- What is the best eBook creator in 2020?
Well I'm gonna be talking about that
in today's video, so stay tuned.
(upbeat music)
Yeah, I'm Dale L. Roberts, a best selling author,
as well self-publishing advocate,
who wants to show you how to publish books that sell.
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so you don't miss a single one of these videos.
Why should authors, entrepreneurs, and business owners
have an eBook, anyway?
Well this really helps out in building and aiding
an authority and credibility in your given area.
So having an eBook is definitely a great way
to not only have this really cool little business card,
if you will, but it's also just a way
of silently saying to whoever you give this to that,
hey, I'm a pretty big deal.
But writing the content versus creating something
that's visually appealing are two different things.
Yeah, you can go ahead and write the content
and I've talked a lot about that here on this channel.
For the sake of brevity, we're just gonna focus
on creating something that's visually appealing,
and of course that comes by way
of using an eBook creator software program of some sort,
but the options are absolutely overwhelming,
and I thought I would just go ahead
and make it super simple for you,
because I'm gonna give you 10 software programs you need
to make some pretty good eBooks, if not some stellar ones.
Stick around to the end, because I'm actually gonna give you
the entire list, really simple.
It's all gonna be kind of curated, put together,
and you can just go ahead,
instead of having to take notes as we go along.
Before we do jump into things, I think it's important
that we address, what are the best formats
to format your eBook in?
Now there are three different, kind of gold standards
of eBook publishing, and there's a one additional one.
let's take it one at a time with PDF,
which is a portable document format.
This is probably the most universal.
So whether you're publishing it on a platform,
say like Amazon, or you're fulfilling it through,
say an email list of some sort,
the PDF is one of the easiest ways to read things,
because you can read it on your desktop, laptop,
mobile device, and so on.
Then you have EPUB, which is really actually,
the gold standard.
This is the one that's utilized the most,
across the most publishing platforms out there today,
and quite a bit of the reading devices.
If, for instance, you have an Apple iPhone, it reads EPUB.
Then there's MOBI, which is also short
for MOBI Pocket Reader.
This is Kindle.
Now you've heard of Kindle before,
so MOBI is the Kindle readable format.
Now, does that mean that you cannot use EPUB
when it goes to the Kindle?
Well, that's another story for another day,
but all that's to say this,
that at least those three formats,
you can utilize in just about every capacity.
Now, there is one additional ones, it's optional,
and the reason why I say it's optional,
is because if you have this in this particular format,
you can get it converted over
into any of the three that I originally mentioned
of PDF, EPUB, or MOBI, and that is DOC or DOCX,
which is essentially like Microsoft Word's
version of a document or a manuscript.
Now as I put together this list,
I really tried to think about choosing the software
that would best work for you,
so I analyzed a few different points, which includes cost.
Is it gonna be free or is it premium?
So is this going to cost you anything or not?
That's very important, right.
So think about what you can afford.
I want you to remember this, that even though
some of them say they are free,
you're gonna have to pay now
or you're gonna have to pay later.
Either way, you're gonna have to pay,
John C. Maxwell once said, so I'm gonna say this,
that you're going to have to either grind it out,
and try to find your way, and you're investing in
sweat equity and time, or you're gonna have to
pony up the expenses, and get some premium software
that takes a lot of the guesswork out of it for you,
and gets it to where it makes it easy.
The next thing to consider is the user experience level
between beginner, intermediate, or advanced.
Now most of the options I've went through
are pretty much beginner centered,
so you could always start on any one of these,
but there is probably one specific one
that has a steep learning curve.
I'll let you know about that, once when we get to it.
And lastly, the operating system.
Is it used on PC or Mac?
Now, some of these do have some mobile choices,
but for the sake of conversation here,
we're just gonna focus on PC or Mac.
Sorry Linux users.
Number one, Google Docs.
This is a free option that's available.
If you have a Gmail account,
then you can have access to Google Docs,
and I'll tell you, there are number of successful
self-publishers and authors who have used Google Docs,
and don't even see themselves
moving over to premium options.
This is good for PC and Mac,
and it formats in PDF, EPUB and DOCX.
The advantages include that it's a cloud-based backup,
so in the event that you're starting to type away,
and your computer dies for some reason,
it's all backed up in the cloud.
Trust me, this has happened to me.
I had a laptop die on me midway through a manuscript,
and guess what, the hard drive was completely unsalvageable,
and I was out of a manuscript.
Now the disadvantages of Google Docs includes,
it's just a bit clunky at times.
Now, this is a personal thing.
I just kind of find it a little bit off,
and especially if you really want
to make something look just really amazing.
Number two, Pages.
Now this is a Mac only program, and it doesn't necessarily
cost anything to have, because if you have,
whether an iMac, or you have a MacBook Pro,
or even an iPhone, it automatically comes with Pages.
It formats in PDF, EPUB, and crazy thing, DOCX.
I know, right, a Microsoft product,
it actually formats it for that,
and I've actually tried that out.
I've formatted it through Pages,
taken it over to Microsoft Word, as the DOCX,
and it pulls up just fine.
