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Using & Inserting Hyperlinks into Your eBook
At some point you will probably want to include hyperlinks in your e-Book. Hyperlinks are simply links that can be clicked, and when they are clicked it directs you to a web page or a location in a document. There are many reasons why you may want to use hyperlinks such as: Inserting links to products so you can earn affiliate money, using links to direct traffic to a website, use links to products that you discuss or to a page with additional information, and you can also use links as a table of contents within your e-Book so that each link will take the user to a corresponding chapter.
As you have already noticed, I have used links already inside this e-Book (as it is published online). Here is how you can quickly & easily insert a link to a web page. First select the word(s) you want to convert to a hyperlink. For this example I will use my website Wildtips.com since I will be using this site to offer some additional bonus information & tools.
So I select the word with my mouse by clicking & dragging along the word until it is highlighted. Next I go to the top menu on the word processor, and click Tools–> Hyperlink. If your word processor does not have the hyperlink option under the Tools menu, then you can usually find it by either right clicking, looking under the Insert menu, or by looking at the icons under the main menu. The hyperlink icon button usually has a chain icon.
After you click the hyperlink button, it will ask the target. Just enter the full URL in this section (ex. http://www.wildtips.com). Then, it should highlight the word in blue & it will be clickable like the link above. This should stay clickable even when you convert the document to a PDF format. If the links are no longer clickable after you do this, you may want to make sure the PDF converter allows this feature.
If you want to create a link that takes you to another portion of your e-Book (such as a table of contents with links to certain chapters), then the process is slightly different. First, you have to create what is called a bookmark. This is where the hyperlink will take you when you click on it. For example, you may want to create a hyperlink for each chapter in the table of contents. So in the table of contents, chapter 1 will be a hyperlink, and when you click it, it will take you to the chapter 1 section (which is the bookmark).
First, you will need to create the bookmark. So go click on the word(s) you want to use for the bookmark (chapter 1). Highlight the word by clicking & dragging your mouse, and then click Tool–>Bookmark (or click the bookmark icon) on the main menu. Then a box will pop up & you will be asked to name the bookmark. Select a name (chapter 1) and click the “save” or “create” button. This will create a bookmark for chapter 1.
Now you will want to link to this bookmark in your table of contents. To do this, highlight the text chapter one within your table of contents. Then click the hyperlink button (or go to Tools–> Hyperlink or Insert–>Hyperlink depending on your word processor). Then a box will pop up asking you to fill in the hyperlink’s properties.
Select the bookmark option, and then type the bookmark’s name click the bookmark from the option field. This will create your document hyperlink, and when it is clicked it will take you to chapter 1. You can repeat this process for each chapter, or for any other parts of your document you want linked.
I usually have a table of contents with links on one of the first pages in my e-Books. However, you can create a separate sidebar table of contents section instead. To do this, you would click on Format–> Frames–> Table of Contents if you are using a program such as Microsoft Word. I have never used this format & I have only seen a couple of e-Books use this. I would not recommend it because it usually involves using frames. Some software systems & PDF converters do not work well with frames. Therefore, I would recommend making a table of contents page by simply using bookmarks & hyperlinks.
Adding a Legal Disclosure & Protection, Footnotes & References In Your eBook
Legal Disclosures
To protect the reader & yourself from any potential harm, you want to take proper precautions. This means you should have a legal disclosure (either on your website, e-Book, or both).
Since my very first e-Book, I have always included a disclosure within the guide. I would highly recommend you do the same. What should your disclosure include? Well anything that could potentially happen (even if it seems impossible) that could in any way harm a person, or get them into trouble.
For instance, if you write a guide on how to repair a television, you better have a good disclosure warning about the potential of electrical shock, etc. Because worst case scenario, a person goes & takes a television apart after reading your guide & gets shocked to death, you are probably going to be blamed in some way. I would recommend you have a good disclosure to help protect you.
That, of course, doesn’t mean that writing a good disclosure will protect you in every circumstance. But it can help. If you are unsure about how to write a disclosure, you may want to consult legal advice. The point is, the last thing you want is to simply try to help someone by writing an e-Book, and then the whole thing turns bad when something goes wrong.
So make sure the reader understands everything that could potentially go wrong, even if it is a one in a billion chance. You need to protect the reader, and yourself!
Also, in the disclosure I always like to remind individuals of my copyright notice. I will cover more about your rights under copyright law in another chapter, but it is a good idea to remind the buyer that your work is copyrighted & they may not reproduce, re-distribute, or re-sell it.
Of course, if you give resell rights to your e-Book to try to generate traffic, then you may want to mention something like “you may resell this e-Book as long as it is not altered in any way”-or something similar. You have complete control as an author on whether or not your work can be resold or not. It is up to you. Whatever you choose, I would recommend you disclose it fully in the disclosure at the beginning of your guide.
