[stylist] eBook publishing experience, a warning about hiring eBook formatters

Sun Jun 23 22:03:24 UTC 2013

This info would make for a great informative article in S & S. If any
one who has gone through this process wants to write an informative but
concise article, 1500 words or less, we would consider it for S & S.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Myrna
Sent: Sunday, June 23, 2013 1:53 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] eBook publishing experience,a warning about
hiring eBook formatters

I agree. This information is invaluable. Thank you, Donna! Myrna

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 23, 2013, at 1:46 PM, "Jacqueline Williams"
<jackieleepoet at cox.net> wrote:

> Donna,
> My hat goes off to you for this tedious and challenging journey. This 
> is a good resource for us. The discouraging part to me is the amount 
> of numbering throughout this piece, and almost every other informative

> e-mail I get about websites, resources. I do not know what they refer 
> to. An example: 
>
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-heart-of-applebutter-hill-donna-w-hi
ll/1
> 115426305?ean=2940016415000. If you use JAWS this is mind-blowing.
> Regardless, congratulations on the end result.
> Jackie
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Donna 
> Hill
> Sent: Sunday, June 23, 2013 10:33 AM
> To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: [stylist] eBook publishing experience,a warning about hiring
eBook
> formatters
> 
> Hi Fellow Writers,
> Below is the text of my latest post on my self-publishing adventure.
> 
> There are links to Smashwords' free Style Guide (.rtf) and to my book 
> pages on Smashwords, Bookshare, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The article

> starts with a photo of the book cover, and there's a mini sound bite 
> at the end which I didn't include here (It's Sound Cloud & it works 
> with Jaws on Firefox but not IE10). It's all at:
> 
> http://donnawhill.com/2013/06/20/a-writers-wormhole-ebook-self-publish
> ing-mi
> stakes-mystifications-and-misdemeanors/
> 
> 
> 
> Enjoy,
> Donna
> 
> 
> A Writer's Wormhole: eBook Self-Publishing Mistakes, Mystifications &
> Misdemeanors: by Donna W. Hill
> 
> June 20, 2013
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Heart of Applebutter Hill book cover shows a cave scene: 
> stalactites reflected in an underground lake, while a hand holds the 
> Heartstone of Arden-Goth, a blue, heart-shaped sapphire
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When people struggle to interpret grammatically butchered sentences, 
> brain scans reveal an energy dip below the left temple. The phenomenon

> is the "left anterior negativity effect" (Discover, 12/2013, "The 
> Brain"). I experienced that dip first-hand many times while in the 
> eBook self-publishing stage of my novel, The Heart of Applebutter 
> Hill. Did I say I was going to leave formatting to the professionals? 
> That didn't work. Could my experiences be a warning to other 
> soon-to-be self-published authors?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Self-Publishing eBooks Through Smashwords
> 
> 
> 
> There are loads of eBook sellers (Kindle, Nook, Sony, Apple, Kobo, and

> on and on). Wanna format, upload and keep track of each one yourself? 
> Not me. Smashwords is the largest eBook aggregator, distributing books

> that meet their rigid demands to more outlets than I knew existed. 
> Currently, they don't routinely distribute to Kindle; I had to publish

> it separately through Kindle Direct Publishing
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CNG6DDM
> 
> 
> Nook is the next biggest seller, so I decided to do that one through 
> Nook Press
> 
> http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-heart-of-applebutter-hill-donna-w-
> hill/1
> 115426305?ean=2940016415000
>
<http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-heart-of-applebutter-hill-donna-w-h
ill/
> 1115426305?ean=2940016415000&itm=1&usri=2940016415000>
> &itm=1&usri=2940016415000
> 
> 
> 
> I provided an accessible version for readers with print disabilities 
> to Bookshare
> 
> http://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/639304
> 
> and let Smashwords
> 
> http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/313071
> 
> 
> 
> do the rest.
> 
> 
> 
> The Smashwords system, affectionately known as "Meatgrinder," converts

