Arts >> Books >> Book Publishing

How to Produce a Book on CD

E-books have risen in popularity over the last couple of years, due in large part to the increase in web publishers producing e-books, as well as the introduction of new e-book readers like the Amazon Kindle. Publishing your books electronically and distributing them on CD is a low cost way to get your work out to the public and keep the profits for yourself. Learn how you can take charge of your own publishing future by producing your books on disc.

Things You'll Need

  • Computer
  • CD jewel case software
  • Word processing software
  • CD label paper
  • CD jewel case paper
  • Printer
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Format your book using a word processor. Since you're publishing yourself, how you format your book is completely up to you. Rather than standard book formatting, consider the formatting found on the Internet; no indents for paragraphs, one line between paragraphs, and your choice of justified or ragged edges. This makes reading onscreen easier.

    • 2

      Save your book as a PDF (portable document format). If you use Microsoft Word or Open Office as your word processor, you can save your file as a PDF with the "Save As" command. Many other word processors allow you to do this as well. PDF is a file format created by Adobe that is cross platform and can be read with the free Adobe Reader. Once you have formatted and saved your book, burn it to a CDR disc.

    • 3

      Design a cover for your book. You can draw the cover, hire someone to do the artwork, take a photograph to use as your cover, or locate royalty free images (see Resources). Add text to your cover art. This will usually be your byline and the title of the book. You can design the cover using CD label creator software (see Resources). Open the software and load the cover image, then use the text tools to add the text to your cover. The software will format your image and text into a template that will fit a CD jewel case. This will be the cover for your book on CD.

    • 4

      Design a label for your CDs. You can do this with the same software you used to design the jewel case insert. Keep the label simple. All you need to do is add text for the title of the book and your name.

    • 5

      Print the CD labels using special adhesive label paper you can purchase at an office supply store. You can purchase jewel case insert paper there as well. Apply the labels to your book CDs and then print out the jewel case inserts and put them in your CD cases to complete your CD book package.

Book Publishing

Related Categories