What a fantastic tool for new authors.
PDF is fast becoming last year's news. Our customers have hinted heavily that they want a better formatted system for their PDAs as PDF is just too wide and cumbersome for viewing. Since most folks are switching from average cell phone to PDA, we decided to go hunting for an eBook service/software that could format our books into PDA compatible files.
We found MobiPocket... a French-based company that had the foresight to be new/unpublished author friendly not only in categorization but in their software. Its free to download, fairly straight-forward to use and they provide their customers with free reader software that is highly customizable.
As a result, they have thousands of quality, single-format eBooks on their site (mobipocket.com); I was so impressed with the quality of the cover graphics presented that I re-did a few of our just to put them up alongside and not look too shabby. They do take a percentage of the book's sale revenue, so figure that into your price when you are configuring your upload.
How it works: if you use Word it will be easier. You download their publisher free software and upload your Word file. It converts your book into a Word html file which you can edit a little in Word as well (to space out your chapters. It tends to lump them together a little.) The wizard then walks you through uploading your cover, tweaking the settings, compression and encryption. You also get the option of putting in a synopsis or free chapter, along with any reviews you want to include. Then you set up a publishers account with user name (still free), upload and activate your books individually. Your books show up on their site within seconds.
Here are some of our book listings: (We'll have all seven up by Sunday.)
https://mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=125156en
https://mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=125165en
https://mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=125162en
https://mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=125182en
All in all we give this site two thumbs up, considering the small percentage taken, the broad category ability, the fairly equal advertising and that it connects to your PayPal account, for free. Good luck writers. May you reach all available PDAs worldwide.
Meredith Greene
