How I've written and self-published a book on web accessibility
I've recently written a book called The Same Work, Done Properly. I had absolutely no idea how to go about writing and publishing an ebook until recently so I've been on a journey of discovery. There are lots of possibilities so I thought I'd share how I've done things.
The writing
There are two parts to this - how you do it technically in terms of tools and file formats and secondly how you actually get the work done, how you make yourself sit down and write on a regular basis.
Let's do the technical part first as that's easier. I treated it much the same as my blog. I created a new GitHub project and wrote a series of markdown files, one per clearly defined section, e.g. chapter. This meant I could write quickly and easily in a familiar format while also being able to have everything backed up, try things in branches, etc.
I'm sure you could just as easily write in a Google Doc or in Word if that feels ore natural to you. Conversion between formats really isn't that scary - the tools are all out there.
On the motivational side, I didn't actually find this too hard at the writing stage. I finished my day's work and then typically wrote for 20-30 minutes each day. I think there's a point of no return where you've put enough effort in for you to not want it to go to waste and that makes you want to keep going and finish it.
The editing
I'm not going to shy away from it, I used AI to help me with editing. I never wanted it to do any writing but I knew it could really help me with knowing how to structure things in a logical order, building on previous ideas, and reviewing what I had written. Just like I'd use AI for a code review. It's acting as my editor in lieu of a real person.
Once I'd found a structure I was happy with and had got assistance moving all the parts around into a logical order, the hardest bit was rereading everything over and over again, making small tweaks. When do you stop this loop and decide it's finished? I could only really let go by treating it like a web project - it's a digital product, not printed, and so I can release a new version whenever I want to. It's fine.
I used AI for some other practical, non creative parts, like creating a table of contents.
Formats
I knew that I wanted to produce 2 formats, ePub and PDF, so it can be read across a wide range of devices.
My project/repo soon became a node project. I used existing npm packages to handle the conversion from Markdown to ePub and PDF. There are separate functions for 1) combining all the Markdown files into one mega-Markdown file, 2) converting this to ePub and 3) converting this to PDF.
I used AI for creating these processes and then refining them until it produced exactly what I wanted. There was a lot of trial and error at this stage. I must have built and converted a hundred versions by now.
Design
As well as writing the main content I thought about other similar books and what other content they might include. I added a cover image, a table of contents, a section about myself and a list of resources.
For the cover image I had to do a bit of research on what sizes and formats were most suitable and ended up using a 1600 x 2400 PNG. This is used both as part of the final ePub and PDF files and for thumbnails in publishing and marketing. I designed this myself in an image editor. I'd recommend keeping all important content well clear of the edges as things may get resized or cropped for different platforms and use cases.
Writing about myself was hard. My harsh AI editor kept telling me that things I'd included were not relevant, which, I have to admit, was probably good advice.
Calibre
Calibre is a free app for Windows that specialises in ebooks. It can handle conversions between certain formats, manages metadata and cover images, and includes a reader, which is a good way to check the output in ePub format. The UI feels a bit old fashioned and it's not always obvious what you should do but I managed to figure it out.
Publishing
I knew nothing about this world going in. I literally created an account and trusted that the platforms would make it easy enough. They do, to be fair, but it's a lot more involved than I ever expected. I really thought it would be a case of upload the file, set a price and go. There's a bit more to it than that, all for good reason.
I set up accounts in Leanpub and Payhip. They're both platforms where you upload digital products, set your price and the platform takes a cut. However, you also need to set up various other things.
Your book has a dedicated landing page where you write blurb about your book to try to encourage people to read. Leanpub also has a teaser section where you can write a shorter sales pitch for your book for use in their marketing materials. You also need to write a section about the author. So, just when you think you're done with writing you need to go again.
You need to set up how you're going to be paid, obviously, and there are various options around categorising or tagging your book to help with discovery.
Pricing
I had no idea how to price the book. I did some research and got very mixed answers. In the end I just used the platform's default recommended price as a starting point. I'll see how it goes and will almost certainly reduce it over time.
Marketing
I don't have much of a marketing plan as I don't have a budget for it. Making money was never really my motivation for this project - it's more about the personal chievement and wanting to spread good practice - but, at the same time, I know I don't want to make a loss from it. I'll start spreading the word via social channels and see where it goes.
Why?
I have another post about what motivated me to write this book and why now.