I have no words of wisdom for you this week. In fact, I was rather hoping you might have a few for me.
You see, I’ve finally decided I need to get my head round the concept of e-publishing. I know this may seem incredibly behind the times to some of you, but on this side of the Atlantic e-publishing has yet to reach the heights of popularity it has done in the States and, frankly, it’s such a huge subject that I don’t quite know where to begin.
Enter any kind of query about it into a search engine and you get a gazillion hits. I begin losing the will to live after the first twenty or so pages. (Coupled to this is the fact we’re on a cripplingly slow internet connection, and I am possibly the most non-internet-savvy person I know. Just ask any of my fellow ‘Rati authors who get regular panicked emails from me when my post is due and I hit a technical snag!)
The more I find out about e-publishing, the more I realise I don’t know, so I thought the best idea was to ask my ‘Rati friends what they knew.
And that’s where you come in – I hope!
I know I’m being cheeky to ask, but who else has the breadth and depth of knowledge that you do? You obviously enjoy reading in digital format, or you wouldn’t be here, so I hope you’ll forgive me for asking what may seem like a set of dumb questions:
If you’re a writer, do you have direct experience of e-publishing? By that, I mean, have you self-published one of your own titles and, if so, what was the biggest hurdle to overcome?
How did you go about the process itself of getting the book out there?
Is it a brand new work, or a book that was previously print-published?
If it’s new, who handled the editing and proofreading?
What platforms did you choose, and how did you make that decision?
Who handled the formatting?
Who designed the cover, and have you changed the cover or the title since the e-book went on sale? If so, why?
Is piracy a problem or do you feel the need for some kind of password-protection to prevent your book being shared?
Of course, just writing the book and navigating the technicalities of putting it on sale are only half the battle. People have to know about it in order to want to read it. I was a reader long before I was a writer, and I continue to devour all kinds of books. Therefore, I’m just as anxious to know the best places for discussion and recommendations. So:
Where do you go to get good recommendations on new e-books?
What annoys you most about authors’ behaviour on discussion forums or social networking sites?
How important are social networking sites like Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, etc, to finding new authors or keeping up with a favourite author’s work?
Of course, I’m also thinking that maybe – just maybe – I should get an e-reader of my own. That throws up a different set of questions:
Do you have an e-reader and if so, what kind, and how much do you use it?
Or, equally, if you’d NEVER consider an e-reader, why not?
How much of your reading has gone over to an e-device of some description, and have you found any drawbacks? (This is other than the plane problem of not being able to use any electronic device until you get to 10,000 feet.)
Have I asked too many questions?
Should I stop now?
Erm, OK.
This week’s Word of the Week is osteoPORNosis – a degenerate disease …
Zoe,
I've finally gone ebook crazy with a couple of my thriller novels … I used Amazon's Kindle direct publishing site to get my books on Kindle and Smashwords to get them on most of the other sites. I also put them directly on Nook at the B&N site. I have had some short work on Kindle for a while – an article on the poet James Dickey and an other one on my son who is a h(a)emophiliiac – a Von Villibrand – and they have been consistently selling with absolutely no marketing effort on my part whatsoever. So I am intriqued to see what happens with my thrillers. I also used Amazon's Createspace publishing arm to publish POD paperback print versions as well. I also used my US address to permit Createspace to acquire an ISBN for my own imprint (Athry House): take a look at my initial website: http://www.athryhouse.com You can get the ebook of my thriller, LAST DAYS OF THE TIGER, here (entirely designed by me):
http://www.amazon.com/LAST-DAYS-TIGER-ebook/dp/B004M8S9C2/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=A2HD1FRBBEUS3N
As regards doing it all. I paid no one. I did my own internal layout and I designed my own covers using BookCoverPro software which you can download for a small fee. On Smashwords there is an excellent guide available from Mark Coker – read it. Here is some very good advice on structuring your ms. for ebook acceptability:(HOW TO PUBLISH AN EBOOK)
http://writing.ie/writers-toolbox/getting-published/ebooks/114-how-to-publish-an-ebook.html
Finally, in all of this, my guiding hand and my inspiration (and my drinking buddy if I could see him often enough) is Joe Konrath. His advice is the BIBLE! Read all about it on his website:
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/
Hope this was of some help, Zoe.
Best of luck,
Pat.
I have a Sony Touch eReader, and I like it well enough, now that I know how to get the eBooks from my laptop to the device (a simple click and drag action — for anyone but me).
I also have an ap on my laptop that allows me to read Kindle books, so I won't miss out (formats confuse me, so I believe the Kindle Only labels).
Have to say, I also like that I can load my own drafts and the work I'm beta-ing onto my eReader and make notes. Downloading them back is still tricky (probably because I'm me), but I'm not schlepping fifty-odd pounds of manuscripts around with me everywhere!
Zoë, Brett is probably the best person to talk to about this. I did self-pub a short story anthology, and it was painless. I used Rob Siders to do the formatting, he is great to work with and reasonably priced. I did the cover at Chez Ellison with my brilliant hubby, so that cost nothing. Uploading and go. I haven't tackled the Kindle Boards or anything like that, but I promise, this is a painless process that you needn't be afraid of. : )
As for as the rest, I can't answer them. I didn't do this to generate income, I simply did it for fun. Good Luck!
Zoë, a good friend of mine was/is in the founding exec team of LuLu https://www.lulu.com I can connect you to her if you'd like.
My answers to a few of your questions….
If you’re a writer, do you have direct experience of e-publishing? Yes.
Is it a brand new work, or a book that was previously print-published? Two brand new novels (3 as of this coming weekend) and two previously published short stories
If it’s new, who handled the editing and proofreading? For editing I rely on a group of trusted readers, most are other published authors, and I encourage them to not hold back. For proofreading/copyediting I use Elyse of theeditninja.com.
