What is an eBook and How does it work?

These days anyone can become a published writer or author. Seriously, anyone. Writing itself is a simple activity, but that doesn’t mean that everyone who tries it will be proficient at it. That takes time and practice, but anyone can publish an eBook—no matter the age or experience level of the author.

How can anyone publish a book? Through eBooks.

Amazon isn’t the only game in town to publish your eBook. There are many, many places online to publish eBooks for free. Smashwords, iBooks, Google Books, Kobo, and of course, Amazon are some of the most popular eBook sellers.

The short and sweet of it is that an eBook is a physical book put into digital form in one of the two formats, either reflowable or fixed. Each type is words put to a page—whether digital or physical—from an author meant for readers to devour. The key niche for eBooks is the ability of the author to skip past the agent and publisher stage and release their eBook whenever they want.

This does lead to a wealth of books that aren’t professionally edited, proofread, or copyedited, but that’s a whole other story.

By and large, eBooks are an exceptional creation. It allows authors and writers to control the pace at which they release their work, and if they are independent authors, they retain creative control over all aspects of their books. That alone is enough for any author to consider independent eBook publishing.

Ebooks in reflowable vs fixed-layout format.

Let’s get a bit technical now. With physical books, there are two main printed format types: text-only books and books with a considerable number of illustrations—be they art, charts, graphs, or any other images.

eBooks work in a like fashion.

Reflowable eBooks are predominantly text, the typical novel or non-fiction book. Think books by Stephen King, James Patterson, or Suzanne Collins. Books by those authors are all released in the Reflowable format.

The Reflowable format allows text-only books to be resized and realigned for different screen sizes. The book should read the same on your computer as it does your phone, tablet, or e-reader.

Fixed Layout Format is for illustration books—graphic novels, lesson books, children’s illustration books, art books, comic books, or cookbooks, to name a few. Often, the layout of a book with illustrations is crucial to the design, story, or both. This requires a fixed layout that keeps the intended arrangement uniform across any platform the book is read on.

See more about – Reflowable vs. Fixed Layout eBooks format

An eBook cannot be editable.

An eBook should not be treated like a Microsoft Word document or a Google Drive file that you’re sharing with others. An eBook is first and foremost a book. One can’t buy a physical book at a store, take it home, edit it, and have those edits present when others buy the book. No one should be able to do this to an eBook either.

Millions of people read eBooks, and thousands are purchased every day. An author doesn’t, or shouldn’t, want readers to be able to change and edit the work.

eBooks are typically written in a program like MS Word or Google Docs, but before publishing, the book needs to be converted to a file format that puts the book in a fixed state that cannot be edited.

Many programs do this. Amazon has its own program for authors to upload their manuscripts to that converts the book to a format that is not editable.

eBooks are instant.

One of the biggest advantages of eBooks is their immediate access. When a reader buys an eBook online, they get that book right away. There’s no waiting for shipping or a need to leave and go to a brick-and-motor store to buy a book.

Readers can purchase an eBook from the comfort of their home and begin reading immediately. In this ever-growing digital age, we want things quicker. We want them now. eBooks feed into that. Certainly, that is one of the main reasons that eBooks have exploded in popularity.

eBooks are eco-friendly.

Since an eBook is not printed, it is digital, paper is not required to publish an eBook. There isn’t waste or unnecessary materials destroyed in the making of the eBook itself. It is a digital file transferred via the internet.

Similarly, eBooks do not take up space for those who buy them. As a digital file, an eBook uses no physical space for the owner. E-Readers can store hundreds, sometimes thousands, of eBooks on one device. That’s a single device that’s generally smaller than a traditional physical book, and it holds hundreds of books inside it.

The reader’s bookshelf becomes a digital one, again saving resources, and the books themselves are digital files, saving the reader space in their home.

eBooks are cheaper to produce and purchase.

Cost is another factor, and the elimination of physical printing reduces the cost of eBooks for readers. Since an eBook does not need publishing costs, it can be sold at a considerably lower price. This isn’t always true, some eBooks run $10 or more, but those are generally from well-known authors whose physical books are still double that price point.

