The barrier between "writer" and "published author" has never been lower, thanks to self-publishing. But before you can upload your masterpiece to Amazon, you have to conquer the EPUB format.
Why Not Just Use a PDF?
Many authors make the mistake of trying to sell their book as a PDF. The problem? PDFs are "fixed." On a small Kindle screen, a PDF looks tiny, and the reader has to zoom in and scroll left-to-right to read a single sentence. EPUB is "reflowable." It allows the reader to change the font size and background color, and the text automatically flows to fit the screen. This is the industry standard for a reason.
The Conversion Workflow
The best way to create a clean E-book is to start with a cleanly formatted Word document (using "Styles" for headers) and then convert it using a professional tool. Ensure your images are compressed via easypixelshift.com before embedding them, as an E-book over 10MB can incur higher delivery fees on some platforms. A professional format makes your work indistinguishable from a Big Five publishing house release.