What platforms did you choose, and how did you make that decision? Kindle Publishing Direct, Pubit (Barnes and Noble), and Smashwords (opting out of their distribution to Kindle, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo). I am also currently setting up POD trade paperback versions through Amazon's Create Space. Chose them because they were the main ones folks have been using, and seemed the logical places to go.
Who handled the formatting? For simple manuscripts (ones with very little odd formatting such as text messages, emails, letters and other things that change the margins) I did it myself. For the more complicated I hired Rob Siders at 52novels.com
Who designed the cover, and have you changed the cover or the title since the e-book went on sale? If so, why? I use Jeron ten Berge for my full length novels. (jeroentenberge.com). I saw some of the covers he did for Blake Crouch and loved them, so thought I'd try him out. Have stuck with him since. Shorts I uses a friend since they don't make as much money so the cost becomes more of an issue.
Is piracy a problem or do you feel the need for some kind of password-protection to prevent your book being shared? I don't even pay attention to piracy. That's going to happen no matter what. Hell, it happens with my traditionally published work all the time. And, no, I don't use any protection, and would recommend not using DRM when prompted on the Kindle site. Readers like to be able to share their books, and I don't have a problem with that at all. Maybe it will even gain me future readers.
Do you have an e-reader and if so, what kind, and how much do you use it? I have an iPad, but instead of using iBooks I tend to use my Kindle app more (which I also have on my phone and laptop.)
> If you’re a writer, do you have direct experience of e-publishing? By that, I mean, have you self-published one of your own titles and, if so, what was the biggest hurdle to overcome?
I'm both a writer and an ebook design/production company. Of my own material, I've published two of my backlist novels, with two more to come once I get around to OCRing them, and a couple of short stories. I'm trying to decide whether to put a screenplay out there as well.
> How did you go about the process itself of getting the book out there?
I'm not sure how this is meant. Do you mean converting, uploading, etc., or do you mean marketing?
> Is it a brand new work, or a book that was previously print-published?
Both. Most of my design/production has been backlist novels, but I've also done a short-story collection for SJ Rozan of previously uncollected stories. So kind of new, kind of previously published.
> If it’s new, who handled the editing and proofreading?
When it's time for me to publish my own new material, I'll hire a freelance editor and proofreader, or barter services, or something.
> What platforms did you choose, and how did you make that decision?
A slightly different question is: What file formats did I choose to focus on? The answer is .mobi and .epub.
.mobi is what Kindle uses.
.epub is what Nook, iBooks, and lots of others use.
Any other format represents such a sliver of the paying market that I don't care about it. This is also why I only create .mobi and .epub for my clients: I think anything else is a waste of their time, so why increase my basic package price to make it for them?
> Who handled the formatting?
Me.
> Who designed the cover, and have you changed the cover or the title since the e-book went on sale? If so, why?
Me. In the case of my clients, they supply a concept and some art, whether stock art (from iStock.com, etc.) or a photo they took or have the rights to. I haven't changed the cover or title of my own books since they went live; I think changing the title is fraud and just haven't had time to monkey with the covers.
> Is piracy a problem or do you feel the need for some kind of password-protection to prevent your book being shared?
Piracy is a problem, but so is DRM (Digital Rights Management), which some readers object to. Go to digital readers' forums such as mobilereads.com and browse the DRM conversations and you'll see it's a little firestorm. But it may just be a LITTLE firestorm, depending on who your readers are and how much they care. I'm not yet convinced including DRM hurts sales.
> Where do you go to get good recommendations on new e-books?
Nowhere. I don't have time. If a friend mentions a book, and I have some money, I might download a sample. If I like the sample, I'll buy the rest of the book.
>What annoys you most about authors’ behaviour on discussion forums or social networking sites?
They won't shut up about their books, the dazzling future of self-publishing, or how smart and bold they are for doing it.
> How important are social networking sites like Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, etc, to finding new authors or keeping up with a favourite author’s work?
Indispensable if you're not Stephen King.
> Do you have an e-reader and if so, what kind, and how much do you use it?
Yes, a Kindle. I'll have a Nook and iPad soon, since you can't really be in the ebook business without them.
The Kindle is the only thing I read on anymore. I don't buy paper books unless it's a software manual, a cookbooks, a children's book, or something I can't get as a download.
> How much of your reading has gone over to an e-device of some description, and have you found any drawbacks?
95%
No drawbacks except that if you put your elbow through it accidentally when you forget it was next to you on the bed, you can't read again until the warranty replacement arrives.
> Have I asked too many questions?
No, you have six more left.
> Should I stop now?
Five more.
Hi Pat
Thank you for such detailed advice, and best of luck with your thrillers. I'm impressed that you've chosen to do everything yourself! How is the e-version selling compared to the POD version?
Hi Sarah
I remember an agent showing me one of the first e-readers I'd seen a few years ago, and his main comment was how useful it was for reading unweildy typescripts. Do you have a book on more than one device at once, and does this cause any problems?
Thanks, JT
I'm always grateful for your support, and Brett is a star, isn't he?
If you’re a writer, do you have direct experience of e-publishing? By that, I mean, have you self-published one of your own titles and, if so, what was the biggest hurdle to overcome?
Yes, in 2003. The biggest hurdles to overcome were marketing the CD (the book, then books, were in .pdf format), and getting buyers to understand they were not AUDIO CDs.
How did you go about the process itself of getting the book out there?
I had a website, drove traffic to it through Usenet and other bulletin boards, had a mailing list with a weekly topic, and drove or flew all over the country speaking on the topic. I mostly hand sold thousands of books.
