EZ Ebook Templates

I posted this argument, er, point of view inside a Squidoo Lens I set up a while ago and thought it might be a good idea to include portions of the post here for you if you’re still “stuck on the fence” about switching over to OOo Writer from MS Word.

It’s pretty good stuff. Hope you like it.

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Still Using Microsoft Word For PDF Ebook Creation?

Why are you still doing things the hard way??!

That’s right. I said it.

Why on Earth would you still be creatively limiting yourself with such a crappy piece of software that costs out the rear when you can have a much better application that doesn’t cost you one red cent??

And, you can use it to make yourself wads of cash, without spending any??

Don’t get me wrong. I really like using Windows — go figure?

But I absolutely loath trying to figure my way around some cruddy “trial” junk that is so complicated to use you have to read like 12 manuals on how to add chapter links and background images to your ebook templates.

That’s just plain STOOPID.

What would have taken me months to learn using MS Word took literally HOURS in OpenOffice. Or OOo if you prefer.

Plus, I get to design beautiful ebook templates with, err, updated graphic elements that fit into the new generation of web components. You know, like creating a “web 2.0″ looking PDF ebook?

It’s a breeze with OpenOffice Writer.

And, if you are at all familiar with MS Word’s interface, then making the transition over to OpenOffice will be total cake for you.

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Just How Easy Is It To Create A PDF From Inside OpenOffice Writer?

Well, how fast can you click a button?

No, I’m not kidding.

Inside OOo Writer there’s this little bitty “PDF” icon that sits inside the tools menu bar ( *hint: it’s at the top with all the other “little” icon thingys ), and all you have to do is “left click” it once and a new window will pop open asking you to give your freshly created .ODT document a name.

Next thing you know, after you name it, you have a cool PDF file of your .ODT document sitting right on your hard drive, ready to distribute.

Can’t get much easier than this. Can it?

I don’t think so.

Why Are You Posting This Here…Now?

Because I got a message from a fellow marketer in my inbox that was promoting one of my EZ Ebook Template packages and he had suggested that his subscribers use a 3rd party PDF creation software.

Which, as he learned later, was very unecessary as OOo Writer already has this ability within the main program.

“Score 3 Points For OpenOffice! Yeah!”

Why Is This Important?

Because most folks that use Microsoft Word exclusively for their PDF ebook creations have to use a 3rd party software for PDF creation.

People who use OOo Writer don’t. Perfect!

And if Gabriel Aguinaga didn’t know about it, it’s a pretty safe bet that there are plenty other people that don’t know it either.

This is what happens when you’re use to doing things a certain way with a certain word processor program and have no idea how new software can uncomplicate your life.

It can sometimes be as simple as clicking a button.

Amazing.

I get a lot of requests about how to add linked chapters inside OpenOffice Writer ebooks, so today, I’m going to show you how easy this really is to do.

First thing you need to do is open up a new document in OpenOffice Writer. Or, you could also open up one of the free ebook templates you can download from this site.

Once you have done this, it’s time to either create your own bookmarks — “linked” chapters — or add a new bookmark to an existing ebook template.

To do this, you will first need to add your Table of Contents text, or add a new line of text to the existing Table of Contents if you’re using a pre-designed ebook template.

I normally create a new page for the Table of Contents to set on all by its self. It just looks better this way and less cluttered.

To add a new page, simply select : Insert > Manual Break > Page Break from the top tool bar.

Afterwards, you should see a new page

Now, you can any type of text you wish, but here is a quick screen shot example of the text I used:

Adding A New Table of Contents:

Adding A New Line of Text to An Existing Table of Contents:

How I Did It:

I added a new Table to separate the TOC text with 2 columns and 2 rows. ( Table > Insert > Table )

I adjusted the column widths by holding down the left mouse button and dragging the middle verticle line.

I then added the chapter text to the left hand side and then the corresponding page numbers to the right.

Now that we have our text ready to link out, we need to add the chapter pages.

Here’s how we do it:

Insert a new page just as I explained it above.

Enter your Chapter Title Text, like shown below:

Now, we’re going to add the actual bookmark!

To add a bookmark, which will link our Chapter Title inside the Table of Contents to our actual chapter, you will need to left click at the BEGINNING of the “Chapter 1 Title” text on your new chapter page, as pictured above.

Once you’ve done this, you need to click the following from the top tool bar: Insert > Bookmark

A new window will pop open that looks a lot like this:

Enter the text that will point to your chapter. Usually, I’ll enter something like: “Chapter 1″.

Then simply hit “OK” and the window will disappear.

Do this for every page you have a chapter for.

The next step is to link the Table of Contents to the Bookmarks you just set up.

Here’s how to do it:

Go back to your Table of Contents page.

Highlight the first chapter text you’d like to link to by left clicking and dragging across the text.

Next, select the “Add Hyperlink” button from the top tool bar. It looks like this:

A new window will open up:

From the left hand column, select the “Document” button by left clicking it.

Next, find the portion inside the new window that says: “Target in document”.

To the far right, you will see a little icon that looks like a bullseye. Left click that button.

A new window will appear:

Expand the “Bookmarks” by left clicking on the + sign on the left hand side of the word as shown above.

You should then see your bookmark.

Select it by left clicking the bookmark text.

Hit the “Apply” button.

Then, if the window doesn’t close on it’s own, hit the “Close” button.

Now, simply hit the “Apply” button on the remaining window. Again, hit the “Close” button to close the window.

After this is done, you should then see your Chapter text as a link. Like this:

You can then change the color of your new “linked” chapter text by highlighting it, if it isn’t already, and then selecting a new color from the Font Color Tool:

Then save your new document, and you’re all finished.

Also, it’s important to mention that the above is the same process for when you are using an existing ebook template and merely adding a new chapter link in the Table of Contents.

That’s all there is to it!

This is the first in hopefully many ebook template packs created for ebook authors that use OpenOffice Writer specifically for their publishing compilations.

It is already done and ready for you to take a look at.

[Link]: Visit The Official EZ Ebook Template Pack #1 Info Page Here

I will be updating the page and adding new graphics for the pack very soon.

Oh, one last thing to mention, the pack comes with Full Master Resale Rights so it’s useful in two ways