# How to Format Your eBook (and Printed Book)



## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

I provide a web-based formatting service that lets you turn your manuscript into an eBook and/or pBook (printed book). I'll summarize the current offer here, but see http://nepotism.net for full details (offer subject to change, of course).

I've been a computer programmer for many years, so when my friend, writing under the pen name of Rebecca Radley, wanted to publish her novels on Amazon, I wrote a program to make this easy. Then I wrote and formatted some books for myself and then for some other people. One thing led to another and thus Nepo Press was born.

I have three main aims:


easy
high quality
low price

It works like this. You set up a free book account by emailing me your exact book title and author name (it can be a pen name). I reply with the login information. You log into your book account and upload your manuscript (and any image files used in the book). Then, to make a Mobi file, click on the Mobi button. To make an EPUB 3 file, click on the EPUB button. In either case, it also makes an HTML version of your book. To make a "camera-ready" PDF file (for publishing through CreateSpace, for example), click on the PDF button. Download the resulting Mobi, EPUB, HTML, or PDF files (or just click on the HTML file). After proofreading or revising, upload the new version of your manuscript and repeat as many times as necessary. Turn around time is typically very fast.

Chapters start on new pages. The table of contents is generated automatically. The logical table of contents is generated automatically. Quotation marks are turned into curly quotes facing the correct direction. Scene breaks, clickable links (internal to the book and external to web sites), cover image, other images, etc.

The free account service period is two weeks. Produce Mobi, EPUB, PDF. See how they look and how easy it is.

The $35 account service period is one year (plus extensions). Why so long? So you can format your book as you work on it. Format early and often. Don't wait until the last moment. Proofread on your Kindle or proofread immediately by clicking on the HTML version of your book from within your book account web page.

What if a *year* isn't enough time? Just before the year is up, you will have the option to extend the account for an additional year for $5. Even better for prolific authors: when you set up another book, the current books are extended for another year at no additional charge.

To get an idea of the quality of the formatting, feel free to buy or download samples of some of the Nepo Press or other books listed in the signature and also see the examples at the link near the top of this post. _Q&D_ is a how-to book, _Vienna Bonbons_ is a novella, _AMJ_ and _Tree People_ are novels, and _Dead Animal Zoo_ is a book of poetry.

I expect to post further notes about book formatting to this thread and will also be happy to take questions.

Frank


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Welcome to KBoards! You're welcome to promote your business and website here in the Writers' Café, but we ask that the same basic rules be followed as we have for authors in the Book Bazaar: you may have one thread and must post to it rather than start a new thread each time. New threads will be removed.

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## Pearson Moore (Mar 14, 2011)

Frank,

I will look at your service. I have to be honest: The amateurish nature of "Quick and Dirty eBook Covers" made me hesitate to even look at your webpage. If you want people to pay for your service you might consider spending a few dollars on a professional cover.


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## Leanne King (Oct 2, 2012)

Is that $35 for *one* book? And is the sample PDF on your site supposed to look like that? Also, you have a broken link on the site (sam.txt).

I'm all for new services etc, but I'm struggling to see the advantage over Scrivener, which outputs all the same formats (and more) for unlimited books, at the same price. Don't mean to put a downer on your thread, just trying to understand...


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

Pearson Moore said:


> I will look at your service.


I appreciate that. Email me with the title and author name, and I will be happy to set up a free book account for you.



Pearson Moore said:


> I have to be honest: The amateurish nature of "Quick and Dirty eBook Covers" made me hesitate to even look at your webpage. If you want people to pay for your service you might consider spending a few dollars on a professional cover.


Were you referring to the amateurish nature of the _cover_ of _Quick and Dirty eBook Covers_ or of its _content_?

I am glad to have feedback on my book covers, whether negative or positive. In my current signature, the first four covers were made by me and the fifth by Sam Cherubin using _Quick and Dirty eBook Covers_. I don't consider myself to be an artist.

There is a certain subjectivity as to which book covers "work". And, really, in my defense, the book is about how to make "quick and dirty eBook covers". I think the content delivers on the promise and gives good value for its price of a dollar. And, I _love_ the little girl smiling and covered in mud.

