Frequently Asked Questions
OK, so what can I do at the writerhood?
Does it cost anything to use the writerhood?
What do I get if I join and become a premium member?
What if my book doesn't format properly?
What if I need a format other than ePub and Kindle?
Are you planning to add more formats to the writerhood book building engine?
How do I get my book onto my mobile device?
OK, so what can I do at the writerhood?
Well, mostly you write. Or you upload something you wrote. Or you take something you wrote and you make an e-book out of it to publish and sell somewhere. You can also find resources from other writers, watch their Twitter feeds, read what they have said about writing. That sort of thing. What else would you like it to do?
Who started the writerhood?
The writerhood was started by Will DeLamater and his development team at eReadia, inspired by real writers and the need for a book-building tool for the world of ereaders. Will's first project, eReadUps lets people make books out of articles from sites like Wikipedia and then load them on a device to read or send to a friend. With the writerhood, you can create books in the same way, but using your own content.
What's the point?
There are lots of ways to format your writing for ereading these days, but not so many places that connect the act of writing to the rest of the process. Yes, you can find places to sell you editing services, publishing services, illustration services (and maybe you will hook up with someone here who does those things) but the writerhood is about the process you go through as a writer and supporting that.
Does it cost anything to use the writerhood?
Nothing, to try it out. Then, the writerhood charges a nominal $10 fee for a year. You can create a short book without becoming a member, just to see what it is like, but it won't be stored in your folder or be available later for editing. But to keep doing this for a long time and to keep adding features that support writers we have to pay the bills, just like, um, writers do.
What do I get if I join and become a premium member?
As a member of the writerhood you get unlimited access to our book generating engine, the ability to keep several drafts of each book available all the time in your My Stuff folder, the ability to email drafts right from the site and access them via the web on your iPad, your Kindle, your Nook, your smartphone, or whatever, and download your final copy to be sold on iBooks, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other places. Or to send to your mom.
What if my book doesn't format properly?
First, make sure that you have filled in all the stuff that you want to appear in your book. The writerhood engine doesn't format any blank fields, so if you want to see how something will appear, put some dummy text in the field and have a look. Otherwise, send us a note at support and we will check into it for you right away.
What if I need a format other than ePub and Kindle?
Check on the Resources page for information about how to convert your book to pretty much any other format you need.
Are you planning to add more formats to the writerhood book building engine?
Right now we are formatting books in ePub and Kindle (mobi), since most of the major bookstores and ereaders recognize one or the other. If members need a different format in the future to be successful, we will certainly try to add it. We will be adding PDF output in the next set of updates so you can print and make a physical copy of your book.
How do I get my book onto my mobile device?
The writerhood is designed to produce high quality ebooks for reading on any device that supports Mobipocket files (like the Kindle) or ePub files (like the iPad, the Sony Reader, the Kobo, and B&N Nook). You can also load an ePub file onto your iPhone by using a resident reader like Stanza.
Kindle: For Kindle owners, you can find the book you want on the My Stuff page and email the "mobi" version to your Kindle email address (example: kindleowner@kindle.com). Amazon will relay it on to your Kindle wireless, usually in a couple of minutes.
You can also download the file to your desktop and drag it into the Kindle's "documents" folder once your Kindle is connected to the computer with its USB cord.
Sony, Nook, Kobo: Users who own Sony Readers or other devices that read ePub files can download the ePub file to your desktop and drag the file onto the device using the free Adobe Digital Editions software or the Reader Library software that comes with the Sony Reader.
iPad: Make sure you have the latest updates for the iPad and the iBooks app, or install another reader like Bluefire. Then, using the Safari browser on the iPad, navigate to your My Stuff folder, usually a URL like www.thewriterhood.com/yournamehere. Scroll around until you find the book that you want to open on the iPad, and touch the ePub version link. Safari will open another window and ask which app you want to open the book. Make your choice (iBooks and Bluefire both look great) and the book will download into your library and open automatically.
Computer / Netbook / Tablet PC: You can use Adobe Digital Editions to read the ePub files on your computer, or Kindle for PC to read the Mobi files on your computer. If you read these files on the computer, clicking the links to web resources in every article will launch your browser and you can take advantage of these additional resources included in your book.