Libraries have a vibrant role to play in helping communities come together to create and share books. Inkie.org is a suite of resources that supports local authors with online creation and publishing tools and allows readers to access locally-produced content. These resources, Pressbooks, Indie Illinois, and the Inkie.org Library, are free to anyone in Illinois.
Create: Pressbooks enables writers to convert their manuscripts into a variety of e-book and print formats. Pressbooks helps writers format their books with professional design templates and includes tools to assist with book organization. After converting their book into different formats, authors can distribute their book however they choose.
Share: Writers have several free potential options for sharing e-books through inkie.org:
- Indie Illinois: A statewide collection of e-books promoting independently published local authors.
- Indie Author Project Select: A Library Journal reviewed collection of adult and young adult fiction available to libraries and readers across the country.
- Soon To Be Famous Illinois Author Project: An annual author contest in Illinois.
Read: The Inkie.org Library is the place where readers find independently-published content. The Library provides access to e-books in the Indie Illinois collection, which features work from a wide variety of genres including historical fiction, mystery, science fiction and fantasy, young adult novels, romance, memoir, and more. Unlimited checkouts and no return periods give readers instant access to all titles all the time. A library card is not needed to access these titles.
Self-publishing is not one size fits all. Individuals are welcome to use the inkie.org resources together as a cohesive process or to select individual tools that work for them.
Funding for inkie.org and BiblioBoard Library is provided by the Reaching Across Illinois Library System and BiblioLabs.
