Determine the format you want to publish your ebook in. Portable Document Format (PDF) is still the most popular and widely accessible format. Other formats include formats for Mobi, Amazon Kindle and Microsoft Reader. Publishing your work in PDF and on Amazon's Digital Text Platform is an easy way to get started. According to the Silicon Alley Insider business report, Amazon sold 500,000 Kindles in 2008, making Kindle editions of your book ideal for a relatively large market.
Find a suitable epublisher for your work by consulting epublisher submission guidelines (See resources). These guidelines offer information about where and how to submit your ebook manuscripts, how to format your submissions and what you will be paid. The guidelines are similar to guidelines for standard publishers.
Prepare your manuscript for electronic distribution. Microsoft Word 2007 allows you to download a plug-in to turn your manuscripts into PDF documents. OpenOffice offers the same capability. Since you're publishing electronically, ensure that the book is fully prepared to the submission guidelines of your epublisher. If you are publishing a book you previously published traditionally, avoid scanning the book. Scanning is not only time consuming, it can cause pages to look uneven. Scanned pages are graphic images, which are difficult to convert into editable text, making it harder to format your work into an ebook. If you don't have the original manuscript on hand, resign yourself to typing the entire manuscript again.