Authors can publish an eBook for free. The only cost to an author for publishing an eBook comes after the sale, in which the publisher (Amazon Kindle, Apple iBookstore, Google, etc.) will take a percentage of the sale. This allows authors to offer their books for a much lower price point than physical books can be.

Devices For Reading Ebooks

If you’re reading this article from your smartphone or computer, you already have everything you need to read an ebook.

Read eBooks on your computer

If you’re used to reading blogs and websites on your computer, reading eBooks isn’t any different, you can read them on your computer. You can read eBooks on your computer using Adobe Digital Editions and Kindle Previewer. If you prefer to read your eBooks via a Kindle app you can download a free Kindle app for your device.

Read eBooks on your smartphone

If you own a smartphone it’s practically a no-brainer, you can download your favorite books and start reading immediately. Your smartphone screen might be smaller than a regular book, but in time it’ll become your all-time favorite device for reading eBooks. You can use the Google Play Books app, Amazon Kindle app, and Kobo Books app to read eBooks on your smartphone.

Read eBooks on your tablet

Tablets are easy to hold and are roughly the same size as a normal book. You can easily read eBooks on your tablet using the Apple Books, Kindle app, or Nook.

Read eBooks using eReaders

Ereaders are handheld devices that are explicitly designed to read eBooks. Example of some popular Ereaders you can read your eBooks on include:

• Amazon Kindle
• Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
• Kobo Aura ONE
• Barnes & Noble Nook
• Onyx Boox, etc.

Read also: How to read an ebooks?

Will My eBook Look Like My Printed Book?

We see a lot of authors (new authors especially) ask this question: “will my e-book look exactly like my printed book?” Well, the short answer is no.

Unlike a printed book that is displayed in a static format, an eBook layout can be modified based on several factors including font size, font type, margins, and line spacing. An eBook will look different when read on a smartphone than when the same eBook is viewed on an iPad or a Kindle simply due to the different screen sizes.

That is to say that the text “flows” based on the reader’s preferences and is no longer in a fixed position like in a printed version of the same book.

Where Can I Sell My eBook?

Thanks to the internet it is now possible to write and publish books without needing to scout for book publishers. This method involves a process similar to printing a physical book, but without the usual costs associated with paper and printing. You should know about ISBN and DRM before selling your ebook. Here are a few places you can self-publish your eBooks online to start earning passive income:

• Your Website: You can easily set up your own website and sell directly to your readers
• Amazon: Amazon is the largest online book and e-book seller where you can publish your e-book for free and earn between 35% to 70% royalty.
• Apple iBookstore: If you aim to put your books in the faces of Apple users, then consider Apple iBookstore. They pay a royalty rate of 70% for all prices and all countries.
• Payhip: Payhip allows authors to host their eBooks so that customers can buy them directly. You can also create an affiliate program that allows people to market your books for a small percentage.
• Kobo Writing Life: Kobo Writing Life allows you to publish your ebooks to readers in more than 190 countries, set your own price, and track sales. You’ll receive between 70% to 80% in royalties.

Other self-publishing websites include NOOK Press, Smashwords, Lulu, Blurb, PayLoadz, E-Junkie, etc.

How EbookEnhancers can Help?

If there’s one thing we know about authors, it’s that you want your e-book to look professional. You want your e-book to meet the publisher’s requirements and also create an enjoyable reading experience for your readers without having to worry about all the technical stuff involved with ebook formatting. How about you leave your ebook formatting troubles with us. We are experts in epub &  kindle book formatting and we promise to produce a perfect layout that allows your readers to get lost in your story.

Conclusion

Before the digital revolution, writing a book was farfetched for most people. But nowadays, you can experience the joy of seeing your own words come to life in an eBook. With more and more people consuming content online, eBooks will only get more popular. We hope you learned a thing or two about eBooks and we can’t wait to see you write your first eBook!