HowTo: Make a Readable eBook

I try to read long docs on the web but I can never read more than a few pages in a web browser. Now I think I've perfected the way to turn plain text into a nice readable eBook free of any annoying DRM.

First you'll need some text. Let me recommend Cory Doctorow's newest story I, Robot.

Copy the text into a word processor. Almost any should do but for this example I'm using Pages.

Delete any text that isn't part of the story. Then click Edit > Select All. Open the Font Panel and set it to Times New Roman Size 16. Also highlight the title and set it to Size 48 Bold and the author to Size 24 Bold. Then set the alignment by selecting Format >Text > Justify. Next I like to add page numbers by clicking View > Show Layout and clicking in the footer then select Insert > Page Number. Select the page number and make it Times New Roman Size 18 Bold Italic and Right Justified.

We're almost there. Open the Inspector and set the margins to .5 all around. Next hit File > Print and click Copies and Pages and select the Layout menu. Set it to Pages per Sheet: 2 and Border: Single hairline. As the final step Save As PDF.

Now your ready to open it with Adobe Reader 7. BTW I recommend keeping Preview as your default PDF viewer since Reader 7 is much slower. Then select View > Full Screen and use the mouse or arrow keys to advance the page.

For an example download my PDF of I, Robot removed at Cory's request. I'll have another guide up ASAP. I don't think Cory will mind me posting this.

Let me know how this works for you.