> properly-formatted .doc files (never .docx) into seven different file 
> types. The trick is making that properly-formatted .doc. Smashwords 
> has a free <http://www.smashwords.com/b/52> Style Guide:
> 
> http://www.smashwords.com/b/52
> 
> 
> 
> It explains everything you need to know -- almost. I've read it many 
> times.
> 
> 
> 
> Smashwords founder Mark Coker is quite specific that you must make 
> manually-linked tables of contents and not use Word's automatic TOC 
> option. The process starts with writing up your table of contents, 
> bookmarking each chapter in the book and then linking to those 
> bookmarks from your TOC.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Let the Professionals Format Your eBook?
> 
> 
> 
> OK, so I hired a company to format the eBook for Smashwords. I assumed

> the professionals would use Smashword's Style Guide. My guys were 
> great to work with, friendly, impressed with my book, and have an 
> answer for everything. Ultimately, they refunded my money and assured 
> me that what happened with my book never happens. I hear that a lot.
> 
> 
> 
> We got off to a confusing start; I sent them the wrong file -- my bad.

> When they approved my book, they asked me for the JPeg of the cover. I

> immediately sent it with the right file, an explanation and my 
> apologies. Their first attempt used the wrong file anyway. They said 
> they never got the right one, but had the JPeg I sent with it. Hmm, my

> left brain is having trouble processing. Did I say I'm compulsive and 
> keep my e-mails? As stupid as I felt for sending the wrong file to 
> begin with, I didn't get a warm and fuzzy feeling from their obviously

> flawed explanation.
> 
> 
> 
> Their next attempt -- using the right file this time -- came back 
> without a table of contents. They had removed it. They said, to my 
> further confusion, that Meatgrinder would generate one. But, to 
> appease me, they said they'd re-do it with something they hoped would 
> "trick Meatgrinder" and satisfy me. There's that dip again.
> 
> 
> 
> Their last attempt showed up with my Smashwords book page URL missing.

> How do you accidentally eliminate one URL in the middle of a page? I 
> can feel that left anterior negativity just remembering it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Solutions, Results & Excuses
> 
> 
> 
> I fixed the missing URL and uploaded it. It passed "Autovetter" -- 
> Smashword's' automatic format checker. That meant I could sell it on 
> Smashwords. To get in their Premium Catalog, however, it would have to

> pass a manual inspection. It failed. The problem? "Inoperative Table 
> of Contents," among other things.
> 
> 
> 
> I was so sick of going back and forth with the formatting folks at 
> that point that I went to work. It took ten times to get it right, but

> it was finally approved. That's when I contacted the pros with a 
> postmortem. By then, I knew how to determine how many bookmarks and 
> hyperlinks the pros had created. My novel has 54 chapters -- all with 
> names (don't be scared, they're quite short) -- and a half-dozen 
> sections of front and back matter. My .doc -- approved by Smashwords 
> -- ended up with 60 bookmarks. The professionals had none. And as for 
> hyperlinks? How does "2" sound? And, they were auto-generated -- just 
> what the SW Style Guide says not to do.
> 
> 
> 
> To my further confusion, they claimed that, despite what SW's Style 
> Guide says, Smashwords does take files with Word's automatic TOC, and 
> that it was really Meatgrinder's shortcomings. They were magnanimous 
> enough to say that
> -- under the circumstances -- this was quite understandable. The real
> culprit, according to my guys, is Microsoft. MS has never fixed their
fiddly
> Word program, which adds secret bookmarks and hidden code that can't
help
> but wreak havoc with other software. Blame Microsoft; I'm cool with
that --
> mostly -- but following the Style Guide eliminates that crap. There
goes
> that left anterior negativity again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Advice from a Novice eBook Formatter
> 
> 
> 
> Formatting is tedious; it offers none of the joys of the simplest 
> writing endeavors ... until you learn that you did it right. I did it 
> right once; you can too. Save your money. Do it yourself!
> 
> ###
> 
> 
> 
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