Inserting pagebreaks in to your E-book

Mobi/kindle formatting:

Page breaks are essential, but not required for formatting your E-book. When inserted, your text will be brought to the next page, marking an end-point for the previous text.

To VIEW your properly inserted page break, hold Ctrl+Shft+*

A page break should appear as follows (if you have inserted one)

…………….page break………….

 INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO INSERT A PAGE BREAK:

1.      Click on the “insert” tab at the top of the word document. (It’s located near the home tab.)

2.      After each chapter, click on “Pagebreak” (this will automatically insert one where your mouse pointer is set.

 

If you are unable to find “insert page break” try holding Ctrl+Shft+ Return.

It will appear.

AND YOU'RE DONE!

***

Html:

OPTIONAL: FOR KINDLE DEVICES ONLY:

CSS (for page break after)

h2.pagebreak_afterme

{

margin: 2em 0 0 0;

page-break-after: always;

text-align: center;
}

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Formatting your E-book Essentials (the basics)

Formatting your E-Book- 101

 

Hit the home tab.

Scan your eyes until you see a small node that looks like a music note. See below;

¶

Below is an example of what you'd see once you click the node;
                                                                                ¶
                                                                                ¶

 CONTENTS

¶

                                                                                 ¶
                                                 YOUR CONTENTS LISTED BELOW.......................................page break............................................
 NOTE- you should see the music note looking symbol throughout your document (¶)

If you can’t locate it, hit Ctrl+Shft+*

This will show your paragraph marks/ indentations/ spacing-

To undo this, repeat ctrl+Shft+*

Now that you have that nailed, we’ll move on.

Make sure the node is clicked. (Ctrl+Shft+*)

Let’s check your E-books formatting.

1.    Scan through your document, to make sure you have the equal amount of line spacing and paragraph spacing.

2.    If you noticed that there are too many inconsistencies for you to correct manually, then highlight the desired pages or click the home tab, then on the far right, click on “Select “ (located near change styles, find, and replace)

3.    Select All-  Your document should now be highlighted.

4.    Now click on the “Page Layout” tab (located near the right of the home tab)

5.    Near the mid section of your page (just off to the right), you should see Indent and “Spacing”

 

6.      Reset your spacing by typing  the number “0” IN THE AFTER AND BEFORE BOX. (BOTH ARE NECESSARY)- otherwise your document will be double spaced once you attempt the next step.

 (You'll see your paragraphs merge directly beneath each other)

7.      Now type in the  NUMBER “6” in the after box.

 

8.      You should have visibly seen your document now format itself to a 6 pt. spacing.

If you preferred your previous formatting, hit undo, until your document clears your current formats. It's located near the save node, which is the floppy disk looking image - If you can't find it, hit Ctrl+Shft+Z
until your desired preference. (Only if you want to undo the 6 pt. Formatting)-

I use the 6pt formatting with my novels. It works beautifully. 12 pt spacing is way too much, and robs your readers of substance. You might be able to get more pages out of the 12 pt formatting combined with large print font, but this should not be done. Using 12 pt or higher combined with large print fonts is a form of deceit, and if a reader catches on, this will only hurt your sales. Unless specified, avoid making that mistake. (Of course, Large print and larger para spacing is acceptible for printed editions of your works- again, your reader just has to be aware that they are purchasing a "Large Print edition")

 

9.      Back to business; You should be able to see any page breaks you’ve made (if page breaks were created)

 

If you have yet to create page breaks, and don’t know how, I’ll guide you through it on a later post.

 

10.   For those that have page breaks; make sure you have one inserted in the following places;

 

YOUR CHECKLIST

_ AFTER YOUR TITLE PAGE

_ AFTER YOUR COPYRIGHT PAGE

_ AFTER YOUR TABLE OF CONTENTS

_AFTER ADDITIONAL INTRODUCTORY PAGES

_ AFTER EACH INDIVIDUAL CHAPTERS

 

Note:

Make sure you hit enter, then place your page break, allowing only one space after each chapter. This does not apply to your Cover Page, Table of Contents, or additional introductory pages. Additional enters/ spaces beneath your finished text may be necessary.

