I need help helping my mother. She has the book--written, edited, and designed--now just need help with the platforms

Hi.

My mother self-published a paper-back book in 2002 (titled: "If vibrators could dance who would need a relationship?") that sold roughly $80,000 over the last ten or so years, which was roughly a third of the initial print of what she bought from the local printshop (initial buy being around 7,000). She still has people coming into her office and buying a copy off the shelf and then leaving. Think of it one part gag gift, another part a opening of a conversation on sexuality and abandonment issues, and something to talk about around a coffee table. It has been somewhat successful.

However, she has been watching her friends on their Nooks and Kindles, and her two newest books--one a romance thriller with Mexican drug lords and the other on Cybersex addiction--and she crunched some maths. She paid the printer roughly $7 a book and sold them for $15 out of her office and at local bookshops: but with a kindle or nook she could wipe out that $7 cost and go straight to the consumer.

So she turned to me, her websavvy son, to help her move her word documents for both books onto the platforms that are out there. That's where you guys come in. I have the word documents in a regular .doc file and need to transfer them over to the platforms for Amazon and a couple of other services.

(1) What are the optimal platforms for Canadians for self-published digital books?

(2) Where can I read up on the terminology on self-publishing online (are they called digital books?)?

(3) What processes and tools are available (faq, applications, websites) would you suggest for turning a regular word document into a readable, useable book on a kindle/nook/ipad/etcetera?