Writing Down Words: Archive

Creating ebooks for the iPad, Kindle, nook, and...

last updated on: 13 November 2011
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I thought it might be interesting to walk through the process I use for creating ebooks that can be read on the iPad, Kindle, and nook (as well as the Kindle Fire, nook color, iPhone, BlackBerry, any Android phone or Android tablet such as the Xoom or Samsung Galaxy tablets, Sony Reader or other ereading device, or a conventional computer monitor). In other words, how to make an ebook that can be read on any device.

This note is about mechanics of creating a book that works on any device (or as many devices as possible) and steps through the specific issues I encountered and the resulting choices/decisions/compromises I made to get there.

This piece was written in November 2011 and reflects state of the market/tools available/process I followed at that date (in particular, it was written after the Kindle Fire/Kindle Format 8 had been announced, but before either had been released into the wild). In addition, some of the initial research (particularly as it related to the specific requirements relating to the Kindle).

Research: Tools and Processes

last updated on: 01 July 2011
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For any author—whether writing fiction or non-fiction—research is usually a crucial part of the process in creating a book. Once you've done the research, there's the need to store and access the information you've found. Research is pointless if you can't access the material you have accumulated.

This note looks at my research and information gathering process from end-to-end as an integrated flow of information. In particular, it focuses on the processes and tools I use to find, review, store, and retrieve information.

Websites for Authors

last updated on: 02 June 2011
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An author's website is usually the hub of their presence on the web.

Any website will always be a work-in-progress, constantly evolving and never finished. Once they are "good enough" they go live (and often they go live when they are still in need of a bit of work). This is quite reasonable: an author's career never stands still and what an author wants from their website will keep changing, with each change incrementally improving.

Different authors will have different aims and will want to stamp their individual personality on their own website. As with writing a book, there is no empirical measure of the "right" or the "wrong" way with a website. Designing a website is all about making choices—there are no wrong choices, but there are definitely some things an author can do which will not support the author's aims.

The area where author websites fall down is not the content, but the implementation. Many try to be too clever, or get obsessed by looks, or let their designers run wild. This note looks at what authors should do, and also considers some of the practices that should be avoided.

Going Viral

last updated on: 01 October 2010
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Viral marketing is one of those poorly defined notions that is often misunderstood.  For the sake of clarity in this article, I am using the term viral marketing to encompass the notion of spreading a message by word-of-mouth (in the many forms that word-of-mouth can take).

Viral marketing is a hugely powerful tool and one that every author should be aware of, if for no other reason that other people (those doing the word-of-mouth thing) are doing your marketing for you.  However, it is marketing, not selling—you still need to do something to ensure that any interest generated from viral marketing is converted into sales.

So Why Are You Writing a Book?

last updated on: 18 May 2010
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Technology has given us many different ways to broadcast our messages. Not only do these new options allow us to get published (in various forms) at virtually zero cost, but there is also the opportunity to combine words, images (including color and moving images), and audio. So why are people still using 16th century approaches? More to the point, why are you writing a book, and do you really have to write a book?

I mean really? Really, really, really?

What is the compelling need you feel to write a book? What is it about the nature of what you are writing that means that you can only get your message out there in a long, printed document?

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