Still, making your own e-books is a good way for giving away, sharing or selling (yes, you read that right) that book you have just completed for absolutely free. You read that right, too! You can send it to anyone with a mobile phone, tablet or a Kindle. Distribution, too, is free if you send it as an email attachment. Anyway, there are many online marketing tools out there. Google it, or ask a friend. But, here's what you will need for now.
1. The masterpiece you have written in Word format. (Other word-processing programs should work as well.)
2. Download Calibre and install it. It is an open-source program, and is free, which means it's available for OSX, Windows and Linux.
3. Download Sigil and install it. It is also open-source and free, and available for Windows and Mac. This program will allow you to tweak the format of the EPUB to make it look nicer before you send it out.
(Added information: Apple uses EPUB, Amazon uses MOBI, and they don't talk to one another.)
Step One: Save your Word file as .rtf (Rich Text Format). (You can also save it as a HTML (HyperText Markup Language) file, used for creating web pages and other information that can be displayed in a web browser. But, if you're a non-geek and this freaks you out, don't have to take this route. On the other hand, if you're a geek already, go on ahead; you don't need this primer.)
Step Two: Open Calibre.
(The image shows what it would look like with all the
books you have added. If you have not added any, you'll only see the
Calibre Quick Start Guide.)Step Three: Add the newly created .rtf file by either using the 'Add' option (top right) or drag-and-drop the file into the white space.
Step Four: Edit metadata (no need to freak out now). Highlight the newly imported file, and click the second from left button. Here, you can add the author's name, year of publication, publisher, and anything else you want (or ignore it all, if you don't.) Click OK.
Step Five: With the new file still highlighted, click the third button. This is where the magic happens. Like it says, it will convert your book. The source type (RTF) will show on the top right. Select the destination type (EPUB) on the top left pull-down. Click 'OK' and viola! (You will see a revolving wheel at the bottom left, and how long it will take will depend on the size of the file -- very quick, at any rate.)
Step Six: (Sorry, not over yet.) Click 'Save file', third from right on top, and choose your destination, wherever you like. Your EPUB is done (almost). Click 'View' (fourth from left) to see what it looks like. If you like what you see, it's done. If the format looks like a dog's breakfast, and that you can introduce more spaces, or align-centre, etc., go to the next step.
Step Seven: Launch Sigil, open the EPUB file you created above, and do some minor formatting to make it look better. It is quite intuitive, not unlike a basic word-processor. Save and close after you're done. (No matter how hard you try, you will not get it to look like a book published on paper -- not with current technology anyway -- unless you go the pdf route.)
Step Eight: Add the new EPUB file to your Calibre library, (I suggest you delete the old one to avoid confusion), highlight it, and convert to MOBI just like the process above. You can read the .mobi file in Calibre too, by highlighting it and clicking 'View'.
Now, enjoy! You can sell it, give it away, upload it on Amazon (Google for instructions and rules) and Apple iPad (ditto). Don't pay any money to those sharks who convert e-books for a fee, unless you want to go professional. That's another story. This is for fun.
(Note about e-book formats: if you want to mess with your mind, visit the following Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_formats)
