This November will be the 16th annual NaNoWriMo event. Each year the number of participants grows and the community becomes larger and larger. The authors create a support network on the forums and can always be assured of having someone in the wings cheering them on toward their goals. Additional writing groups and support networks have sprung from the masses, and have begun to inspire even the youngest authors to reach for their writing dreams.

As a non-profit, NaNoWriMo is sponsored by such names as Amazon, Kindle, Kobo, Lulu, CreateSpace, Wattpad, and more. There are also ways to donate to the organization directly. Where do all these proceeds go? All donations go toward maintaining the website, providing classroom resources, kits and “pep talks” to encourage writers. Because of the efforts of NaNoWriMo, students and amateur writers all over the world are getting excited about writing.

The challenge isn’t just for new writers, though. Some very famous names have participated in years past. The pep talks (letters written to the NaNo community) are from some well established authors such as Patrick Rothfuss, James Patterson, Mercedes Lackey, Lemony Snicket, Neil Gaiman, and Piers Anthony. That’s just naming a few.

Writers are also rewarded for their hard work. The corporate sponsors offer discounts or free swag to members that make it all the way to the target word count, and there is a shop with tons of NaNo flair available for purchase. The event offers plenty of incentive to reach your goals.

So have you been putting off that novel? Have you thought that there just isn’t time, or that you just aren’t cut out for it? Try NaNoWriMo this year and maybe you’ll surprise yourself. You have nothing to lose, and a novel to gain. And when you’re done writing, come on back to Simply Written and get it converted into a beautiful ebook file! Good luck!

Whether you’re a writer, a publisher, or just curious about the process of digital book making, you’ve come to the right place. This blog has been created as a companion to the Simply Written service, to provide information and insight into the industry of eBooks and digital publication.

Simply Written is a creation born out of both necessity and desire.

Physical book printers have had decades to perfect their art, setting in place standards and traditions that result in a product that can be both beautiful and serviceable. This standardization means that you can pick up a book in any bookstore and be assured of a certain level of quality. While the pages may change, there will be no roadblocks to your absorption of the written word. The quality of writing, of course, is left to the reader to judge.

Unfortunately, the increasing demand by readers that their favorites are made available in digital copy has resulted in a mad rush to fill that need. Publishers, oftentimes ill-equipped to manage the files themselves, turn to quick conversion methods for transforming their manuscripts into digital formats. These converters plow through the tens of thousands of words that make up a book and spit out their best approximation of an eBook.

The Once-Upon-A-Time-Machine from “Once Upon a Time” on PBS, USA

The result of these conversions doesn’t always meet the standards of quality that readers have come to expect from books. Oftentimes there’s missing text, strange additional characters, or bad page formatting. Whether due to lack of tools, or lack of effort, a few publishing houses let these digital versions slip by, decreasing the quality of eBooks available.

Creating a new tradition of standards starts with dedication to quality.

The product of a frustrated author and a talented developer, Simply Written aims to live up to a standard of quality that book makers of old would be proud of. With a simple interface on the front end, and high quality programming on the back end, each eBook created by the application is elegant and clean. The final product files are ready to be viewed by any reader or uploaded to a digital bookstore.

Simply Written was developed with the author in mind, making eBook publication a painless process and handling all the technical aspects of file creation behind the scenes. The files are created at the push of a button, free of DRM restrictions. All a writer needs to worry about is the quality of their writing.

Making writing simple doesn’t make publishing easy.

Simply Written will make it easy to create your eBook files. Once that’s finished, it’s up to you to publish them if that’s your goal. That’s where the Simply Written Blog comes in. With helpful articles on everything from ISBNs and DRM, to the pitfalls of the publishing industry, we will take the journey with you to publishing your own work.

So check back often, strike up a conversation on twitter, and make your dreams of publishing a reality. Make yourself heard.