Is it a brand new work, or a book that was previously print-published?
Two were previously print-published, and one was a new work. These were nonfiction titles, by the way.
If it’s new, who handled the editing and proofreading?
My first book was self-published, and I had a team of readers/editors (errors still got through). My second book was published by a traditional publisher, and edited professionally. More errors still got through. I did my own proofing and editing in the third and fourth books, one of which was original to me. I've reread it recently and did not see any errors.
What platforms did you choose, and how did you make that decision?
.Pdf format, but I'm struggling now to decide which direction to go next, either Kindle or Nook.
Who handled the formatting?
Who designed the cover, and have you changed the cover or the title since the e-book went on sale? If so, why?
My first two books were professionally designed. I designed the other two.
Is piracy a problem or do you feel the need for some kind of password-protection to prevent your book being shared?
I've never worried about it.
Where do you go to get good recommendations on new e-books?
Nook Books, on the B&N site. Also, writers' blogs.
What annoys you most about authors’ behaviour on discussion forums or social networking sites?
Pushing their own books, mercilessly. I'd rather know something interesting that will endear you to me, and get me interested in reading your fiction. Also, authors who snipe at reader/commenters turn me off completely. Keep political differences to thyself, thank you.
How important are social networking sites like Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, etc, to finding new authors or keeping up with a favourite author’s work?
I don't Twitter or use LinkedIn, and Facebook has convinced me to buy maybe two authors' books.
Do you have an e-reader and if so, what kind, and how much do you use it?
Nook, and I love it. I have the color version which was recently updated, and I use it a lot. However, I will use it even more once Mount TBR starts dwindling.
How much of your reading has gone over to an e-device of some description, and have you found any drawbacks? (This is other than the plane problem of not being able to use any electronic device until you get to 10,000 feet.)
That IS a problem, and I didn't realize it until the first time I took a flight after I bought the Nook. I guess just read the airline magazine until the plane gets to 10,000 feet.
Have I asked too many questions?
Of course not!
Good luck, Zoe. It ain't easy.
The one thing you forgot to ask, Zoe: Does it matter whether the books we read on e-devices are self- or traditionally published.
My answer: Heck, no. I've read so many (and had my own) traditionally published books with glaring errors, including spelling, grammar, plot holes big enough to drive a Mack truck through. Not to mention books that should never have seen the light of day in the first place, calling into question the judgement of traditional publishers. Why not give a self-pubbed author a chance? Most of them do use outside editors; I did, and I've edited others' self-pubbed work (after editing their traditionally published work for years). What's the difference? There is none, and anyone who believe there is is fooling themselves.
Hi Sylvia
I always thought Lulu was more of a POD publisher rather than an e-book platform. See how much I don't know … but thanks for the offer of an introduction. I'll check it out.
Thanks Brett
I know you already emailed me some of this info, and I don't want you to think for a moment that I decided to ignore it by posting this today. Your info made me realise just how much I don't know, and it was also so interesting I thought it was worth throwing it out there. Thank you again ;-]
Hi Keith
Wow, thanks for all that. Wonderful food for thought. You're going to have to post a link to your e-book design/production company, though.
Jennifer Crusie and Barbara O'Neal/Samuel have a two part discussion here:
http://www.arghink.com/2011/05/09/barb-and-jenny-on-e-publishing-part-one/
http://www.arghink.com/2011/05/10/barb-jenny-on-e-publishing-part-two/
Zoë: Well, for someone who professes technical limitations, you've certainly been help to me in my Squarespace freakouts.
I'm in about the same spot you are, so no real help, but I do have some links I've been meaning to get to myself:
Joe Konrath's piece for HuffPo on ePublishing: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ja-konrath/ebooks-and-self-publishing_b_764516.html
Sue Trowbridge's excellent info provided at LCC in Santa Fe (in case you missed it): http://www.leftcoastcrime.org/2011/ebook.html
And check out Open Road Media, Jane Friedman's digital publishing outfit. She saw the writing on the wall around 2007 and brought on a former editor at Dutton who'd moved on to get an MBA at Wharton, and they devised a plan for "21st century publishing" that has Jon King and Don Winslow onboard, among many others: http://www.openroadmedia.com/
I hope that's at least a little bit helpful. (But from the looks of it, you're already getting far better insights from our fellow Murderateros.)
David
I'm going to weigh in here briefly, because I've only flirted with self-pubbing. I put up a previously published short story, did the formatting and cover design myself. I've done zero promotion for it and gotten an appropriate response for my efforts. I link to it here only because I want to give you an example, not because I'm trolling for sales. It's a short story, for crissakes:
http://amzn.to/iDWdyX
But the main reason I'm commenting is to address the concerns about copy protection and piracy. I'm with Brett in that I don't even worry about it. Why?
Because copy protection is the devil. It protects nothing and makes life difficult for the consumer. If my Kindle breaks down and I decide to buy an iPad or a color Nook, what do I do with all those copy protected Kindle books? If I'm an average Joe who knows nothing about technology, I'm stuck having to buy my library all over again. And while that may be great for the publisher, it's not exactly consumer friendly. In fact, it outright sucks.
But the joke is, if you're not an average Joe, if you have, say, a modicum of experience with computers, it takes approximately thirty seconds to break the current state of the art copy protection and convert a book to another format. And, believe me, your average book pirate can probably do a dozen books in that amount of time.
No matter what publishers do, they cannot fight digital piracy. Every time they come up with a new protection scheme, it's cracked within days, hours, minutes, and pirated copies of books, music, movies appear online.
Pirates can't be stopped, so why worry about it? Remember all those illegal MP3 downloads we heard about earlier in the decade? Last I looked, music executives were still driving around in fancy cars, and Apple is making a FORTUNE selling 99 cent downloads.
