Don't let such pesky publishing problems get between your manuscript and the world.

Follow Stephen King's lead and unleash your bone-chilling prose as a paperless pageturner. Here's how:

1. Code it
Once you have written your manuscript, the next step is to translate it into a readable, digital format.

PDF
Adobe Acrobat lets you convert any document into an Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) file, with its original appearance preserved. Now, you can distribute your book for viewing and printing on any system -- especially, long documents.

HTML
The universal markup language of the Web allows you to publish your manuscript on the Internet. Use an HTML editor like Microsoft's FrontPage to code your pages easily.

ASCII
Since almost everyone can read and store plain ASCII text, this is the most basic and portable format. To save your manuscript as an ASCII document, use your word processing program to "save as" the extension ".txt".

Post it online
Build your own Web site featuring your digital book hot off the electrodes or submit it to an e-book site such as MightyWords.com (a subsidiary of fatbrain.com) which will host your book on their server for little or no charge.

Submit it to an e-publisher
E-publishers are becoming increasingly popular, though they are becoming just about as fussy as their traditional cousins. London's Online Originals is among the more established exclusive Internet operations.

Download the book into a reader
Perfect for the travelling literati, Palm Pilots, NuvoMedia's Rocket eBook, or SoftBook Press' SoftBook allow you to carry up to 12 titles in the palm of your hand. Simply download your selections from any eBook Web site and liberate yourself from the cumbersome weight of hardbacks.

Print it out
Although this method sort of defeats the purpose of downloading a book in electronic format, if you do not own a digital reader, you can still enjoy the original manuscripts of a burgeoning number of undiscovered authors.

Use Acrobat Reader, a free download, to view and print books saved as PDF files, a standard format in the industry. Who knows, you may happen upon the next Faulkner.

Read at the computer
The least desirable option for reading a full manuscript, but it is a very effective method for browsing electronic titles before you select a download.

If you prefer this method, download the Glassbook Reader, a free software program that enables you to read high-fidelity eBooks, such as "Riding the Bullet" by Stephen King, on your laptop, notebook, or desktop PC.