The advantages include well, pretty much what I just said.
You know, Mac makes it work.
They want you to make sure that if
you're investing in their products,
you don't need to go elsewhere to make anything else.
So, this is one of the nice things,
but the disadvantages includes.
Come on, let's just say it, Mac, can be expensive.
Apple, come on, like ease up a little bit.
I mean, can you at least cut down
on that retail cost just a little bit?
Number three, Microsoft Word.
Now this by far is probably the best
entry level product in my opinion.
This is something I actually got started on,
and the nice thing is is if you actually have a PC
that you purchased, and you got Microsoft
installed into that, sometimes they actually will give you
Office included with that.
So, those of you that don't have it.
So for instance, when I originally got Microsoft Office,
I picked up a program called Microsoft Office 365,
which is a yearly membership,
and you're able to get the full Office Suite,
and that includes Microsoft Word.
That ran me about $100 per year,
but they have other perks included in with it.
But all that to say this, that,
that's how I personally have used it.
It is available for both PC and Mac.
A lot of Mac users think they can't use a Microsoft program.
Uh-huh, Microsoft made sure that they actually had something
that was compatible with Mac,
and actually I've used it quite a bit
over on my MacBook Pro.
It formats in PDF and DOCX.
The advantages include, it's widely used and trusted,
and here's the beauty of it.
If for some reason you have some questions,
and you're like, you're stuck on something
as far as formatting goes,
you're only a Google or YouTube search away
from a video that's going to show you exactly how to do
what you need to do to get it done.
The disadvantages includes, it only formats in PDF and DOCX.
Now, that might not be a disadvantage.
So for instance, if you're just a business owner
that's wanting to get more clients
to come into your business, maybe offering a PDF
through your website is probably the best solution.
So you don't need to be investing a ton of money into this.
Number four, Draft2Digital.
Now this one's an interesting one.
This is actually a publishing platform,
and Draft2Digital's not paying me to say this,
I'm actually a fanboy of their interior formatting software.
Now, to be very clear on this one,
it is unlike all the other ones on this list,
it is not a word processor.
In other words, you're not gonna be able to go into
their interior formatting software,
and make corrections in there.
Most of all the other ones I'm gonna mention on this list,
you can do that.
You'd essentially have to come in there
with one of your documents, and you can upload it to there,
and they have dozens of templates,
so that you're able to format your book
into three different types, and this is PDF, EPUB, and MOBI.
So they do all three formats, and I gotta say that
if you just need is very simple, but, you know,
good looking interior, Draft2Digital
really does the work for you, and here is my favorite part,
it is free and you can use it on any operating system,
as long as you've got an internet connection,
and you can connect over to Draft2Digital.com,
you can pretty much use their formatting software.
The advantages is, it's free.
Come on, you can't beat that with a stick,
but the disadvantages is, there's really no word processing.
You can't go in and make any kind of corrections.
You need to go back to wherever you created your document,
and then upload it over to Draft2Digital,
and it takes a little bit of trial and error,
maybe you might see some layout, and you're like,
oh, that's not what I wanted,
but you pretty much get what you pay for,
but I have to say that this is probably my most favorite,
as far as just dead simple way.
So if you're kind of like a newbie
when it comes to any of this,
Draft2Digital might be the solution for you, and it is free.
Number five, Kindle Create.
Okay, so this is Amazon's free software,
and it actually is their way of getting you
to publish on Kindle Direct Publishing.
so if you're watching this one, and you're kinda going,
oh, I'd love to use Kindle Create.
That sounds like an awesome option,
but I really don't want to use KDP.
Now, this may not be for you.
This is available for any operating system, PC and Mac,
but here's the catch, it formats in two file types
I didn't even mention.
It's KPB and KPF, which means that these files
are only gonna be readable
on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.
The advantages include it's free software,
and they actually have quite a few tutorials online
when it comes to Kindle Create.
The disadvantages, well, you're stuck to KDP.
So if you really want to use Kindle Create,
do it for the fact that it's going to distribute
to only Kindle Direct Publishing.
Number six, now originally back in,
I wrote an article for Thinkific some time ago
where I talked about Colibre being in here.
I'm actually crossing this one off the list.
No offense Colibre, but they're primarily
an eBook management system that's good for
document conversion, and not necessarily for word processing
or anything else like that.
So, it is free, so I mean if you want to look at Calibre,
you can always do that,
I'm actually gonna go ahead and put in its place
something I just recently discovered,
in a program called Kotobee.
That's K-O-T-O-B-E-E, and they actually are the most
robust, premium software on this list by far,
with more features than I can even share
inside this whole video here, and it runs about
you know, about $150, for lifetime of licensing.
It's available for PC and Mac, and it formats
in every type imaginable.
When I say every type, I mean,
some of 'em I've never even heard of,
and it's just absolutely insane.
I went into this, and it's just crazy,
all the features that they have.
When it comes to the advantages, you know,
everything you can imagine.
Yeah, it says if you can think it,
you can create it through Kotobee.
The disadvantages can be this.
If you're the type of person that's overwhelmed by options,
this might kind of scare you a little bit at first.
