Hi all: new with a "how to" question!

spearcarrier · 10-05-2009, 12:05 PM

I'm sure a lot of writers such as myself come to this forum because of the digital issue. So in that I'm not unique. (My unique qualities are all in person, lemme tell yoouu).

So I've my work on Kindle. It's earned me all of a buck 25. LOL. But tha'ts not the issue.

The issue is I don't like it that my stuff is locked only into Kindle. Okay, yes I do have stuff also up on Lulu but I was researching other ways to put stuff out. I was also considering taking my old book from ten years ago, Black Wolf Silver Fox, and offering it for free ijn the digital world. It's old. I've learned more since then. It's time to move on.

So what I'm looking at is the expansion of 2 books and several chapters of 2 comics. S'a lot of material, wot.

With that said, I'm just not finding anything. Maybe I'm using the wrong search terms. Does anyone have any suggestions?

mores · 10-05-2009, 12:20 PM

Create a website for yourself and offer your book in various formats.
Microsoft LIT
Mobipocket MOBI
Adobe PDF
ePub

Use the program calibre to create the conversion for you.

Then register with all kinds of forums and blogs and advertise your book.
Maybe even create a torrent file and make your book available on p2p networks.

Elfwreck · 10-05-2009, 12:31 PM

You can offer your ebooks for free here at Mobileread, and at Feedbooks.com, Manybooks.net, and Smashwords.com. (And other places, but those are the easiest to find.)

You can charge for them at Smashwords.com, and offer them in several different formats, and allow people to download a sample (often, 10-25% of the whole) before paying. I've heard Feedbooks will be adding an ebook store as well. (Or I think I've heard that; haven't kept up with recent developments there.)

Our Workshop forum (under ebook formats) has advice & tutorials about document conversion; plenty of people can help you figure out how to get from whatever you've got now, to good quality sharable ebooks, in whatever formats you'd like to offer them.

nomesque · 10-07-2009, 03:42 AM

I've used Scribd, Smashwords and Feedbooks.

General impressions:

- Scribd is simple. Create account, upload document, share with world. On the other hand, the interface is halfway between social network and fileshare, and I find it... irritating, I guess. You can sell content IF you're in the US.

- Smashwords is fairly easy to get going with, although to get a GOOD looking ebook you need to follow the formatting guide scrupulously. You can sell or offer ebooks for free, regardless of where in the world you are (Paypal acct required for international payments). It'll take a .doc or .rtf and port it to the various formats for you. Images can be... problematic. Offers the most formats.

- Feedbooks produces the best 'conversion' due to making you cut and paste each chapter/section of your book into it separately. Bit of a pain to do, but it does give the best-looking output. Offers the popular formats - epub, mobi and pdf.

Does that help?

10-05-2009, 12:05 PM	#1
spearcarrier Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	Hi all: new with a "how to" question! I'm sure a lot of writers such as myself come to this forum because of the digital issue. So in that I'm not unique. (My unique qualities are all in person, lemme tell yoouu). So I've my work on Kindle. It's earned me all of a buck 25. LOL. But tha'ts not the issue. The issue is I don't like it that my stuff is locked only into Kindle. Okay, yes I do have stuff also up on Lulu but I was researching other ways to put stuff out. I was also considering taking my old book from ten years ago, Black Wolf Silver Fox, and offering it for free ijn the digital world. It's old. I've learned more since then. It's time to move on. So what I'm looking at is the expansion of 2 books and several chapters of 2 comics. S'a lot of material, wot. With that said, I'm just not finding anything. Maybe I'm using the wrong search terms. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
"Zeit-Odyssee"-Trilogie droht das "dunkle Turm"-Schicksal	ThR	E-Books	4	02-10-2010 05:18 AM
Question - Does iLiab have the "search" & "annotation, highlighting" features?	HiSoC8Y	iRex	5	07-01-2009 04:37 PM
Newbie question for Calibre: "Unknown Book Type" error	rvdparis	Calibre	8	04-28-2009 04:20 AM
potentially stupid "lookup" function question	rheostaticsfan	Bookeen	4	09-12-2008 06:30 PM

10-05-2009, 12:20 PM	#2
mores Guru Posts: 834 Karma: 102419 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Vienna, Austria Device: iPhone	Create a website for yourself and offer your book in various formats. Microsoft LIT Mobipocket MOBI Adobe PDF ePub Use the program calibre to create the conversion for you. Then register with all kinds of forums and blogs and advertise your book. Maybe even create a torrent file and make your book available on p2p networks.

10-05-2009, 12:31 PM	#3
Elfwreck Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,185 Karma: 25133758 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)	You can offer your ebooks for free here at Mobileread, and at Feedbooks.com, Manybooks.net, and Smashwords.com. (And other places, but those are the easiest to find.) You can charge for them at Smashwords.com, and offer them in several different formats, and allow people to download a sample (often, 10-25% of the whole) before paying. I've heard Feedbooks will be adding an ebook store as well. (Or I think I've heard that; haven't kept up with recent developments there.) Our Workshop forum (under ebook formats) has advice & tutorials about document conversion; plenty of people can help you figure out how to get from whatever you've got now, to good quality sharable ebooks, in whatever formats you'd like to offer them.

10-07-2009, 03:42 AM	#4
nomesque Snooty Bestselling Author Posts: 1,485 Karma: 1000000 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Ipswich, QLD, Australia Device: PRS-650	I've used Scribd, Smashwords and Feedbooks. General impressions: - Scribd is simple. Create account, upload document, share with world. On the other hand, the interface is halfway between social network and fileshare, and I find it... irritating, I guess. You can sell content IF you're in the US. - Smashwords is fairly easy to get going with, although to get a GOOD looking ebook you need to follow the formatting guide scrupulously. You can sell or offer ebooks for free, regardless of where in the world you are (Paypal acct required for international payments). It'll take a .doc or .rtf and port it to the various formats for you. Images can be... problematic. Offers the most formats. - Feedbooks produces the best 'conversion' due to making you cut and paste each chapter/section of your book into it separately. Bit of a pain to do, but it does give the best-looking output. Offers the popular formats - epub, mobi and pdf. Does that help?