Today, we’re covering the ins and outs of ebook development software. From recording your audio or videos to delivering your book in a variety of formats, there’s a lot to think about if you plan to put time and effort into creating an e-book.
Free ebook development software is available to both publishers and independent writers. They are valuable tools for the creation and authoring of ebooks, which can be distributed and sold at no cost or even for a fee. Authors may choose the software that fits their personal needs.
Whether your ebook is free or not, an advanced ebook development software can help you make the most of it. Whether you want to create a mobile app for it or have it converted into a video, there are different options available to help you create your ideal end product. In this article, you will read about some of the best free ebook software you can use.
There are many e-book development software packages and free ebook-development software options available. While those free apps may be cheap, they can be more time consuming to produce the final e-book. Using a so-called free app might make sense for hobbyists who have some knowledge of the workings of a computer but not for those just starting out in the business of creating PDF ebooks.
Which ebook creator tool is right for you?
Based on these recommendations for ebook creation software, I imagine you’re wondering where to start. To make your decision a bit easier, this list is organized from the easiest and most accessible software to the most difficult and premium software. If you have some experience in creating ebooks, then you might be able to skip forward to the advanced premium tools. However, if all you need is to make an ebook quick and dirty, then shoot for any of the first four options.
Blurb:
Blurb provides you with eBook creation software for creating and publishing. You would first have to download their free desktop software package in order to start with book creation. It also gives you the option to upload a PDF and convert it into an eBook.
You need a minimum of 22 pages to create an eBook from a PDF. Once your eBook is ready, Blurb even helps you sell your eBook. They handle the logistics, shipping, and on-demand printing.
You can sell your eBook through the Blurb Bookstore, Amazon, Ingram, and Apple iBook store.
Reedsy
As a professional book editor, Reedsy not only guides you to make your books great, it also tells how to design books with brilliant design. “We are here to aid all literary endeavors, great and small.” To be a perfect editor, designer or marketer, Reedsy tries to impresses audiences with high quality eBook.
Kotobee
Kotobee acts as a comprehensive solution for interactive eBook creation. With eBook creator and editor, you are capable of creating content-rich eBooks. And according to individual or organizational needs, Kotobee ensures you to design eBooks with interactivity and multimedia. Furthermore, as a technology suit for great reader’s experience, Kotobee enables you to arrange your eBook into a branded library app.
Designrr
BEST TOOL TO CREATE EBOOK FROM YOUR EXISTING CONTENT
Designrr is the most popular eBook creator software with over 100000+ users around the world.
It’s a powerful tool to convert your existing blog posts, podcasts, videos and PDFs into eBooks, show notes, dynamic flipbooks, transcripts, PDFs and web pages.
With Designrr, you don’t have to create fresh new content for your eBook.
You can easily and quickly repurpose the content you already have and boost your traffic and leads by reaching new audiences.
And believe me, all these are done right inside the Designrr tool without requiring you to know any designing or technical skills.
The existing content you can convert into an eBook with Designrr are:
- Blog post. You can convert your blog articles into eBook that can be used as a lead magnet to grow your email list faster.
- YouTube videos. Auto-transcription and screen capture editor by Designrr can easily videos into eBooks.
- Facebook post. Import your social content from Facebook Page to create a eBook.
- Podcast. Easily convert your podcast into eBooks or Show Notes.
- Old PDFs
- Microsoft Word document
- Google Docs and many more
Features of Designrr
- Import your existing content to create your eBook
- Over 100 project templates
- Create unlimited eBooks
- Unlimited use of copyright free images
- 922 Google fonts
- Supports WordPress, Squarespace, Shopify & Hubspot blog
- Supports all publishing formats – ePub, Mobi, and Kindle
- Easily transcribe a video or audio file
- All data is stored on secure servers behind SSL encryption
- Tutorials on how to write or create an eBook
To create an eBook in Designrr, follow the below mentioned steps:
- Sign in to your Designrr account.
- Go to My Projects and select New Project.
- Under Select Import Option, select any one of these options – 1. Import from blog posts, 2. Import from word, 3. Import from PDF, 4. Import from Facebook page or 5. Start from scratch.
- Let’s say you have selected – Import from blog posts. In the next step, enter the URL of your blog post and select Fetch.
- Within a few seconds, it will fetch the URL. Here you have the option to enter another URL if you want to import content from multiple blog posts. Click on Next to continue.
- In this step, Designrr will present you lots of attractive and professionally designed templates for your eBook. Select any one template that you like. Some examples of templates offered by Designrr are given below.
7. Once you choose the template of your choice, it will take you the Designrr Editor where you can customize each and every elements of the templates – add text, background color, font type, font color, font size, table of content, padding, margin, image, shape, header & footer and more.
8. When you’re ready with your eBook, select the Publish button. Here it will ask you to select the format for your eBook – PDF, Mobi, ePub, Flipbook and more. And select Export to download the eBook to your computer.
Designrr Pricing & Plans
Designrr comes with the following paid plans – Standard, Pro, Premium and Business.
Each of the plans of Designrr comes with a free 7-day trial to try all of its features. Once you’re satisfied with the features and performance of Designrr during the trial period, you can easily upgrade to the paid plan.
Start using Designrr to create a stylish and beautifully designed eBook ready for you to use them to sell or collect leads. If you want to learn more, check out the Designrr review.
