DazzlinDonna » How To Create Your Own eBooks

How To Create Your Own eBooks - Easy, Fast, and Free

Download and install OpenOffice (free) if you haven’t already. If you already use OpenOffice, you can skip this step.
Download a free OpenOffice book template from Lulu.com.
Import the Template you downloaded into OpenOffice Writer’s My Templates by doing the following:
1. From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize.
2. In the box on the left, double-click the folder into which you want to import the template (I suggest My Templates).
3. Click the Commands button. The context menu appears.
4. From the context menu, choose Import Template.
5. Find the template that you downloaded (probably on your desktop) and click Open. The Open Templates window closes and the template appears in the selected folder.
6. If you’d like, type a new name for the template.
7. Click Close to close the Template Management window.
Start a new document using the template you downloaded by doing the following:
1. From the main menu, choose File > New > Templates and Documents.
2. In the box on the left, click the Templates icon if it isn’t already selected. A list of template folders appears in the center box.
3. Double-click the folder that contains the template that you want to use (such as My Templates).
4. Click the template that you just imported and Click Open. A new document based on the book template opens in Writer. You can then edit and save the new document just as you would any other document.
File / Export as PDF

That’s it! You now have your own ebook that you can distribute for free or sell. I’ll be discussing lots more about this in the future, including showing other ways to create eBooks, and what to actually DO with eBooks. But for now, you’ve got the quickest, easiest way I know to pump out an eBook without having to pay a dime to do so.

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Posted on September 19th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Cutting Business Costs

11 Responses to “How To Create Your Own eBooks - Easy, Fast, and Free”

George Bounacos, on October 4th, 2007 at 1:11 pm Said:

Very nice mix of inspiration and instructions. I wrote about Lulu and Book Surge on another site recently. The concept prompted someone who had “that book” kicking around inside, but was scared of publishing. By going with Lulu, they fulfilled a burning desire to be published and immortalized the words they had to share.

George
Hanna, on October 4th, 2007 at 2:30 pm Said:

I made a book document using just word, and then I uploaded it to lulu who made it into a printable PDF! Easy and fun!

Here are more info;
http://www.ihanna.nu/blog/?p=584
rana, on October 10th, 2007 at 4:43 pm Said:

hi

i can not download the OpenOffice 6×9 book - .sxw file template if u have it can u plz send it to my email by attachment plz so that i can download it ,because i want to create an E-book
Mathias, on December 26th, 2007 at 12:36 pm Said:

Thanks for the tip, I didn’t know you could find ebook templates so easily.
http://www.golfnorwich.com/, on January 3rd, 2008 at 7:50 pm Said:

excellent post. I can;t wait to create my first e-book. (right after I figure out what to write about)
Thanks for sharing.

http://www.golfnorwich.com/
Darren, on January 18th, 2008 at 4:09 am Said:

Should there be a copyright for the Ebook?
And, is it possible to pay without a credit card, for sales of the Ebook? Also, what is the average price for an Ebook? Why collect royalties for a book, when 100% can be had through an ebook! Makes me scratch my head, with all the big-time authors, who have a name, but choose to collect a percentage, and not the full amount, as possible with, an Ebook?
DazzlinDonna, on January 18th, 2008 at 7:56 am Said:

Sure you can add a copyright to the ebook. And yes, most people use Paypal to allow others to easily pay without a credit card. Average price is hard to say. I don’t have the figures, but my guess is probably in the $30-70 range. Books still sell much better than ebooks, so that’s why authors still choose that method. The publishers of books have the ability to get the word out about the new book, so it makes it easier to sell.
Howard Rogers, on January 21st, 2008 at 7:20 pm Said:

Actually, no you can’t “add a copyright to an ebook”… because the copyright exists in the thing the minute it is committed to tangible form, and you can’t “add” what already exists!

Copyright is a **right**, hence the name, and it exists merely because you put something new and original down on paper (or in a downloadable PDF -the precise form doesn’t matter). You don’t need to register a copyright. You don’t need to claim it. You certainly don’t “add” it to anything. If you wrote it, the copyright’s yours already.

This was not always true in the US, which had its own preculiar copyright laws as a result of it not ratifying the Berne Convention that governs these things in most other places of the world. But that convention *was* ratified in 1989, so the same rules that apply almost anywhere else have applied in the US, too, since that time.

If you want to put a copyright notice on an ebook, you can of course do that: but even that is not necessary for copyright to actually exist (but it makes it harder to sue for breach of copyright if it’s not included).

Rather fuller details available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright