PUBLISHING STUDENT WRITING TO THE iPAD/iPHONE/iPOD TOUCH USING SMASHWORDS AND BLUEFIRE READER
by Kristin Fontichiaro
FIRST SMASHWORDS EDITION
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PUBLISHED BY:
Kristin Fontichiaro on Smashwords
This work is published under a Creative Commons-Attribution license. You are free to copy, distribute, and transmit the work (we request that you do so via Smashwords.com in exchange for them hosting this document for free), to adapt the work, and to make commercial use of the work. In exchange, you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Learn more about Creative Commons licenses at http://creativecommons.org/licenses .
The cover photo is courtesy of NASA Goddard Photo and Video and used under a Creative Commons-Attribution license. Original image found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/5958586280/in/photostream.
Smashwords Edition License Notes
Thank you for downloading this free eBook. Although this is a free book, we hope you will encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works. Thank you for your support.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: What is this eBook About?
Chapter 2: What Apps, Devices, and Tools Do I Need?
Chapter 3: Creating the Manuscript Template
Chapter 4: Assembling the Manuscript
Chapter 6: Adding Your File to Smashwords
Chapter 8: Transferring eBooks to Your iDevice
Chapter 9: Questions and Answers
CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS THIS EBOOK ABOUT?
This eBook will help you know how to do three things:
a) Format student work in Microsoft Word in preparation for publishing it online at Smashwords.com;
b) Publish student work at Smashwords.com online for download to eReaders, online reading via PDF, or download to free Kindle and/or Adobe Digital Editions software on a desktop/laptop;
c) Download student work to your iDevice without syncing with iTunes, using the free Bluefire Reader App. This will enable students to customize the reading experience by adjusting font size, setting bookmarks, and setting up font and background colors for readability.
CHAPTER 2: WHAT APPS, DEVICES, AND TOOLS DO I NEED?
What Device Do I Need?
This book assumes that you have some iPads/iPhones/iPod Touches for your classroom already. But if you're browsing this book and you want to create eBooks with kids but don't have those devices, don't worry. You can read the eBooks we're making in this book on many other devices, such as laptops (using free software from Kindle, Adobe Acrobat Reader, orAdobe Digital Editions) or eReaders (like Kindle, Sony, Nook, and more). If you have an Android device, that should work too, as long as you install the free Bluefire Reader app.
What Apps Do I Need on my iDevice?
You'll want to download the free Bluefire Reader app. If your students will be writing on their iPads, you'll want that software as well. Pages and Documents to Go are two popular options.
What Else Do I Need?
1. Microsoft Word for your laptop or desktop.
2. A free account at Smashwords.com .
3. The Smashwords Style Guide (available at Smashwords.com).
4. PowerPoint or an image-creation software so you can create a cover.
CHAPTER 3: CREATING THE MANUSCRIPT TEMPLATE
You are probably versatile in creating documents in Word. You know how to adjust the layout, font size, margins, and more to show off your work to its best advantage. In other words, you as the creator decide what your document looks like. The toughest part about creating an eBook is realizing how few formatting choices you can make. But there's a reason for that: eBooks have limited formatting so that readers can customize what it looks like. So as you begin to assemble your document, consider the "Less is More" approach to formatting.
It's absolutely essential to download Smashwords Style Guide (http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52), a very comprehensive guide to creating a manuscript in Word that will render well on Smashwords. Rather than repeating everything in that guide, here are a few key points that have helped me:
* Know when Smashwords is the right tool ... and when it isn't. Smashwords was primarily designed for the online publication of fiction. That means it works really well with text-intensive books. However, it is not good for books for which you want to do a lot of custom formatting, and it is not great for image-heavy works. So if you're looking to create an online "coffee table" book of photos, try another service. It could be a great place to publish a student handbook if you're in a 1:1 school (consider privacy issues beforehand), but not your weekly newsletter.
* Start with a blank Word document. Starting fresh helps minimize hidden formatting errors.
* Show paragraphs. On your Word toolbar, you should see a backwards P and the word "Show" (see below). Click on it. This will reveal your formatting marks to you in blue, which will help you check your work and avoid spacing and layout errors.
Figure 3.1:
The Show Formatting icon on the toolbar on Word for Mac 2007.
* Prepare a sample paragraph. Highlight a paragraph. Set the font to Times New Roman 12. Under Format > Paragraph, make sure Line Spacing is set to single. Leave "Spacing Before" at 0pt. Set "Spacing After" at 10pt. Save it.