Special Offer: For limited time, you can get started with Designer Starter Plan for one-time fee of only $27 (Regular Price – $29 per month).
Canva
Another great book maker to create an eBook for free is Canva.
Canva is an all-in-one platform for creating visually attractive banners, ads, reports, infographics, post for Facebook or Instagram, presentations and of course eBooks.
It has a library of templates that are easily customizable. With the help of its easy, drag-and-drop tools, you can create a professional looking and eye-catching eBooks within a few minutes.
Canva offers an amazing library of templates and easy, drag-and-drop tools to create a professional looking eBooks.
Features of Canva
- Hundreds of pre-designed but customizable templates
- Cloud storage for every design
- Easy collaboration with team
- Ability to add your own images
- Library of over 1 million images, graphics and illustrations
- Download your design as an image or PDF
- 800k+ icons and illustrations
- 700+ fonts
Canva editor allows you to easily customize eBook templates. If you use any premium images or icons or any other graphics it would cost you $1 per item.
However, if you don’t want to pay, you would be happy to know that there are thousands of images/icons/graphics that are completely free to use.
To create an eBook in Canva for free, follow the below mentioned steps:
- Sign up for a free account at Canva – https://canva.com
- Now in the Canva Home Page, search for “ebooks” or click here – https://www.canva.com/create/ebooks/
- Under eBook area, select any eBook template of your choice. You can check for front, inside and back cover pages for each templates.
- Customize the eBook template using high-quality stock photos, images, illustrations, icons and other graphics. Most of them are completely free to use.
- Use the drag and drop tool offered by Canva to move icons and graphics around and customize the template as per your requirements.
- Once you’re finished with your eBook, download and save your eBook pages as PDF or PNG/JPG images.
For compete tutorial visit my blog post – How to Create an eBook in Canva for Free. In this article, I have explained in detail each step required to create a professional looking eBook.
If you want to create a lead magnet in the form of an eBook for your blog or business and build your email list or make an extra income selling your eBook, Canva can be a perfect tool for you.
Visme
Third on the list of eBook creator is Visme. It is one of the best eBook design software. It’s a cloud-based visual content creation and collaboration platform.
It also allows you to design beautiful on-brand presentations, infographics and any other visual communications. Check out how Visme can help you create high-quality and professional looking infographics in minutes – Visme Infographic Maker.
It has more than 6 million users, including some top brands like PayPal, IBM, Unilever, Zurich and more.
Visme mainly specializes in infographics and presentations but it also has a powerful tool to create free eBooks.
You can create eBooks for free from its eBook creator tool.
Ebook creator by Visme contains lots of ready-made templates that you can use to create your eBook or you can use blank one to start from scratch.
The templates are completely editable. Inside the Visme ebook creator Dashboard, you would get the following customization option to design your eBook.
- Layout: To start from blank or use an existing template
- Basics: To add Header & Text, Stats & Figures, Graphics & Text, Diagrams and your own custom blocks
- Graphics: To add Shapes, Arrows & Lines, Icons and animated graphics
- Photos: To add images from its free or premium collection
- Media: To add video, audio or embed online content
If you have worked with Canva earlier, you may feel that the Visme’s Dashboard is almost similar to it.
Once you complete designing your eBook and added your content, you can download it in the following formats:
- Image – JPG or PNG
- Document – PDF
- Video or GIF
- Powerpoint, Keynote or HTML5
Though Visme doesn’t have the feature like Designrr to import content from your existing blog post, podcasts or videos but it could be perfect choice if you want to create simple but beautifully designed eBook.
Which is the best format for eBooks?
1. PDF (Portable Document Format)
The most common ebook format is the PDF. Go to any website offering a free ebook, and you’d usually get the freebie in PDF form. Most computers and even mobile devices can open PDF files with a pre-installed PDF reader, so it’s the most user-friendly format you can have for an e-book.
2. MOBI (Mobipocket)
Originally used by the Mobipocket e-reader, the .mobi format is now used by more popular e-book readers, including Amazon Kindle and the Kindle apps for iOs and Android devices. This format is visually appealing, as it gives readers similar behaviors to physical books, such as swiping to turn a page and earmarking a page.
3. EPUB (ePublication)
The .epub format is similar to .mobi, but it’s a free, open-source standard for e-book publishing. Because of this, almost all e-readers support .epub including Amazon Kindle Fire, Apple iBooks and Google Books.
4. iBook (Apple iBooks)
This is an exclusive format for all e-books sold on the Apple iBooks store. It is built using the EPUB standard, but adds restrictions so it can only be sold and consumed within the Apple iBooks realm. Because of this, iBook formats are incompatible with readers which can read the standard .epub format.
Once you are familiar with these formats, you can now decide which one you want to have for your e-book. If you plan on selling it on Amazon, then the .epub format is the best option. If you’re making a quick e-book that you want to offer for free on your website, then it’s best to make it as a PDF. Ultimately, you need to think about which format might work best for your target audience.
Conclusion
The popularity of ebooks has only increased over the years, with over 1 million ebooks in the Kindle store alone. As more people become aware of this new amazing technology, it’s important that they learn more about how to develop their own ebook software.
Ebook Development Software as a simple application that makes it easy to create ebooks (digital books) and publish them. Whether you’re creating an ebook, or publishing one, our software is fully integrated with various platforms and channels so you don’t have to spend extra time transferring your ebooks somewhere else. You can easily create and publish your ebook in a wide variety of formats.