In the first part of this blog I described the benefits of turning your presentations into e-books. But, having decided to move ahead, how do you proceed?
Use this step-by-step process as a guide.
1. Decide the e-book formats in which you will publish.
There are options when it comes to publishing e-books. Many choose to reproduce their content in PDF format. This is perhaps the easiest option for several reasons:
- You can reproduce charts and images in relatively larger size.
- You can more easily produce a PDF than other e-book formats.
- You can read the PDF on a PC or Macintosh, or on an e-reader.
- You can print the PDF.
PDFs aren’t the only option. You can choose to produce your e-book in Amazon Kindle, Apple iBook, Barnes & Noble Nook, and Smashwords formats. Other formats will likely present themselves, but these four options are the ones you should consider first.
Consider how your audience will access and use the information you’re providing, and use this knowledge to choose the best publishing options.
Your decision here will influence how you proceed on the following steps.
2. Convert the text on your slides into a Word (or similar) document.
Chances are your presentation has slides, and possibly notes. Put this content into a Word (or similar) document for developing your manuscript.
You have options when it comes to converting your text into such a document:
- You can re-key your text from the slides to a document.
- You can copy the text and images from the slides to a document.
- You can convert the slides into copy the text from each slide by using certain programs for sale online.
3. Fill in the blanks.
A typical slide presentation includes lists of bullet points. This structure is the foundation of your e-book. During your presentation, you elaborated on each point. Take that content and use it to elaborate on each bullet point.
Some slides have a lot of text. The verbosity of these slides isn’t a good thing for oral presentations, because your audience will focus on what’s written and not on what you’re saying. They might be useful to your e-book if you’re trying to elaborate on a point. But this isn’t always the case. Avoid padding—the practice of adding words to lengthen your manuscript.
4. Check and place the images.
Often a slide show has charts or images, and they are necessary to illustrate your points.
First, make sure that you have permission to reproduce these items in your e-book. Then, reproduce them clearly for easy reading.
5. Edit the document.
By now, you’ve probably become so sick and tired of your content that it becomes easy to overlook things that readers must know.
Edit the document, and have others review and edit it as well.
6. Convert the manuscript to the appropriate format.
Depending on how you plan to publish your e-book, make the appropriate conversions. You can do these yourself, or you can outsource the job to vendors such as at fiverr.com.
Consider these steps when planning to convert your presentations to e-books.
