Digital Publishing: How it Works
Have you ever downloaded an e-book? Maybe it was free, or maybe it held some key information worth your hard earned dollar. Regardless of the reason, most internet users have seen an e-book or two during their time spent on the web, and if any have wondered how this text was turned into one, the answer is to follow. That being said, this is not a chronological order style list, these steps listed below are interchangeable, and often happen in reverse, or mixed order. However one can infer that the e-book you were looking at a few days ago, most likely traveled through most of these steps.
Pre writing process allows writers to organize their thoughts, and come up with a reason for doing the project. Prewriting is not a science; it’s more of an abstract art. Some authors will jot down notes on a napkin, and begin writing; others will create detailed outlines typed to manuscript standards. It is however differently preformed, a step in the writing process.
Writing typically occurs after the brainstorming, or prewriting is finished. Once the writing is underway, often corrections are made to the work to accommodate whatever goal, or theme the author set out to achieve.
Editing in e-books unfortunately is optional, and thus many don’t do it at all. Some authors are motivated by profit, not excellence, thus submitting less then perfect manuscripts for text conversion. However, some writers do have their work edited, or better yet, proof read by a professional.
Text conversion is the method of taking what has been written and getting it in the format for uploading to the web. Text conversion can be as simple as clicking “save” on your MS WORD application. Or as complex as translating one language to another, and converting a document to a PDF format file. The fact is that all e-books had to have been “saved” or converted at one point or another, the conversion ideally would be done once the document is ready to be uploaded.
Uploading to the web can be done a number of ways. An e-book can be emailed as an attachment to a publisher, or a webmaster for uploading. Or it can be directly uploaded to the website or e-book directory by the author themselves. Regardless uploading is obviously one of the more important steps in getting the e-book to the public.
Marketing the e-book is another optional aspect of the process. Typically, although not exclusively marketing is performed once the e-book is available for download. Some will try to build buzz before the book is available, but chances are the marketing will occur once the e-book is ready for download. Marketing is done through advertising, word of mouth, conducting interviews, focus groups, etc
