Creating an ebook has been a learning experience.
First off, for some reason I’m always surprised that non-writers aren’t really aware of the major changes going on in publishing. I guess I shouldn’t, but I’d think that as a reader, they’d realize that things were rapidly changing. I’ve certainly been aware of changes in the music and film industries.
But when friends and acquaintances ask me if I’ve got any releases coming out, I tell them, “Yes, I’ve got a book coming out in November—the third book in the Memphis series with Penguin. And I’m about to put out an ebook, myself.” And you should see the reaction. They’re very confused about my reasons for self-publishing. Actually, every one of them have been completely shocked. I just tell them that the industry is changing and I’m trying to just go with the flow and pursue both traditional and e-publishing.
Another thing I’ve noticed is how confusing the process is for someone who’s just been casually reading about e-publishing for the last six months. You can find advice supporting nearly any position you want to take on price, platform, and formatting. The writer has to pick through this huge mess of services and information to find a match—who can edit? Who can design a cover reasonably? Who can do interior design (which is something I wanted—page design for my ebooks)? Is it better to upload to Smashwords? Through each platform separately? Where do I get ISBNs and should I get them? And e-publishing is changing daily.
It makes me think that there is definitely a job market there for ebook service Sherpas. I don’t think it’s something agents should go into unless they quit being agents, though, for obvious conflict of interest reasons. (If they want to sell you e-publishing services, are they actually going to try to send your manuscript out to traditional publishers? How thorough would that search for a publisher be?)
I’ve also noticed a reticence among some traditionally published writers to give e-publishing a go—although this reticence is being quickly eschewed to chase the money. :) But I’ve seen real arguments on some of my writing loops where authors who’ve already taken the plunge are fussing at other authors for not wanting to put more money into the upfront costs of the project for the long-term benefits.
That’s because, I think, traditionally published writers haven’t had to worry about all the mechanics of book production and suddenly picking up those costs is a shock. Many traditionally published authors also tend to quickly forget that ebooks are forever….they don’t have the short shelf life of our physical bookstore novels. So any upfront investment is for a long-term harvest.
Have you taken the e-book plunge? What have you learned in the process?
Congratulations!
As you know, I have not had much choice, but the e-book road has been less scary than I thought. And for someone who is already an established writer, it will be so much easier for you to sell e.g. your backlist. Some writers do already, and I´m sure we have only seen a small trickle of what will come in that field.
My advice (for what it´s worth):
publish via both Smashwords and Amazon. Smashwords treat non-Americans better (which will be an advantage for some of your customers), and they offer ten formats in one easy process. All you have to do is opt out of Smashwords´ Amazon distribution and upload your file there yourself. Besides, it is much easier to navigate via Smashwords – they are really geared to help & support new e-writers.
Both Smashwords and Amazon offer free ISBN numbers (you have to have separate ISBN for ebooks anyway), and as there are no costs or fees for new authors, there is no reason to choose one option only.
I´ll stop here, but please ask me if you think there is anything I can help you with.
Elizabeth – Thanks for your thoughts on this topic. I admit I haven’t taken the ebook plunge yet although I’ve thought a lot about it. The big reason I haven’t is exactly the sorts of things you mention here. It’s such a new landscape without a lot of guidance, and I’m not experienced in that area. I know it isn’t something I can’t master; I just haven’t gotten there yet. I daresay I will, though…
I think you have the right idea about doing both traditional and ebooks – I’ve always heard that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. I’m curious though, about what your current publisher thinks about you going out and publishing on your own….
Yeah, started out with my most non-commercial books, but I quickly realized I wanted to go whole hog, and I’m working on getting the books I was “saving” for traditional publishing up.
One of the reasons I went for indie publishing, though, was because the publishing side is fun for me. I have a background in graphic technology. I’ve been fiddling with ebooks as a reader for over a decade. And I have a background in weekend entrepreneurship.
It’s going to be harder for folks who don’t have some relevant skills or background. But yes, the Sherpas to the rescue. (I love they way you put that idea of self-publishing sherpas.)
Great post :)
I am an independently published author and we have taken the ebook plunge from the get-go with Kindle but more recently through Smashwords. I definitely agree that the investment authors put into anything regarding ebooks is for the “long term harvest” and, since this really seems the direction that book publishing is going, I do think it’s a must for authors everywhere. We’re lucky since we know how to create the files (both the covers and the content) ourselves so there’s no overhead there. There was also no overhead to upload to Smashwords, so for us publishing our books that way, it’s a win-win situation. Right now the income isn’t much every quarter, but each report that comes out is better and better and knowing we didn’t have to invest anything into it really helps, too.
