My Ebook Was Approved by Smashwords Premium!! Thanks Sandy Mertens

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   bgamallposted 13 years ago

   This is a thanks to Sandy Mertens, a Hubpage and Squidoo author, who has properly formatted my ebook so that it is accepted in the Smashwords premium catalog. That means it is available for Apple, Sony, Barnes and Nobles, Kobu, Amazon,etc.
   
   Sandy will make your ebook if you have one that needs to be formatted correctly and if you don't have those skills. She is very capable and thorough and she does charge a fee.

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      Sandyspiderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      That you Gary. Much appreciated.

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   skyfireposted 13 years ago

   I don't know if she can format illustration books but let me ask her anyway. What's her Profile URL ?

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      bgamallposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      She put a chart into mine. Sandyspider is her handle here.

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      Sandyspiderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      It is true that I added a chart in for Gary. Though it can be tricky with the formating. Smashwords encourages as little images and links as possible. They aren't readable in some of the reader formats. And if they do work, depending on where the pages stop in those formats, the image will get cut off from one page to another. According to what I have read.

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         skyfireposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I've one storybook (illustration) to publish so i guess that needs to be published via other sources if smashwords isn't image friendly. I do have few more projects, i'll get back to you soon.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Sky, it's not Smashwords that's not image-friendly, it's the electronic readers that people are using.
            
            Smashwords is simply warning authors that people may not see the images the way they're intended on some readers - not because of the way Smashwords formats them, but because of the way the readers work.

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               Sandyspiderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               That is what I got out of it. But you do have the image arrange right too. There are several formats on Smashwords which would be beneficial. Where I believe that LuLu is only PDF.
               
               Marisa, you must have ebooks on Smashwords too. Now that I have done one for Gary, I should create my own

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                  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  I don't, yet - I am working on one. 
                  
                  As for Lulu.com - have you looked at Amazon's CreateSpace instead?
                  
                  I did a lot of research into both of them, and in the end, I think CreateSpace has the edge.  They have a annoying, mind-numbing formatting advice but Aya Katz says she just ignored all that and formatted it in Word with mirror margins and it worked!   You're right, if it's downloaded as an eBook then it's only .pdf - but the advantage is people can get a printed book.

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                     Sandyspiderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     CreateSpace is one I haven't heard. Thanks.

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               skyfireposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I realized that after checking the distribution points of smashwords. I think eReaders like kindle, Nook are not suitable for illustration(?), ipad on the other hand is much friendly for illustration books. I need to study how illustration books are selling on digital formats before publishing.

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            Sandyspiderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I believe all the formats except readers like Kindle would be OK. So it just wouldn't go for those.  They have a formating process they call the meat grinder. If it isn't formating right on your end, then it could look like hamburger. Each format will have the images and text shown a bit different. I am willing to try it, if you are interested.
            
            I do know a lot of people who publish on LuLu.com In fact,  I have a couple recipes published in a couple ebooks there from someone else who created the ebooks as recipe cookbooks. I just supplied a couple of my recipes to them. But their ebooks have images within the ebooks. I have signed up with LuLu but haven't done anything yet.

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               Sandyspiderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Something to look into which one would be better for you. Smashwords or LuLu.

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               skyfireposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks. I'm going to check if there are other ways to get illustration book for publishing. Its going to be a huge pain due to adobe illustrator's images. Maybe magcloud or storybird can help me publish ? let's see. For other ebook projects i'm going to take help from you.

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   Congrats! I hope you do well.

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      bgamallposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Cagsil.

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         Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         You're welcome.

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   Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

   Please, someone tell me.... (because I know virtually nothing about ebooks)....
   
   If a book is downloaded for a book reader, can the purchaser print it out from their computer?

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      skyfireposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      There are softwares that extract text/images from pdf and other reader formats and convert into .docx/rtf for printing.

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         Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         So, are you saying that the Kindle or Nook owner would have to have some separate software in order to print out the file?  Can't PDF files simply be printed out too, without conversion?
         
         My reason for asking has to do with the MS of a dramatic sketch that I want to submit for e-publication.  The people who purchase it would probably want to make hard copies to use in rehearsals. 
         
         I know that the MS could be submitted so as to be made available for purchase in several different formats; but in the investigation I have done so far, it has appeared to me that going the eBook route is the best one at present.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I'm no expert, but I do know manuscripts have to be specially formatted for e-readers so I suspect they wouldn't print out well.  They're not in .pdf format.
            
            It sounds like you need a POD (print on demand) publisher, not an e-publisher.  They will create a book that can be downloaded as a simple .pdf, or printed out as needed.
            
            The two biggest ones, which will let you create your book free (apart from one hard-copy for proof-reading), are Amazon's Createspace or Lulu.com.

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               Sandyspiderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Sorry, I have been away. If you want your ebook for an ereader, it can not be in pdf format. ereaders like Kindle will not display images either.
               
               Smashwords, which Gary is on here puts your ebook in a variety of formats from HTML, PDF and eReader format. As long as you upload your text in the right format for them to convert. This is what I had done for Gary here.
               
               All the formats, except the eReader one will show images. So for his first ebook with has a graph within it, it is available in all formats except the one for ereader. Since he has been accepted into the Premium Catalog, his ebook is with some of the major sites like Barns and Nobles.
               
               Hope this clears up some of the questions.

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   Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

   Thanks for the info, Marisa.  I'll go back and look at those two again.

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   Amelia Blickposted 13 years ago

   It positively warmed the cockles of my heart to see this thread.
   
   Congratulations and well done!!! I hope you do well.

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