You probably know, but just in case: the book formatting service does not create the book cover image for you. You are free to create it however you wish.

Again, thanks for the feedback. As you try out the formatting system, I'll be glad to answer additional questions.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

Pelagios said:


> Is that $35 for *one* book?


Yes, $35 for one book, updating and reformatting it as many times as you wish over a period of a year.



> And is the sample PDF on your site supposed to look like that?


You are referring to http://nepotism.net/samspeedo/samspeedo.pdf, right? Then, yes, that's how it's supposed to look, providing you are viewing two pages at a time in your PDF viewer (it's set up to print two sided). Does something about it look wrong?



> Also, you have a broken link on the site (sam.txt).


Thank you. I have fixed it now.



> I'm all for new services etc, but I'm struggling to see the advantage over Scrivener, which outputs all the same formats (and more) for unlimited books, at the same price. Don't mean to put a downer on your thread, just trying to understand...


You bring up a very good point, and I don't want to shy away from it. If Scrivener is better for a particular author, then Scrivener is what that author should use.

Are you using Scrivener currently to create eBooks (or pBooks)? Which operating system do you use?

I generally hear the Mac version of Scrivener praised, but I understand that some people don't get along well with it and don't like it, even on a Mac. The comments on the Windows version of Scrivener are much less favorable. I found the Linux version of it to be unusable (because it crashed too often).

So, does my formatting service have advantages over Scrivener for (at least some) authors that would make it worth the price?

If an author isn't yet using Scrivener, my system is probably easier to learn and use. If an author isn't using a Mac, then Scrivener may not be suitable. So, the big test would be to compare my system (on any computer) with Scrivener on a Mac.

Are you using Scrivener on a Mac (or are you a happy user of Scrivener on Windows)? If so, would you be willing to compare the two and write an in-depth review here on this thread? If so, I would be glad to set up a full book account for you at no charge. (If my service won't stand up to the competition, then I won't complain if this thread effectively turns into a Scrivener advertisement.)

I'll go one step further. Today is Tuesday, January 21, 2014. I'll open this offer up to *anyone* who contacts me within the next two weeks. If you will agree to use my service and then post a review of it (whether you use Scrivener or not), I will set up a full book account for you at no charge. Just email me the title of the book and the author name to [email protected]

Frank


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## Leanne King (Oct 2, 2012)

franksergeant said:


> You are referring to http://nepotism.net/formatting/samspeedo/samspeedo.pdf, right? Then, yes, that's how it's supposed to look, providing you are viewing two pages at a time in your PDF viewer (it's set up to print two sided). Does something about it look wrong?


Page 1 is blank with 'i' in the top right. Page 2 is blank. Page 3 is blank with 'iii' centred bottom. Page 4 has 'iv' top left. Page 5, 'v' bottom centred, 6 is blank, 7 says 'contents' in the header, and '1' top right, but apart from that is blank (the actual contents was two pages prior). After that, page numbers seem to alternate between footer and header. Maybe if you had some chapters of three pages or more it would make more sense. That front matter just looks weird though. Maybe it's me, but I wouldn't put a book out formatted like that.



> Are you using Scrivener currently to create eBooks (or pBooks)? Which operating system do you use?


Mac and Linux. Both have always worked well for me, perhaps I've been lucky.



> Are you using Scrivener on a Mac (or are you a happy user of Scrivener on Windows)? If so, would you be willing to compare the two and write an in-depth review here on this thread? If so, I would be glad to set up a full book account for you at no charge. (If my service won't stand up to the competition, then I won't complain if this thread effectively turns into a Scrivener advertisement.)


I appreciate the offer, but I'll have to pass, I just don't have the time.

Thanks for the reply, I better understand the motivation behind the service now.


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

Pelagios said:


> Page 1 is blank with 'i' in the top right. ...


Thanks for the details. I'll look into it PDF formatting over the next week or so.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

Thanks again to Pelagios for noting the page number problem with the sample PDF for the _Sam Speedo_ example.

It is now fixed.