The easiest and best way to fight piracy? SELL YOUR EBOOKS FOR A REASONABLE PRICE. $2.99 seems to be the sweet spot. For the price of half a sandwich people can have a couple days' worth of entertainment.
Okay, I lied about the "briefly" part.
Hi Karen
Wow, you were early on the e-bandwagon. One of the things I particularly like about the idea of e-books from an author's point of view, is that if someone does point out a glaring error, you have the opportunity to correct it without waiting for the paperback to come out!.
And no, you're quite right – it doesn't matter what format someone reads the book in, just so long as it's read.
Hi Hollygee
Thanks for those links. I can see I'm going to have enough e-reading to keep me going for weeks!
Hi David
It's a little bit of the blind leading the blind when it comes to me offering help with anything web-related, but some of the Squarespace problems you seemed to be encountering were ones that I've experienced too, so I'm glad I could help, if only a little bit. Thanks for the info!
Zoe:
When the eReading gets too overwhelming, you can always just watch this video with a talking dog in it: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504784_162-20058858-10391705.html
I'm helping!
Corbett
I've put six books up for Kindle, Nook and other e-formats (at Amazon, B&N and Smashwords, respectively). Two are new titles and the other four are backlist titles. The most recent one is BREAKING COVER, which went live yesterday.
Due to financial constraints, I've gone pretty DIY the whole way on editing and formatting. Frankly, it's been a huge PITA, especially for the backlist titles. I already had those in PDF, so they were theoretically edited, copy edited and proofread, but the conversion process to e-reader-ready HTML threw all sorts of weird spaces and unwanted breaks into the MS that I had to go in and catch by hand. For the "new" stuff, I'd already gotten feedback on editing from friends who I trust to tell me the truth, and a couple of other folks, including my cover designer, did a good job on the proofreading. But as soon as I can afford it, I'm hiring pros if I do this again.
Reader chiming in:
Where do you go to get good recommendations on new e-books?
I don’t usually get “recommendations” but then I’m not the typical, average reader. I may be more pro-active in my reading material than a more casual reader. In general, I would buy the Kindle version of a book in which I’m already interested. And actually, I find out about new releases when I work on my newsletter. But these are all published books that are also available in digital. There are websites that specialize in listing the free offerings of Kindle books and I check Amazon’s own site. But for getting recommendations for an author releasing a back list or indy? The yahoo group 4MA is fantastic for spreading the word. Or what you may want to do is study the model that the romance genre has developed. I mean seriously, their readers are vigorous in supporting independently e-published books and have been early adapters. There needs to be a clearinghouse website that authors announce their offerings and directions of where to get them. I’d offer premeditatedonline.com but I don’t think I have the time. Let me think on it.
What annoys you most about authors’ behaviour on discussion forums or social networking sites?
BSP. If an author is a member of a group such as 4MA they should be there for themselves and not use it as a marketing tool. That being said, there are many authors on 4MA who I would say are considered members who happen to also write books we like to read for a living. Stephen Booth started out this way and Tim Hallinen is a recent author who comments but also gets to do a post along the lines of “guess what, I just nominated for a blah blah award” and we’re thrilled for him as friends. I’m in the early X Gen age group that is a little older for using the social networking sites as vigorously as younger people. I do belong to Facebook and don’t mind at all seeing announcements from authors there. I do feel a little self conscious about asking authors to be my “friend” but that may be childhood issues rearing up. I’d like to ask the authors who I like to be my friend but what if they reject me?
How important are social networking sites like Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, etc, to finding new authors or keeping up with a favourite author’s work?
Again, I may have missed the boat generation-wise (why does 44 sound OLD now?), but I don’t participate in Twitter or Linkedin. However, these are probably good tools to get the attention of younger readers.
Do you have an e-reader and if so, what kind, and how much do you use it?
I have a Kindle; I love it. I use it probably 50/50 with regular books.
How much of your reading has gone over to an e-device of some description, and have you found any drawbacks?
Again, 50/50. I love the convenience of having samples not only to read but also to keep on my Kindle as a reminder that I’m interested in that book even if I can’t purchase it right away. I love the convenience of having a book instantly if I want it. I love the privacy – on occasion I’ll read a romance novel to cleanse the palate of crime – and I don’t necessarily want to broadcast it with the cover.
Have I asked too many questions?
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” Albert Einstein
Should I stop now?
“All in all, it's been a wonderful, wonderful ride. I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.” Teena Marie
Thanks, Rob – glad I didn't catch you on a particularly loquacious day ;-]
Good point about piracy. I confess I'd come to much the same conclusion myself, but it's interesting to hear reasoned arguement rather than instinct!
Aw, bless you, David – but, a talking dog? Are you trying to make my tiny little brain explode? ;-]
Hi Dusty
I'd heard the conversion process could be a pain. My web guy is currently looking into the ins and outs of it, as he's an expert with HTML.
Well, I was trying not to be one of those obnoxious self-promoters, but since you asked…
The company website (http://www.typeflownyc.com) is still about non-ebook stuff—the ebooks took off so fast, I haven't had time to redesign the site—but I'm using the company Facebook page as a stopgap until I have a minute to breathe:
http://www.facebook.com/typeflow
And here's an ad that's running in the May CRIMESPREE:
http://twitpic.com/4seby2
And now I will shut up about my company, though I'm still happy to answer questions.
I don't have a strong opinion on DRM, but I'd point out that "It protects nothing and makes life difficult for the consumer" is a self-negating statement. Making life difficult for the consumer *is* protecting something.
The two questions aren't whether there's protection, and whether it's difficult for the consumer, but rather the degree to which each is true within a given target market, and how you choose to balance those two factors.