Thanks for sharing this with us and for letting me share my opinion :)
Happy writing/reading everyone!
MJ
I know my book is available in all eBook forms, and according to my royalty statements, it outsells the physical version.
Someone else posted this week about agents offering eBook services. I think they’re getting desperate.
LOL – why do you think I offer eBook formatting services? And Smashwords covers all but two formats, one of them being the Kindle, so ebooks must be uploaded directly to Amazon.
Authors who don’t have ebooks in their contract and are free to self-publish them need to do it!
Elizabeth, you are the second traditionally published author whose blog I read who is also plunging into epublishing – I’m sure there are a lot more!
I’ve recently published via smashwords and Kindle – there are pros and cons to both – I started out with a free short story which ‘belongs’ to a mystery series I’m writing, and smashwords was definitely the right place for that as it’s easy to make it a free download there. I’ve found it both exciting and unnerving to find it being reviewed on various other sites I hadn’t heard of before!
At the moment I have a whole novel available for free on amazon.com as it was free on smashwords and Amazon ‘price-matched’. It has had over 7,000 downloads since Monday! – of course I am not making any money from it but it has made me aware of the huge audience out there.
MJ–Thanks for your thoughts on this! I do think that it’s extraordinarily *inexpensive* to get a book up on ereaders, compared to print self-publishing, which is incredibly expensive. I’ve put about $450 into this ebook so far (and I think that’s about as high as I’m going to have to go) and I think–looking at future profits–it’s going to be totally worth it.
Alex–I think the agents are. And it makes sense that they would move into ebook services because they know a lot of people in the industry. But they shouldn’t do both. They really shouldn’t.
Dorte–It’s a good thing…getting that backlist up there. I think the test will come when traditional authors are trying to write *new* material for ebooks and also trying to keep up with our contracted deadlines. I’m trying to write quicker and get my first drafts cleaner than they’ve been before (so that edits take less time.)
I’m definitely going the ISBN route. And I want to be listed as the publisher. Gulp.
Thanks so much, Dorte! It’s very comforting to have friends who have been there and know what they’re doing!
Margot–You will! But I know what you mean. Sometimes I feel like I’ve got Learning Fatigue. Do I really have to learn something *else*? Really? It takes a lot out of us.
Diane–You know, I think I need to make a new page on my blog for ebook services. Sort of a directory that y’all could put yourselves on? Might be helpful. It seems to me that it would be really NICE to have some kind of directory to search.
Sheila–That’s fantastic! I think one of the things that’s exciting about epublishing is that we also have a wide selection of books to choose from. And think about the audience you’re building up from these free downloads…then they’ll remember your name and probably buy your next book. Congratulations!
I’ve seen many more taking this plunge lately and I commend them! You’re right, the publishing world is changing and we must keep up or be left behind.
Lady Gwen–I’m not really sure. My editors and agent are genuinely supportive of *me* and I believe are happy for me to epub as long as I meet my commitments with them. My *publishers*? I’m not sure.
Heather–I don’t want to be a dinosaur! I think I should make a banner with that slogan and stick it in my sidebar. :)
The Daring Novelist–I think that’s a good idea. From what I understand, if you can get a decent self-pubbed library up, the income actually becomes pretty decent, too.
Camille, you should probably BE a Sherpa!
Elizabeth–It would be so fantastic if you could make up a list of e-pub facilitators like Diane! (In your spare time–ha) The industry really needs this. You’d be doing us huge service.
Pretty much all the corporate- published authors I know are also releasing indie books. A 70% royalty sure is nicer than a 7% royalty, which is what most corporate publishers pay on paperbacks.
Some of these established writers are publishing through their agencies, and I know that seems wrong intuitively, but the writers aren’t complaining. Mark Coker at Smashwords wrote a blogpost this week about how agencies may be the new gateway publishers of the future.
I’m not sure I entirely agree, but he makes some good points.
The greatest thing to come from the ebook revolution may be the way it empowers writers. We now have choices. Even authors who are still publishing only with International conglomerates know they can walk away if they want to.
