Write and publish your own eBooks: Why and How to do it.Publishing Your Own Electronic Book (Ebook)

by Christopher Heng, thesitewizard.com

You may have seen them around on the Internet. Some of them are available free of charge. Others have to be bought. A couple of Stephen King's latest stories are available only in that form.

I'm talking about electronic books (or ebooks), of course. In the age of the Internet, newsletters and ezines are not the only things you can publish without recourse to a big name publisher. Now, anyone can publish their own book.

Besides wanting to immortalize your name, here are a couple of reasons why you might want to publish your own electronic book (eBook).

1. Publicity for your website or business

Why do you think so many people on the Internet are giving away electronic books? Free ebooks, like other free things, spread fast. They become an easy way for you to publicize your website or business.

Of course, for that to happen, your Ebook needs to be more than just an advertising brochure - it really has to have something worth reading for people to bother to read and pass it on.

2. For Sale

Electronic books for sale are becoming increasingly common on the web. As mentioned earlier, even Stephen King has taken to publishing electronically. It's becoming an acceptable medium in this age of electronic communication.

The beauty of publishing your book electronically is that your costs are incredibly low (relative to hardcopy publishing). You only need to get the software to create the ebook, and nowadays, you can even get that free of charge.

Whether you sell or distribute 1000 copies of your eBook or just one copy, your cost of producing the ebook remains at that same fixed cost it took to produce the first copy. In fact, once you've bought your software, you can produce any number of Ebooks without incurring any additional cost.

Another advantage is that you do not need to try to find a publisher to accept your work. You can be your own publisher and distributor.

As in the case of publishing newsletters, you should of course write on things you're familiar with. If your intention is to publicize your website or your business, your topic should be of course be related to what you're promoting. That way, people will come to see you as an expert in that field and go to your site for more information and help.

Get the software for you to create an electronic book (see below).

Write your ebook.

Use the software to convert your document to the electronic book format.

Make your ebook available from your website. Note that even if you wish to sell your Ebook, you should still have a sample of your eBook available freely to whet the appetites of your prospective customers.

Publicize your ebook.

The software used to convert your files to an ebook is often called an ebook compiler. However, unlike email or websites, there is no standard format for ebooks. Among the more well-known formats are the PDF format, the raw HTML format, and books packaged as a Windows executable files.

The PDF format has the advantage that it can be read on any platform: there are free PDF viewers for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Unix (various), etc. The disadvantage is that these viewers have to be downloaded separately. This presents an additional step for your readers, which might deter some people. Stephen King's novel was published in this format.

The raw HTML format is self-explanatory. It can be read by anyone with a web browser. The major disadvantage of this method is that if you require more than one file for your book, some readers may become confused and not know which file to start with.

Another common format is the Windows executable file format. The ebook compiler converts your document into a Windows program, which the reader has to run on his computer. The built-in viewer will then display the book for him/her to read. The disadvantage of this method is that your audience is restricted to Windows users.

Which format should you choose? It's a difficult choice: you have to decide between the availability of your book to people using any operating system (PDF format) and the ease and convenience of reading your book (Windows executable format).

The most well-known ebook compiler to generate PDF formats is of course Adobe's own offering, Adobe Acrobat. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, it costs US$249 from Adobe's own website, although third party stores like Amazon sell it cheaper (it was US$189 the last time I checked, both for the Windows version as well as for the Macintosh version). Adobe's site does not give much information about it except that it can convert documents from numerous formats (including HTML). There is no demo version.

Free alternatives to Adobe's compiler are available, but offering less features. Among them are:

HTMLDOC - This HTML compiler translates your HTML pages to PDF files.

Gymnast - This is an ASCII text to PDF compiler

Ebook Compilers that Create a Windows Executable

Many ebook compilers in this category actually make use of the display engine of Internet Explorer (IE), and thus require your readers to have installed IE. Some however embed its own internal viewer in the executable. These internal viewers, however, are often less powerful than the IE display engine.

Activ E-Book Compiler (US$29.95)

eBookPro (US$197) - Read the specifications carefully before you buy this. At the time I wrote this, you can only distribute 1000 copies of your ebook for that price. You'll have to pay them additional fees per copy in order for other readers to be able to read your ebook (it's locked). This is definitely not the compiler you want if you're distributing free ebooks.

Web Compiler (US$149)

WebExe (US$30)

Illuminatus (74.97 UK pounds)

Mediapacker (US$99.95)

Html2exe (US$99 or 55 UK pounds)

E-Book HTML Compiler Pro and Pro+ (US$69.95 for Pro, US$89.95 for Pro+)

NeoBook (US$199.95)

Is It Worth The Effort?

Publishing electronic books can provide you with an additional revenue stream (if you're selling them) and a means of promoting your website (there's nothing like a freebie to attract people to your site or business). In an era when millions of sites are competing for the same audience, every little bit helps.

Copyright 2000-2002 by Christopher Heng. All rights reserved.