If I'm selling to a young gaming audience with a lot of technical facility, I might not bother with DRM. If I'm selling to an older audience that just wants to pay their money and download their book, I might.
Personally, I'm going to be taking a different approach that I'm not ready to talk about for my own books, but regardless of what you do, I think it's important that you do it with an understanding of how you want it to affect your audience. I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all answer to this question, regardless of how shrill the philosophizing gets sometimes.
Wow! 'Rati Readers come through in spades! I'm with you, Zoe … I'm an ebook luddite. But the responses to your questions here are a primer all by themselves. I'm bookmarking this post to use as a reference in the future.
YAY, I love surveys!!! 😀
Where do you go to get good recommendations on new e-books?
— I usually get them from friends who know my reading taste well, you know, those who don't recommend books they'd like, but that I'd like.
What annoys you most about authors’ behaviour on discussion forums or social networking sites?
— I'm REALLY annoyed by all the "like me" or "follow me" or "retweet promoting my book" and I'll give you prize stuff. The way I see it, if I like an author, they don't have to ask for me to like them or follow them or tell my friends about their book. If it's something I like, I'll do all of these things without having been asked. And I won't ever like an author I don't know or promote a book I haven't read or liked for a prize — not even if it's a Unicorn. Okay, for a Unicorn I would, but nothing else. To me, that's the equivalent of 3rd graders "I'll give you my desert if you play with me during recess." I don't like to be 'bought' to like someone. Also, it annoys me when authors are always promoting their best friends as the best writers ever. I am always a bit skeptical, 'cause they're obviously biased. Though, I really don't mind when authors promote their own work. They've spent MONTHS dedicating themselves to that book, they totally should promote and gush about it! They've earned it 🙂
How important are social networking sites like Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, etc, to finding new authors or keeping up with a favourite author’s work?
— Finding new authors they're just a bit important because you end up following someone through someone else and stuff, but, really, I usually pick authors by their website and their blog. Their blogging voice and author biography are the main criteria for me to read someone new. It's great for keeping up, though.
Do you have an e-reader and if so, what kind, and how much do you use it?
–I have a Kindle and I absolutely love it, and, since I got it, I've read like 95% of all books in it. i live in Brazil, so, on top of everything else, it's practical.
Or, equally, if you'd NEVER consider an e-reader, why not?
— Kindles are friends 🙂
How much of your reading has gone over to an e-device of some description, and have you found any drawbacks?
— Like I said, about 95%. And the print books I've read was because I *won* them. I think I bought ONE printed book since I got Kindle for Christmas 2009.
I'd also strongly suggest you don't pay services to upload the files for you. Take a few minutes or an hour and do it yourself. It's just not that hard. KEEP YOUR RIGHTS AND DON'T GIVE AWAY YOUR MONEY! You're in control. Don't give power away to bloodsuckers just because you don't want to upload a file.
The most complicated thing you might have to do is get an ISBN number. It's not necessary for Kindle and Nook, but is necessary for iBooks and probably some others. Don't buy from resellers, because that messes up who the publisher of record is, since ISBNs are supposed to be issued to publishers. Get it yourself here: https://www.myidentifiers.com ). It's pricey if you don't buy a block of them.
I wholeheartedly agree with Keith about not paying anyone to upload your books for you. Anyone can do it. It's not that hard. Just, as Keith said, take your time and read the instructions. And if that fails, ask friends who have done it.
On the ISBN…I have not purchased any yet myself. For iBooks I go through SMASHWORDS and they assign an ISBN for free. If there's a better way to get to iBooks, and there just might be, I don't know it yet.
I'm an e-book author and an e-book reader (I own a Kindle). I love my Kindle because it's easy to shop at midnight and get the book right away. For a night owl who likes instant gratification, you don't get any better than that. What I don't like about the Kindle is, if I'm reading a story and get confused by something that contradicts a previous chapter, I can't just whip the pages back to see if I misread it. So if there are errors in the writing, I find I'm less forgiving.
As far as my e-books, I pay a designer to do my covers, and I've had them edited by writer-friends who apparently just do it for the thrill of slapping me with my typos. I can't complain. They hit like 9-year old girls.
For a true primer on the technical aspects of e-pubbing, go to Joe Konrath. He seems to have paved the way for the rest of us. For myself, I was able to upload my books to Kindle and to Smashwords with no problem – but I'm a former software engineer. Smashwords is a great site, because you download one version of your book, select what devices you want to sell it on and who you want to distribute it, and they do the rest. Suddenly, you're on Barnes & Noble, available on Nook! Woo Hoo!
I use Facebook and try to Twitter a reasonable amount. Are these things helping my sales? I have no way to quantify yes or no. I hang around on Kindle Boards a lot. Mostly, I seem to meet other authors, but we've started blog swapping, and I've definitely seen my blog stats shoot up. I also lurk on the Amazon discussions, but I'm leery of getting too involved there. Kindle Boards has a couple of people monitoring the discussions and they shut it down if it gets too snarky and personal. Amazon tries to do this, but usually after someone complains. I've seen a few bad eggs take a very good discussion and run it into a pit of name calling.
As far as piracy, I think I'd love for my books to get so popular that I feel threated about people stealing them.
Hi PK
“I’d like to ask the authors who I like to be my friend but what if they reject me?” Never! And if you’re old, what does that make me? ;-] Very useful advice. Thank you – and love the quotes.
Thanks, Keith
Waiting to be asked is the height of good manners. As does asking ;-] Thanks for the links and the comments on piracy.
Hi Louise
Me too, although being a Luddite, I may be forced to print it out …
Thanks, Barbie
How about a unicorn AND a nice dessert…?
