With E-book reading devices on their way to being how many of us will be reading books in the future and how environmentally friendly e-books can be using no paper, I decided to add my children's picture to Amazon's Kindle. Kindle is a device or reader that is light-weight, wireless, and specifically for the purpose of reading e-books.

If you want to make your book, whether it's a novel, non-fiction or a children's picture book available as an e-book the following information could be helpful.

For the Kindle reader Amazon recommends that HTML file format works best and at Amazon's digital Text Platform (DTP), which is a guide to help you fill in the form that you should read, there is a name of a software program to make your own E-book (or HTML file) for free!

The company is Mobipocket located in Paris, France and the software is Mobipocket Creator Publisher Edition, the Do It Yourself version. You download this software to your computer.

mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/ProductDetailsCreator.asp

IMPORTANT: If your book is in HTML, you don't need to convert your files. Just fill in the form at Amazon and upload you file for Kindle.

Once you download the Mobi Pocket Creator to you computer from their website, open the HELP content and move it to one side. Pick from it, HOW TO CREATE AN E-BOOK STEP BY STEP.

Read it and follow the step by step guide. It may take a little to understand how it works. I used the Blank Publication form which seems to be the best choice for my picture book. The software makes a folder called My Publications for you and places it on your hard drive.

One other thing about Mobipocket.com is that you can list your e-book with them. They are a wholesale and distributing center for publishers of eBooks to this growing industry. Right now there are other E-book devices besides Amazon's Kindle which include iLiad by iRex, Sony Reader by Sony, BeBook eBook Reader by Endless Ideas and Hanlin eReader by Jinke to name a few. If you are the publisher or author of your book you pay Mobipocket around 10% of the eBook's retail price. mobipocket.com/

Now go to Amazon. If you haven't done so already, create an account. Don't forget to fill in how to get paid. You'll need your Social Security number, what type of business you have, whether it is LLC or individual account. Adding your bank account seems to be a must to get paid.

forums.digitaltextplatform.com/dtpforums/entry.jspa?externalID=19&categoryID=7

Then click on Amazon DTP and log in. Click on Add New Item.

Digital Text Platform comes up at: dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard

This form is in three parts.

Part one is New Title. Fill out the information on the book, title, ISBN number, description, author and publisher names and upload a cover image. Under Category, chose the best category for your book. A sub category opens and you can chose up to five categories that fit your book.

Part two is Upload & Preview Book. Browse your computer for the My Publication folder and open it. Pick the file and open it. Then Preview your book to make sure it looks right.

Part Three is set the price for your e-book. And lastly, click Publish.

You are done!

With novels and nonfiction books that have numerous pages, some variation will probably be needed in setting up your files using the Mobipocket and uploading your files on Amazon.

If you find you are having some difficulty uploading the file go back and re-read the Amazon how-to guide. Though not the most user friendly guide you will find most answers to your questions there.