But I promise you that if you play around with it
a little bit, you'll find that
there's not a steep learning curve on this.
You'll kind of get the hang of it,
and the beauty of it is
they've got a wonderful support team,
so if you've got any kind of questions,
and you get ahold of them, they'll answer you right away.
Number seven, Vellum.
Okay, this is one of three programs.
I heard through a friend of mine, Michael La Ronn,
of Author Level Up on YouTube.
Vellum is a Mac only program, and this is premium,
and it runs about $200 for lifetime access.
The beauty of it is, at such a higher premium
Vellum understands that, you know,
maybe people don't want to invest in it
without trying it out first.
Well they've got you covered.
What you can do, is you can actually download the program,
test it out, play around with it,
and if you want to get it to where it converts it
to your specific file, then that's going to be for you,
and you'd have to go ahead and pay the premium,
and then you'll get the formatted document.
It formats both in EPUB and MOBI, so that's a win and a win.
The advantages include it's got clean layouts,
and it's just dead simple, but the disadvantages.
It's Mac only, so if you don't have Mac,
then Vellum's not for you.
Now I know there are some workarounds.
Gonna have some nerd that's gonna go,
oh well you can get a cloud based Mac thing for your PC.
Well there is that too, but we'll just,
let's keep things simple here folks.
Number eight, Ulysses.
Okay, so these next two ones are also some of the ones
that Michael La Ronn, I had learned through him
through Author Level Up,
and Ulysses is the premium Mac exclusive program,
and this is a little different than say,
something like Vellum, because there actually
is a subscription that you pay.
It's pretty reasonable, about $40 per year,
and it formats in PDF, EPUB, and DOCX.
The advantages include, it's got a cheap subscription cost,
and I mean, when you want to like not spend a lot of money
and you don't really want the lifetime access,
then Ulysses might be the solution for you,
and the beauty of it is you can just like say,
subscribe for one month try it out,
and you're like, oh this is not my thing.
Well then you're only on a few bucks,
and then you could just opt out when you want.
The disadvantages, Mac only.
You starting to kind of just see, like a pattern here.
Number nine, Scrivener.
This is the go to premium app for writers.
Now I've personally never use Scrivener.
I've never really been tempted,
but I hear a lot of successful authors
that have just swore by this one,
and it runs right about $45 to $50 for the lifetime access,
which is pretty reasonable,
and it's available for PC and Mac,
and the formats it does it in, is PDF, EPUB and MOBI,
all three of those gold standards that I've talked about.
The advantages of this one is,
it's organized in a distraction free work environment.
That's really what they kind of like leverage.
They talk about your distraction free work environment,
where you're using this.
Now I'm not sure I'm ever feeling distracted,
if I'm ever using Google Docs.
I just go and I write, but if you're the type of person
that kinda gets distracted easily,
then maybe Scrivener's for you.
I don't know, I've yet to use it myself.
I'd love to hear somebody who actually has used Scrivener,
and your experience with it,
and they actually kind of carry notes throughout.
So, for instance you want to put some notes in a book
that you're writing, but you don't want to have it
inside the manuscript, then Scrivener does that for you.
The disadvantages include the fact
that it's got a lot of features.
Again, overwhelmed, so if you find that
having a ton of features at first,
will overwhelm you, then it will.
For me, not so much.
Sometimes I see a lot of toys and features,
I'm ready to play.
Number 10, Adobe InDesign.
This is the granddaddy of them all.
This is the most advanced method,
and it is a subscription based service, obviously,
with Adobe, and it runs right about $20 to $30 per month.
If you get it on a deal, it might be cheaper than that.
You get it like a package deal,
like say for instance with Photoshop, or Lightroom,
or anything else like that, it might be cheaper.
This can actually be used for PC and Mac,
and it will format in PDF and EPUB.
Now to be clear, Adobe InDesign is typically
for someone that is into say graphic design,
or doing interior design for eBooks,
or print books on a regular basis.
So, there are more features than you would even
know what to do with, and some of 'em
you'll probably end up getting confused.
So the advantages of this one is, it's Adobe.
If you want an answer, all you gotta do is just Google
or YouTube that up, and you'll be able to find your answer,
but the disadvantages, it is, by far,
the greatest learning curve of all.
Don't expect to pick up Adobe InDesign
and master it over the next week, ain't gonna happen.
That's gonna be something that takes years,
and years to actually do, and if you get a mentorship,
maybe, maybe if you learn from somebody
who is experienced in this, you'll be able to pick it up
pretty quick, but for the most part,
this is not something you're gonna be able
to do solo on your own.
Hey, I told you if you stuck around to the end,
I'd get you the full list of these 10 eBook creators.
If you actually head on over,
there's a link inside the description below,
where I actually did a full article
on the Thinkific blog, so a big shout out
to the folks over at Thinkific,
and hey while I have your attention here,
I talked briefly about Kindle Direct Publishing.
Believe it or not, my most popular video,
I talk about that platform further in depth,
where you can actually publish your eBook.
So, I'll see you in this very next video.
If you just click on that one down there,
I'll meet you there, make it worth your while.