In a recent post I talked about how all of you would-be eBook authors should know your file formats, or at least be somewhat familiar with the most commonly used ones.  As an author, you want to make your work as accessible as possible, which means making your content able to be read on as many devices as you can.  Since it is Read an eBook Week, and Lulu is giving away three Apple iPads, I thought it might be useful to provide a how-to tutorial for the most universal eBook format: ePub.

Many new authors might make the mistake of thinking that if they have a portable document format (PDF) of their book it means that it can be read on an e-reader or other mobile device.  While in many cases the PDF can be opened, the text is far too small because it is a static or unchangeable image.  ePub makes it so your text is resized to fit the screen of any given device.  Since the text in ePub format can be changed in terms of size, font and color, reading an ePub book becomes a much more personal experience for the reader.  Sounds great right?  But how do you make an ePub book?

You really have three options:  let Lulu do the work for you with our conversion services, use a conversion program like (Adobe InDesign, eCub, Calibre, Google ePub Toolkit, etc.), or you can do-it-yourself.  If you decide to do-it-yourself, I’ve added some great directions I found over at jedisaber.com.

What You’ll Need:

* A text editor (like Text Edit or Notepad) that can edit text files, HTML, and XML.
* A program that can create .zip files (which should be built into OS X or Windows).

Alright, first you’ll need to get all of the files together that you will later put into your master .zip file (called a container).

A Closer look at ePub files (*Be aware that file names are case sensitive*):

A .epub file has at least the following files/folders in it to function:

* mimetype – Typically a plain ASCII text file that has the line “application/epub+zip” in it.  This file tells a reader/operating system what’s in the .ePub file. This file must be the first line in the zip file, and cannot be compressed.
* META-INF folder – Contains at least the container.xml file, which tells the reader software where to find the book in the container (typically in the content.opf file detailed below).
* OEBPS folder – Recommended location for the book’s actual content

* toc.ncx  file – Table of contents arranged with navpoint tags.  Make sure the UID matches whatever is in your content.opf file because some readers won’t display your book properly if it doesn’t.  The play order values found in this file must also be in order and will return an error if the order skips over a number.
* XHTML files – The book’s literal contents are listed in these files which are like HTML files with closing tags associated with each element.  It is up to you how you arrange your content but having a separate .xhtml file for each chapter tends to look better on e-readers.

Now that you have all your files in order, you can make the .epub container that houses all of them.

How to Make the Container File

* First create a new .zip file
* Copy the uncompressed mimetype file into the .zip file.
* Copy all of your other files (which should all be located in an OEBPS file) into the .zip file.

* Change the .zip file extension to .epub.

Once you are done with these steps, you should have a readable eBook in a format that works on most readers.  Now, all you should have to do is upload your work to Lulu.

Making Your eBook Available for Download

• In the Publish section, click the ‘eBooks’ button.
• Click the ‘Start your eBook‘ button.
• Enter a title and author name. Select your project’s availability.  Click the ‘Save &
• Continue’ button (any of these options can be changed at anytime).
• Upload the file you want to use by clicking the ‘browse’ button, searching your computer for the file you want to use and then clicking the ‘Upload’ button.
• If you upload multiple files to create an eBook, you will have to select a size for Lulu to create your eBook.
• Click the ‘Make Download-Ready File’ button to convert your file into an eBook.
• Download and preview your file and then click the ‘Save & Continue’ button.
• Create your cover and click the ‘Make Cover’ button. Then click the ‘Save & Continue’ button after the page reloads. Learn how to create a cover here and see What the eBook cover for.
• Fill in the Description fields and click the ‘Save & Continue’ button
• Set the price for your eBook and click the ‘Review Project’ button (eBooks with DRM cannot be offered for free).
• Review your project. Click the ‘Change’ button for any section that needs adjustment. If everything is to your liking click the ‘Save & Finish’ button.

Once you click the ‘Save & Finish’ button you should have a book that is ready to share with the world in cutting-edge fashion – something any reader on the go will appreciate.

What a month it has been.

As NaNoWriMo and the Lulu Short Story Contest come to a close – we’ve been thrilled by the hundreds and hundreds of responses we’ve gotten from authors of all ages and genres who couldn’t resist the chance to share their creativity and who found out just how easy it can be to publish an eBook.