Hi Keith
As I said further up, my web guy is very savvy with HTML, and he’s looking into this for me. As for giving away rights, I was asked a while back to contribute to a printed short story anthology where the ‘contract’ actually specified giving ‘all rights in perpetuity’ to the publisher. Needless to say, I didn’t contribute, but it there have always been sharks circling.
Thanks Brett – and Keith – for the tips about ISBNs. You guys are great!
Keep in mind that even though ebooks and web pages use some of the same HTML and CSS code, they're only remotely related in practice. If your web guy ends up getting results that aren't what he wanted, feel free to have him drop me a line.
As for manners—there's a first time for everything…
Zoe–
Welcome to the chaotic world of self-publishing. One thing's for sure: it's not your father's self-publishing world. Heck, it isn't even your older sister's. I'll answer a few of your questions, so as not to drone on.
<If you’re a writer, do you have direct experience of e-publishing?>
I've self-published a collection of short stories, as well as a novel, which just went live today. For the record, my first novel was traditionally published.
<How did you go about the process itself of getting the book out there?>
Herein lies the rub. You are 100% responsible for getting your book in front of potential readers, for making it rise above the tens of thousands of other self-published books that are competing for their attention. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer.
My first suggestion would be to get a faster Internet connection so you don't waste your time waiting around. It might cost you a few bucks, but you have to have it.
My second suggestion would be to develop a presence via Facebook author page, Twitter, and your own website. Get as many reviews and interviews as you can possibly line up. Leave articulate comments on certain key blogs. Kindle Boards is a good place to start. They're all indie authors and they share a lot of knowledge. Some of them have sold tens and even hundreds of thousands of books. You can learn from them. I did.
<Is piracy a problem or do you feel the need for some kind of password-protection to prevent your book being shared?>
In a word, no.
Regarding formatting, cover design, and editing, you'll need to get the best people you can afford. This cannot be overstated. Joe Konrath, whose blogs you should study beginning with around April of 2009, never gets tired of saying you need a great book, a great cover, a great description, and a great price. I would add to that, a great title.
Hope this helps, Zoe. And good luck to you.
Zoë, I'll do about ANYTHING for a Unicorn, really!!!! 😉
I have a Kindle myself. Love, love, love it. Did I mention that I love it? I've published traditionally and DIY on Kindle/Nook. The independent releases have been a blast to conceive and bring to fruition. For my thriller, DISTRACTED: A THRILLER, I used the folks over at thrillingcovers.blogspot.com for the cover. Several trusted readers handle the editing. And I do the formatting myself. The ride has been great fun. DISTRACTED has been out for one month and sold close to 150 copies thus far. The ebook revolution is gaining serious momentum. At my blog I feature a 99 cent page and we have well over two hundred books listed. I say go for it, Zoe.
Keith, with all due respect, balance or no balance, if you're in the customer satisfaction business (and I think we are), anything you do that makes life difficult for the consumer is a mistake.
The easier you make it for them to transfer their books from one device to another, the better off you'll be. The perfect model is the music business, which tried for years to tie its customers' hands, only to finally realize that unprotected content was better for all concerned. Now we can download songs at a reasonable price and play them on the MP3 player or telephone or computer of our choice.
That's where books need to be. Standardized. DRM-free.
As I pointed out, you cannot stop pirates. And most consumers have no interest in being pirates. Those who DO pirate aren't about to shell out ten bucks for a book anyway. Which is why I say keeping the price low is important.
Yeah, could be.
Zoe, as far as HTML goes, there's a very simple process for coding your books.
Step 1: In Word (or OpenOffice), save your file as a web page (html extension). That puts all kinds of extra, unnecessary code in, so then you go to
Step 2: Open your Word html document in your favorite freeware web page design software (I use Aptana Studio), highlight your text and run HTML Tidy. This gives you a nice clean file to either upload straight to Kindle or put in your favorite conversion app. I use Calibre.
It takes only moments to format a book, unless you're dealing with PDF files, as Dusty was forced to. PDF doesn't translate well, so there's a lot of clean-up to do.
Hi folks, just to let you know that I'm out this evening, but will be back later to respond to comments. This all looks brilliant so far. Thank you SO much!
Zoë,
I'm so glad you asked these questions. I'm not so much jumping in as sticking one toe in at a time. But in the coming months, I'll probably have a lot more time to explore these options and I want to start.
>>>If you’re a writer, do you have direct experience of e-publishing? By that, I mean, have you self-published one of your own titles and, if so, what was the biggest hurdle to overcome?<<<
My only direct experience of e publishing is my non-fiction workbook, SCREENWRITING TRICKS FOR AUTHORS: http://www.amazon.com/Screenwriting-Tricks-Authors-Screenwriters-ebook/dp/B0032JSJ9U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1262864197&sr=1-1
The biggest hurdle was writing it. Was that a trick question?
However, I'll be e-pubbing the second volume within two months, and publishing my first original e novel at about the same time. The money is unignorable. I will e mail you.
>>>>How did you go about the process itself of getting the book out there?<<<<<
It had a lot to do with hearing Joe Konrath go on about it in hot tubs until I felt hypnotized enough not to care what happened if I just tried it.
Then, I pestered my friends who had already done it shamelessly until I understood how to do it. Feel free to do the same with me.
>>>>Is it a brand new work, or a book that was previously print-published?<<<
It was my first non-fiction, and my agent thought I could make more money doing it as an e book. He was right.
>>>If it’s new, who handled the editing and proofreading?<<< A ton of beta readers.
>>>What platforms did you choose, and how did you make that decision?<<<
At first, just Amazon/Kindle, because that's the only one my agent would let me do. I'm just getting it up on Pubit and Smashwords, because things – well, have changed. They have changed since I typed those words, actually.
