One reason why I think traditionally-published writers are slow to make the leap to being dual-published (traditionally and self-published) is because the learning curve for self-publishing is so very high.
Here are my thoughts, so far, on e-publishing—in the hopes it will help someone else out there. Others, of course, will draw different conclusions from their own experiences…and I’d love to hear them because I’m figuring this out as I go.
Formatting and Conversion
I read and read and read about getting ebooks ready for publication. I even created mobi and epub files of my Word document…and thought they looked pretty good through the Calibre application.
The difference is, though, that I didn’t want pretty good. I’m used to having an interior book designer for my books…for the Memphis books, for example, I’ve got little pigs around the chapter numbers, etc. Just a lot of detail.
I know I posted yesterday on perfectionism and how it holds us back, but I wasn’t happy with my efforts at formatting/book design. Plus, there are only so many hours in a day and only so many things a writer can do well (or even competently). So I handed it over to a book designer and was much happier with the results. I paid for that service, but I know I’m putting an investment into my book for (with any luck), long-term results. In fact, I put in about $400-$450 into the ebook (can’t remember which), which again, I’m thinking will end up paying off in the long run by having a nice looking book.
Covers
Covers are important for ebooks, but they’ve always been important in publishing. With ebooks, though, you can even change a cover and see how the results work out. I’m very happy with mine, though (designed by writer and artist Kendel Flaum), so I’m not planning on doing any tinkering. A cover should look good in a thumbnail (such as you’d see on a Kindle or Nook).
Pricing
If you want a 70% royalty on an ebook (or 65% if you’re looking at Barnes and Noble’s PubIt), you’ll price your book at $2.99 and up. If you want to price your book lower than $2.99, you’ll get a 35% royalty from Amazon (40% from Barnes & Noble’s PubIt).
But you can also run short-term sales on a title. Sales on your ebooks can have other benefits—exposure (see below.) Mine will ordinarily be priced at $2.99, although I’ve run $.99 sales on it.
Exposure—Promo
For ebooks, promo seems to be a lot about getting noticed. There isn’t a physical bookstore, after all. You’re trying to get attention in a sea of books.
What helps a lot is to get into the ebook retailer’s algorithm (“customers who bought this, also bought this”). So, for me, if I’ve got a sale running on my book, it might mean (short-term) more sales. This means that people are buying my book at the same time they’re downloading other cozy mysteries. So the ebook retailer might recommend my book to cozy mystery readers when they’re shopping.
Getting our book noticed by an online retailer like Amazon means trying different things—short-term sales, asking bloggers for reviews (maybe sending them a free copy of the ebook…without requiring a favorable review), tagging books with appropriate tags to help connect readers with our novel, etc. There are also forums where it’s appropriate to post about our books—the Meet our Authors forum on Amazon (don’t post promo anywhere else there) and the Book Bazaar on Kindle Boards.
Thoughts on earning out with ebooks
With traditional publishing, there’s a point where your book earns out the advance you received from the publisher. It’s a very happy time. :) With self-publishing, you’re also looking to earn out in a way….but to recoup the money you put into the book on the front end (cover, editing, book design, etc.)
The best bet, overall, seems to be to write quickly, edit carefully, and publish as many ebooks as possible online. And, I’ll add that I think it’s important still to pursue traditional publishing—you’ll just learn so much and gain a real confidence in what you can do.
Remember, I do have a directory of ebook professionals that I’m adding to on a nearly daily basis. It’s a good starting off place for your search for someone to do a cover, book design, etc. There are a variety of services and a range of prices.
Got any ebook insights? Or ebook questions (although I’m probably not the right person to answer them, since I’m new to this, myself!) ?
It’s beautiful! The cover, I mean. And I’m so glad you took my recommendation for the book designer. Keith does an awesome job.
Regarding ebooks, I get by with a little help from my friends. Formatting is a huge issue and very difficult to learn by oneself. I needed the help of Yahoo Writers Groups members to help format Kindle, Smashwords, and CreateSpace manuscripts. I struggled to do this on my own.
Elizabeth – Thanks for sharing your thoughts. The e-publishing question is a major one for writers. And I’m glad you brought up the number of decisions that an author who goes that route has to consider. For your goals and needs I think you’ve made some smart moves. For instance, the look of an e-book is as important as the look of a traditionally published book is, and you’ve done a great job of presenting not just a good story, but a professional and really appealing look, too.
You’ve provided some great information here. Thank you so much.
It’s great following along on this journey with you, Elizabeth. I know you will be successful at this new venture.
Karen
Great information. I’m seriously considering self-publishing next spring. You’re so right about all the things we need to know. Thanks again for putting this directory together :)
Very helpful advice about e-pubbing. I did my first e-book myself and had to go through numerous revisions before I got it looking pretty good. Like you, I decided that pretty good is not good enough, and I have gone to small publishers with some of my other books.
