Libraries are known for books. It’s kind of our thing. You have doubtless seen some of this in your own library.
And maybe your library has some aspiring authors who might want to create more books to fill your shelves! The Minnesota Libraries Publishing Project is here to help make that dream come true.
Check out their information on self publication.
“The Minnesota Library Publishing Project (MLPP) provides online publishing tools and training information to support independent authors and small publishers. We believe that libraries have a vibrant role to play in helping local communities come together to create and share books.
The MLPP is a pilot project coordinated by Minitex and Minnesota’s academic and public libraries. We are providing Pressbooks to Minnesota libraries to encourage conversation among libraries about and promote experimentation with open- and self- publishing. This is an experimental endeavor, and we welcome your feedback.
MLPP’s book design tool is Pressbooks: an easy-to-use online service that enables authors and publishers to create attractive content using a wide variety of templates and formatting options. Pressbooks allows ebooks to be kept private, shared with other authors or editors, or made publicly available. Templates are available that are specifically tailored for poetry, fiction, family history, dissertations, and many other content types.
Pressbooks assigns each uploaded manuscript a unique URL that authors and publishers can use to share their work. Pressbooks enables authors to export their works in formats that are essential to publishing including PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and HTML. Authors also have a variety of options to create print versions of their book(s). MLPP also offers training videos, best practices documents, and step-by-step instructions on how to get started with Pressbooks.
Public and academic libraries across the state are supporting MLPP by convening writing groups, supporting patrons as they work with the Pressbooks, and by providing an online collection of Minnesota independent author ebooks. Check with your local library to learn about the services in your community.
Funding for Pressbooks is provided by Minitex and academic libraries that have volunteered to supply financial backing for the project.”
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Pressbooks is an easy-to-use ebook publishing tool. Load your manuscript into Pressbooks, edit as you like, publish to the web, and export into ebook and PDF/print-on-demand formats. Here’s how it works:
4-Step Guide to Making a Book with Pressbooks
STEP 1. Add Book Information
The Book Information screen is where you edit and add important information about your book: author name, publication date, publisher. You can also upload your cover here and add your copyright or Creative Commons license. You can fill in as little or as much information as you like.
STEP 2. Add/Organize Your Text
On this screen you can add, edit, and arrange the contents of your book. You can also add “front matter” here (things like your introduction and preface), and “back matter” (things like your index and bibliography).
STEP 3. Choose Your Book Design Theme
3a. Choose your theme
Pressbooks comes with many professionally designed book design themes to choose from. Choosing a theme governs the look and feel of your exported ebook files.
3b. Choose your theme options
You can also change the look of your book by changing the theme options. For example, you can decide whether or not you want a table of contents, or whether you want chapter numbers added automatically.
STEP 4. Export Your Book
Pressbooks gives you a one-button export, and you can select: MOBI (for Kindle), EPUB (for Nook/iBooks etc), and/or PDF (for print and print-on-demand), as well as a few more exotic options, or publish to the web and add links for readers to buy your book. You can also publish and share your book with readers in the state, and potentially across the country, by using the submit to SELF-e option. (If you submit to SELF-e, your book will be available to Minnesota readers after it passes a basic screening process.)