Have a look at it at http://nepotism.net/formatting or see the slightly longer _Stormy Night_ example at http://nepotism.net/stormy.

There are blank pages, but that is on purpose. The PDF is meant to be printed as a book, with new chapters starting on a right-hand (odd-numbered) page. If the previous chapter ends on an even-numbered page, then there will not be a blank page. With these short example "novels", the chapters are so short that they usually end on the page they start on, an odd-numbered page, so the following even-numbered page will be skipped so the next chapter can start on an odd-numbered page.

The manuscript for a sample novel such as _Sam Speedo_ or _Stormy Night_ can serve as a template for your own novel.

As always, I am happy to take questions or to set anyone up with a free book account (just email me at [email protected] with the title and author name).

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

We recently published a paperback version of _Tree People_, using the Nepo Press formatting service (of course) and publishing through CreateSpace.

The process was a delight. We submitted it to CreateSpace on Saturday evening and received their approval email on Sunday. On Sunday we finalized the pricing, etc., did a final digital review, and said "Publish!". It was _for sale_ on Amazon that same Sunday. We bought a copy directly from Amazon and had it in our hands Wednesday evening (three days instead of two because Monday was a holiday).

I've written up the full details on the Nepo Press blog (see link in the signature).

Frank


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

Or you can just go to D2D and do this for free.


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

Katie Elle said:


> Or you can just go to D2D and do this for free.


Certainly, that is an option, except it is not actually free. It costs you about 15% of your royalties. So, instead of a one-time $35, it costs you $15 (leaving you with $85) out of every $100 of royalties you would otherwise earn. If your book doesn't sell, you can be ahead with D2D. Otherwise, D2D gets more and more expensive.

Frank


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## Selina Fenech (Jul 20, 2011)

franksergeant said:


> Certainly, that is an option, except it is not actually free. It costs you about 15% of your royalties. So, instead of a one-time $35, it costs you $15 (leaving you with $85) out of every $100 of royalties you would otherwise earn. If your book doesn't sell, you can be ahead with D2D. Otherwise, D2D gets more and more expensive.
> 
> Frank


Actually it doesn't cost anything to use their ebook conversion service- you don't have to use their distribution service (which takes the % cut) after you've used their conversion service if you don't want to.


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## Guest (Feb 25, 2014)

I also do formatting for people on occasion, and I still think it's in their best interest to learn how to do it themselves.  

What if there's a problem at 2 AM.  Who are you going to call to fix that typo or glaring factual error?  Authors need to be equipped with the knowledge and tools* to do this themselves.  

*Plummer's crack not included.


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

Selina Fenech said:


> Actually it doesn't cost anything to use their ebook conversion service- you don't have to use their distribution service (which takes the % cut) after you've used their conversion service if you don't want to.


I hadn't realized that! Thank you for letting me know. I'll have to withdraw my objection to them.

So, does my system have any advantages that could justify its expense? The current price (I have no plans to change the price, but, of course, I reserve the right) is $35 for one year ($5 or less to extend it for an additional year). That period of time is designed to encourage authors to "format early and often" rather than waiting until the last minute. You can reformat as often as you like, including at 2am as Greg mentioned, 10 or more times a day if you wish, letting you use a formatted eBook during the writing of the novel, not just after it is finished.

I think you also get substantially more and easier control over your eBook's appearance and the paperback book's appearance than you get from the free alternatives -- all from a single manuscript.

I, too, am thinking long and hard about this. I love this method of formatting eBooks and printed books. For me and the tiny stable of Nepo Press authors (think miniature Shetland ponies rather than Clydesdales), the cost is not a factor because we use it for free. But, for others, is it worth $35? I think it should be because of its great results, almost instant turn around time, ease of use, etc. There are many alternatives and I invite comparison and arguments for and against. As always, I will be glad to set up a free trial account for anyone who wants to take a look at it.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

I have made several videos showing the process of turning a manuscript into an eBook and a "camera-ready" PDF. These are available now on my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwaQIa66YQcI6h7nlidHIIg) and they are also linked from http://nepotism.net/videos.

Regardless of the word processor you use, I suggest watching Book Formatting From Scratch first. Then I suggest Book Formatting from a .doc File. If you use Scrivener, you might then watch Book Formatting With Scrivener.

