Draft2Digital Saved the Day – Free Formatting for eBooks and Print Books

Draft2Digital Helps Authors Share Their Work with the World

Guest Post by Heather Sutherlin

Draft2Digital saved the day.  How? Well, I’m going to tell you in this post.

The number one question I’m asked by aspiring indie authors is “How’d you do it?” It makes me laugh because those four words are really asking an enormous question. And in the end, what they really want to know is “Where do I start?”

Well, assuming you’ve already got your book finished and professionally edited, the next thing you’ll want is a cover. And once you’ve got the cover, you’re ready to publish. That can seem a daunting task, I know it did for me! How do I format it to fit Kindle and iTunes and Nook? How do I create a professional looking paperback? I know nothing about formatting and I didn’t have another dime to invest in one more “author service.” One glance at Smashwords’ formatting guide was enough to send me into hysterics and don’t even get me started on iTunes!

That’s When Draft2Digital Saved the Day

Draft2Digital (D2D) is a godsend for the independent author who is braving these waters alone. Created by a set of computer programmers and a best-selling independent author, this company knows what it takes to get your book from messy manuscript to polished ebook in the hands of readers across the globe.

Their formatting is top-notch and completely FREE.

No confusing style guides or previous formatting knowledge is needed. Just upload your document and let the genius’s do the rest. You won’t believe how fast your finished document will be ready for previewing. Just click a few boxes and answer a few simple questions to finalize the process and you’re done.

How to Use Draft2Digital to Format Your eBook and Print Book for FREE

Once you have a finished document you’re proud of, you choose where you want D2D to list your book.  Currently they are able to list books with Kindle, Nook, iTunes, and Kobo, but many more are in the works. There is also an option to list your book with Createspace, making your book available in print on Amazon. Simply choose your venues and your price. Then, hit the publish button and you’re in business! It really is that simple. I have friends that have waited months to see their books go live on Amazon and iTunes through Smashwords, but with D2D my books are listed within 48 hours. I can’t imagine doing business without them.

• Please Note: You can upload your document and have it converted into all the appropriate forms for absolutely free. Those files belong to you even if you never list them with Draft2Digital’s distribution service. D2D will charge you a percentage of the royalties to distribute your books through them. For this price you get phenomenal reporting and an easy to use interface that blows all others out of the water.  See pricing details here https://draft2digital.com/pricing/.

If you have a question or a problem along the way, don’t worry. Their customer service is incredible. I appreciated their quick and kind responses to my insane questions when I was first starting out. They want to make the process as simple and painless as possible, so if you have a concern, please let them know. Not only will they help you resolve the issue, they’ll most likely use your experience to make it easier for the next person who comes along.

They Are Growing and Changing

That’s what I love most about this company. They are growing and changing – all with the indie author in mind. How can they make this process easier, faster, and farther reaching? Just last week they notified us of a new upgrade to their reporting system. In a short email, CEO Kris Austin explained how our sales reports will be even better than before. Already we were able to track real-time sales information across platforms, but now we can easily compare sales by book, by sales channel, or by royalty totals. Better yet, they’re completely customizable.

According to Austin, “You can customize your own chart to show the time frame you want, grouped the way you want, shown in either estimated royalties or unit sales. You can also narrow down any chart using the filters available on the Chart Contents tab, so it will only show reports for paid sales or only show books by a selected pen name or in a selected series.”

That’s not all. They’ve recently added the ability to create pre-orders in Kobo and iTunes and expanded the types of source documents they accept to include OpenOffice and LibreOffice. And, according to Austin, there’s more to come in the near future.

“We’re still hard at work on coupon code support, actively pursuing new Sales Channels to expand your reach, and constantly searching for other ways to improve the service.”

Whether you’re a first-time author searching for the best way to break into the market, or a seasoned professional looking for a better, more affordable alternative to the system you’ve been using, Draft2Digital is the answer.

Update:

3/10/14

We just received the following e-mail from Draft 2 Digital:

We’re excited to announce that, starting this week, we’ll be providing free ISBNs for all books published through Draft2Digital!

You’ll still be able to use your own ISBNs if you already have them, but if you don’t, we’ll supply them free of charge. This not only allows us to distribute your books to more channels, it also makes those books more discoverable for readers by linking up the metadata across multiple services, so we’re happy to provide them.

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