I think that the time and effort put into converting files and taking care of the other tech stuff involved in publishing an e-book is not something that every writer embraces. I would much rather put my time into writing, than learning new technology. But there are many writers who jump right into this, and they have my respect.
Calibre is good, but simplistic. (My thoughts on that free program.)
The neat thing about ebook sales is that it’s like ‘found’ money. It’s a nice surprise in the royalty check.
I love well edited and designed ebooks but it is still the story that counts for me. I can overlook a lot of things. And if writers can do it – I like the hybrid approach of both trad. and self.
Two thoughts to add:
1.) Just remember that the more “fancy” stuff you do with formatting, the less flexibility the file has — a good many of your Kindle customers, for instance, won’t be reading on a Kindle. They’ll be reading through an app on their phones or other devices, etc. The fancier your formatting, the more likely you are to have it look horrible to some of your customers, no matter how good it looks to others.
2.) On the subject of publishing a lot, AND the learning curve: It’s good for those who want to dip their toe in the water to publish several short stories or novelettes.
Oh and a third thought:
Smashwords gives a higher return on those lower priced books. (Although not for Amazon.) You might want to choose them to distribute everything priced below 2.99 to B&N and Apple.
This is an abundance of riches, Elizabeth! I’m bookmarking it for future reference.
Shel–And thanks to you for an amazing job with editing my book! Thanks for recommending Keith to me, too.
Stephen–I struggled…then gave up. :) There are people who format and design books all day long and do it so much better than me!
Margot–Thanks! I think one problem I’ve seen is that some writers just slap stuff together and stick it up online. That’s definitely not the right way of doing it. We’ve got to treat the process with just as much professionalism as we would with a traditionally published project.
Diane–It was fine…I just wasn’t pleased enough to go with it. :)
Laura–I think hybrid may be the way to go…just to not put all our eggs in one basket, so to speak.
Susan–Thanks for coming by!
Karen–Thanks so much! Same to you. :)
Very useful advice, and I agree with The Daring Novelist; Smashwords offers a great alternative for a couple of reasons, and they are very helpful and supportive of new writers.
I’m pretty new to it myself too and learning as I go for sure! Abbott handled all this stuff before but since I’m going it on my own with book 2 it’s time for me to figure it all out. Thank you for the tips!
JUST A WARNING ABOUT THAT PRICE MATCHING THING:
You can use price matching to get Amazon to (eventually) lower the price on your book to free. Just understand that you shouldn’t do it if you’d mind if Amazon never raised the price back to regular price again.
One: if you don’t actually distribute to an major retailers through Smashwords (i.e. if you just use Smashwords itself) odds are they’ll never match the price at all.
Two: those other retailers (especially Sony) can be very very slow to respond to changes (unless, of course, you’re counting on them to be slow, then they will respond almost instantly). Amazon may or may not note when the price returns to normal.
Now… sometimes, when they match a free price, they send you an email. In that email is an address which you can write to them if you’ve confirmed that ALL other retailers are offering the book for full price again — and then they will up the price on Amazon.
But if you don’t mind leaving it to them, it’s a great thing to have a free book.
Do you have any idea how glad I am that you’re doing this before me? I will probably self-publish some portion of my stuff, but not for quite a while. So now, as with marketing and cozy mysteries… I have one-stop shopping expertise! HA!
The cover looks great! Like you, I decided to go with professionals for formatting and cover design. My goal is to make my own ebook(s) indistinguishable from my traditionally published ebooks. Now, it’s on to the promotion portion of the project.
Glad I don’t have to design them!
Carol–You’re so welcome! And good luck with it. :)
Maryann–I’m VERY impressed with the number of writers who have excelled with learning conversion software, etc. I spent about 3 hours on it, then just kind of ran into a wall. If I had a little more time…but it still probably wouldn’t look great. :)
Heather–You could use it for other things, too–advice from your writing blog, for example. You could bundle it into a free ebook (just to experiment, for example) and link to it from your sidebar. Lots of possibilities.
The Daring Novelist–Camille, that’s a very good point. I have Kindle for Droid, so I should see how my book looks on the phone. I’ll look into it.
I think, in the future, there’s a possiblity I may use Smashwords to price something for *free* since Amazon and PubIt do that price matching thing…and I could do free ebooks of short stories, etc.
Elspeth–Thanks!
Hart–Ha! Or I’ll have been able to at least make all the mistakes before you start epubbing!
Alex–Me too!
Dorte–Thanks so much for the advice and for coming by!
Very good advice, Elizabeth. I try to keep the formatting simple and easy to read but won’t cut corners with the cover.
Every Savage Can Reproduce
The Daring Novelist–A dangerous game!
No, I wouldn’t want my book to be free for more than a few days. So…I’m thinking I’m not going to risk it!
Alan–“The Taste” looks amazing, too!
Enid–Simple is always fine…I think when I did formatting, though, my indents were off and my italics were weird and there were parts that just didn’t look right! Unfortunately, I wasn’t born with the patience gene either, so I was happy to hand it off.