ePub hyperlinks

[gingerh]

I'm a relative newcomer to Storyist and have spent the past several weeks getting acquainted with publishing via ePub. As a forever Mac user I have a basic knowledge of Word b/c my publishers wanted everything in Word, but most of my projects are in Pages. I was learning Storyist for my story writing and then discovered I can use it to convert my projects into ePub and Mobi.

 

This was an exciting discovery b/c I have been taking online classes for self-publishing and since I'm a control freak I didn't want to go the Smashwords route.

 

I'm having pretty good luck with my first project (still can't figure out how to get that darn cover at the front of my iBook draft!) but there's one important thing I can't figure out–how to make hyperlinks active in an ePub (and Mobi when I get that far!!)

 

i've searched the forums and watched the ePub video but I can't find any mention of how or when to enter the necessary information that will make your hyperlinks in the manuscript go live in the ePub. As a Pages person, it either does it automatically or you just go into the Inspector and enable it manually. I have no idea how to replicate this when exporting from Storyist into ePub.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

thanks,

 

gingerh

[marguerite]

Hi, Gingerh, and welcome to the forums:

I can't answer your question about the hyperlinks, because I don't use them (except for the ToC, where Storyist generates them automatically). Steve will probably check in soon and walk you through the process.

 

In terms of adding a cover, just drag the cover file into your Images folder (it has to be JPEG or PNG). When you export the file to ePub, in that first window where it says "Select items to export," click on your manuscript to select it, then scroll down until you see IMAGES and click on the box next to your cover to select that, too. You can also select any front matter you have set up in the Notebook. Then click Next and drag the items into the order you want them. Continue through to the last box and fill in any information you want about ISBN, description, etc. Change the pre-entered title and author as needed.

 

In that last box, before clicking Next to save the file, I usually save the setup as a Preset (click on Presets, choose Save Preset, give it a name). Otherwise Storyist forgets the information and you have to set it up again each time. That's your choice, but if you do that, the next time you click on Presets and choose the name you gave your preset. Storyist then fills in most of the boxes for you.

 

You can save a Preset at any point, but if you do it in the last window, your description, etc., will be included. Saves on typing (and offsets memory loss).

Best,

Marguerite

[gingerh]

Marquerite,

 

Thanks a lot for your response and kind welcome. I've been lurking for several weeks and reading bunches of Q&A b/c I didn't want to bother folks with something that's already been answered.

 

I'm beginning to suspect putting any hyperlinks are done at the various retail upload sites since they don't want you putting in a competitor's link, like a B&N link in a Kindle ebook. I'm sure I read it somewhere and it just took awhile to hit my brainbox!

 

I actually had copied and saved another post from you to another newbie about using the Notebook format for the Title Page, etc. which works great and I appreciate that. BTW, at this point I'm only making an ePub (over and over again) of my book and checking it out on my iPad.

 

The cover issue has me really stymied. From what I've seen in my hours of studying ebooks on my iPad, sometimes folks get their cover right up in front, but often it's on page 2 like mine. (And it shows up on the TOC if I hold the iPad longways for the side by side pages effect.) I'm not sure if I'm doing something out of order, but I drag everything into the list the way I want it and click on what type of page it is, like Cover, Foreword or Title page. I might put the cover on the top, but it still ends up page 2.

 

Another problem I can't figure out how to fix is that my ePub iBook keeps opening on the first page of the story and a reader has to scroll back to read the Intro, etc. I guess I'd like to know how to put the cover first and have the book open there with the reader turning the pages to the title page, foreword, etc.and working their way to the story opening.

 

If you have any suggestions, I'll be very appreciative. Frankly, I'm just glad to have something like Storyist to use and nice people like you and Steve to help out with this whole digital publishing effort. I might want to publish on a budget, but that doesn't mean I don't want a professional looking product. And even my "baby" book looks really nice as it is.

 

thanks!!

 

gingerh

[marguerite]

Oh, are these links to online bookstores, etc.? I didn't realize that's what you were talking about. I took all those out of my ebooks precisely because I didn't want B&N rejecting my file (I don't know that it would have; I just didn't want the hassle). But I did see the links on screen. Did you set them up in Storyist by choosing Insert, then Link, from the Edit menu (Command-L also works)? If not, you might try that. It works in both text and notes. Make sure you include the http:// before the address.

 

On the cover, I think that is set by iBooks itself and not by the ePub file. Often I can't see the cover at all unless I turn my iPad landscape, and then it shows up on the righthand page (where it should be, if you think about it). You can check by saving the book to MOBI and looking at it in the free Kindle for Mac or Kindle Previewer programs downloadable from Amazon.com (in my experience, Kindle for Mac works better). Adobe Digital Editions—also free, but you have to sign in using your Adobe ID, if any—is an alternative for checking the ePub version if you don't want to bother with Kindle.

 

Note that you need to download Kindlegen, another free program, and install it before Storyist can create the Kindle file. The first time you try to export to MOBI, Storyist explains what to do. Both Kindlegen and Kindle Previewer are available here.

 

As to where the book starts, that's an annoying feature of e-books, both ePub and Kindle. I often have to page back to see if there is a prologue, preface, intro, whatever—even on books I've purchased. Some programs do let you specify where the book "starts," but so far as I know Storyist doesn't.

 

Best, and thanks for the kind words!

Marguerite

[gingerh]

Thanks for the tips on how to include links in your Storyist manuscript. I was mostly interested in being able to provide my web site addy in the ePub as those seem to appear in most ebooks and are linked. You can tell I haven't used Storyist enough to even realize that capability was there!

 

Yeah, I can't figure out how to make the cover show up first b/c it does in a few of the ebooks on my iPad, but most of the time you have to page back to it. In fact, I was reading an ebook last night and the opening page was blank. It was from a major book publisher, too! OTOH when I flipped the page, there was the cover on page 2. But at first, I wasn't sure it even downloaded.

 

Knowing even the big guys have problems getting a book to look right in iBooks makes me feel better.

 

I haven't tried the Mobi formatting yet. I was waiting for my Kindle to arrive. I have the Kindle for Mac app on my iPad, but wasn't sure if what I saw there would be what someone using a Kindle saw. Seemed like a good reason to buy a Kindle....

 

thank you, again, for your help,

 

gingerh