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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 1577597" data-attributes="member: 2013">For the business end of things, definitely pick up a copy of the epublisher's guide <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1668&" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1668&</a> - it gives you some good overview of the ins and outs of e-publishing, including things like "do I need to incorporate" and other similar legal questions.  It also gives you a nice selection of templated legal forms (things like writer's and artist's contracts) which you can use or modify for your own purposes.  Definitely pick that up if you plan on doing e-publishing, because it will give you enough of an education in the "legal" aspect of things to let you make decisions (it's not legal advice, but it at least tells you what to ask and what to consider).Of course, you'll need some sort of word processor to write in and then publish your stuff - and you'll need to make it in a format that is compatible across multiple machines (and preferably can be read with free software).  PDF is the most common format, though you'll see HTML products out there as well.For the Word Processor, Quark and InDesign are the "professional" solutions, though a good number of people probably get use out of MS Word as well (once you get familiar with all of its capabilities, it's not bad - not great, but it can certainly do the job - to this point, it's what I have used).Adobe Acrobat is the most common choice for creating PDF documents, though it is expensive.  You can convert documents to PDF on the adobe website for free, though I think there is a 3-use limit (it's a "try it out" thing, I think).  There is also a free utility called "pdf995" that you might want to look into (<a href="http://www.pdf995.com" target="_blank">www.pdf995.com</a> IIRC), though PDF995 does have a few limitations in it (frex, I can't get a "full page bleed" on the PDF - I always have about a 1/2 inch white space margin - though this may just be my unfamiliarity ith PDF995).  Alternatively, you could try to use OpenOffice.org (see if you can guess their website), which has the ability to save directly to PDF also.  That takes care of both Word Processor and PDF Conversion functions in one blow, and it's free (an attractive cost to any start-up publisher).  I'm considering making a go of it soon and seeing how it functions; if it works well, I'll let you know.That's a bit harder to find, but there is some stuff out there... <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=308&products_id=1890&" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=308&products_id=1890&</a>and<a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=308&products_id=1747&" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=308&products_id=1747&</a>come immediately to mind.Sounds like fun!  My advice is to try a couple of products to see how you do and see it as a hobby - nothing more.  If it takes off on you, then you can worry about making it more of a business.I've produced some stuff that I'm happy with, and even a couple of pretty-well-received hot sellers, but it's still a hobby.  And I want to keep it that way - no frenzied release schedule, nobody making decisions "over my head" - it's nice. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />--The Sigil</blockquote>

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