Publishing an ebook

Four Star Member Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 376

I'm in the process of formatting a Word doc manuscript for publication as an ebook. However, this isn't a field I have any expertise in and need some help.

First of all, Lulu automatically converts your Word docs into pdf files. Their software reduces your doc to about 75% of the original. What is the best size of page for a Word doc before uploading it for conversion?

Pricing is another thing I'm having difficulty with. Prices range from £0.49 up to ridiculous prices of over $50. That's no help when trying to price a 300 page thriller (approximately).

Front Cover. Do I just insert an image of the books cover onto the first page? It has a white border around it doing it that way. Is that the norm or is there a better way?

Fonts. I'm not going to publish an ebook in Times New Roman. Anyone got any better suggestions?

This will do to start!

Subject: Re: Publishing an ebook Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:26 am

George,

As you know I'mthinking of publishing my novel as an e-book too. The publisher returned the e-book rights to me as they have no intention of entering into that market at this time. Whilst I have the e-book rights, I'm assuming that I can't use the existing cover artwork, as this was provided by them. Would that be your take also?

I'm fortunate in that the publisher sent me the galley proof as a .pdf file! However, I'm sure Shelagh will be able to answer your formating questions.

As for cost, I would think somewhere round the £4.00 or£5.00 would be appropriate, working on th basis that a 300 word novel in print format usually costs around the £8.00 mark.
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Jenny
Writing as Victoria Howard

www.victoriahoward.co.uk

Admin Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 1624 Location : UK

Hi George,

First I would check out the FAQs on Lulu.

Most of your questions are answered here:

http://www.lulu.com/uk/help/index.php?fSymbol=download_faq

Further help about uploading:

http://www.lulu.com/uk/help/upload_faq

For page size and margins in Word. Go to Page Setup and set the paper size to:

width: 15.24 cm
height: 22.86 cm

Set all margins (top, bottom, inside, outside) to: 1.27 cm

Select portrait.

I used .rtf but you can use .doc files to upload. The conversion seems to accept both.

This may help with pricing:

http://www.lulu.com/uk/help/index.php?fSymbol=pricing_faq

If you do a search on "e-books" you will pull up a list of books of different lengths and prices.
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Shelagh Watkins
http://shelaghwatkins.co.uk/

Four Star Member Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 376

Thank you Shelagh, that was VERY helpful. My ebook is starting to look quite good. I may just leave it in Times New Roman as it's looking not too bad!

£4.00 sounds good to me. That would give Lulu £0.80 and I'd get £3.20. That's more than I get on the sale of a hardback. Hmmm, could be a future in this!

Four Star Member Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 376

Amazing, just spent the whole day in my bedroom at the PC, formatted the manuscript, went through the Lulu system and published an ebook. That's quite remarkable when you think about it. A few hours in your bedroom and you can publish a book that's available all over the world. Scary stuff.

Only problem now is I can't find it on Lulu!

Subject: Re: Publishing an ebook Sat Feb 23, 2008 3:40 pm

Wow, this is a great thread and giving me all kinds of ideas! Does it take a while to show up on Lulu perhaps, just in case you are trying to publish something naughty? I did a search off my 'puter and could not find you there either George, so will try again tomorrow.

Good to know that there are other things that I can do in my bedroom than counting sheep.

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Pam Robertson

http://andthebandplayedonmylawn.blogspot.com

Four Star Member Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 376

Found me!

http://stores.lulu.com/georgemaciver

Pretty painless really and the live chat help folks were just that, live and helpful! Next job is to get it advertised on my web sites.

Subject: Re: Publishing an ebook Sat Feb 23, 2008 3:50 pm

Way to go George! Congratulations and much success headed your way!

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Pam Robertson

http://andthebandplayedonmylawn.blogspot.com

Four Star Member Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 376

Thank you, thank you! May we all enjoy good success. That wasn't a bad day's work!

By the way, I found Stephen King selling his books as ebooks for $6.99, so I used his prices as a guide.

Subject: Re: Publishing an ebook Sat Feb 23, 2008 5:27 pm

Way to go, George. Your success has been encouraging, so maybe I'll try it with a next novel.

Did you have to get a release to use the cover photo? Question

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Zada Connaway
Mother's Journals: parts 1, 2 and 3 ISBN # 1-4241-6969-0

http://www.zadaconnaway.com/

Subject: Re: Publishing an ebook Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:59 pm

Zada,

If your book has been published elsewhere, you will need to ask for your publisher to release your electronic rights, then you are free to publish your novel as an e-book. If the publisher provided the artwork, then I suspect you will be breaching your contract if you use it. However, my knowledge of contract law is somewhat rusty and limited to the UK. If in doubt, then I would suggest you chose one of the e-publishers graphics.
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Jenny
Writing as Victoria Howard

www.victoriahoward.co.uk

Four Star Member Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 376

Dagnabbit Zada, I never even thought about that. Got so carried away with formatting and all the other stuff it didn't even enter my head.

I've emailed Xlibris to see what the position is here. I hope I can use the book cover!

Subject: Re: Publishing an ebook Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:50 pm

I followed George's example and published by novel as an e-book on lulu.com. I took the precaution of chosing a different cover, just in case there are any legal issues over the original art work. Here's the link http://stores.lulu.com/jvwoodall

In case you're wondering Victoria Howard is my middle and maiden name!
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Jenny
Writing as Victoria Howard

www.victoriahoward.co.uk

Four Star Member Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 376

Subject: Re: Publishing an ebook Sun Feb 24, 2008 11:11 am

Jenny,
It sounds like a great read, and is set in one of my favorite places! Cool

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Zada Connaway
Mother's Journals: parts 1, 2 and 3 ISBN # 1-4241-6969-0

http://www.zadaconnaway.com/