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What software do i need to write an e book ?

I want to write an e book for Amazon kindle.What software do i need to write it ? ive found out word office isnt a good idea ? i need html ? i know amazon converts it to be read on kindle but what programme do i need to compose the book ? how do i lay it out ?

Any advice would be great.

Thanks.

5 Answers

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  • 9 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    There are several ways you could do it, but this is what works for me...

    You need a wordprocessor that can export documents in HTML. Most of the modern ones will do it. I use OpenOffice, which is a free download from www.openoffice.org.

    Write your book (!). Learn about paragraph styles and use them - they'll make it much easier to alter the formatting later on if necessary. Resist the temptation to go wild with fancy formatting, because it either won't appear in the ebook, or will make the ebook difficult to read. Keep your formatting as simple and consistent as possible. Don't worry too much about exactly how it should be laid out, because Amazon will throw away most of that information.

    When you've finished your book and edited and polished it, export it as HTML. When I do this part, I load the HTML into a text editor and strip out all the crap that OpenOffice puts in to make the HTML look exactly the same as the wordprocessor document, but it's probably not necessary to do this.

    Convert the HTML to .mobi or .prc (the formats that Amazon require you to upload in). There are several programs that can do this. I use Calibre, which is a free download from http://calibre-ebook.com/download

    Source(s): Author of three novels that are on sale on Amazon. See my profile for details. Download the samples and judge for yourself whether I know what I'm talking about.
  • frake
    Lv 4
    5 years ago

    LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice are very just about a drop-in alternative for MSOffice professional. the two LibreOffice and ApacheOO are branches of StarOffice by utilising solar. you choose Java plug-in. You income an entire workplace suite and PDF output. Amazon self-publishing website enables checklist conversion. there's a application on Linux referred to as Calibre that converts eDocs. i'm a former digital artist / computing gadget writer. I hate PageMaker and its grandkid, InDesign. They suck weenies. circumvent MSPublisher. writer makes use of its own inner rasterizer -- all fonts, all pics are 75dpi vertical strains. writer became into meant for inkjet purely. particularly, do not placed money into this and use the loose equipment i discussed.

  • 4 years ago

    when you are watching a television set or movie it is very easy to get distracted and multi task, where reading a written e book, it usually has your full attention!

  • Daniel
    Lv 4
    4 years ago

    Reading a good e book offers a richer experience and can leave you with memories that will last years

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  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    If you are searching for Calibre you can download it for free here http://j.mp/1rmvPT3

    Check it out.

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