It sucks when you lose someone you’ve come to like/depend on for your e-books. Okay, I haven’t exactly lost her; she’s just MIA (or totally ignoring me), which I suppose amounts to one and the same: loss.
Time is already tough to juggle for this non-juggler (can you hear those balls dropping?). It’ll be a daunting task to locate a new resource. 
Sigh, sigh, sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Okay, self-pity moment over. <LOL> Pulling up socks, lacing up [army] boots.
The positive side: yes, I do have to start from scratch, but I’ll also relearn everything . . . recall all that’s been forgotten over the year-and-a-half since attempting to get “Forever Poi” completed. Once I get over the “trepidation factor”, it’ll all prove a positive and insightful experience.
On that note, I’m returning to the beginning of the end: formatting an e-book that’s ready for publication.
There are quite a number of sites that will do this for free. Free is nice. Who doesn’t like f-r-e-e? That said, though, I’m not sure I’m ready (or willing) to go it alone. I’d prefer to have someone hold my hand, so to speak. But please don’t let my lack of confidence hold you back from taking the free route.
Some things to note if this is your first e-publishing adventure. E-books will look different on different devices; as such, text has to meet certain e-book formatting requirements (to ensure the document is neat and readable). Some e-book publishers will request you stick to a specific format. You may want to avoid getting super fancy and providing too much “pizzazz” (like a sundry of fancy fonts). Keep it [fairly] simple.
You’d be best to start with a Word document/file which, of course, you’ve previously formatted for formatting. <LOL> You can use an epub, too, but they aren’t as easy to work with; changes are harder to make (this I can attest to). Formatting is fairly simple, if all goes right—fortunately, there’s a ton of info out there that will guide you from one step to the next.
PDF or epub are the options for formatting your e-book. The former is said to work best with complex, image-heavy e-books while the latter is perfect for simpler ones. But do check what e-publishers want/require (Kindle will have different “rules” from Smashwords, for example).
Visit various sites to see which free formatting folks you’d like to go with, or find a professional formatter. They’re not that expensive. (I initially found mine through Smashwords and she was great, so I may return there before checking out other sites.)
Next task after formatting: cover and back designs. Unless you’re skilled or adventurous enough to do it yourself (I’m not) . . . or fellow writers recommend someone reputable (anyone have one?). . . do that due diligence. You don’t want to end up paying an exorbitant fee, unless you’re Rockefeller rich, of course. (Me, I’m going to pull out Piggy and start counting pennies.)
Given “Forever Poi” is approximately two-three weeks away from final completion, I’d better get those scuttling ducks [back] in a row.
The Writer's Grab-Bag 
ah, the formatting nightmare. i went with the smashwords guideline. if your book is formatted correctly, it’ll say so when it converts to e-pub. otherwise, it’ll tell you it needs formatting. if your book is very well formatted, within a few days they send you a notification that your book is on their premium catalog.
Still , i know there were some formatting errors, and a friend went over them for me. i don’t know how the book really looks, but i heard it’s got a ‘clean’ format.
now, for the print, i haven’t been able to get that one right. for one, the book is long, and the margins differ from book to book depending on length. and then there’s the cover – jacket – and …. sigh.
For the cover, now, i hear kanva has some pretty good templates and all you need is cut and paste. and then there’s fiver and upwork. both can come pretty cheap.
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I’ve heard that about Canva – but I had my detecting trio designed for the previous three books by my MIA designer, and I’d like to keep them as much the same as possible. As such, I’d have to go with a designer who can “mimic” them or maybe simply redo the three books. I have a feeling Piggy’s gonna break and I’m gonna weep. I’m sure it won’t be that bad. I’ll just have to keep the faith. Everything [eventually] works out. 🙂
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