Guide to Epubbing

Epubbing is electronic book publishing. Why this site? Because very few up-to-date comparisons of ebook channels exist. A mass of options come up in searches but there's no consistency to the information the sites present, and they all offer you the moon. But what can these channels really do for authors – and what do they expect authors to do for them?

Here's the answer – Epubbing Pathways – a one-page comparison of the costs, benefits and drawbacks of the major ebook channels.

This site can help you understand all the possible pathways to epublishing, with tips for writers outside the US and guides for non-Microsoft users. (For clarity the focus is on electronic books only, although a few of the sites mentioned also do paper.)

Where do you begin?

Author Hugh Howey says traditional publishing vs self-publishing is as different as renting vs owning your own house: owning it may be hard work but it's all yours.

But the electronic publishing world has become a maze of twisty little passages: options, services, channels, software. You just want to get your book into the light of day, but how do you decide which path will suit you best:

• Want to DIY or happy to pay for all that nasty jargon to go away?
• Can you barely cope with Word or can you write HTML in your sleep?
• What's a .mobi or an .epub, an .odt or a .pdf – and why should you care?

And there's more: Do you need an ISBN? Do you know your genre? What's a distributor? Can you create a good book cover? What's the tax situation? Do you like or hate social media?

By now you're probably wailing, Too hard – I just want to get my writing out to the world! But if publishers aren't lined up offering you contracts that's not going to happen the traditional way. To get your writing out you'll need to become an electronic publisher: an epubber.

So simply start at 1. Epubbing and work down through the possibilities to discover the pathway to epublishing that suits you.