Temporarily, we are not offering new Author Accounts.

However, additional Book Accounts for our existing authors are available now at no charge.

How It Works

• Upload your manuscript using our web interface.

• Click the Mobi button to create a Mobi file. Note, now that Amazon is no longer accepting books in the Mobi format, there is no longer a need for the Mobi button, so we expect to remove it at some point. EPUB is now Amazon’s preferred format publishing eBooks.

• Click the EPUB button to create a Mobi file.

• Click the PDF button to create a “camera-ready” PDF file for submitting to CreateSpace.

• Download the eBooks or PDF, proofread, make any changes to your manuscript, and repeat until you are satisfied.

Our motto is format early and often.

You don’t need to wait until your manuscript is finished. You can begin formatting as soon as you have written a chapter or two.

The formatting is almost instant, typically taking well under a minute. You can reformat multiple times per day if you wish, formatting on your schedule.

Prices

The price is $35.00 per book title. We would appreciate it if would add a credit on the copyright page saying something like:

  Formatting by nepotism.net
  

or

  Formatted at nepotism.net

This gives you a full, one-year book account (if your book is larger than 140,000 words or image intensive, email us for a quote), includes all three formats (Mobi, EPUB, and PDF) plus HTML for proofreading. Unlimited revisions. Support is provided by the extensive information on the web site, including the books and videos, and by email.

You get unlimited turns for a full year. If that isn’t enough time, email us about extending.

Why would you want to be able to make revisions for a year or more?

Here are some possibilities (you may think of others):

• You don’t need to wait until you book is finished to begin formatting it. Format it periodically throughout the development process. Do at least some of your proofreading using an eReader.

• The perfectionist in you might like the ability to correct that last remaining typo, even if it is discovered months after publication (and then the last remaining typo after that, and then the last remaining typo after that).

• The artist (or business person) in you might like to change out the book cover image (in the book) to see if it improves sales.

• As you write additional books, you might like to update the “Other Books By This Author” list in all of your other books.

What eBook formats do you get?

• Mobi (for publishing to Amazon or for reading on Kindles or Kindle Apps)

• EPUB 3 (for publishing nearly everywhere except Amazon and for reading on NOOKs, NOOK Apps, Apple iPads, iPhones, etc.) — we even run EpubCheck automatically so you can ensure your book passes the standard tests. This helps you get your book accepted at booksellers such as Apple, Kobo, B&N on the first try.

• HTML (for almost instantly viewing the results of the formatting in a web browser)

• “camera-ready” PDF (for printing, or for publishing and selling printed books through CreateSpace and Amazon)

What’s the Catch?

You need to add some simple markup to your manuscript. It’s easy to do. Our manuals and videos show you how.

You add the markup directly in your favorite word processor or text editor. If you can type an asterisk, you are more than half way there. Chapters are marked by preceding the chapter title with an asterisk, like this:

* Chapter One
...
* Chapter Two

Italics are marked with pairs of asterisks, like this:

"I didn't *know* that," he said.  *Yeah, right*, she thought.

If you are starting a new book, this is very easy; just add the asterisks and other markup as you write.

If your book is finished or mostly finished, you will have more markup to do initially. You could do it in stages, for example, mark all the chapters and format. Then mark some or all of the italics and reformat. Then mark the scene breaks and reformat. Etc. Of course, you don’t have to reformat after each step—that’s just for the fun of seeing your book progress, to give you the strength to continue.

A trick that can really speed up the initial markup, as shown in the videos, is to use your word processor’s find and replace facility.

If this initial formatting seems daunting, we suggest you just try it.

See formatting for examples.

Getting Started

Email frank@nepotism.net with the title of your book and the author name (pen names or multiple authors OK). We’ll email you an invoice. Once payment is received, we’ll set up your book account and email you the login information.