Pet Peeves with ebooksI read eBooks that could be potential great books have simple mistakes that can be fixed just frustrates me. I read a lot of eBooks (mostly marketing, spiritual and children’s eBooks). I have over 4000 eBooks on my Kindle and I read at least two hours a day while I’m working out, waiting for my kids to get out of school and etc. As a book marketer and promoter, it upsets me that the authors expect to be bestselling authors and not put 110 % into their work. It may take a little investment to hire an editor or even ask someone that you know to look it over. Okay enough with my soapbox. Here are my top 5 Pet Peeves with eBooks and how you can avoid them.

  1. The eBook has very bad formatting. Amazon has a preview feature that you can see it has the final product. Authors really need to use it.
  2. The eBook has an unprofessional book cover. Some people just put a graphic on there with no title. Download Gimp (free graphic tool) and type the title in. It’s very simple.
  3. The author just wants to sell you something. Have you ever read an eBook were they have mentioned their product a thousand times and they don’t really put any kind of thought about the book material. If you are just creating an eBook to sell your service, give the reader information that is worth the price of the book. Ask them to sign up for your email list to keep updated on the latest information in your field. Include a free downloadable gift when they sign up for your email list.
  4. The eBook contains misspelled words. I know we all make mistakes but if you are serious about being an author of a potential masterpiece you should hire an editor to read over your book. I have to admit that I continued to read an eBook when one time when there was a misspelled word right in the beginning. There are times that it just annoys me so much that I just close the book.
  5. The eBook doesn’t include the table of contents with links to the specific contents especially cookbooks. I like using the table of contents to get to specific parts of the book. When the table of contents doesn’t have links then I have found the location by sliding my finger over the screen a hundred times (Kindle), I’m usually not a happy camper.

Authors review this list with your eBook version of your book to see if you have missed anything.

Angela