Book Formatting for Self-Publishers, a Comprehensive How-To Guide: Easily Format Books with Microsoft Word; Format eBooks for Kindle, Nook; Convert Bo Paperback – January 1, 2012

I've used this for three books I've published on Amazon, and found it more useful in the beginning than it is now. This may be because I have internalized the contents and employ them as I write, or it may be that the tools supplied by Amazon make the publication process easier and more idiot-proof. Conversely, it may be that it taught me about features buried in Word that I had not discovered despite using it for what has to be 20+ years by now.I would think it would be very useful if one were publishing on other platforms. I certainly learned things from it, and I still check back occasionally. When the author revises the book, no doubt they will cover some of the tools that Amazon has added. But this edition is certainly useful -- that Amazon has introduced new tools since the 2020 edition was written is what prevented me awarding five stars here.

I purchased this book because I was interested in producing an eBook from my MS Word doc, and I was curious about the possibility of producing a print book (print-on-demand). I am disappointed in the book because it focuses on producing print books, and the eBook portion seems like just an also-ran.The reader is expected to read "Part One: Format a Print Book" before "Part Two: Format eBooks". The eBook portion assumes the reader has already prepared the MS Word doc for a print book.Further, much of the eBook content seems to be based on the Smashwords Style Guide. The author refers to the Guide repeatedly, and recommends following its guidelines even for non-Smashwords eBook formats. The emphasis on Smashwords can make the reader wonder why he bought the author's expensive book instead of downloading the Smashwords Style Guide, which is free.A particular issue for me is that my MS Word doc contains footnotes, and the author's "Additional Rules and Recommendations" for eBooks advises..."Do not use superscripts, subscripts, and most symbols...""No footnotes. (Footnotes, endnotes and indexes are possible in ebooks, but the formatting directions are not covered in this book..."I have many eBooks with superscripts and foot/endnotes, so these are certainly doable, but the author provides no help, except to briefly mention footnote information in (surprise!) the Smashwords Style Guide.Beyond this, it seems that a fair bit of the eBook content is references (descriptions and links) for web sites where the reader can get information about steps in preparing eBooks in various formats. I had hoped this book would have provided more information itself.

I've written eight self-published novels but the hard part isn't the writing - it's getting the darned books ready for publication (through CreateSpace). My greatest concern before buying this book was its 2012 publication date - was I going to get the current stuff I needed? I'm pleased to say this book was PERFECT. It covers all the difficult parts of Word for publishing - headers and footers, the quirks of sections, how Smashwords requires so much different stuff than the others - in short, this book was the best help I've found and half the pages are now tabbed and marked so I won't have the same difficulties this summer when book number nine comes out. Thanks to Jennette Green for a valuable publication.

Outstanding!! I cannot tell you how much this book means to me. Every time I would get to putting in my headers and footers and page numbers I would die a slow, painful death. It would take me days to cobble together this part of the book. I would be seething with anger at Word for being so convoluted. There are too many variables. I can write a book faster than putting together a nice looking header.Now, at last, a breath of fresh formatting air. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much Jennette!!!! I would give this book thirty stars if I could.

What a difference this book made in our publishing! We used this book to create our last four publications and the changes are drastically different with amazing results. We even went back and re-did original works to have the professional results we received following the step by step instructions in this book.The topics are organized, detailed, clear and simply put; easy to follow. The screen shots are very helpful. The author starts with information on Lightning Source and CreateSpace, takes reader through process of creating a pdf and finishes with turning your work into an ebook. We were able to turn a basic word document into a professional publication. The author pays great attention to detail, not assuming the reader knows, which was extremely helpful.I appreciate this resource and pull this book out with each new publication.

As a long-time freelance writer, but a startup publisher, I had just begun to investigate formatting books for Lightening Source and was, so far, uneasy with the technical requirements and the seeming absence of exacting information on how to approach it. For me, Jennette Green's book was a lifesaver. And even though I have Word for Mac, which wasn't entirely covered in the book, I was able to grasp the essential requirements, which I can also use for Kindle projects and possibly other types of formatting. In addition to the formatting components, there are also valuable comparisons between different publishing options and also some pricing and profit-taking guidance anc comparisons. To me, it is a foundation for advancement in a new, but challenging upgrade to my services.

Though the book that Jennette Green wrote has proved very helpful and her steps methodically walk you through the process, I'm afraid nothing can improve Word 2010 (my version). I've still run into glitches that Ms. Green did not cover because I don't believe she could have anticipated them.Her book is very informative and easy to follow. Unfortunately, she is dealing with a flawed system that perhaps only Word 2013 can resolve and right now, I can't afford that.Thank you Jennette for helping so much, though.

This is a booked crammed full of extremely useful information. I found it indispensable. Maybe on occasion it doesn't tell you everything you need, but nearly always more than enough. An excellent purchase. Highly recommended.

Good

An excellent guide to preparing, publishing and marketing electronically.

I thought this guide was terrific. It was easy to follow, because she had all the steps explained clearly, so I had no troubles at all with formatting my book. I'd recommend this to any indie author who is a bit stymied or afraid of the whole process. Well worth the price and time to study it. A great find.