How to make an Ebook, Graphic Design Programs, Open Source, Freeware Software

Ebooks are primarily designed to be viewed on the Computer screen or even over the Web. The book needs to be prepared in order to look good on the screen, but as small a file size as possible.

All of the programs I will discuss in this article are either Open Source Software or Freeware and are all FREE to download and use. All of the programs can be downloaded HERE.

The first step is to compile your Book. A lot of people would immediately think of Microsoft Word or another Word processing program. Well it's a good idea to write the text in a word processor but when it comes to assembling a book, I suggest using a publishing program.

A really great program for this is Open Office Draw which comes with the Open Office Suite of programs. This program is more like Corel Draw than Microsoft Publisher and has some great publishing features. Office Draw allows you to add text frames and Images, it also has some cool Vector Drawing tools for adding Custom Text and Artwork. It allows you to easily place and resize Images and even has Image editing Tools. Each page is separate so as you don't get that Page jumbling that can happen if you use a Word Processor and don't lock everything in Frames etc. It is a very easy program to use and learn and there are good Help files that come with the program. Open Office allows you to export the finished work in a PDF file suitable for viewing on the Web. This is the format used in an Ebook.

Another more sophisticated program is Scribus. I have a dedicated web site with some good Free introductory Tutorials that will get you going with this program. Scribus allows you to create multi page books with high quality Text and Image control. I gives you the Option of exporting your work as a PDF suitable for the Web. The files it creates are compact but still look very good on the Web or in a PDF Viewer.

Creating a really good cover is essential when producing an Ebook. Here I recommend an Illustration Program like Inkscape. The Cover in this artice was created in Inkscape. I have a dedicated Website with Free Tutorials on Inkscape.You can export your artwork from Inkscape in Image format and Imort it into either Open Draw or Scribus.

Finally to really finish the Ebook off and make it more than a book you need to add bookmarks. The Free Foxit reader very generously allows you to create Bookmarks which link to individual sections of the Book. Simply open the PDF file you have created of your finished book in the Foxit Reader and open the Bookmarks panel. There are help files in the Foxit Reader and a manual online Here. I can not stress enough how good this program is. The other Alternative is the full version of Adobe Acrobat which will cost you a fair bit. The Foxit Reader is also faster to load and much easier to use than the Acrobat reader.

Once you have finished using Foxit you can save the PDF file with options which open the PDF file with the Bookmarks panel Open so as the Viewer can see the Content of the book and Quickly navigate to the section they need. This turns your Ebook into a help file as well.

Happy Hubbing......