We are also making a change to the free account offer. Previously, we had a size limit (just for short stories). Instead, the size limits for the trial account are now the same as for the paid account (no longer than about 800 pages, not image intensive). So, you can try out the service on your full manuscript, making as many revisions as you like within a two-week period. The only "catch" to the free account is the eBooks and PDF it produces will be "watermarked" so they won't really be suitable for publishing.

Frank


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

Camera ready still makes me shiver. When I started, they were behind the tech and we'd print everything on this hideous film printer with all the marks for the camera to shoot it.

Which has nothing to do with modern publishing, but I'm being self-indulgent. And wondering when the chemicals in that printer are going to give me cancer...


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

Kat S said:


> Which has nothing to do with modern publishing, but I'm being self-indulgent. And wondering when the chemicals in that printer are going to give me cancer...


I shudder over a few things from my past also. When I was a child, shoe stores would sometimes have a flouroscope (I think it was called) where we could see the bones of our feet (to see how they fit in the shoes we were trying on). I won't even mention the mercury.

Frank


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

Oh those great little puzzles with the drop of mercury you had to route through the maze. Oops dropped it and it broke.


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

Two news items:

*1. User Manuals*

The Nepo Press user manuals are currently available at http://nepotism.net/formatting/usermanuals.html. These are the three books _Mobi Machine_, _EPUB Machine_, and _Advanced Mobi and EPUB Machines_.

The first covers making eBooks for the Kindle, the second for just about all other eReaders. The third gives additional information related to both Mobi and EPUB files plus making a "camera-ready" PDF for publishing through CreateSpace.

You can download any of the manuals as either a Mobi or EPUB file, or you can read the HTML version directly in a web browser.

I have removed them from KDP Select and have published them on Kobo and B&N and I'm in the process of publishing them to Apple and Smashwords.

*2. Free Trial Account*

There have been some changes to the free trial account. The size is no longer limited to a short story. You can try it out with your entire novel. The time is limited to two weeks. "Watermarks" will be added to the resulting eBooks and PDF.

As always, just email me at [email protected] with the title of your book and the author name and I will be glad to set up a free account for you.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

The three user manuals are now available "everywhere".

We published them directly to Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple, and Smashwords.

We formatted them with the Nepo Press formatting service (of course), which means the EPUBs pass the EpubCheck validation program, so we have no trouble getting them accepted on the first try at B&N, Kobo, Apple, and now Smashwords. The manuals are also available for free directly from the Nepo Press web site in Mobi, EPUB, and HTML formats.

At first, Smashwords wouldn't accept EPUB 3. Then they started accepting EPUB 3 for sale directly from their web site but not through their premium catalog. Now, I'm delighted to report, they accept EPUB 3 for the premium catalog.

See http://nepotism.net/formatting/usermanuals.html to view or download the manuals (_Mobi Machine_, _EPUB Machine_, and _Advanced Mobi and EPUB Machines_).

The web-based formatting service requires you to mark up your manuscript (as described in the user manuals). This is easy when starting a book from scratch, plus you get the advantage of formatting as often as you wish as you develop the book.

However, for an existing (finished or nearly finished) manuscript, there is the initial markup step. We think this is worth your while to do. It is easy. Basically, you put asterisks around italicized words or phrases and you mark each chapter title with an asterisk. If you can type an asterisk, you are more than half way there. Of course, you don't want to eyeball a large manuscript to find the italics, so you use your word processor's find facility to find the italics. Even better, you use its "find and replace" facility to mark all the italics in one fell swoop.

On the other hand, this still seems daunting to some authors, so we also offer hand or custom formatting directly from your .doc, .docx, .rtf, or Scrivener file. To get an idea of the quality, you can take a look at the Mobi or EPUB versions of the manuals (since they are free), or download a sample or buy a copy of Rebecca's _Tree People_ from Amazon as an eBook or as a paperback. Note, the eBooks have fully functional logical tables of contents but I doubt that works when downloading just a sample.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

We now offer custom formatting. For a typical novel, the prices run from $20 to $35 (based on word count) for eBooks (both Mobi and EPUB), add $5 to $15 for "camera-ready" PDF for publishing through CreateSpace. Turnaround time is 72 hours (3 days). Please see http://nepotism.net for full details. If your book has special requirements, we are happy to give you a quote.

