How To Create An eBook

Here's a little shameless self-promotion, but also a bit of useful information for anyone out there who wants to know how I create my eBooks for Kindle.

I've written a modest-sized (41 page) eBook on how I created my novel, Macyntire & Hough from start to finish. This book includes all the information on my outlining process, how I keep track of drafts and the number of passes I did to the manuscript, and also a step-by-step guide to how I formatted my Scrivener document and compiled for KDP.

This book is only $0.99 on the Kindle Store. The process I detail as far as formatting is the same exact process I used to create this eBook, so if you enjoy the way it's all put together, you can achieve the same exact results for your own book by following the steps. (To be honest, I worked on a short story earlier in the week and ended up using this book as a refresher to how I had everything set up. There are a lot of things that go into an eBook, and it's great to have them all in one place as opposed to when I was figuring everything out with different bits of information and tips scattered on napkins and notecards!)

For those who love print, I don't have a physical option...yet. But I successfully made it through my first CreateSpace adventure and will see about making a "real" copy of this book soon!

I hope it helps!

Word Count Madness

I have reached another milestone with my novel in progress. Yesterday I sat down and typed out all the handwritten pages I've penned during stolen moments waiting in lines, closing up at my job, and also sitting at the kitchen table. I now have approximately 45,000 words in my manuscript!

True, this I only a first draft. I can already tell that the book will need to have a lot of attention when it comes to tightening the sentences and deleting unnecessary words. I'm guilty of rambling in some places and not describing enough in others. Yet, this word count is a way to judge how far along I am. A typical 200 page book is around 50,000 words. I'm drafting the finale and other crucial chapters now, and I still have a while to go. I can't rush, but I don't want to drag my feet. It does feel more encouraging as I can now see the missing gaps and just have to fill them in. The characters tell me what they need, and it gets typed into the manuscript.

I admire those writers able to create 5,000 words a day. I've tried, but I'm not quite there yet. Perhaps with more mental stretching I will get there soon. Now that I've taken a break from writing the book, I suppose it's time to get back to work!