But it is almost surreal to talk to people outside the publishing business (or newbie writers) who don’t have a clue what’s going on. So many beginners are still sending out queries with fantasies of huge advances, not knowing those days are over forever. Some of them will find agents, but agents are having a harder and harder time selling books, and advances are minimal. And royalties non-existent.
It’s going to take them a while to catch up, but they will.
Great post, Elizabeth. I had never considered e-publishing until my indie publisher went out of business during the economic downturn about two years ago. He very nicely returned the rights to me, and I published to Smashwords and Amazon. Little did I know that smart phones and e-readers were about to take over the market. I’m so glad my storytelling books are now highly accessible. It’s been great.
I’m now trying to find an agent for my first novel, but if things don’t work out, and the stats are against me on that, I have no problem investing in an e-book cover designer : )
Anne–I think I’m going to have to think of a way to do a directory of some kind. I was looking for one online, but there doesn’t seem to be any such thing.
Yes, money talks. Even to the stubborn traditionally pubbed writer!
I’ve heard from writers who were happy to have their agents guide them through the epub wilderness. But…I’m like you. It just doesn’t seem right.
I think anytime people have choices, it’s a good thing. We might not always make the *right* choices, but at least we have more control.
I think we’ve *got* to keep up with the changes in the industry. Otherwise, there’s no way we can have a writing career with any degree of longevity to it.
Although it would be nice if things slowed down *just* a little! I’m getting worn out with it all!
I took the self publishing plunge recently with my book Taken Hostage. I invested up front for a pro quality book. Now, about 2 weeks later, I’ve already made back the cost. ;)
I’m relatively new to all of this, and I’ve been very hesitant to consider e-book publishing. I’ve been going about things the old fashioned ways (querying agents, etc, etc). Now, you said you’re self-publishing a book in addition to traditional publishing. What made you decide to do that? What are the benefits for you.
Thanks so much.
<3 Gina Blechman
I’m no Sherpa, but I’ve put up a couple of posts on my own self-publishing journey. Handing it off to an expert sounds like a good idea to me but, if you want to do it yourself but are baffled by the terminology in the how-to guides, you might look over these posts:
Part 2
If nothing else, they’ll give you some appreciation of what your expert has to go through!
Marian Allen
Ranae–That is such encouraging news. Congrats!
Ranae–Wonderful! Hope I’ll be able to say the same. :)
Gina–For me, these books that I’ve already written are doing me no good sitting on my laptop. Both are books in the Myrtle Clover mystery series, which has been canceled by Midnight Ink. I do get emails each week from readers asking when another Myrtle book will be available, so I thought, “Why on earth don’t I put them out there?” My agent DID offer to shop the books to another publisher–but then the process of shopping the book might take months. If I *got* another publisher for the series (my agent did have ideas on one), then it would take a couple of months for a contract to get drawn up. Then it would take a year from that point for the books to release. I might lose some readers in the process, for sure.
In addition, there’s a financial incentive. You get a 70% royalty on sales, as long as you’re pricing your book at $2.99 and up. The shelf life basically lasts forever. In traditional publishing, everybody has to get paid out of the price of the book. So the book distributor gets a cut, the bookstore gets a cut, the publisher gets a cut, your agent gets a cut…that’s just the nature of the business.
In addition, I’m worried that if I *don’t* explore both, that I’m messing up establishing a platform for my writing in the ebook community. I’m worried I’ll be left behind. My books are already in ebook form, of course, through my publishers–but not in a form that I can control.
Other writers like the idea of publishing a book without creative limitations. Maybe they write on topics that might not be commercially successful (which means traditional publishers might pass on them.) Maybe they have a “book of their heart” that they’ve invested a ton of time into and their search for an agent or editor has been fruitless.
Although I know quite a few traditionally published authors who are putting their backlist up as ebooks, none of the ones I *personally* know are giving up writing for their publishers. (I know big-name authors like Barry Eisler are, though.) They’re just making sure they’re taking advantage of every opportunity. Many of them aren’t really publicizing what they’re doing, though…I think there’s definitely some anxiety about what agents and publishers will make of it all.
Marian–Thanks so much for the link to your resource, Marian! I’ll be checking it out. :)
I’ve been leaning more and more toward e-publishing when my mss are finally ready for public consumption. I tend to be one of those writers who doesn’t write the books that traditional publishers want, but I know that there is at least a small community of people out there that will read them (I’m friends with many of them!). The logistics of it all terrify me, though, since I am not at all technically minded, and the last thing I want is to turn people off by sloppy work in publishing!