[email protected]


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*Humping*

No, this is not an X-rated post.

I'm writing this on a Wednesday, which is hump day for people working Monday through Friday. I suppose noon would be hump hour. So, if you can just make it past hump hour of hump day, you are more than half way through with your work week.

When it comes to eBook formatting, there are several humps to consider. With our web-based formatting service, one hump is probably just grasping the essence of how it works. It's really pretty simple, and when it clicks, you are over the hump. I've made two recent videos that I hope will help.

The first, _Essence of eBook Formatting_, is a 6-minute video showing the, err, ah, essence of how it all works: 



.

From that video, and a trial or full book account, you have enough information to format your manuscript as an eBook (Mobi and EPUB) and a "camera-ready" PDF for publishing through CreateSpace. Just mark one, two, or three chapter titles, perhaps one or two italicized phrases, then upload to your book account and click the buttons.

Of course, you'll need to do some further polishing.

The next hump is that you probably have a *lot* of italicized words and phrases in your manuscript that need to be marked. This is a *big* hump if you plan to mark them all by hand. That's where the next video comes in. _Find and Replace Using Patterns_ is a 14-minute video showing how to mark italics (and other things) in one fell swoop: 



.

After that, the user manuals and other documentation on the Nepo Press site can help you with any minor humps.

For a free trial account, just email the book title and author(s) name(s) to [email protected]

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*Proofreading*

It is *easy* to get the last typo out of your manuscript when proofreading. In fact, most authors can do this a number of times on the same manuscript! (Like the Mark Twain quote about giving up smoking: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/150414-giving-up-smoking-is-the-easiest-thing-in-the-world.)

On the other hand, there is a *simple* way to get that last typo. Unfortunately, it is not easy. Just follow this rule: proofread the entire manuscript and correct any errors. If there were *any* errors or if you made any changes at all, do another full proofreading pass. Repeat until a full pass finds no errors at all. At that point, you will have a completely typo-free manuscript. And, it will stay that way until you or a reader reads it again.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*Putting Your Book on Your Phone or Tablet*

We recently emailed a review copy of Rebecca Radley's new _Sombras del Pasado (Shadows of the Past)_ to someone with an Android phone but no actual Kindle. (Of course, we used our automated formatting service to create both the Mobi file for Amazon and the "camera-ready" PDF for CreateSpace.)

To help him get the Mobi file to his smart phone, we wrote up some notes at http://nepotism.net/formatting/phone.html.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*Images, Figures, Photos*

It's easy to include photos, diagrams, figures, etc., in your eBooks (and PDF). Just use the

```
<image>
```
 tag and specify the JPEG file name, optionally followed by a caption.

Here are some examples:


```
<image> "author.jpg"

<image> "figure1.jpg" "Figure 1 --- How to Skin a Porcupine"
```
The free user manuals at http://nepotism.net/usermanuals.html have even more examples.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*eBook Formatting Butler*

The *eBook Formatting Butler* is now live and *free* in the Google Docs Add-ons Store.

Its purpose is to do the initial (one-time) mark up of an existing manuscript to prepare it for turning it into an eBook or a camera-ready PDF.

You do not need to switch from your favorite word processor. Just upload your .doc or .docx file to Google Docs, run the add-on, then download it to your computer and carry on using your favorite word processor.

The add-on does a number of things, but the main one is to mark all the italicized words and phrases in one fell swoop.

To install it, just open any existing or new document in Google Docs, then click on "Add-ons" and choose "Get add-ons..." to go to the Add-ons Store. Then type "ebook" or "butler" or "ebook formatting" or whatever in the search box to find it.

Once installed, you can open it in a document by clicking on "Add-ons" then choosing "eBook Formatting Butler > Start..." which opens a sidebar. In the sidebar, click on the "help page" link (http://nepotism.net/ebook-formatting-butler.html) for information about what it does and how to use it.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*Sam Speedo: Bathing Suit Detective*

Download a free copy today!










