Notion Press has helped me with all three of my books, and for that I remain grateful to their team. For my latest, Think like an Innovator, me being me, I took on a new challenge: I released the Kindle eBook and paperbacks on Amazon global sites myself.
Subsequently, Notion Press helped me make it available in paperback and hardcover specifically for Indian readers, because Amazon India doesn’t do it directly.
Perhaps for similar Amazon country-specific limitations, or maybe for ease and convenience, many writers stick to self-publishing their books as Kindle eBooks only, to avoid the formatting complexities that come with preparing a print-ready paperback.
And even within Kindle eBooks, it is common to see simplified Tables of Contents. Sometimes the contents only list a few main chapters. Or worse, two entries: “Contents” and “Main Section”. Creating a detailed, functional index does take extra effort.
And I’m not talking about folks who just wrote a little book for the fun of it. I have read some incredible eBooks that did not have a functional Table of Contents. Obviously it does not make any of those books any less incredible.
But they surely could have been a tiny bit more incredible.
I wanted readers to have a better experience. So I made sure Think like an Innovator has every chapter and sub-chapter listed in the Table of Contents. When you tap the hamburger menu within the book, you can easily navigate to any section; no endless scrolling required.
Similarly, many Kindle books do not include proper page numbers. Sometimes it’s only a percentage progress bar with reference numbers running into the thousands. It took me a little figuring out, but the advantage: readers have a clearer sense of where they are in the Kindle eBook.
Just noticed the final Kindle eBook layout a short while ago and I was glad. This isn’t about perfection or gloating, but about the opportunity to push one’s own limits. And if we take it or not. If we appreciate thoughtful details in books we read, the least we can do is take that effort when creating something for others who might appreciate it too.
Sometimes the real work isn’t just in writing the book, but in caring enough about the reader’s experience to go those extra miles. =)