We’re not done yet though.  The official cutoff date for the contest is Dec. 1st, so there is still time to submit a story of your own and enter to win $1000, a NOOK™, free publicity, and a professional review of your story in Shelf Unbound Magazine.

We’ve been getting a lot of questions too.  Mainly from authors who just want to be sure they have entered their story correctly.  Remember, once you’ve published your short story as an eBook with our EPUB Converter, to copy and paste your story’s web address on our Survey Monkey form.  Once you click submit on Survey Monkey, you’ll be taken to a “thank you” page with a 20% off coupon on it – good for your next purchase on Lulu.  We may need to tweak your submission too in order to get it to pass the validation requirements set by retailers like the iBookstore^SM. You still keep the copyright though and we will only change the formatting – not the content itself.

Once Dec. 1st hits, we’ll gather all contest submissions and our panel of judges will fire up the coffee pots, pull out the reading glasses, and get to work reading all your remarkable entries.  We’ll announce the first, second, and third place winners mid-December.

So keep that creativity coming – you still have till Thursday.  You can do 600 words in no time!

One term you’re likely to come across when publishing your eBook is “metadata.” It also happens to be one of the main causes eBooks get bounced back from distribution.  In many cases, a quick revision of your eBook’s metadata is all it takes to push your content out onto digital shelves and increases your work’s marketability.

Simply put, metadata is the who, what, when, and where of your eBook.  Items such as your title, author name, volume number, etc. are all types of metadata and are what most retailers use to appropriately list and categorize your content.  When your eBook is listed on an online store, customers will see an image of your cover, which they can click on for more information about your work and to access the actual content of your work.  Many retailers treat the cover image and the actual eBook’s content as two separate pieces and it is vital that the metadata for both match (including upper and lower case letters) so your customers are linked to the correct book interior.

For example, lets say your book title is The Greatest Book Ever: A Tale of Suspense and Intrigue by Samantha Thomas. If the metadata for your cover is only listed as The Greatest Book Ever, by Sam Thomas, without the subtitle and a different author name, then the retailers can’t be sure if it’s the same work.  With the thousands of new eBooks being submitted everyday, it becomes too difficult to try to match the cover to the content.

Luckily, on Lulu it is pretty simple to ensure all your metadata matches. When you start a new project and name it, whatever you enter into the title and author fields will autofill the empty fields in the cover step. Whenever a colon is used in the project title, the system automatically treats any text after it as a subtitle. Once you get to the cover step, you can still edit your title, author name, etc. just be sure if you do make changes, you also go back and change the project information you started with too. For authors uploading a one-piece cover, again, just be sure all the text matches the project information you enter.

Be sure to check out our knowledge base for more eBook metadata tips to help you reach more readers in more markets all over the globe.

For us, the formula is simple: more channels equal more opportunities for your work to be discovered.

For authors selecting distribution, it is important to remember that many retail channels maintain strict policies on acceptable content. In an effort to ensure a lasting relationship with existing retail channels and to continue to cultivate even more options and opportunities for our authors, Lulu must uphold these policies and validation procedures. Lulu reviews all content marked for distribution and reserves the right to re- categorize and/or decline to submit books, which violate a retailer’s content policies.

One of the most popular retail channels is the iBookstore. Authors selecting this particular distribution method will need to keep these basic guidelines in mind:

• To ensure an author’s work appears for sale, in the quality it deserves, iBookstore distribution takes at least 30 days.
• Adult and/or sexually explicit content is de-prioritized and may be rejected if inappropriately categorized by the author.
• eBooks in non-English languages and/or offered for free will be listed on lulu.com, but will not be distributed to the iBookstore or other retail channels.
• Public domain content will only be submitted to the U.S. version of the iBookstore.

We know how eager you are to see your books out in the world and we want to assure you that Lulu processes your works with the utmost care. All authors are still able to publish and sell their eBooks immediately to the 2.5 million unique monthly visitors in the Lulu Marketplace for free. Lulu continues to strive to bring you the best service possible to empower you to sell more content to more readers more profitably than ever before and we look forward to your continued success on Lulu and all of our retail partners.

After weeks of anticipation — and months of speculation — the iPad is finally here.

We know many of our authors are excited by the possibilities of this new device. And we’re excited to offer you access.