* Save that paragraph formatting as a style. Highlight that same paragraph that you just formatted. With the paragraph highlighted, go to Format > Style. Click New. For Name, put Smashwords Normal. Click Apply and close the formatting window.
* Save it with .doc and not .docx as the extension (select from the pulldown options under the list of documents).
CHAPTER 4: ASSEMBLING THE MANUSCRIPT
Time to take all of your students' work and assemble it into a single document. Now you're going to use the manuscript template from Chapter 3 as the foundation for your manuscript.
Cover Page
Refer to Smashwords Style Guide (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52) for details; the author of the Guide, Smashwords founder Mark Coker, suggests this title (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22171) as having a well-formatted cover page.
You'll want to make a statement about copyright. All works are copyrighted automatically when they are created, even if the creator is a minor. It isn't fair to name yourself the copyright holder of your students' work, right? One flexible option is to ask students and parents if you can publish under a Creative Commons license (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses), which allows for content to be shared and remixed at various levels. Another more traditional option is to add a statement to the effect of, "The author of each essay holds the copyright for that essay."
It goes without saying that you absolutely, positively, cannot publish someone else's work without their permission. Smashwords takes this very seriously!
In Chapter 5, we'll talk about designing a cover that will precede the cover page.
Table of Contents
Next, list each chapter in the Table of Contents. Don't assign page numbers (they will change depending on the font size chosen by the reader): just list the chapters. Keep it simple! Later, you will divide the book up with chapter headings, like this eBook shows. This will auto-format a navigable table of contents for Kindle and .epub devices (like Nook, iDevices, and Sony Reader).
Add and Format Your Students' Work
* Strip all formatting from your students' text. Let's say you're going to create a class poetry anthology, and each student will submit his or manuscript separately to you. Many word processing tools (Microsoft Word is notorious for this) add a lot of hidden formatting to your manuscript that can confuse Smashwords. Try first copying and pasting your text into a format-free word processing document like WordPad (free with Windows) or TextEdit (free with Mac OS). Then copy and paste that plain text into your Word template.
* Cut and paste all of your students' writing into the document. Smashwords asks you to submit the entire manuscript as a single file (this gets cumbersome after a while, but it's for a good cause!). Paste each student's entry into the document.
*Avoid double-returns! At the end of each paragraph, click return ONCE. Do not click return/enter twice, or you'll get a huge space in your eBook. (It sounds weird, but it has to do with the behind-the-scenes definition of what Return/Enter means in eBook language.) When you set the "Spacing After" as 10pt, you were telling the eReader, "leave some space between this paragraph and the next one," rendering the traditional "double-enter" technique unnecessary.
* Avoid tables, tabs, indenting, bulleted lists, or formatting. These formatting tools may appear garbled when translated by an eReader. (To simulate bulleted or numbered lists, as I've done here, use a number, dash, or an asterisk, a single space, and then begin your text.)
* Use no more than three paragraph marks in a row. Not only will this confuse Smashwords during conversion, but it will also leave huge gaps that are visually confusing to your reader.
* Use bold fonts sparingly (they may render in some formats but not others).
* Use Word's default font until you become fluent in Smashwords formatting.
* Stick with left-justify or centered text. Again simpler is better. Ask your students to do this as well. eBook publishing currently requires different layout rules from a five-paragraph essay, lab report, or brochure.
* Optimize images You can insert images into your manuscript, either by copying and pasting images or by using the Insert> Picture option, but be judicious. Your entire manuscript cannot exceed 5MB. As discussed further in Chapter 4, image compression is one option for having many images. Just keep an eye on your file size.
* Link your Table of Contents to the chapters. This is explained in detail in Smashwords Style Guide. Start by paging through your manuscript. (To make it easier for both you and your reader to navigate the chapter, I put a page break at the end of the previous chapter.) Highlight the name of each chapter in the manuscript (e.g., CHAPTER 9: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS).
With those words highlighted, go to Insert > Bookmark. That will pull up the Bookmark dialog box (see Figure 4.1). Type in an easy-to-remember nickname for the chapter and click Add. Repeat this for each chapter within the manuscript.
Figure 4.1:The Insert Bookmark dialog box.
