Top 10 Best Resource Guides for e-Book Authors

by Joel Friedlander | May 27, 2011

The new world of e-book publishing promises almost-instant gratification at virtually no cost. It seems that authors with a manuscript in hand can glide nonstop to great sales, wealth and fame, probably before lunch. At least that’s the way it seems sometimes.

Unfortunately it can be tedious searching for the resources you need when you decide to publish your book as an e-book. I’ve been researching for my series of reviews of e-reader apps. As usual, I’m gathering links and resources as I go, keeping in mind this very task.

I assemble lists of links in Evernote, one of my favorite tools for research. Since it runs on all my platforms—iPhone, iPad and iMac—I have it with me just about all the time. It’s a real advantage in keeping organized while taking in tons of new information.

So far, these are the best resources for e-book authors I’ve come across. There are formatting guides, tutorials, and information from the major e-book retailers and distributors, all in one list. I cut it to 10 to keep it from becoming a burden just to read through it.

To save you the time of looking up all these resources, just bookmark this page and you’ll be able to come back to it when you’re ready. They are listed here in no specific order:

Smashwords Style Guide – Complete formatting instructions

Creating ePub files with Apple Pages for iBookstore – from Apple

Kobo for Authors and Publishers – the Guide to publishing on Kobo

Barnes & Noble Pubit! ePub Formatting Guide – Downloads the PDF

Calibre Manual – Contents for this popular e-book management software

Amazon Kindle Publishing Guidelines – How to use the Kindle Platform

Bookbaby.com guidelines for e-book conversion – a new service with a unique approach.

Amalthia’s e-Book formatting tutorial – pages of instruction

The ABCs of e-book format conversion: Easy Calibre tips for the Kindle, Sony and Nook – tons of helpful tips

Getting Started With Google eBooks – The lowdown on publishing to Google’s eBookstore

Ed: I’d like to keep growing this list and updating it. Readers have contributed these additional links and also alerted me to new versions, which is a real help. If you know a great resource guide for e-book authors, please put a link in the comments. Thanks!