Creating an e book shouldn't phase me but it does!

I’m trying to remain confident here, having sat through many discussions with other people not really knowing quite what the technical terms mean, or what they are actually talking about. So it's a relief today to say that I'm indebted here to the article by Graham Stephens in Writing Magazine (Create your ebook, November 2010). He lays down the basics, whether your intention is to publish a technical manual or a book of poetry, pointing out that the process is pretty well identical, no matter what sort of book you’re intending to produce. He recommends you use PDF format although he does consider other options such as EXE and EPUB, which he doesn’t rule out. And he does note that you can convert easily between these different formats. He also considers fonts, page colours, page numbering, navigation between parts of the book – particularly if it’s non-fiction – and the design of the cover. All these are immensely reassuring details and very helpfully described, for a newcomer like myself.