Apple has selected Lulu as a certified aggregator to provide content for the iBookstore. We have been hard at work pushing hundreds of titles to the store as part of a pilot program to ensure all of our processes are ready for the volume of content that we expect. I’m sure you have many questions, so let me get right to it.

Here are five points to understand:

1. ISBNs. Apple requires ISBNs on eBooks. Lulu can assign one for free.
2. ePub. An ePub file is required for submission to the iBookstore. You can create your own, or have Lulu create one for you through our conversion service . See the next point for an important note about the ePub file.
3. Validation. Apple has a strict file validation process. All files submitted must pass ePubCheck 1.0.5. If you create your own ePub file, you must verify that it will pass. Lulu can only guarantee validation for ePub files created through our conversion service . From now through April 15, we are offering a 50 percent discount on that service. To take advantage, enter code: SVCEPUBBLOG.
4. Pricing. All eBooks planned for iBookstore distribution must have retail pricing that complies with Apple’s guidelines. We will automatically price Lulu eBooks submitted to the iBookstore to meet these guidelines. The creator revenue that you receive per sale will be 80 percent of the profit after deducting Apple’s share. On a $9.99 book, for example, you will receive $5.60 .
5. Content. Apple could decline to list an eBook in the iBookstore if it determines the book violates the company’s policies on inappropriate content. We have submitted hundreds of titles and, so far, have had only one rejected.

For a limited time, Lulu will provide free distribution to the iBookstore.

We can help you get any project into the iBookstore, even if you’ve published only a printed copy of your work on Lulu so far. The key is that you must already have a project on Lulu — or publish a project now.

The simplest way to reach the iBookstore is to have us convert your file into an ePub. As mentioned earlier, we guarantee that it will pass Apple’s validation process and we include distribution to the iBookstore as part of this service for no extra charge.

The other approach is a manual one. You’ll need to make your own ePub file and make any necessary improvements until is passes ePubCheck 1.0.5. Once you have that file on Lulu, add iBookstore distribution to your cart as if you were buying any other service. (Again, it is free for a limited time.) We’ll submit the file to Apple for the iBookstore.

In the coming weeks, we will automate more of this process and will incorporate it into our eBook publishing wizard.

We’re committed to open publishing — to helping as many creators as possible reach as many consumers as possible, no matter the platform. Publishing at Lulu means you can have your work in hardcover and paperback and as an eBook accessible on many popular devices, including the iPad. In addition, you can create CDs, DVDs, photo books, cookbooks, calendars and many other products.

We’re excited to add iBookstore distribution to our catalog of products and services. Please let us know if you have any questions about this exciting new service.

Never published an ePub version of your book before?  No worries.  Here are 2 ways you can get your book into ePub and get yourself in the running:

1. Do-it-Yourself
2. Let Us Do it For You

We’ll notify the three winners by April 3, 2010 via the email associated with their Lulu user account.   Unfortunately, because this is only a US site promotion, only US residents are eligible.  But don’t worry – we have a few things up our sleeve for everyone else…so be sure to stay tuned!  To see more rules our lawyers are making abide by, check out the disclaimer section below.

Good luck everyone!

DISCLAIMER:

No purchase necessary.  Prize is a 32GB Wi-Fi enabled Apple iPad. Three (3) winners will be drawn at random, and notified via email by April 3, 2010.  Winners must provide a US address to Lulu within 10 days of notification to redeem their prize. In order to be eligible for the iPad giveaway, you must either publish an eBook in ePub format, or purchase an ePub conversion service between 3/12/10 and 3/22/10.  Upon ePub publication or ePub service purchase, you will be automatically registered for the iPad giveaway.  ePub formatted books created before or after said dates are not eligible.  Creating an ePub version of your book will not guarantee distribution on 3^rd party external e-readers.  Promotion is open to individuals who are Lulu registered users, and who are legal residents of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia only.  Your odds of winning depend on the number of US authors who publish ePub formats, or purchase an ePub conversion service during the contest period.   Employees, contractors, directors, and officers of Lulu, its parent, subsidiary and affiliated companies, immediate family members thereof, and those living in the same domicile therewith are not eligible. Lulu reserves the right to make all decisions on entrants’ eligibility, in its sole discretion.  Lulu reserves the right to change or revoke this offer at anytime.  Void where prohibited.

Lulu now offers ePub conversion services to take your book into the future.  Get your book ready for the iPad, Sony Reader and other electronic devises with our ePub conversion service.  We offer three service packs depending on the number of pages  in your manuscript.