This also helps in the instance someone tries to illegally distribute your work. I have even seen authors offer a cash reward in their disclosure if anyone reports someone illegally distributing their work. That seems like it would be a pretty effective way to help stop copyright infringement.
Footnotes & References
Adding footnotes & references is also you may want to consider to place the final touches on your e-Book. For example, let’s say you quote from a piece of work or paraphrase something into your own words. It would be a good idea to include a footnote so that you can show your reference to the original work. You would do this by place a number or letter at the end of the sentence you are wanting to use with a footnote.
For example, if you want to give more information or show your source for reference for a sentence, you add a number or letter following that sentence like this. See how it added the little number one as a superscript, and then also provided a place to add the entire reference or additional information at the bottom of this page. How did I do that? Well it is simple.
Go to the top of your word processor. Then select INSERT–>Footnote/Endnote. That’s it! It will ask a number or letter, and you select it. Then you can add a caption or reference & it will place it at the end of your document or at the end of a page just like it did below.
Footnotes/Endnotes are great to give additional information or to quickly show a reference to something you writing about. However, I really rarely use them myself. I see them sometimes on web sites such as Wikipedia.org. I also haven’t really seen many in most e-Books I have read. Buy they can be appropriate for many instances. Of course, it is up to you if you want to use them, and how often you want to use them.
Adding a Header/Footer to Your eBook
You may also want to consider adding a header or footer. A header is simply a section at the top of each page that you can use to add text. A footer is a section at the bottom of the page that you can use to add text. I often use a footer, and rarely use a header. You can see my footer at the bottom of the page. It says, “ Copyright © ….”
To insert a header/footer, simply go to the top menu of your word processor. Usually, it is located under INSERT–> Header/Footer. You can then add the text or caption you want to say and boom, it will magically insert the header or footer.
You may want to use it to place a copyright notice, promote your website, add your name or the title of your e-Book, or anything you want. Many e-Books use either a header or a footer for one reason or another.
Writing A Conclusion In Your eBook
At the conclusion of your e-Book, you may want to summarize the entire book in a few short paragraphs. Of course, a conclusion is not appropriate for all books. For example, you rarely see a novel have a conclusion. But some books (such as a “how-to” type of guide), you may want to consider adding a conclusion.
Usually, (as you will see) I finish my e-Books by having a few short paragraphs summarizing the entire e-Book & the main message.
I then finish it by saying a few final words or a personal message. After that, I have a section with links, any bonuses I include, references, any works cited, etc.
That is how I personally like to end my e-Books. Of course, you don’t have to do any of that. But it would probably be a good idea to summarize or at least conclude your e-Book with a final conclusion paragraph if appropriate (or two or three paragraphs).
If you decide to write a conclusion, a good way to write it is to simply mirror your main introduction. I once heard an old teacher of mine say it best. She said, “When you write, you write in three stages. First is the introduction, where you tell people what you are about to talk about. Second, you have the body where you tell them what you want to tell them. Third, you have a conclusion (or summary) where you remind them what you just told them.”
Again, this may not be appropriate for every type of e-Book or document, but it works well with certain types. I usually use some form of introduction & conclusion.
Adding a References, Works Cited, & Resource Page
After you have concluded your e-Book, you may want to include some additional information. You could create an index (like many “real” books have), you could cite any works you mention in your e-Book, you can have a section of useful links, or website links you mentioned, you can offer any bonuses or additional books/articles that may be of interest to the reader, etc.
Most e-Books that I have written do not have a “works cited” or “references” page. The reason is that I simply try to avoid using outside sources as much as possible & simply write from my own experiences.. Most e-Books that I have read have also not contained works cited.
This is typically because e-Books are usually written by an author that writes from personal experience & there may be no need for a reference or citation page. Also, research papers, essays, articles, and encyclopedias are much more likely to contain a works cited or reference page because they rely heavily on outside resources for validity.
However, if the need arises for you to cite references, you can use several free online sources that will place your references in a popular format such as MLA format. You can perform a quick search on Google for “cite references” or “MLA format.” A neat website that has a form that you simply enter information & it automatically converts it to MLA format is KnightCite.
Finish Your e-Book
Wow, you are almost there! By this point, you should have all of your words typed, pictures inserted, a cover image (if you use one), any optional header/footers, any references, link, or anything else you want included in your e-Book.
It is important to go through your e-Book & make sure everything is displayed correctly. Check your links, proofread your work, make any changes, etc.
At this point you should spend time to make sure your book is ready to distribute. Because I am going to now tell you how to convert your work into a finished e-Book product. Once it is in e-Book format, you are ready to sell or distribute your work. So this is the real deal, so make sure it is ready! Of course, if you find a mistake you can always go back & edit your work, and many times & will occasionally update my guides & include new information or links I have discovered, etc.
Chapter 6: Making a Finished eBook & Converting to PDF
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Posted under Write an eBook, eBooks
This post was written by Ben on June 7, 2009
