How to Self-Publish Your E-Book

Apple’s Pages app for Mac, iOS and iCloud provides all the tools needed to write, design and publish an e-book to its Apple Books store.
Apple’s Pages app for Mac, iOS and iCloud provides all the tools needed to write, design and publish an e-book to its Apple Books store.
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How to Self-Publish Your E-Book

Apple’s Pages app for Mac, iOS and iCloud provides all the tools needed to write, design and publish an e-book to its Apple Books store.
Apple’s Pages app for Mac, iOS and iCloud provides all the tools needed to write, design and publish an e-book to its Apple Books store.

J. D. Biersdorfer

If you have a story you want to share, you can easily publish your work in popular electronic bookstores — and maybe even make a little money.

Apple’s Pages app for Mac, iOS, and iCloud provides all the tools needed to write, design, and publish an e-book to its Apple Books store.

Have you ever dreamed of publishing your own e-book and making it big — like the best-selling authors Colleen Hoover and Andy Weir? Not everyone has such success, but plenty of writers have found an audience online with platforms, like Amazon Kindle Publishing and Barnes & Noble Press, that allow authors to freely upload their books and sell them. While you may not get as much exposure by skipping traditional publishing methods and releasing your book yourself, you do retain more control over your work and royalties, which can be up to 70 percent of the sale price. If you’re inspired, here’s a basic overview of the process.

Prepare Your Manuscript

You don’t need special software to write a book — pretty much any modern word-processing program will do — although some people find apps for organizing plots and characters useful. However, your text should be as mistake-free as possible, so take full advantage of any and all proofing tools you have. Apple’s Pages, Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Zoho Writer and several other programs include spelling and grammar aids in their desktop editions; options may be more limited on mobile devices.

Some programs have add-ons that use artificial intelligence to analyze and suggest improvements to your writing; Zoho’s free Zia assistant and Microsoft’s new $30-a-month Copilot tool for its Office suite are two examples. Third-party A.I.-powered apps like Grammarly and ProWritingAid have free basic editions with the option to level up for additional help for $10 to $12 a month.

Grammarly is among the programs that use artificial intelligence to analyze and make suggestions for improving your writing.

If you’d rather have a human advising you (and you have the budget for it), hiring a professional editor can also help improve your book.

Design Your Book Cover

Even with a snappy title, a book cover with plain text on a plain background will probably get lost in a busy e-bookstore. Get readers to notice your work among the rows of competing books before they can even judge it.

Check your word-processing software to see if it includes book-cover templates. Design sites like Canva or Snappa also offer free or inexpensive options. Browsing design sites or store shelves to see which covers stand out can give you ideas.

If you go the D.I.Y. route, keep a few things in mind. First, do not use someone else’s copyrighted photos, illustrations, or graphics without permission. If you use your own images, remember that e-book covers are tiny in online stores — so make the cover legible. The file size requirements will vary based on the e-book publisher(s) you choose to distribute your book, so keep the design flexible enough that you can adjust it as needed.

As with hiring an editor, hiring a graphic designer to create a cover is an option.

Pick a Publisher

When you have your text and art finished, choose an e-book publishing platform. Unless you agree to an exclusive deal with one publisher, you can upload your book to multiple e-bookstores, but programs like Amazon’s KDP Select require 90 days of Kindle-only distribution in exchange for special promotions.

E-book publisher and bookstore sites include Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, Apple Books for Authors, Barnes & Noble Press, the Books Partner Center for Google Play Books, and Rakuten’s Kobo Writing Life. (Many also can create printed books — but for a price.)

The New York Times



Huawei Eyes Greater Role in Brazil Data Center Market

Huawei logo is seen during Munich Auto Show, IAA Mobility 2021 in Munich, Germany, September 8, 2021. (Reuters)
Huawei logo is seen during Munich Auto Show, IAA Mobility 2021 in Munich, Germany, September 8, 2021. (Reuters)
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Huawei Eyes Greater Role in Brazil Data Center Market

Huawei logo is seen during Munich Auto Show, IAA Mobility 2021 in Munich, Germany, September 8, 2021. (Reuters)
Huawei logo is seen during Munich Auto Show, IAA Mobility 2021 in Munich, Germany, September 8, 2021. (Reuters)

Chinese tech giant Huawei is interested in strengthening and improving its capacity as a supplier of data center solutions, it said in a statement to Reuters on Thursday, clarifying that it did not intend to invest directly in data centers.

Reuters had reported on Wednesday that Huawei was interested in Brazil's data center market but was waiting on the government to roll out a tax-break plan.

"We want the government to implement these incentives, which are good for the country, and the time has to be now," Atilio Rulli, Huawei vice president of public relations for Latin America and the Caribbean, told Reuters.

The government's plan to dole out tax breaks for tech investments in Brazil is set to be sent to Congress soon, a finance ministry adviser said last month.

Latin America's largest economy is looking to establish a foothold in the fast-growing data center industry, pulling from its ample renewable energy.

The country is already courting major investments from firms such as ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, Reuters has reported.

Huawei could provide connectivity, storage and energy for data centers, Rulli said, speaking on the sidelines of an event hosted by state development bank BNDES.

"Huawei continues to follow the incentive policy being conducted by the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services, and when in force, will continue to contribute reliable, scalable and sustainable solutions to accelerate the digital transformation in Brazil and Latin America," Huawei said in the statement on Thursday.