Manuscript Files to Ebooks
Here's how we convert your manuscript files into ebooks:
First we you send us a copy of your manuscript.
If your file isn't in Microsoft Word .DOC format, we can convert it. We can convert almost any format, even old Wordstar from the 1980s or NROFF from the 70s.
What this means is that we have a Word .doc file that has all the right words in it, and the correct paragraph splits, but generally not a usable format for making ebooks.
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If you gave us a file in true manuscript format, with underlines indicating italics, '--' for — m-dashes, double spaced, Courier font, '#' to designate scene breaks, and so on, we modify all that into a format readers will want to read. (Actual italics, etc.)
The next step is to correct the stylistic formatting. Ebook formats are very picky, and Word's .doc format is very complex, so we have to make a lot of invisible changes to the .doc file so it's possible to convert it. For example, we might have to change the way you've indented all the paragraphs, handled quote characters, started chapters, centered poetry, etc. If you have chapters, those will need to be added to a table of contents (so readers can navigate within the book), but not using Word's ToC functions, unfortunately.
Next we look for and fix potential problems. There are a lot of internal formatting codes that aren't visible to the eye but that will prevent an ebook created from it from being accepted by a distributor. For example, if a .doc file has certain "Style" conventions in it, it will result in .EPUB files that fail to pass the "epubcheck" test that many distributors require. If you have styles layered upon styles, you might have invisible problems we'll fix. You can't see these with your eye reading the .doc file, or even see them looking at the list of styles. We inspect the insides of the .doc file with software we've written and fix these problems up. (Or, worst case, we do it by hand, which can be extremely time-consuming.) Though it's generally better than the solution one distributor recommends, of removing all formatting then reading through the original text to locate every instance of italics, etc. and re-italicizing/etc. Yuck!
Complicating this is that each ebook format (.EPUB, .MOBI, .LRF, etc.) and each distributor (Amazon, B&N, Apple, Smashwords, Ingram, etc.) have their own requirements for the format. Smashwords, for example, has a whole book one needs to read, understand, and apply for a file to meet their requirements. Some distributors are lax, and may accept a file that has formatting problems inside, and you the author find out only when the readers write negative reviews about the poor conversion. We ultimately produce a very clean and simple Word .doc file that serves as the basis for creating all the ebook files for the distributors, but it isn't a simple process.
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In parallel with this, we're commissioning cover art. Rarely does an author have existing cover art for a manuscript. Unfortunately artists aren't necessarily inexpensive. We also make sure the cover art files meet the various technical requirements of the distributors.
Next we begin converting the Word .doc file into the various ebook formats and tweaking them for the various distributors. (For example, Smashwords has specific licensing terminology you have to insert that isn't applicable to others.)
There aren't any standard means to do all this converting, so we've written our own systems to do the conversions that mostly automates it. Nonetheless, this phase typically involves opening up the ebook files and peering inside at the code to see why they aren't converting exactly as they should have. If the file is failing "epubcheck" for example, we have to figure out what the rather cryptic error messages mean (such as, 'attribute "name" not allowed here; expected attribute "accesskey"' — huh?!?), reverse engineer the conversion process to see how the original resulted in the wrong output, and fix it at the source.
Once we have the files ready, we can begin uploading them to the distributors. Each distributor has assorted forms to fill out to record information about the book ("metadata"), which usually takes longer than expected to work through.
Which categories on each distributor's site should the book be listed under? Each distributor has a different, extensive list, and different number of allowable entries.
Then there are descriptions and marketing blurbs to write, and keywords to determine, with regard to what's most applicable to the book. We're grateful when authors provide this, but typically they do not.
Next we monitor the status of the upload process. It often takes several days or weeks to hear back on the status of an upload for the distributors. If you don't look for this — since distributors generally don't send email to alert you of problems — then that book languishes unpublished until someone looks. To avoid that, we check regularly to see when they've done their thing and check the results. If they report some kind of error, we fix it and continue. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Finally the book is visible to readers and ready for purchase! The last part is the best:
We've already established banking and payment relationships with the various distributors, so our final step is to track sales, collect payments (which we will tend to collect faster than individual authors, since distributors usually have minimum payment threshold amounts per month), and — voilà! — distribute the income back to you.
So, that's what we do. We've love to work with you!