User:CS2012/Books/Collaborative E-book creation using Wikipedia/BookCreationProcess

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The basic process for creating an e-book in Wikipedia is as follows:

  1. Create a Wikipedia account. This is necessary in ordet to able to save the e-book online.
  2. Edit ten existing Wikipedia pages. This is necessary in order to become an autoconfirmed Wikipedia user, which also is needed to enable the e-book save feature.
  3. Also, wait four days from the day your user account was registered in order to become autoregistered.
  4. Turn the create book feature on (in left column on regular Wikipedia pages)
  5. Collect pages by clicking "Add to book" at the top of the screen.
  6. In the format book page, add chapters and organise the articles to their corresponding chapter
  7. Save the book with a title (a subpage with the ebook is created at your user page).
  8. Export the e-book to pdf or order a printed copy directly from PediaPress at a cost.

To improve the apparence

  • Use the book creation page to rearrange chapters and the book subpage for detailed changes using the Wikipedia markup language. The changes on respective page can affect the result made at the other page. It can be advisable to first arrange the chapters in the book creator and after that, fine tune article names in the ebook subpage.
  • The Wikipedia articles can be edited so they print better.
  • Make a condensed version of existing Wikipedia articles as a subpage to the e-books page, for focused inormation and higher printing quality.

To inlcude your own content

  • Write your own Wikipedia articles
  • Add subpages for Introduction, Acknowledgement etc, to the e-book's page which in turn is a subpage to your user page.

To collaborate when creating the content

  • Invite collaborators to contribute with creating new or editing existing Wikipedia articles with the e-book in mind.
  • Invite collaborators to structure the chapters on the format book page

Fine tune the pdf rendering

  • Write directly in the Wikipedia markup language on the e-book-subpage to indent chapters, add images, boldface text etc.

Use alternative printhouses

  • PediaPress for a quick printed copy without profit.
  • LuLu for printed copies that you can sell with a profit.