 

Do not just hit page break after each page.

 

11.   Now that you have made sure your page breaks after each chapter have just that single space, and the rest of your page breaks are as desired, we’ll need to make sure you have a standard font. Amazons converter does not recognize custom fonts (or at least all of them)

 

Times new Roman is a good standard font to use.

 

12.   Select your entire document (using select all). It should all be highlighted now. Choose your desired generic font through the home tab. Ctrl+Shft+F- if you can’t find the menu.

13.   Now select your font’s size. Font size 11 will work just fine, but nothing larger.

14. Your next step will be; hold CTRL + J (this will jusify your paragraphs, creating a more professional para formatting)  (It is optional, but if you've ever sampled one of my books, you will be able to see that all my paragraphs are aligned, creating a clean look on both the left and right side of the page.

NOTE: throughout all steps, your document should have remained highlighted. (Select all)-

15.   Hit Ctrl+Shft+* to undo the help tool. This should clear the paragraph guide marks.

¶...
¶

 

You’re now done with the basics-

 

Lee Argus-

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Formatting E-book; Changing the color of your hyperlinks

Changing the color of your hyperlinks.

You can customize the color of your table of Contents with a few simple steps.

FIRST HIGHLIGHT YOUR HYPERLINK (or table of contents if that's what you intend to change)

Steps below;

Step 1. Hit the HOME tab  (if you’re not already there)

Step 2. Veer your mouse point towards the far right upper hand side of the page. Do you see the two A’s? Change Styles should be listed below it.

Step 3. Click the node under change styles. It’s the tiny node with a miniscule arrow. It is just left of the word “editing”-

If you can’t find it, hit Alt+ Ctrl+ Shift+ S

This will bring up the “Styles” menu.

Step 4. Scroll down the styles menu, until you hit the word, “Hyperlink”

Step 5. Click with your mouse point on the small “a” to the right of the word “hyperlink”

Step 6. Adrop menu should have appeared.

Below the words, “update hyperlink to match selection,” click “Modify”

A modify menu window should appear.

The properties should read;

Name: Hyperlink

Step 7: Formatting: Select your desired font, color, size, and so forth.

Step 8: Hit ok, and you’re done.

Notes:

If you do decide to change the color of your hyperlinks, be sure to preview your results.

To preview your results,

1.      Use the kindle previewer. Set it to the darkest settings, to ensure that it can still be seen. Some colors don’t work to well with various settings.

2.      I personally use a program called “Calibre” (which is free)  to review my book’s formatting and customized results. Your TOC’s formatting with calibre will alter (but you’ll be able to see your hyperlink’s color)- which is what you need to see, in order to make any necessary corrections. Always preview your book through Amazon’s previewer before publishing though. You’ll then see that your toc is as it should be (not mis-formatted as in calibre’s finished product.

 

3.      You can also purchase a copy of your E-book, which is recommended.

 

4.      Or browse the web for a number of other previewers.

 

***

The above post is for manually changing the font’s color to your hyperlinks. The above (steps 1-8) will always work, if done correctly.

 

Note:

You can also highlight your hyperlink with your mouse point, hit the home tab, then select your desired color, but this may not always work. On your word document, your color may be, let’s say red, but once you uploaded your book, your hyperlinks may be the same generic hyperlink color (that bright blue color)-

When selecting your color, make sure it is still within the “generic color palette”

Using bright Pink, Neon Green, Yellow, purple, or whatever other color may be a favorite color of yours, but not your readers.

Lee-

(I'll post a few more helpful tips tonight). I finally have time, since I'm on the road again (checked into a hotel). When I am home, I tend to just work on my novels, neglecting my blog.

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Why doesn't my ebook have the "Go to" Table of Contents option through kindle? A guide to correct this.

Someone emailed me with this question, so I thought I'd share it with those who may be wondering the same thing.

You need to place a "Toc" bookmark inorder for there to be a "Go to" Table of Contents option for your readers.

It's not as difficult as it sounds. Just go to the table of contents page you designed.

I'll use mine from my novel, The Road to Nowehere.