Our ePub service includes the following:

1. Tagging and linking of the Table of Content (TOC)
2. Proofing of the illustrations to make sure they’re resized properly
3. Removal of the original page numbers and page headers (to prevent them from appearing in the middle of the page)
4. Re-flowing of the text by chapter and re-pagination of the entire book

*Proofing and correction of your manuscript file beyond the beginning of the 1st chapter is NOT included in the service.

ePub conversion takes between 4-6 week.  In some cases, conversion may take longer at which point we will provide you with a time line for your file conversion.

Our service pricing is based on your book page count:

• 250 Pages or Less $175 Buy Now

• 251-500 Pages $350 Buy Now

• 501-750 Pages $495 Buy Now

The Small Print: Only books published through Lulu are eligible for the service. There are no refunds on the ePub conversion service. In the case where the complexity of the manuscript file requires work outside the scope of our service, we reserve the right to decline to do the conversion with a minimum charge of $100 an hour.  A quote at a rate of $100 minimum will be provided to the customer if additional work and fees apply.   Creating an ePub version of your book will not guarantee distribution on 3rd party external e-readers.

You’ll now find their works — and about 200,000 other eBook titles from traditionally published authors — in the Lulu Marketplace. We’ve added them through agreements with Ingram and other distributors to make their public catalogs available on our site.

It’s a significant shift for Lulu, but one rooted in a strategy to maximize author success that has guided us from the beginning. To sell more books, you need more exposure. We’ve long provided distribution choices to help you reach customers in myriad stores, including Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. We’re continuing to expand those options, and we’ll have more to share soon.

But that’s not enough. The time has come for a better marketplace. Like many of you, we’re discouraged by some trends in the industry and what they might mean for the future of books. Here at Lulu we champion books, and the people who create them, because of what they represent. Books are conversations between generations that convey our best thinking and help move us forward. They deserve appreciation. And authors deserve success.

The open marketplace we’re building will have the broadest selection. It will be a one-stop shop with content from all authors, in all styles and in all formats, paper and electronic. The goal is to give readers access to the best knowledge, ideas and entertainment and to give authors access to the best audience for their works. We believe the increased choice offered by increased selection will attract more readers. And as we attract more readers, we will have more opportunity to get Lulu authors in front of people most likely to buy. In fact, we’ve invested in recommendation technology to help with that by steering readers based on their browsing patterns.

Adding 200,000 eBooks is just the first step in a journey that will unfold over the coming months, one intended to bring more success to Lulu authors every day. As always, I welcome your suggestions and feedback as we move forward.

Why publish an eBook? The simple answer is it makes sense for both authors (universal distribution, more sales, and higher royalties) and readers (cheaper than print, instant delivery, and mobile access). How can Lulu help? By providing features to support a wide range of scenarios: give eBooks away for free as a marketing tool, automatically link eBook and print editions to enhance discovery and provide more options to readers, and offer optional copy-protection (DRM) to prevent piracy and unlicensed distribution.

Beginning today, Lulu supports all of these options, and more. With multi-device support, readers can access your eBook on a Mac, PC, iPhone (Stanza), Sony Reader, and many others. You can now upload files in the popular EPUB format, which is quickly becoming the industry standard (see recent announcements by Barnes & Noble and Sony). Concerned about losing sales when you make unprotected digital content available in the marketplace? You can now apply DRM to your eBook, and sell a licensed version which can’t be freely copied and distributed.

To support enabling these features for more than a million Lulu authors, Lulu has adopted a new pricing structure for eBooks and print downloads.  As always, it’s still free to publish, and if you choose, you can continue to give away your digital content for free. For authors who want to sell eBooks and downloads, we’ve added a fixed $1.49 base price to cover our credit card processing and hosting expenses. Applying DRM (optional, eBooks only) adds $.99 to the base price to offset the fee charged by our DRM provider.  To reiterate, authors never pay to publish, these fees are reflected in the list price and are only charged to the purchaser at purchase time.

All of us at Lulu are excited about our new eBooks, and welcome your feedback. Stay tuned–we’re actively exploring many more features, including providing easy access to retail distribution channels with the goal of enabling Lulu authors to sell eBooks in every online marketplace.  Meanwhile, we encourage you to get started and publish an eBook today.