Are you procrastinating on writing ebooks because it requires techniques such as, adding an active table of contents to your ebooks?
Do your talents prefer to travel through the artistic airwaves rather than navigate the technological minefields of online book publishing?
One of the challenges I have with technology is all the steps necessary to make it happen. Many times they're not difficult, just overwhelming and time consuming.
One of those instances arose when I learned that a clickable table of contents was preferred to a static one.
I listened to a step by step webinar on Kindle publishing but couldn't grasp exactly how to accomplish it. I didn't even understand the instructions displayed on Amazon's site, which isn't a negative slant in their direction. Just admission and acceptance of my limited technical ability and patience.
Onto the oh so mighty Google where my quest for a simple method for creating an active table of contents led me to this site, www.shaunakelly.com, all about using Word in your business.
I pass this 3 step process on to other artists who are struggling with having to be the brainstormer, writer, editor, publisher, and marketer for your ebooks.
Once you've done this one time and see how easy it is you will no longer allow developing an active table of contents to be a barrier to writing and publishing ebooks yourself.
I do the final editing on my book, then create my TOC. Here's why....
For some strange reason, I end up with a bunch of different styles throughout my document. Perhaps there's a logical explanation or resolution for this but I haven't found it. Not being very familiar with HTML I never realized what Heading 1, Heading 2 versus body text, normal text etc meant.
For the purpose of creating your active table of contents, any of the text style in your ebook that is labeled Heading 1 will appear in your TOC. So, as your editing click on each line to make sure none of your body text or titles are styled as Heading 1, 2, or 3 except for the ones you want listed in your TOC.
Now you're ready...
Step 1 - Click within first major heading that you want to appear in the TOC. Apply Heading 1 style by clicking the style box on the formatting toolbar and choosing Heading 1.
Apply Heading 1 style to other major headings in your document. Apply Heading 2 style to sub-headings and Heading 3 to sub-sub headings, etc.
Step 2 - Click on the page where you want TOC to appear in your book.
Step 3 - Display TOC dialogue box by choosing Insert. Then Index and tables. Click TOC tab at top. Choose to show Heading 1, 2, 3 as it applies to your book. Uncheck the box that says show page numbers, as pages do not matter with ereaders. Check OK.
You should have an active TOC before you. You can highlight the entire list and change the size, color etc. There are other things you can do to customize the TOC but this is about the bare basics.
2 Important Points
1. If text shows up that you do not want in your TOC don't panic. It just means that Word snuck a Heading style into the body that you missed during editing. You cannot just delete it from the TOC. You must highlight that area in your document and change it. Otherwise, when you upload your book for publishing, it will show up in the final copy. I usually delete the TOC, make the changes, save it, and then insert TOC again.
2. If you add a new heading TOC doesn't update automatically. To update put curser in the TOC and press F9 to update it OR contrl - a F9 to update all fields in the document.
When you update TOC always choose to update the entire table.
The first few ebooks I wrote and published had lifeless static table of contents. Nothing more than a directional list that didn't send readers anywhere in the book. That can create a less than pleasant experience for your viewer.
Following these simple maneuvers eliminated one publishing hurdle for me. Try this process for your next ebook. And if you have any books that lack an active table of contents, edit your Word document and re-publish it. One of the biggest benefits of online publishing is being able to change and update your titles.
Formatting your books isn't too difficult. You just have to dig in and force yourself to complete one ebook successfully. Your confidence will increase and you'll be ready to repeat the process again and again.
Hopefully, these steps will help to smooth one of your procrastination paths to becoming a published author.
In the next post I'll cover what I learned and improved on in my last few books.
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