Here is a more detailed explanation of how publishing for Nook and Kindle works. It is really very easy and incredibly inexpensive too. Can you say free?
The Concerns, or "What can use as an excuse not to do it?"
I don't know how to write a book? What do I write about? I probably don't have the right software, and if I do I don't know how to use it. Publishing is time consuming, hard to figure out, and expensive. I have no idea how this can help my business?
The Answers, or "Why you have no excuses anymore"
The first step is to just get organized...and write. I'm told everyone has at least one book in them waiting to leak out. Just pick a topic on a subject you know and what you love to talk about and just talk through your hands...and edit it later. Don't do any spell checking and grammar fixing until after you are done...or at least done with a chapter of a thought. Don't break your flow by editing on the fly. Like I tell my softball players about hitting...it's all about hand speed. Let your hands fly.
A sure fire way to stay organized, is to start out with an outline...which after you edit that, will probably end up being your Table of Contents. Now I'm sure you remember your days in school when you were writing essays and the like for class. If you don't, I'll remind you that the first thing they always told you was to start with an outline. That's the way I do it. Also, keep it light. A technical manual can be dry and boring, well not boring, but to keep your reader engaged it's best if you can keep the feeling comfortable for the reader.
Not sure what to write about? Everyone has some kind of background either in their careers or even their hobbies. Sometimes, your hobby actually makes a better book since it is usually more fun to write, and that comes across to the reader.
For software, any word processor, even "notepad", will do. You can write in .html if you like too. First you need to go to the publishing sites where you and find out what they need in the way of formating for publication. Each software language you use has a different set of rules to follow, so find out what they are before you start writing. If you do it will make editing and the actual book setup for upload much easier. Graphics are great things to use to enhance your book, but keep them small as far as file size. Keep in mind, not everyone reading this will be using the latest and greatest hardware, so don't bog them down waiting for a graphic to load. This also means you will need some type of graphic editing program too. Make sure it can edit all the main graphic formats, like .jpg, .gif, and you can download a free .pdf editing program as well.
Where you publish is kind of up to you, but with the popularity of Nook, Kindle and the other hand held readers, I would strongly recommend you start, and maybe even end, there. I remember my first book was just a regular e-Book because I knew how easy that was to put together, but you needed to market and sell it...and be able to take in money and deliver the book to the buyer. It's really easy to publish to the Nook and Kindle platform, signing up is free, and there is usually no charge to put your work of art on their site to sell. They do all the selling and handle the transactions for you. They take a percentage of what you sell it for, but you don't pay them anything upfront, so there's no startup money to recover before profits. All your costs happen after the sale. It doesn't matter how many you sell. Sell 1 or 100 books, unlike hard publishing, there is no quota of sales needed to break even and, there is no one to tell you your book won't be published. I really like that part of it. If you ask people who attempted to publish "hard covers" they will probably tell you the hardest thing is to actually get the publisher to read it...then like it...then recommend it for publication.
Like I said earlier, the costs are non-existent. You pay for the hardware to run the software, but after that the rest is yours...minus the publishers cut. If you want to self sell, you will need a merchant account, an auto-responder, a website or blog, a marketing package,...get the picture? It is much cheaper, and easier, to just let the online bookstores do it all for you. Just write it, and they will sell it for you. All that's left is to market it.
Now, one of the great reasons to write this book might be for business reasons. One of the most important aspects of attraction marketing is the ability to prove your expertise to the reader...and in the case of business, your client. Writing a book, even if nobody buys it, can go a long way to accomplishing this. How many times have you been impressed by someone that says they are published? Now can be the one saying it, instead of hearing it from someone else. Once written, you need for people to read it. When you are participating in online discussion groups, refer them to your book for more information. Actually, just refer them to your blog where you will have a link to your book found in the Nook or Kindle library. At this time I want to remind you that you don't have to have the Nook or Kindle hardware in order to read one of their books. You can download a reader for free for each that goes on your PC or even your phone. Whenever you market your book make sure you mention that or you will lose a potential sales from people that might want to read your book but don't have the hardware. They don't need it.
I've mentioned this before on other postings. Do you want to know how easy it can be? My 11 year old daughter will be writing a series of children's stories during the summer. Kind of makes you want to start your own now, doesn't it? What's stopping you?
