in their hands

I know that ebooks surpassed hardback book sales last year... and I'm sure they'll soon pass paperback books sales too.

The only thing I don't like about ebooks is that you can't pass them around to your friends and family when everyone's using an ereader LOL.

Awesome! I want everyone who dreams of publishing to find out about these opportunities. The world of publishing should not be limited to the 100 lucky people who happened to get "discovered". Be sure to check my latest article, Sell your Book on Amazon, which has the step-by-step instructions for the Amazon upload process.

I was really glad to take advantage of this opportunity, too, though it was a bit more work. I know that my book appeals to more of a 30-50-ish crowd, and they may not be as comfortable with ereading as the younger set.

Ah, yes, this is the downside. My dad is a happy Nook owner, but he complains that when he reads something he really likes, what he wants to do most is share it with his friends, and now he can't do that. Well, in all fairness, Nook and now Kindle do offer one-time, 14 day lending of books to other ereader owners, but that's pretty limiting.

So, everyone, get out there and get those books finished! And please feel free to ask any questions; if I don't know the answers already, I'll find them!

Maria