THE ROAD TO NOWHERE

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT

CHAPTER 1- LOST

CHAPTER 2- QUICK DRIVE

CHAPTER 3- RESTLESS

CHAPTER 4- BURNING BRIGHT

CHAPTER 5- BEST LAID PLANS

CHAPTER 6- CAR SICK

CHAPTER 7- NIGHT TERRORS

CHAPTER 8- CHOICES

CHAPTER 9- AT A LOSS

CHAPTER 10- THE DETOUR

CHAPTER 11- SILENT

CHAPTER 12- CUTTING DEEP

CHAPTER 13- THE COLD

EPILOGUE

BIOGRAPHY

 Do you see the “T” in my title The Road to Nowhere?

Just place a bookmark on your title or where your table of contents begins.

To place a bookmark, go to the INSERT TAB- located between the HOME and PAGE LAYOUT tab on the top of your word application.

See it?

You should see a paste option on the home tab (the image with the clipboard)-

When you click on the insert tab, your options will be ;

(LET’S WORK FROM LEFT TO RIGHT)

COVER PAGE

BLANK PAGE

PAGE BREAK

TABLE

PICTURE

CLIP ART

SHAPES

SMART ART

CHART

SCREEN SHOT

 HYPERLINK

BOOKMARK

Cross reference would be below it.

Click on bookmark.

You’ll see an empty window requiring you to place a bookmark name.

Type;

   toc

It’s as simple as that.

Hit okay and you’re done, just don’t forget to add bookmarks to each new chapter, then add the hyperlinks to your toc. That’ll make it a clickable toc.

When I’d first published, I ran into all these problems and needed to know how things worked.

 Note:
Make sure you use Amazon's previewer and click on the "Go To" option. A list will appear. Menu should appear as well as begining. If you see the Table of Contents and it's clickable on the "Go To" tab and not highlighted in light gray, you've done it right. It will kick you to your Table of Contents page.

I made the mistake of not making sure I'd included mine. I thought I had, but it was done on another novel. It's now updated, but well over a thousand copies don't have the "Go to Table of Contents" option.

Not all indies include the Go To TOC, but it's helps the reader to have one.

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E-book Pricing

 

Pricing your E-book

updated from the 2011 post:

·        What is a fair price to charge as an indie author?

To begin, not all author’s are trying to reach the same goal. Some, like myself, may be hobbyists.

Other authors, similar to the hobbyist , may not be interested in what earnings they can accrue as fast as possible, but would initially prefer to reach as wide of an audience (hosting giveaways, offering free copies, placing your E-book available in Stores for little to nothing).  

Regardless if you’re trying to earn a living as an indie or not, understanding what is the fair price for your book, and listing it as such, will only help the amount of copies you sell.

 

Things to consider:

·        The size (length) of your book (pages)

·        Is it professionally edited?

·        Is it well formatted (para alignment, spacing, para pts consistency, and contains page breaks)?

·        Does it have professional cover artwork?

·        Was it hastily written, or written to your best professional ability?

·        What goal (s) are you attempting to reach?

·        What are the comparables?

·        Does it contain clickable hyperlinks?

·        Does it contain a “Go to” Table of contents option when viewing through the kindle application?

LENGTH OF YOUR E-BOOK

When determining a price, one way to help measure the value of you book, is by its size. If it’s a short story, over charging will produce negative reviews. 60,000 words is near standard to be recognized as a full length novel, however…

(Sourced from wiki)

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America specifies word lengths for each category of its Nebula award categories:

Classification	Word count
Novel	over 40,000 words
Novella	17,500 to 40,000 words
Novelette	7,500 to 17,500 words
Short story	under 7,500 words

…while National Novel Writing Month requires its novels to be at least 50,000 words. In part because of this wide variation, the boundary between a novella and a novel may be arbitrary and difficult to determine

 Useful Link:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Book-Length---Average-Length-of-a-Non-Fiction-Book&id=4004846

 

PROFESSIONAL EDITOR

Was your work of fiction professionally edited? If not, do not make the mistake of overcharging. Authors in competing genres may take this as an opportunity to point out your works flaws if your work is selling better than theirs (though I’d like to imagine most won’t). Lets face it, we’ve heard a number of stories where someone found out so and so planted fake reviews. It happens, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a hint of truth to what they’re complaining about.

