Creating my First Ebook

If your book is text heavy you'd be better off producing a Reflowable ePub rather than a FXL ePub.

1. Am I better saving each chapter as a speparte InDesign document and then linking them as chapters (any advice on how would be wonderful) or shoudl i jusy create one long running document? If so how do I chapter it up?

How long is your file? This question really comes down to the length of your document, and your comfort level using the InDesign book features. I prefer to work with multiple chapters in a book, but I've been doing this a long time and I understand how books work. There will be a learning curve if you decide to move to a book, or you can just create the entire thing in a single .indd file.

In the single-file scenario, you will indicate new chapters by setting up a paragraph style with a name like ChapterTitle with auto-numbering on to auto-number the heads (i.e., Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3) and a page break to force the heading to start at the top of a page. 

2. What is the easiest way to create a TOC?

In either scenario, use Layout > Table of Contents to generate a TOC (just be sure to enable the Include Book Documents checkbox if you decide to use a book). Select the various heading styles (like the ChapterTitle style described above) and InDesign will locate all of the heads for you and type them up in a list with their appropriate page numbers. As you update the document, just update the TOC to pick up the latest edits. 

~Barb

Resources:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/creating-table-contents.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/creating-book-files.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/export-content-epub-cc.html

The term eBook is a generic term for various digital formats including PDF, FXL ePub, Reflowable ePub and InDesign's Publish Online and more. Each format has its advantages (features) and disadvantages.