The ability to self-publish has dramatically changed the landscape for indie authors, but eBook format challenges thwart most indie authors. The eBook may be easy to write, but getting the proper look across multiple devices and file types can be challenging. These four eBook format tips can help you deliver the highest quality content to your readers:
- Your readers are connected to the Internet, so your eBook can be a doorway to a bigger world.
eBooks are interactive, which means you can send your readers to a website, a YouTube video, or even embed audio files in your content. Don’t be afraid to experiment with enriched formats.
- Keep it simple.
Your readers will be accessing your eBook on laptops, tablets, and cell phones of all shapes and sizes – and they’ll have various vision problems that force them to expand the text to make reading easier.
Don’t spend a lot of time worrying about fancy fonts and layouts, because it will just complicate things for your readers. Simply type in the text. Skip anything that won’t render well across the different ereader formats. Stick to telling your story.
- If you’re writing in Word, do it right from the start.
The best way to create an eBook format that works is to set up your Word document to function properly from the start. That means setting up the page using the right Word tools (indents, not tabs; headings and outlines, and a table of contents). For an in-depth eBook format guide, visit
DIY Book Formats.
If you’ve done it right you can use a simple online ebook conversion tool, or upload it straight to Kindle, or run it through Calibre, and everything should look just as you set it up in Word.
- When all else fails, hire help.
Your eBook is an investment. We encourage our indie authors to hire editors, proofreaders, and cover designers, so we’d be remiss if we didn’t suggest that for some writers, you’re better off sticking to the writing and leaving the formatting to experts. There are online services that can help as well, like Tablo and Pressbooks.
If you’ve invested a lot of time and effort into writing your eBook, don’t settle for poor formatting. Nothing is more frustrating for the reader.
