So you want to publish an ebook!

Preparing your source document for publication is not quite as simple as typing in your text and submitting your document! There are a number of formatting and navigational rules that must be adhered to if you are to make it through the vetting process successfully.

As someone who has written and published a number of ebooks, I spent a long time researching the various sites that offer a publishing service but none matched Smashwords.com for simplicity and transparency.

I am an independent author with no connection whatsoever to Smashwords, simply someone who wanted to get my books published and distributed – particularly in the Apple iBookstore - since it represented the greatest challenge from a formatting perspective as they only accept books that fully conform to the epub standard.

Along with style there are basic navigational elements such as bookmarks that must be inserted and fully functional. The inclusion of images or annotated diagrams is no problem provided you follow the guidelines. Your assertion of copyright must follow certain procedures in order for your work to be accepted.

This short book aims to guide you through the process of getting your book correctly formatted in order to be accepted into the Smashwords Premium Catalogue which means that your work will be distributed to major outlets.