Pro’s / Con’s and Tips 😀
You have written your novel and now are ready to publish it as an e-book. But your file needs to be submitted in the proper format as required by the publisher. So do you do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you?
Well, that really depends on how computer savvy you are. I have done the formatting for all my books with no problems. I know of other authors who would never want the headache of formatting their book and hire someone to do it.
Option 1 – Do it yourself
You can follow the step-by-step instructions offered by Smashwords to prepare your manuscript.
Amazon too offers a simplified formatting guide.
Advantage – It is free. If you are relatively proficient at MS Word, it is not difficult to follow the Smashwords guide. Amazon’s is a little more complex.
Disadvantage – if you aren’t proficient in…
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Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
The advantage with DIY is that if you follow the guidelines and get the right formatting once, you’re done: you can reuse that same formatting for the next novel.
If you pay someone the first time, you’re going to pay someone the second time, and the third, and the … you got the trend.
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See my reply to Mrs N Massimo 😀
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I tried formatting my book and failed several times. I consider myself computer savvy and yet tore out all my hair trying to format it myself. In the end, I hired a wonderful company who was affordable, fast and did a perfect job! 🙂
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Personally, I have enough trouble formatting Guest Author articles to suit WordPress quirkiness 😀 😀 😀
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LOL!, I totally agree Chris. Here’s my take: if you are serious about being a professional author, it’s better to hire professional formatters and book cover designers rather than do it yourself. Sure, it costs money but your product will look professional and more readers will be willing to buy it. 🙂
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Agreed – I’ve had to do several versions of some book covers where authors are publishing in several places like Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, iTunes and CreateSpace – and even when I adhere strictly to their templates, there are STILL issues occasionally – luckily, the authors contacts in the different organizations are helpful souls and one even admitted HE was having problems and that what I had sent the author was perfect! 😀
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