Thanks Anne and Elizabeth. :) To be honest, I hadn’t even considered self-publishing until recently. And it’s only been a couple of weeks, but so far I think it’s pretty awesome having complete control over my book, not to mention keeping all the profits for myself. I’m planning on releasing another title myself too.
Louise–The good news is that I don’t think you have to really be technically savvy. I think you need to hook up with people who know what they’re doing, though. So for me, the process (after the editing) was like this: find ebook designer. Find ebook formatter. Decide on a price. Buy ISBNs (I’m going to buy 10 from Bowker). Upload (and there are even services that can help you do this, but if you know even basic file attachment, I think you’ll be okay (from what I’ve seen so far.)
Ranae–Sounds like it’s working out perfectly! Good luck with your second book, too. :)
Yes, I think you are wise to get into the ebook market. We are definitely headed that way. And, I have had people ask me if my books are available for Kindle or Nook. It’s becoming more common.
I’ve taken the plunge with both my books. And I’ve been pleased. We all need to look at this seriously. How many bookstores have to close before we realize, people will be reading our work some other way.
I’d love to know what comes after ebooks. That’s the market to get into.
Thanks for the great post.
Lou
It’s really a bizarre time in publishing, especially for those starting out. I work in acquisitions for a big international university press and my days are filled with discussions on the future of that side of the business. I’m working through my first novel now, and faced with a whole different set of questions about which route to start down with that, once I have in a form that I could either self-publish or begin writing query letters for. As an editor, I’m a firm believer in the value of the services a publisher provides, but it’s a whole new world out there with people offering their services to indie writers.
It should be an interesting next couple of years in the evolution of the book and the industry!
I haven’t self published anything, and if I do, it will likely be e-publishing. I’ve browsed the CreateSpace and Smashwords sites and find the info valuable and helpful.
I have read several e-pub’d books, and what I have learned is that a lack of proper formatting can ruin an otherwise good read. Certain characters, punctuation, and script styles do not convert at all, or leave really weird alternatives. And titles, chapter headings and breaks, sometimes even paragraphs can be frightfully rearranged in the finished e-book.
If I do take the indy plunge, I will definitely hire someone to put it all together and make it read like a paper book.
As you say, plenty of job opportunity for those with the skill.
And I agree Agents should stay out of e-book publishing, unless they are out of the Agenting business. It seems a conflict that they would turn down an author for representation, then encourage the same author to self publish.
……dhole
Jennifer–As soon as I got my rights to this character back, I started really considering it. Last year, I felt too uncertain about it. This year has been different. Last Christmas so MANY people ended up with ereaders that I decided the shift was really here.
SeaStarr–It’s very interesting! I tend to think that it’s all going to be very good for writers, in the long run. I can’t dissuade anyone from pursuing traditional publishing–because it’s been a real joy–all of it. I love the people, love feeling I’m part of a team, love that I’m not footing any of the bills to put the book out, love the support. But….if traditional publishing doesn’t work out, epublishing is a very viable option. And, for traditionally published writers, I think it’s smart to have ebooks of our backlists, short stories, etc. Dip our foot into the water.
Donna–I’m with you…there’s no way I’d pay to put my books in print. Too expensive, poor distribution…I’d rather just shop the books to a publisher if I want them printed.
That was what I discovered, too. That I COULD do it myself…I could piece together photos and turn it into a cover, I could scrub down my files to make them compatible with the different platforms, etc. But it sure wouldn’t look good! That’s what the pros are for.
I think they should. Maybe the best thing for agents to do, from a career standpoint, is to start making *connections* with folks in the ebook community. Start finding out who the great ebook designers are and which are better for what genre, etc. But not ADVISE people yet. Then, if business really starts taking a dive, close down the agency side completely and jump into ebook advising. I think plenty of folks would be happy to pay 15 percent for guidance. There are only so many hours in the day.
Lou–I’ve heard that a lot, too. A couple of times people have asked me about my books and downloaded them right when I was standing there at a party! Just pulled a Nook or Kindle out of their purse.
I didn’t even want to bring up the fact that maybe there wouldn’t be an avenue to GET physical books in ten years because it makes me feel a little sick! But that’s *absolutely* a concern of mine. And then, if I had to scramble, after the fact, to get myself established in the online book community (along with thousands of other writers) then I’d face a huge disadvantage.
I’ll have to do a lot more research if I ever decide to go this route. There’s a lot to learn!