Now you are going to create a link from the Table of Contents to the chapter within the manuscript. Highlight the correct line in the Table of Contents and select Insert > Hyperlink from the top toolbar. (or CTRL+K on Windows; COMMAND+K on Mac) to bring up the hyperlink dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.2.
Figure 4.2: Insert Hyperlink dialog box with "document" selected from the three options in the middle of the box.
Now, you're going to locate the bookmark you previously made that matches the line you have highlighted on the Table of Contents. Click the Locate button to bring up the dialog box shown in Figure 4.3.
Figure 4.3:The dialog box that comes up after clicking "Locate."
Click the arrow next to Bookmarks to reveal the list of bookmarks you created a few moments ago. Click on the name of the matching Chapter and click OK. The dialog box will disappear, and you will have added a blue hyperlink to your Table of Contents!
* Hyperlink, but be careful with Bookmarks. Bluefire Reader is not a big fan of hyperlinks: they may appear blue but not be functional! Still, for other eReader software, you can add URLs to your document. Because different Smashwords formats render links differently, and the plain text format will strip out hyperlinking features, I often type the URL itself, and then use CTRL+K to highlight and create the link, like this:
FOOLPROOF METHOD: http://www.fontichiaro.com
instead of typing words, highlighting them, and using CTRL+K to create the hyperlink:
MAY NOT WORK IN ALL FORMATS: This is my Web site.
For certain, the second version is more readable, but if the hyperlinking is stripped during Smashwords' converting of your Word document to one of the many digital formats, your readers won't know what link you intended.
A hyperlink takes the reader outside the manuscript to the Web; however, a bookmark helps people link from one place in the manuscript to another. While the Smashwords Style Guide says this is possible, and I followed those directions to set up hyperlinks that worked in the two major eReader formats (.mobi for Kindle and .epub for iBooks, Bluefire Reader, Sony, Nook, etc.), these internal links do not consistently render in the two HTML formats that are automatically created for your manuscript. In an earlier publishing project, this caused so much confusion that we ultimately eliminated the internal links.
*Keep an eye on the Style! On your toolbar, you should see, to the left of the font name and size, the Style you have selected. Keep an eye to make sure the Style remains Smashwords Normal, as you set earlier. In my experience, Word sometimes "forgets" to use this style and reverts to just Normal. Should this happen, you'll notice that some of your text formatting is a bit off from the rest. Just go back and reset that Style to Smashwords Normal.
Sometimes, I find that I have two do this twice in order to get it to revert to the proper styling. Word may prompt you, the second time, with, "Do you want to update the style ... or reapply the formatting...?" Select Reapply.
CHAPTER 5: CREATING A COVER
You will be asked to upload a cover image as well as the document.
You can use graphics software like Photoshop or GIMP, but an easy substitute is to design your cover as a single PowerPoint slide.
Under File > Page Setup, turn the slide orientation to portrait.
Then you can quickly type a title, set background colors, and add images (I like http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net for Creative Commons images that are OK to use.
Save your design as a PowerPoint file.
Now you will save the design again, this time asking PowerPoint to convert it into a JPEG (image) file.
First, take two steps to create an eReader-friendly image that has a small file size. Go to File > Save As and click Options. Under the "Save Files as Graphics" section, set the Dots Per Inch at 96 and click the Compress Files option, leaving the quality at High. I have been able to add about a dozen of these images to a document, but be aware that Smashwords will not allow your total file to be more than 5MB in size. If you are adding additional photographs in your document, you may want to compress them first using a free tool like Picasa (http://picasa.google.com). Then click OK.
Now you'll select the format in which you want to save your cover, which is JPEG. Right above Options, select Format and scroll down to select JPEG. Navigate to where you want to save images, and click Save. PowerPoint will create a new folder at the location you chose, and each slide will be turned into an image in JPEG format.
Not only do I upload this image when prompted by Smashwords to create a cover image, but I also paste it into the first page of my Word document. In some eReader formats, this will mean that the cover image shows up twice to the reader. However, other formats, such as HTML will not add the separate cover image, so having it embedded in the Word document is essential!
CHAPTER 6: ADDING YOUR FILE TO SMASHWORDS
Your cover is ready, and your manuscript is polished. You have corrected any errors found by the Auto-Vetter. You're ready to add your file to Smashwords. Once you are experienced at formatting Smashwords documents, this will be a quick and painless step, but plan for this to take an hour or so the first time you do it.
