With Amazon.com launching its Kindle DX last week, it seems E-reading isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s only going to get bigger and better. Isn’t it astounding to think that an author could self-publish their work for the Amazon Kindle, on Smashwords, and several other E-bookstore websites, and never once have their book printed on physical paper? It’s already happening, folks!
With that said, it’s important to realize that E-publishing has a whole different set of rules when it comes to formatting your manuscript. Rather than list them here for you, I’m going to point you in the direction of a formatting guide written by Mark Coker, Smashwords CEO. It’s called, quite simply, The Smashwords Style Guide and it can be downloaded for free! That’s right. It’s free! Thank you, Mr. Coker!
This style guide is not just a guide to follow when choosing to publish on Smashwords, but also rules to consider for the Kindle and other E-reading sites. As Mark points out, e-publishing follows a whole different set of guidelines. Guidelines that I myself have broken because of the lack of formatting options available when making your Lulu book available on Lulu as a download.
But that doesn’t mean that you can’t polish that manuscript when you DIY for the Kindle, Smashwords, or whereever else you make your book available for downloading. Afterall, that’s why they call it SELF-publishing! So, just when you thought you’d conquered all there is to know about putting your best trade book forward… now you’ve got a whole new set of rules to learn and follow for the next generation in reading. The E-Generation!
Are you following me, Shannon? I know that we are both on the same page with this project, but I have a suggestion for you. How about your researching the free, do-it-yourself mode of print publishing pioneered by Lulu and followed by CreateSpace? You may not be aware that Authors Den has just launched their version called Craig’s Press. I have two Kindle how-to book reviews and an extensive interview with one of the more successful Kindle authors, Michael R. Hicks, scheduled for the coming installments of The Kindle Report at PODBRAM. I have never published with the do-it-yourself print version, but you have. I have also been reading a few negative comments concerning Lulu’s latest lack of direction. It looks to me like the door is wide open for you to develop more material for your readers concerning CreateSpace and Craig’s Press, and how their operations compare to Lulu. Just a thought from one of your fans….