*Sam Speedo: Bathing Suit Detective*, a _very_ short mystery, is available for download at http://nepotism.net/formatting for your reading pleasure. Choose the Mobi file or the EPUB file to read on your Kindle or Nook, or read the PDF (http://nepotism.net/samspeedo/samspeedo.pdf) version right in your browser.

Merry Holidays,

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*Using an Adroid Phone or Tablet as an EPUB eReader*

Using the Nepo Press eBook formatting service, you can make a Mobi file, of course, by clicking the Mobi button, but you can also make an EPUB version by clicking the EPUB button.

If you primarily read books on a Kindle, you might not have a NOOK or Kobo eReader handy. In that case, how do you check out the EPUB version of your book?

The easiest way is to check out the Kindle version and assume the EPUB version looks the same. This strategy actually works amazingly well. When you click the EPUB button, your manuscript is not only formatted as an EPUB, but the resulting EPUB is run through EpubCheck to guarantee it meets the EPUB 3 specs.

Still, why take chances. There are several ways to view the EPUB but my two favorites are iBooks (on a Mac or iPhone or iPad) and Google's Play Books app (on an Android phone or tablet).

To use the Play Books eReader app, go to the Google Play Store and install it. You can find it by searching for "google play books" (by Google Inc).

To get your EPUB into your list of books, the easiest way is to use a desktop computer. Go to https://play.google.com. On the left-side menu, click on Books, then click on My Books. You should then see a blue button near the upper right that says "Upload files". Then click on the blue "Select files from your computer" button (and choose the EPUB file to upload, etc.) or click the "My Drive" button (and select the EPUB file from your Google Drive).

Once you have uploaded your EPUB book, open the Play Books app on your Android phone or tablet. Tap on the menu. Tap on "My library". Tap on "UPLOADS". Your newly uploaded EPUB should be there. Tap it to read it.

Happy proofreading,

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*The Cost of Quality*

I like slogans, at least sometimes.


 Advertising doesn't cost; it pays!
 If you lived here, you'd be home by now. 
 If you lived here and could read this sign, you could thank a teacher for being home now. 
 Format early and often. 

That last is my favorite, of course.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

Images and Figures

Tip: If you use images or figures, maps, etc., in your book, make sure the image is large enough for your readers to see the important details.

You are not limited to, e.g., 600x800 even on the gray-scale Kindles.

For some images, such as an author photo, there is no need to see fine detail.

For other images, such as screen captures or maps or diagrams, give your reader a fighting chance to see what needs to be seen. Give him a larger image so he can zoom in.

Don't worry about the image being too large for the screen. The Kindle (until you zoom in) will scale it down to fit on the screen.

As a reader, I find it frustrating when there is an image that _purports_ to show me something yet is effectively illegible.

For example, in my _Quick and Dirty eBook Covers_ book, I include screen captures which are much larger than 600x800. That way, even on a gray-scale Kindle, the reader can zoom in to see the detail better. And, the images look great on a color Kindle or in a web browser using the Amazon Cloud Reader.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*How Do You Proofread Your Book?*

How do you proofread your book?

Especially, what device do you use?

Do you proof it in your word processor on a desktop computer? Do you make a Mobi file and proof it on an actual Kindle? Do you make an EPUB and proof it on an iPad or Android phone or tablet?

We usually create a Mobi file and proofread it on a gray-scale Kindle and on a Kindle Fire. I also like to proofread an EPUB on Google's Play Books eReader app on an Android tablet.

If you don't use an eReader, you probably do not know how your book will really look to your customer.

What's your experience been with this? Have you ever been surprised by your book reviews mentioning formatting errors that you didn't even suspect?

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*Backing Up Your Manuscript*

Just a reminder that we should all back up our manuscripts (and cover image files and other important files).

A USB stick (thumb drive) is better than nothing, but we shouldn't make that our only back up.

We should be sure to keep at least one set of backups off site (at our office, at a friend's house, at a cloud storage service).