First, create a free account in Smashwords. Then, when you log in, click PUBLISH from the top toolbar. You'll be walked through many self-explanatory prompts. Be ready to provide:
* The title of your book;
* A short description that will be used to market/describe your book;
* An optional longer description (you can repeat the short description and/or add additional content. If you are creating a collected volume of essays, for example, you could use this space to list all of the authors. Just keep student privacy in mind -- seek parent permission if necessitated by district policy);
* The language in which the book was written;
* Any adult content (please, please tell me your K-12 work does not, but this brings up a good point: that Smashwords contains a wide variety of titles. You may wish to link to specific titles rather than having students search the catalog themselves);
* The price, if any. For easy downloading by students, I recommend publishing as a free book. If you choose to set a price, have it end in .99 (e.g., $4.99 instead of $5.00). By doing so, you make it compatible with some of the eBookstores to which you can request that Smashwords distribute;
* Sampling options, meaning the percentage of the book that could be previewed at no charge;
* Categories that, like subject headings, describe the book's content;
* Tags, or keywords, that describe the contents of your book;
* The formats into which you want your Word document converted. Smashwords will automatically convert it into two HTML (Web language) formats for you, but you can opt which additional ones you pick.
I generally select PDF, .mobi (Kindle software, apps, and devices), and .epub (virtually every eReader except for Kindle, plus the free download Adobe Digital Editions). You must select .epub if you want to read the document in Bluefire Reader (see Chapter 8).
* Your cover image.
* Your manuscript, in a single file.
Once you have uploaded everything, Smashwords' MeatGrinder gets to work, converting your Word document into the formats you've selected, plus an HTML (Web page) version.
You can leave the screen open to get continuous progress reports, or can close the window. You'll receive an email when your manuscript is complete.
Once you receive the email notification, your book is publicly published and available for download!
Take note of the URL for your book's page so you can post it to your class Web site and share it with students and others. (Now is probably a good time to point out that if you are publishing students' work online, you will want to follow district protocols regarding the use of real and/or last names in your manuscript and whether you need parental permission. When in doubt, play it safe.)
If you made a mistake or want to update the manuscript later, you can go back at any time and upload a new version, cover, or descriptive metadata. (Select Dashboard, not Publish, to update an existing eBook.)
CHAPTER 7: SMASHWORDS PREMIUM
Do you have dreams of being a published author at Barnes and Noble? The Apple iBookstore? The Sony Reader store? Smashwords can do this for free for you. Everything is free, from getting your own ISBN to distribution, even if your eBook is free, like we advocate here!
The Smashwords Web site will tell you everything you need to know about this service. I wait until I feel confident that my manuscript is in "final" format before I apply for Premium. Smashwords can assign your book its own ISBN number and forward it, after having a human on the Smashwords team look it over, to all of the major eBook stores (Barnes and Noble, Apple's iBook store, Sony, and others) EXCEPT for Amazon.com (they're working on it). This is an opt-in service, so if you want your project to have a lower profile, you can elect not to go Premium. It takes approximately 2-6 weeks for your manuscript to be added to the external bookstores, but don't worry -- the Smashwords version is available immediately!
CHAPTER 8: TRANSFERRING FILES TO YOUR iDEVICE
Usually, when you want to add content to your iPad, you connect it to your computer and sync via iTunes. If you have a class set of iPads, that can be laborious. In some school districts, all iPads sync to a Tech Services computer, so they cannot be modified at the local level. Here is where Bluefire Reader provides a terrific, easy workaround.
In Chapter 7, you posted the URL for your Smashwords page on your class Web site. Ask your students to fire up their iDevice browser and go to your class Web site (iDevice trick: add the link to your class home page as a Bookmark in Safari so they can quickly get there each time).
Ask them to click on the Smashwords link, scroll down to the list of available formats, and pick .ePub. When they do, they will be asked if they want to open the document with Bluefire Reader.
A few moments later, your class-made book will be stashed in Bluefire Reader's library for students to read. No cable, iTunes, or syncing required!
CHAPTER 9: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
To be completed at the iPads in the Classroom conference, October 22, 2011.
CHAPTER 10: ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kristin Fontichiaro is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Information and the author of several professional books for educators and librarians as well as informational texts for elementary and middle school students.
kmfont [at] gmail [dot] com
www.fontichiaro.com
http://blog.schoollibrarymonthly.com
@activelearning
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