32 The 5-Step Guide to Using Pressbooks
Pressbooks is a simple book publishing tool. Put your book content into Pressbooks, edit as you like, and create beautiful print books, ebooks, and webbooks simultaneously. This chapter will gives you a very quick overview of Pressbooks, which can be explored in more detail in the rest of this Guide.
The (Shortest!) 5-Step Guide to Making a Book with Pressbooks
- Register for a Pressbooks account. Montgomery College staff and faculty are eligible for free accounts paid for by the college.
- Add book information. This includes important elements like the author name, the title, and the copyright license, which can be assigned on the Book Info page.
- Add and Organize Text. Import your manuscript or add in your chapters, then structure the content on the Organize page.
- Choose your book’s theme. Themes are the design templates for your book, which you can select by going to Appearance > Themes.
- Export your book. Formats include MOBI (for Kindle), EPUB (for Nook, iBooks, and more), PDF (for print and print-on-demand), and webbook (which can be viewed immediately without export).
The Longer 5-Step Guide to Making a Book with Pressbooks
STEP 1: Register for an Account
Email Christine Crefton at<EMAIL_ADDRESS>to request an account.
STEP 2: Add Book Information
The Book Info page is where you edit and add important information about your book, called metadata. This includes information such as:
- Title
- Author name
- Publication date
- Publisher
- Copyright license and notice
- Ebook cover image
This list is far from exhaustive. Some information is necessary to add or edit, as we use it to automatically build integral parts of your book. This includes the book’s title and author name. Most other elements you can choose whether or not you’d like to add.
STEP 3: Add and Organize Your Text
You can add and organize your text from the Organize page, available from the left sidebar menu of your book’s dashboard.
This will be how you access all of your chapters and content in order to revise or create your text. You can reorganize chapters and parts of your page to change the layout of the book as well. You’ll see the three main parts of your book on this page:
Front Matter: Content in this section may include your introduction, foreword, dedication, and more. For more information on front matter, go to https://guide.pressbooks.com/chapter/front-matter/
Chapters: This is the main body of your book. The main body can be broken up into several distinct parts.
Back Matter: Content in this section may include your epilogue, author’s note, appendix, and more. For more information on back matter, go to https://guide.pressbooks.com/chapter/back-matter/
The Organize page is not the only place you can upload your text. For more information on how to bring content into Pressbooks, check out https://guide.pressbooks.com/chapter/how-to-get-your-book-into-pressbooks/
STEP 4: Choose Your Book Theme
Every Pressbooks user has access