Overcharging for an unedited story-

Your audience will feel robbed of their money, especially if they paid 4+ bucks for your typo filled work of fiction. To most, it can be distracting enough to take away their personal enjoyment while reading what would have otherwise been a good novel.

Having your work professionally edited is not a requirement, but it is encouraged.

Just make sure your draft is final before paying for editing services. I speak from experience. Had a book edited twice, but went back to make re-writes…  then did more re-writes.

If you don’t pay for an editor, you can do it yourself (but you will have to take a pay cut).

Readers may feel that a book shouldn’t be published if it is not professionally edited. For that reason, getting your book edited is entirely up to you, but make sure you charge “fairly”-

FORMATTING YOUR E-BOOK

I’ve written several articles on how to format your E-book. There are many more on various web sites.

Here’s your formatting checklist (make sure the following is properly formatted):

_Para alignment

_Para indents (none or if you do have, they are consistent)

_Para Spacing (consistent)

_ Proper margins (I use the following, but yours may vary)

                MARGINS

LEFT                             RIGHT

TOP: 0.75”                   TOP: 0.75”

BOTTOM: 0.5”             BOTTOM: 0.5”

_Proper page size consistent with margins

PAGE SETUP/ PAPER SIZE

I use;    width: 4.25   length: 6.86

 

_ Proper page breaks (after chapters, your toc, etc)

_ Working Hyperlinks

_ The word “Start” bookmarked at your desired start location

_ The word “toc” bookmarked at the beginning of your table of contents.

_ Standard font and standard font size (times new roman, font 11 will work well.)

 

 END OF CHECKLIST-

COVER ART

Make sure your cover artwork looks good thumb sized. If it doesn’t, try again. If anything this will help your sales. A good cover draws attention to itself, making the reader want to read it. Also, if you use a generic cover placement, again I can’t stress “don’t over charge” enough. There’s automatically a minor lack of quality/ presentation there.

COMPARABLES

Run them. Go to Amazon (or whichever E-book store you’re publishing) type in your genres key word;

   Example: I’d type zombies in mine, or apocalyptic.

Browse various titles. View the length vrs the price that comparable indies are offering to know your market. To succeed in it, place your work of fiction at an amount your comfortable with within your genre’s market.

Note: most indies price their works of fiction between .99 and 3.99 (on average)

GOALS

Assess your goals. Do you first want to build a platform of fans? Then pricing low will work for you.

Do you want to price your book at 2.99 for the 70% royalty? Then that’s fine too.

I read the average author sells less than 500 copies a year.

I was surprised, mostly because the one title I have available is averaging 360 per month, but it looks like it may be more for September.

In early January I set my goal of 50 copies a month and have exceeded my expectations. It took a lot of work, re-writes, the occasional blogging, responding to emails, and for a while, I even hired someone to help me out.

I didn’t see immediate results, but after giving thousands (near 5,000 that I tallied up) of free copies away, sales are good. (Not sure how many were downloaded through torrents though) either way, I encourage file sharing.

I’d advise anyone and everyone interested in earning a living as a self-published author to work more on forking out a well-written story to the best of your ability. Don’t rush your work. Your reader will be able to tell if the ending was cut short, if it was hastily written, and if you did the necessary research for your work.

In the end, your listing price is your decision. You can monitor your sales to see what works for your titles and what doesn’t by adjusting your prices and viewing your sales reports.

MORE THOUGHTS ON E-BOOK PRICING:

• E-book pricing (lee argus)

OTHER ARTICLES IN THE SAME TOPIC TO CONSIDER:

• http://indiepublishingsuccess.com/do-you-know-how-to-price-an-ebook/

• http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/09/ebook-pricing.html (bY JA KONRATH)

• http://allindiepublishing.com/author-interviews/zoe-winters-on-ebook-pricing/ (By ZOE WINTERS)

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