E-Book Formatting and Uploading: A Writer's Personal Crib Sheet

You live in the best of times to get your book published. Self-publishing an e-book is a guaranteed and free way to make your creation available to the world without the hassles of finding an agent or publisher.
But maybe you checked out Amazon’s kindle website at kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing (no www.) for details of how to self-publish and were a bit overwhelmed. I was when I started with my first e-book. But with each of my more than 15 titles, I honed a simplified approach and wrote it down to remember all the little tricks that made the job easier. My own personal writer’s crib sheet.
This book is that crib sheet, with some added explanation, as the original was cryptic notes just for me. Following its guidelines gives a clean, professional look for the kindle platform. The book explains how to use the same finished document (with one minor change) to publish on Apple (an author cannot directly to Apple), Barnes & Noble, Android, etc. using Smashwords.com.
This book also explains how to include photos in your book using a zip file and how to make a high quality cover using your photo and free Picasa software. It tells how to make an interactive html table of contents like you see in the beginning of this book, so readers can click to a chapter without scrolling.
The included DO NOT tips, which I learned the long and hard way, can save you much time and grief.
For all of this, the only software you need to purchase is Word. The book assumes you have some familiarity with Word, but not much. Those fluent in Word can breeze through some of the baby step instructions.
The book also describes the KDP and Smashwords publishing steps, including tips on creating the description, choosing search words and setting the price. It even has a few tax tips for when those royalties start rolling in.
So turn the pages and start publishing.