>>>Who handled the formatting?<<<
My fantastic web mistress/master at Cincinnati Media. Thanks, Beth and Jeff!!
>>>Who designed the cover, and have you changed the cover or the title since the e-book went on sale? If so, why?<<<
The wonderful Carl Graves at http://extendedimagery.blogspot.com/
My wonderful sister is doing my new book, it's awesome.
>>>>Is piracy a problem or do you feel the need for some kind of password-protection to prevent your book being shared?<<<
DRM annoys readers, I'm told. Piracy is piracy, nothing really to do about it. They'll all burn in hell, so don't worry about it.
Feel the fear and do it anyway, Z!!!!
Hi Zoë,
[Oh, wait a sec… still laughing uncontrollably over that talking doggy video David linked.]
Where do you go to get good recommendations on new e-books?
– I read reviews on the Internet. I read blogs like this one. I read library pages. I read authors' web pages. I listen to NPR. I discovered Tony Hillerman on NPR.
What annoys you most about authors’ behaviour on discussion forums or social networking sites?
– Mmmm… have to say the worst to me are those authors who are nasty to commenters, or pointedly ignore them. Of course authors have a right to verbal defense, but once in awhile one or two make unreasonably nasty comments. When it is that bad I stop, or never do read, their books. By pointedly ignoring commenters I am referring to times when some authors respond to all the commenters except one. That seems just plain mean. If a commenter says something the author takes issue with, a simple clarification can often help. In forums such as this, people often post quickly or like me, have limitations that sometimes cause communication problems. Not writing anything or waiting three hours or more to check before pressing the little button is not always possible, as the very symptoms prevent that. I have multiple disabilities, and complex-partial seizures are, to me anyway, the worst. They interfere with my verbal and emotional expression long after the seizures themselves.
How important are social networking sites like Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, etc, to finding new authors or keeping up with a favourite author’s work?
– Not important, really. I do them all, myself, but mostly for family and old friends, Linkedin for co-workers, especially. I do "Like" a few authors, but if their posts are just ads, I "Unlike" them and get their book info in other ways, like on their blogs. I love author blogs with readings and excerpts, philosophy, experience, photos, all that. They seem to come together and tell me that I would like to read their books (or not).
Do you have an e-reader and if so, what kind, and how much do you use it?
– I have an iPad. I especially like the Kindle app on the iPad. I also use the Nook and IBooks apps. I am using it right now to comment. I read books in the e-format every day, for hours. And no drawbacks for me. I don't even get glare while reading outside.
A little afterthought regarding e-publishing on your side of the Atlantic: When I was at Oxford – this millennium, really – all our essays had to be written in pencil. There were a very few computers in the common room, and there were 15 minute limits. Could not have written an essay at the computer cafés on the High!
On piracy: you can scan a hard copy of a book and read it on screen. I assume pirates can print them easily.
On protecting your intellectual property: People I have discussed this with are very annoyed when they cannot share an e-book,the way they can share a hard copy. Myself? I like the lower price of e-books, and for me that makes it totally okay. I buy hardcopies for friends and family.
Or create doc multiples easily.
And – When a blog is just a sales pitch, and nothing more, I often don't read it.
Twitter – I do use Twitter for updates from authors, reviewers, publishers, bloggers, libraries, and the like to direct me to new things to read.
I don't filter for e-books only, rather if something sounds interesting I check to see if it is available as an e-book. If it isn't I express my interest with that option on the Amazon/Kindle.
Sorry to be so hypergraphic today.
Sorry for the delay, everyone, but I’m back at my desk (OK, so it’s nearly 2am here, but who’s counting…?)
Hi Gayle
I did wonder about the ‘not being able to flip back through a few pages to check something’ aspect of an e-reader. I read in fits and starts, and find that if there are several characters with similar names, I start to lose who’s who. LOL on the “They hit like 9-year-old girls.” You’re clearly hanging around with the wrong kind of writers ;-]
I’m also very wary of getting involved in ‘discussions’ that turn into slanging matches. The anonymous side to insults on the internet has always worried me slightly.
Hi Keith
Thanks for the offer! I’ll pass on your details to Derek.
Thanks, Mike
Congrats on the novel going live today. Go on – send a link! Good advice, although there’s not much I can do about the slow broadband at the moment – it’s the price we pay for living in a beautiful (but very rural) area.
Hi Barbie
How about a white pony with some kind of coral dermal implant …?
Hi Philip
I’m sensing that you might be quite keen on your Kindle perhaps? Thanks for the info, and what’s the link to the 99c page of your blog?
Rob, Keith – the piracy argument is an ongoing and fascinating one, so I’m happy to see both sides voiced here. Just play nice, OK?
And thanks for the HTML advice. I have all my early out-of-print stuff as digital files, so I’ll see what I can do with them.
Hi Pari
I’m overwhelmed, as always, by the generous response of all the ‘Rati family, and the advice and comments here are just wonderful. The more than benefit from it, the merrier ;-]
Hi Alex
I was right with you until I read: “It had a lot to do with hearing Joe Konrath go on about it in hot tubs until I felt hypnotized enough not to care what happened if I just tried it.” Hot tubs – plural? Damn, how long is it going to take me to get THAT image out of my head…? Thanks for all the terrific info, and I love your response to piracy!