It's best if the backing up is done automatically so it doesn't depend on our remembering to do it.

The rule is that all hard drives fail, we just don't know when that will happen.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*Back-up Follow Up*

Last month I mentioned some things to think about with regard to backing up your manuscripts (and other important files).

This time, I thought I'd mention a free cloud backup service that I've been using happily: hubiC.

To get 25GB free storage, go to https://hubic.com and sign up with your email address. If you use the referral code *ALFTDB*, they will give you an extra 5GB (a total of 30GB) (and they might give me an extra 5GB also).

Other cloud storage providers I like (redundancy for your important data is a *good* thing):

Backblaze B2 (10GB free) https://www.backblaze.com/b2/cloud-storage.html
Google Drive (15GB free) https://drive.google.com


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*Publishing Posthumously*

I've been thinking about preparing a tutorial or video series on how to publish posthumously. Imagine if Poe had continued to publish after his death.

I don't know if you've noticed, but the literary output of most authors seems to decline (decompose, as it were) after they die. I keep waiting (in vain) for another James Clavell novel.

I'm thinking of offering this as a Halloween special in about 5 months.

I probably won't bother doing it, though, unless I figure out how to target Google Adwords or video ads appropriately.

However, authors who aren't dead yet, but who might keel over in the near future (and since the future is not entirely predictable, that means *all* authors), might wish to give some thought to how to communicate their wishes to their heirs about what to do with any works in progress.

Just a thought.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*3 Things*

Just 3 things. That's all you need to do. The day in and day out steps of marking up your manuscript are very simple:
[list type=decimal]
[*]Put an asterisk at the start of each chapter to indicate the title,

[*]Put asterisks around any word or phrase you want italicized,

[*]Put a scene tag to indicate a scene break.
[/list]

Here is an example:

```
* Chapter 3

I *really* wanted an ice-cream cone, so I drove to the 
ice-cream stand and bought one.

After returning home, I took a nap, then watched TV.

<scene>

Later that evening, I found to my surprise that I wanted 
*another* ice-cream cone.  The ice-cream stand was closed 
so I cried myself to sleep.

* Chapter 4

And so on ...
```
That's the essence of what you need to do to mark up your manuscript so it can be formatted automatically into a Mobi file, an EPUB file, and a camera-ready PDF.

There are other things you can do, and the user manual covers them in some detail. For example, you might wish to put in a link to your website. That's easy to do: just write the URL, like this

```
http://nepotism.net
```
 Simple, eh? It will be formatted into an active link for the Mobi and EPUB (and even the PDF but, alas, not in the printed book).

What about a table of contents? It is generated automatically for you.

What's the turn-around time? If you currently use a formatting service, how long does it take to get the eBooks and PDF back? With our automated web-based service, the turn-around time is typically less than one minute. Also, there is no limit on how many times you can format it, which makes this convenient for proofreading or viewing even an incomplete manuscript. Format early and often is our motto.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*Pronoun has become an adjective*

and that adjective is *DEAD*

According to this article https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/75316-macmillan-to-close-its-self-publishing-unit-pronoun.html,
MacMillan said



> we came to the conclusion that there wasn't a path forward to a profitable business model and decided to shut down the platform.


So much for my hopes of an easy way to make a book perma-free at Amazon. (Messaging Amazon through the KDP interface *has* worked for us, but from time to time they change the price and we have to beg again.)

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

Lists

The markup to indicates lists is simple. Just use a hyphen for each item.

```
- item one
- item two
- item three
- item four
```
In a novel, the main use is probably to show a list of other books by the same author. It tends to be used more often in non-fiction.

Frank


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## franksergeant (Dec 1, 2013)

*Formatted Book Example*

Here's an example of a book we formatted, available from Amazon as Mobi or paperback:

_Sombras del Pasado (Shadows of the Past)_ by Rebecca Radley
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NE9D33U

You can download the Mobi, EPUB, or camera-ready PDF for free from this page:

http://nepotism.net/

If your books aren't being formatted well or if you are paying too much, take a look.

You can format your manuscript yourself, with unlimited revisions. Our current price is $35.

-- 
Frank


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