How do I create an ebook

13 years ago

Do you have M$ Office on your computer?

Or the free OpenOffice?

Just start writing it. Both program have the tools to add links to any text. Just WRITE the book and when it comes about formatting, ask the questions. Do NOT worry now about technical details! Focus on your content.

Post back when you finished the writing

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Michael Oksa

13 years ago

Hi Bill,

The easiest free way to do it, in my opinion, is to download Open Office. Then you simply create your document using OpenOffice Writer. Just make your links in the document, then when it's done, select File > Export as PDF.

The links will stay intact.

All the best,
Michael

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bensonenterprise

13 years ago

You can create an eBook with a word program like Microsoft Word. You write out everything you want, add your headers, footers, etc. and when you are done you save it as a PDF. You add also add the links and just use the hyperlink function to make them live. When you turn it into a PDF file the links will still be click-able.

Best of luck to you on your first eBook!

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Sherry Driedger

13 years ago

The Open Office is an open source suite of programs that are free to download and use. The part of the suite that you would use for writing an eBook would be Writer. As mentioned above, Writer will allow you to create a document and then export it as a PDF. Think of it as a free version of MS Word. If you are looking to create graphics for your eBook as well, check out Gimp, which is also free. There are numerous tutorials online to help show you how to get things done.

Tip: If you use Open Office or Word to create content such as articles that will be posted online, turn off Smart Quotes, to avoid having to clean out those question mark symbols that you see in a lot of online content.

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kimjox

13 years ago

I second that open office is a great tool .

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marcuslim

13 years ago

If you have MS Word on Windows, I'd go for MS Word. But if you don't, OpenOffice is a good alternative. As a bonus, it also runs on both PC and Mac. If you need to get a nice-looking ebook cover done, go to fiverr and get one done for $5.

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Marcus Lim
Silver Bullet Publishing

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JaisonG

13 years ago

Open Office is free
MS Word is not unless you torrent

Gather information from reading on forums or find your own methods

Hope that helps!

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Liam Swift

13 years ago

Most E-Books you find today are in PDF format and are written most in MS-Word or Open Office. Both of those programs allow you to export to PDF format.

I've never used open-office but from what I understand it is very similar to MS-Word. I know that open-office has a built in feature for exporting to PDF, and MS-Word allows you to export to PDF aswell using an easily available plug-in from Microsoft (only compatible with the 32-bit version of MS-Word).

You can also get third party programs that will convert your Word/Office files to PDF format that are easily found with a simple Google search.

In regards to adding links to the e-book, in MS-Word hyperlinks are automatically generated as you paste them in, or you can use the built-in tool to enter the hyperlinks manually.

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calhoun

13 years ago

Well all these pdf answers are fine, but I got a hard question that even Google hasn't yet coughed up an satisfying page for me.

My question is: How do we put in those fancy graphic page numbers so that the ebook actually looks like a real book?

I've noticed in most nicely done ebooks, the first page has a cool title graphic. Than, every page is numbered. Bonus points if the table of contents exists. Page numbers.

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Michael Oksa

13 years ago

Originally Posted by calhoun

Well all these pdf answers are fine, but I got a hard question that even Google hasn't yet coughed up an satisfying page for me.

My question is: How do we put in those fancy graphic page numbers so that the ebook actually looks like a real book?

I've noticed in most nicely done ebooks, the first page has a cool title graphic. Than, every page is numbered. Bonus points if the table of contents exists. Page numbers.

I do all of those things.

I prefer OpenOffice for making page numbers, but Word for the TOC.

It's as easy as Insert > Footer and then I think it's Insert > Field > Page number. You can have it so the first page won't have a page number, but all successive pages will (this can be done in OO and Word).

Once you have your page number, all you have to do is change the font, size and color of it to your liking on one page, and all other pages will automatically change.

All the best,
Michael

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sadiecopywriter

13 years ago

These are tricks you can do in Word, I don't know how to do them in OpenOffice.

For page numbers all you have to do is go to 'insert' at the top and click page numbers from the drop down menu.

For table of contents go through all your chapter titles and highlight them and turn them into headings. (It's an option in Word) then you go to autoformat and click on table of contents. It combines all your headings into the table of contents with the right page numbers. It even does that cool .... thing. If you should change a chapter heading in the text, right click on update and the TOC will also change.

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PatrickP

13 years ago

Originally Posted by sadiecopywriter

These are tricks you can do in Word, I don't know how to do them in OpenOffice.

For page numbers all you have to do is go to 'insert' at the top and click page numbers from the drop down menu.

For table of contents go through all your chapter titles and highlight them and turn them into headings. (It's an option in Word) then you go to autoformat and click on table of contents. It combines all your headings into the table of contents with the right page numbers. It even does that cool .... thing. If you should change a chapter heading in the text, right click on update and the TOC will also change.

NICE answer!

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mspiva1

13 years ago

Some tips to get you started writing the eBook--Hopefully these will help

1. Get the top 5 must have topics/points you want to convey to your audience

2. For each of these 5 topics--choose 3-5 points that the reader must know to make the topic work

3. Write down the 5 topics as chapters and the 3-5 sub topics as part of their corresponding chapters. This will be your table of contents or outline

4. Write 1-3 pages for each sub topic

You should be able to produce a 15-75 page ebook.

If you take each chapter and write it in a day, you should have your first ebook in slightly less than a week.

Tip: Go to yahoo answers and search what people are asking concerning your topics. Make the most popular questions subtopics for your book.

Hope this helps. Thought I'd add some writing stuff since you seem to have the info on the mechanics of setting up the book from the other wonder warriors here.

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Traveler66

13 years ago

Bill I've been publishing eBooks since about 1997 and I would say that the easiest way to publish one is in PDF format. It's really very simple. You simple create your document in whatever program you feel most comfortable with (Microsoft Word, etc) then after you have the pages created, you then PRINT it to a program such as Cute PDF Writer (which will output your pages in PDF format).

Hope this helps. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I'll be glad to help.

Thanks

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Anotherdesignteam

13 years ago

It's a really late reply but I saw this and wanted to send a message. I think the most important thing is to focus on the content. Write it in whatever you like. Just be creative and make it useful. Than you can think about how to publish it. But for sure you can easily create a PDF from any program.

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Jonathan Price

13 years ago

Get a rough plan outsourced, speak out the audio and get it transcribed.

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Evelyn B.

13 years ago

Bill,

I agree with those who are advising you to focus on your content first. Get that done and then worry about adding links, and creating a PDF later.

I've been creating ebooks and articles online since 2006. Just write the best, most relevant content that solves a challenge or answers a question that your audience has. Provide value first and worry about the other stuff later.

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jideofor

13 years ago

Hello Bill, i left a message for you on this forum. Did you see it. Please search "Bill Lawrence this for you"

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inspiredguy

13 years ago

Lots of great suggestions here! For anyone who doesn't have Word or hard drive space for Open Office, you can use google docs. It doesn't have nearly the features, but it does allow downloads/save to pdf and can be used from any pc since it's online.

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How do I create an ebook

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