Hi Reine
When it comes to being bitchy on the internet, bad karma seems to be very circular – you give it out and sooner or later it will come back to bite you in the bum. I don’t like being pressure-sold to, either, and in fact find it really hard to do the whole ‘Me, me, me! Look at me!’ thing, in person or via keyboard. I keep saying it’s the Brit in me finds that kind of thing somewhat vulgar, like telling people how much your house is worth, or what you earn. I, too, have actively avoided books by authors who tried to ram them down my throat, and have even stopped reading midway through one author’s book because of something mean they did, which spoilt the whole enjoyment of the thing. Thank you for the insight, and Kendall is keeping you in line ;-]
It is an interesting issue that you can lend a paper book to however many friends you like, but e-books are more difficult. And then there’s the whole second-hand book market, where books are sold in charity shops or wherever, and the author gets no percentage of the sales. I think I fall into the category of just being glad to have the chance of gaining new readers.
Oh, and never apologise for comments – you always have such great things to say!
Zoe,
When I put a manuscript (in pdf) on my Sony Touch, it's a copy of the original, which remains on my laptop. So I do have copies of the same thing in two different places–as long as I only make notes on one copy, it doesn't cause problems.
When I'm beta-ing someone else's work, I make handwritten notes on my eReader copy, transfer the MS back to my laptop, and send it back to the writer as an attachment. There's a weird trick to sending the notes with the pdf file — learned with many calls to tech support — so you may have an easier time with another eReader. I've also never done this with more than five chapters at a time, but that's because of the size limits my e-mail provider puts on attachments.
When editing my own work, I prefer to leave my notes on the eReader copy (which, again, is a pdf) and transcribe them to my "working copy" (which is in MS Word) on my laptop, with the devices side-by-side. This is more convenient for me, because my laptop screen is too small to bring up two side-by-side documents.
That's probably more than you wanted to know, sorry — I tend towards the pedantic if given free rein.
I'm happy to let Rob handle the voicing of sides. Check out the mobilereads.com forums if you're interested in the one he's arguing against.
My entire view is "Look at the issues and make an informed decision, regardless of various volume knob settings."
Also "Don't embed unlicensed fonts," but that's another thread…
I'm a reader. I have a Nook and LOVE it. I love getting "samples" of books. I've found several new-to-me authors that way. It has increased the variety of authors I read and I have passed on the recommendations to friends and family by facebook.
Ah Zoë, thank you. Yes, Kendall is a genius carer.
Zoe, keen is an understatement. 🙂
The link to the 99 cent page on my bog is:
http://excusememissptd.blogspot.com/p/99-cent-ebooks.html
Hi Sarah – sorry, I tried to respond to this last night, but Squarespace decided I’d done three comments in a row and I was clearly a Bad Person who must be shunned. Normally when that happens I have to wait an hour before I try again, and there’s only so late I can stay awake!
Anyhow, no apologies ever necessary! I work from Track Changes in Word for editing, although occasionally I've received versions that don't show the changes the copyeditors have made, only their comments, so I've ended up working with three files open – my original master copy, the one with comments, and the one with copyeditor's changes shown. That involves working on my laptop and desktop simultaneously, as my desktop has a widescreen monitor that allows me to get two full-width pages up side-by-side – invaluable. I assume you can add Post-It note-type comments to the pdf files on your reader, as you can on any computer?
Hi Keith
‘My entire view is "Look at the issues and make an informed decision, regardless of various volume knob settings." LOL – erm, calling Rob a knob isn’t very nice ;-] OK, OK, kidding again, honest! Don’t throw things! Seriously, thank you for the tip on those two threads. I’ll check them out.
Hi Kay
Free samples certainly seem to be a great idea, just the same as going into a bookstore and flicking through the pages. What made you chose a Nook above any other kind of reader?
Hi Reine
Kendall is a hero!
Hi Philip
Thanks for the link!
A HUGE thank you to everyone who’s responded to this. Going to all the links and through all the comments will give me food for thought for days. Thank you again, ‘Rati crew. You rock!
Zoe – One thing to add to this discussion re:e-readers. I love the Kindle that my wife and I share, and I REALLY love that I can back out of one book, open a different one, and both will be on whatever page I left them. The no-glare in direct sunlight is also cool. However, my big issue with the kindle is that, because of the ink, there's no way to backlight it (and so I will now have to–as always, because I read at night a lot–get a special nightlight for it just like with regular books). That's really annoying, because I'd love to be able to run a reading light off the battery rather than keep up with the battery for something that isn't rechargeable the way the Kindle is.
Just food for thought.
Where do you go to get good recommendations on new e-books?
Friends, trusted book blogs (mostly readers)
What annoys you most about authors’ behaviour on discussion forums or social networking sites?
When all they do is try to sell you their book, never engage in other kinds of conversation
How important are social networking sites like Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, etc, to finding new authors or keeping up with a favourite author’s work?
Not much for me. Of those you mention I only use twitter and while I do follow some authors it's generally blogs or good reads that helps me keep track of new titles
Do you have an e-reader and if so, what kind, and how much do you use it?
A sony that doesn't use wi-fi (i.e. you have to hook it up to a computer to get books). I use it quite a bit, a would use it more but for geographic restrictions that prevent me (in Australia) from buying some books
How much of your reading has gone over to an e-device of some description, and have you found any drawbacks? (This is other than the plane problem of not being able to use any electronic device until you get to 10,000 feet.)
About 30-40% so far and I'd easily go higher but for the problem I mentioned above.
Hi Jake
Good point. I’m not familiar with the Kindle to know if it has a USB port for recharging etc? If so, I have a wonderful USB-powered LED light on a flexible stalk that sups very little battery, which I use to illuminate the keyboard of my laptop if I’m working in the car at night on the road, where having an overhead light on would be too distracting for Andy.
Hi Bernadette
Thank you for the info. I have heard that you can’t just order e-books if you live in a country that book is not e-published in, as it were. So, if you wanted to buy an e-book, it would have to be available on Amazon Australia for you to download, rather than Amazon US or UK?