Writing and Self-Publishing Your Book on the iPad

By Brian Schell

Yes, you can write a book and self-publish it worldwide using only your iPad.

 

In this book, we'll go over the reasons why you might want to write your book on an iPad. Then we'll look at the various models of iPad and decide which is suitable for your needs.

 

We'll look at optional and recommended accessories, everything from a bare iPad to a full desktop setup with a monitor, mouse, and external drives. What will work for you, and what won't?

 

Next, we'll look at the various software tools you'll use. Yes, we'll look at numerous word processors and text editors, but there are also outlining and mind-mapping tools as well as graphics apps for use with cover design. We'll look into which apps export into the formats you'll need for both print books and ebooks.

 

Lastly, we'll look at the process of publishing worldwide on all the major bookselling platforms.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian Schell
• Release date: Jul 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201448165

Brian Schell

Brian Schell is a College English Instructor who has an extensive background in Buddhism and other world religions. After spending time in Japan, he returned to America where he created the immensely popular website, Daily Buddhism. For the next several years, Schell wrote extensively on applying Buddhism to real-world topics such as War, Drugs, Tattoos, Sex, Relationships, Pet Food and yes, even Horror Movies. Twitter: @BrianSchell Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/Brian.Schell Web: http://BrianSchell.com

Book preview

Writing and Self-Publishing Your Book with an iPad

Writing and Self-Publishing Your Book with an iPad

Brian Schell

BlueHouseBooks.com

Contents

Introduction

What’s in This Book

Things This Book is Not

Why do this?

What do writers do on the iPad?

Equipment and Hardware

Future-proofing your system

iPad Options

Keyboard

USB Hub

Mouse / Trackpad

Mouse

Trackpad

Monitor

Choosing a Monitor for an older (non-M1) iPad:

Choosing a Monitor for an M1-based iPad:

iPad Stands and Cases

Apple Pencil

Cables

Hard Drives and Storage

Choosing a Cloud Service

Microsoft OneDrive

Google Drive

Dropbox

iCloud

Software Systems

Word Processors

Microsoft Word

Apple Pages

Google Docs

Scrivener

Markdown Apps

Textastic

IA Writer

Ulysses

Idea Capture Tools

iPhone or iPad?

Drafts

Apple Notes

Notability / GoodNotes

Voice Memos

OneNote

Other Note Apps

Outline Creation

OmniOutliner

Cloud Outliner

Workflowy

Dynalist

Story Planner

Mind Mapping

MindNode

SimpleMind

Which Software Does it all?

Microsoft Word

Ulysses

Pages

Scrivener

Google Docs

Output and Publishing

DOCX: Microsoft Word Document

EPUB: Ebook format

PDF: Print-Ready book layouts

Blogging

Publishing Details

Amazon KDP Issues

Smashwords

Draft2Digital

Apple Books

Cover Design

Apple Pages

Affinity Designer / Affinity Photo

Canva

Honorable Mention: Google Drawings

Cover Content Warning:

Cover Sizing Details

Useful with Optional Mac

Vellum

My Typical Workflow

How and Where to Publish Your Book

Things you need before starting the publishing process:

Things you can figure out during the publishing process:

Where to sell your books

Print Books

eBooks

Draft2Digital

Smashwords

Smashwords

Appendix A: Using Markdown

Markdown Example

Appendix B: Dictation

Siri

Google Docs

Drafts

Otter

About the Author

Also by Brian Schell

Copyright © 2022 by Brian Schell

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Paperback ISBN: 9798840822722

Introduction

Iam definitely a writer. I’ve written over thirty books over the part nine years. You’d think I would spend most of my time writing, but no, I seem to spend most of my time trying out new writing apps and systems to make the actual job of writing easier. I absolutely believe that I spend more time fiddling around with word processors, text editors, cloud syncing, and similar things than I actually do typing words.

It’s not just a matter of switching between Microsoft Word and Google Docs once; no, I switch back and forth almost regularly enough to mark it on the calendar. It’s not just Mac vs. PC, either. I have Chromebooks, iPads, an AlphaSmart Neo, and more mechanical keyboards than I can even find anymore, not to mention voice recorders and dictation devices.

Yes, I’ve raised distraction and procrastination to a whole new level of professionalism. So I came up with a plan: rather than whine about my insane compulsion to constantly switch, why not make use of it and write a book about how to write a book using these various machines and software apps? My inability to commit to a single system may almost qualify as a mental illness, but I have to say, I have actually become an expert on the topic. I have literally tried everything out there. I’ve written books on Google Docs, Switching to the iPad, and Switching to the Raspberry Pi before (See the Also by at the end of the book), but never with a specific focus on writing and publishing.

I recently picked up an Apple Magic Keyboard for my new iPad Air 5, so for this month at least, I’m obsessively in iPad Mode. I already had the Apple Folio Keyboard for my old 2018 iPad Pro, and numerous Bluetooth keyboards for my iPad Mini. Are you getting the picture yet? I’m a tech addict. Worse still, I’m not a reviewer, so I have to actually PAY for all this stuff!

I’m not exclusive to iPad though; I also like my MacBook Air and numerous Chromebooks. The only one I really actively try to avoid is Windows. Still, if you’re looking to write and self-publish on either Windows or Mac, there are certainly books out there that will help you do that. I’m going to focus more on the minimalist methods here. Publishing with iPad will be the first book, and someday, I’ll probably do something similar for Google Docs and the Chromebook.

What’s in This Book

So for this book, we’ll take a look at the iPad from the point of view of a writer who plans to self-publish on Amazon and/or the other major self-publishing platforms.

We’ll take a look at the various hardware options, everything from just an iPad Mini in your hand up to a full desktop system with all the accessories. Next, we’ll look at the various software tools you may want, from word processors to outliners and mind mapping software. Again, all these will be discussed (and sometimes rejected) based on the specific needs of self-publishing.

We’ll briefly look at cover design as well, with a few tips and tricks on that, then we’ll look at into the various places you can publish your book; there’s a lot more than just Amazon out there!

The appendices discuss using the Markdown text-description language and also about various ways to use dictation on your iPad.

Things This Book is Not

I will point out some new-ish features of iPadOS when appropriate, but I am going to assume you already know how to install, open, and use basic apps as well as general iPad usage.

I have already written a book on the topic, Going iPad: Making the iPad Your Only Computer, and I’m not going to duplicate all that here [it’s in the third edition as of this writing, but there may be a fourth someday]. The point here is to focus on the goal of writing and publishing a book using your iPad as