Tip's for making eBook's look more professional

by sashagilberg

Posted: 16 years ago 16 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

hey,

right now I want to improve my actual product to look more professional in an effort to reduce the refund percentage. What are some good tips I could use to do this?
Here are my tips:

Tip 1: Have a slim, color header on each page. I've seen this on some eBooks and it really makes it seem better to me.

So I tried doing this, I inserted the header image from my sales page onto each page.
But when I preview the page in 'full screen layout', the image isn't where I positioned it from the 'print layout'.
This is hard to explain so here's a picture:

*I'm using MS word 2007 btw

Does anybody know how to fix this?

Tip 2: Don't make the font too small to conserve pages, and at the same time, don't make the font too big too expand your amount of pages.
A reasonable size is 12-16 IMHO.

Looking forward to seeing other warrior's tips that we can all implement to improve the perceived value of our eBooks? This brainstorm can benefit all of us because the higher the customer thinks of the eBook, the less likely they will refund it.

thanks!

#ebook #making #professional #tip

Kevin Riley 16 years ago

Sorry, but I really hate it when e-books have headers or footers with lots of colour. Or I should say, my printer hates it. Means that about halfway through it quits and calls for more ink.

So, if you're going to do this, include a printer friendly version in your ZIP file for those of us who like to print out our books. Also, ALWAYS page number.
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sashagilberg 16 years ago

ah, good tip about making a separate printer friendly version one, thanks!
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- Dan C. Rinnert 16 years ago
  
  I don't like having two versions of the same book, as in a regular version and a "printer-friendly" version. Seems like a waste to me.
  
  I'm not a fan of color headers and footers either. It's an eBook, not a website. Color, if used, should be used to draw attention to important content.
  
  I also think having an actual cover design will go miles toward making an eBook look professional. Too many eBooks use the little ecover they used on their website to promote the eBook. That just looks cheap and stupid to put that little thing in the center of the page and try to pass that off as a cover. On a "special report," okay. But, if you're pushing something as an eBook, I just think you should have a real cover to go along with it.
  
  Also, use wide margins so that if people print out the book to read it, they can 3-hole punch it without punching through text.
  
  Thanks
  
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  Lance K 16 years ago
  
  When was the last time you bought a book at B&N that had headers and footers on every page?
  
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sashagilberg

16 years ago

woah good points guys, I don't think I'll put headers on each page anymore.

I do like Dan's recommendation of having an actual cover designed. Right now I'm being cheap and just using the eBook cover image enlarged. I'll go talk to my designer now, thanks for the tip Dan!

Thanks
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zeurois

16 years ago

Originally Posted by alexgilberg

You could make only the covers colored. The rest of the pages only content without headers and footers .. at least without images.

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LivingCovers

16 years ago

Originally Posted by alexgilberg

Hi Alex,
Speaking of ecovers, a well designed cover is vital for the success of your
Project. Good project Covers sell better than bad ones and will also enable you
to charge higher prices and you'll also see a huge improvement in your clickthrough,
response and conversion rates.
You sh'ld also put a finished copy of the ecover image on the first page of the ebook.
Like i see it being done on so many others. It's good it looks professional also.

Olatunde.

Thanks
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Tracy Yates 16 years ago

Alex, just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents here since I do a lot of "gaudy" colored ebook layout designing that aren't being too well received here.

Kevin has made a great suggestion as far as offering 2 different versions of your ebook....one for computer reading with color, and one for offline print out reading without color.

Dan didn't like that idea of having 2 copies of the same ebook in one .zip file, so here's a different way of providing both and keeping your customers happy:

On your "thank you" download page, offer 2 separate links to download your ebook, 1 for those that wish to read from their computer and 1 for those that wish to print off your ebook and read it.

There are ways you can add dashes of color to your ebook without it over running the all important content. Just use graphics and color in moderation and it should work nicely.

Sure, it will cause your overall ebook/report file size to be larger, but as long as it isn't like 100MB, it shouldn't matter too much. Of course you have to take into account those people that will be downloading your product that are on a dial up Internet connection, but a couple of MB shouldn't be too much of a problem for them all in all.

And as far as physical books not having any sort of graphics in them, that's not entirely true. There's plenty of books that come with full color illustrations and the like. I think it mainly depends on what the subject matter of your book covers that merits including graphics, pictures, illustrations, etc.

Again, just my opinion, so take it as you will

Tracy
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- Michele Miller 16 years ago
  
  Hi Alex,
  
  I actually wouldn't put the header graphics in, but if you're looking for something to make the ebook look a bit more interesting, how about a page border. Here is a site you can look at: Word Templates for eBooks (I have not purchased from them, but the designs look clean and fresh.)
  
  Good luck!
  
  Michele
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  Stacie Bennett 16 years ago
  
  My tips on a great ebook:
  
  1. Have chapters and subchapters. Include this in your header.
  
  2. Have page numbers! This one to me as a reader is so very important. (Sidenote of why I think so: Was printing out an ebook that I had purchased. It had just completed printing when my 4 year old bumped the printer, pages went everywhere. It did not have page numbers, I liked to have never got it back in the right order.)
  
  3. Have a clickable Table Of Contents. (I know this one has already been mentioned)
  
  4. Have a link in your footer back to the Table Of Contents.
  
  5. Use an easy to read font (my favorite is Verdana) and use 1.5 spacing (this is for people like me who have weak eyes, lol)
  
  Anything that helps the readers experience will 'look' professional to your reader. I really like the tip on the margins for the hole punches.
  
  Anyway this is what I use when creating an ebook, use what you like, ignore the rest, lol.
  
  Thanks
  
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angela99 16 years ago

Please don't use those gaudy and AWFUL headers and footers. I've seen some ebooks which were impossible to read - and printing them out would be impossible. (Not that any of the gaudy ebooks I've seen were worth printing out.)

Focus on your information; that's what counts. People are buying information, nothing else.

So make the information easy to read. Use page numbers, sections and chapters. Add a Table of Contents with hyperlinks.

For extra credit, if your ebook is a how-to, include a glossary and an index.
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- Andrew McNaught 16 years ago
  
  my tip would be not to misplace apostrophes too often
  
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  BrainDance 16 years ago
  
  Adding headers and footers increases the files size as well as all the other great points above! Put your URL on the footer. don't overdo the highlight graphics, again, size increase and unless you use objects the square images so many use are just ugly and look stuck on.
  
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PRandContent 16 years ago

I just finished ghostwriting and designing an ebook for a client. I recommend that you use good spacing (1.5 line spacing is good), use "readable" font (Bookman Old Style, Georgia, Courier, Arial...these are the usual faves) and don't be afraid to use textboxes and color when you need to stress something like a quotable quote.
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- Greg Cooksley 16 years ago
  
  Hey Alex,
  
  Theres great advice given already....
  
  I can only endorse the opinion about NOT using colour headers
  and footers......
  
  If you have copies of ebooks that you have on your hard drive,
  research the format that they used - use what looks pleasing
  to you.
  
  There are some tools available for free, which help you to edit
  and format your ebook......just do a search for them...
  
  Regards
  
  Greg
  
  Thanks
  
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Stephen Saha 16 years ago

I think putting a small logo or your ebook/website name in the header of the ebook page is a good option. You can also put the logo in b/w or grayscale (good for the printer ink) mode.

In the first page of the ebook you can use a flat design of your cover.

Make sure the ebook cover is really profesisonal & stands out. Try to carry the same theme for your website header & footer (if you have plans for a complete page design).

All the best!

Stephen
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Tip's for making eBook's look more professional

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