5 Things Beginners Need to Know About E-Book Publishing

The e-book publishing landscape is changing fast—with new services, new terms, and new formats.
Despite the pace of change, here are 5 things that have remained fairly constant this year—and that you must be aware of—before you undertake any kind of self-publishing process for e-reading devices. I promise to update this list should any of these facts change. (But don’t hesitate to leave a question or comment on this post at any time.)

1. E-book publishing and distribution services (e.g., Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, Barnes & Noble Nook, Smashwords, etc) are nonexclusive and do not take any rights to your work. That means you can use any or all of the services at the same time, and you can take down your work at any time. (You can also upload revisions/updates and change the price at any time you like.)
   
   
2. There are single-device publishing/distribution services and multiple-channel distribution services, which can be used in tandem. Smashwords and BookBaby are examples of services that will distribute your e-book to multiple e-reading devices. Amazon’s KDP (Kindle) is an example of a single-device publishing service.
3. Successful e-books generally require excellent cover design (appropriate for digital viewing and reproduction), appropriate pricing, and strong social currency (testimonials, reviews, blurbs). Appropriate pricing is constantly under debate, but for novels typically runs from 99 cents to $2.99.
4. Amazon royalties favor pricing between $2.99 and $9.99. Authors who publish direct with Amazon Kindle will receive a 70% royalty if they price between $2.99 and $9.99. Pricing above or below that range means a 50% royalty. You are not allowed to undercut Amazon’s price on other sites (and that includes your own site).
5. Calibre is free e-book conversion software used widely by people in the industry to output e-book files from many types of sources. However, this software might prove intimidating to an inexperienced user. To avoid handling the technical aspects of formatting and conversion for your e-book (especially if you have a range of styles or illustrations used in your book), use a service such as BookBaby, which charges a flat fee to get you going.

Beginner’s Guide to Book Publishing 101

 

Publishing a book is a hugely complicated undertaking. This article points you at the resources to learn first if you’re considering becoming a publisher.

The very first thing you need to do is read, read, read, and of course, follow that list. What to read? I would recommend you start with The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing by Tom and Marilyn Ross, The Self-Publishing Manual by Dan Poynter, The Huenefeld Guide to Book Publishing by John Huenefeld, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books by John Kremer, The Prepublishing Handbook by Patricia J. Bell. There are many other good books and resources, but these will get you started.

Then choose a company name. This is very important! You will have to live with this forever. If you choose something someone else already has or even something close, you could be in for legal troubles. (I know. I had to change my name.) You’ll need to clear it through a company like TradeMark Express (who I used), another such service, or a trademark attorney. Then of course, you’ll have to satisfy your local authorities, i.e.. get a city business license and reseller permit, file with the county for a fictitious business name.

Also, get a business telephone, get a fax (on a separate line from your business phone), get stationery and business cards printed, open a business bank account, put lots of money in it, develop your business and marketing plan, etc. (there’s much more to come). Personally, I joined Publisher’s Marketing Association (you’ll hear a lot of pros and cons about this), subscribed to Publishers Weekly, ForeWord magazine, and others, just to get a handle on what’s going on in the publishing industry. As you get a book ready, don’t try to edit, typeset or design it yourself. Get professional help (available from Pub-Forum members).

You’ll need a contract with your author (if not yourself) and for your illustrator/cover designer. Don’t design your own cover. Get help. It will sell your book. Nothing looks worse than putting out an amateur looking book. That will kill your company overnight.

Oh my; we haven’t even talked about getting reviews, advertising, image building, printing, royalties, author/illustrator relationships, distributor/wholesaler issues, fulfillment. There is so much to learn. But be patient. Don’t expect to start selling your books tomorrow. I started in 1998 and won’t have my first book on the market until 2000, but that doesn’t bother me. I have time to develop a clear direction for my company, set up my web site (it’s almost ready), research my markets, etc.

Best of luck in your venture!

Publishing: 7 Things Lessons Learned From My First Book Deal

One of the things I really love about this writing life is that we meet other writers along the way, and we never know where they will end up.
 
 

Four years ago I started out on Twitter as a newbie, with no author friends at all, and one of the first people I connected with was Graham Storrs. I hadn’t even started writing fiction at the time, but Graham’s first book Timesplash was well on the way. 

He wrote a fantastic post on what that first experience taught him, and now he’s back, with a traditional book deal and a new book, True Path. I’m delighted to see how far Graham has come in these few years, and I hope you’re also encouraged. Seeing how much we can all achieve over the years is one of the precious things about blogging!

Signing with a publisher is a big deal for a writer.

For most of us it is the achievement of a lifetime ambition, something we’ve dreamed about since childhood. It certainly was for me when I signed up with a small NY press to publish my novel, Timesplash. It wasn’t the first book I’d written – more like the tenth – but it was the one that has always got publishers most excited.

That was three years ago and that first deal went on to break my heart. Sales were dismal and the book looked like a complete flop. But the experience taught me a few things about publishing in today’s chaotic marketplace that might be of interest.

(1) You Get More Than One Chance

Even as recently as 2010, people were telling me that if you got a book published and it flopped, you might never get another go. The publishers, they said, would check your Nielsen data to see what your sales were and a flop would mark you as a bad risk. It filled me with dread at the time when I saw the meagre royalty cheques and decided I was a marked man.

And yet the reality was quite different. Publishers didn’t seem to care and agents never asked. This was true even for Timesplash, which had already been published and failed, and then self-published with, at first, very little success. Self-publishing was something else people had told me would kill a book’s chances of ever being commercially published.

Yet three different Big 6 publishers and three small press publishers talked seriously about publishing it. Three of them negotiated contracts and one of them, eventually, signed.

The moral seems to be, never give up on yourself and never give up on your book. The old rules don’t apply. Things have changed and they’re still changing.

(2) Rights Matter

However, you really have to be sure you have the rights to your work, or you will never be able to re-sell it. After my first failure, I asked the publisher if I could have my rights back (because I intended to self-publish the book). They agreed readily. Publishing in my genre had been an experiment for them and they were as disappointed as I was. I was lucky. Although I had a termination clause in my contract, they let me off. I could still have been waiting for the contract to end so that I could do something else with my book.

It has made me very wary about what rights I sign over to publishers and to make sure those termination clauses are in place. Even when I sell a short story these days, I let the publisher know I will probably want to self-publish it soon and we negotiate on how long any exclusivity period might last.

(3) Publishers are Human Too

Not only through Timesplash, but also with other books, I have had a lot of dealings with publishers, large and small in the three years since Timesplash was first published. And this is what I’ve learned about them: they’re just people trying to run a business.

Like you and me, they find themselves in a world of rapidly changing opportunities and shifting markets. They’re not sure how best to proceed and they’re often open to experimentation and off-the-wall business propositions. Sometimes, the crazy ideas come from them. Sometimes you can see they’re thrashing about trying new things in the desperate hope that they can find a business model that beats the competition.

I tend to get caught up in enthusiasms and I’m far too willing to give new ideas a go. These days, many publishers are the same – to everybody’s detriment. It really is a good idea to step back and ask yourself just how you’re going to make money from the deal you’re so excited about. How many books you can reasonably sell through each channel. What your return will be. What your personal outlay will be (usually measured in hundreds of hours of ineffectual marketing time in my case!) and how quickly you can back out of it if it isn’t going well. You need to ask publishers hard questions but accept that they might not know the answers. We’re all learning all the time now.

(4) Self-Publishing is About Selling

This is something you will have heard from self-publishing gurus all over the Web, so I hardly need repeat it. I knew it before I started self-publishing, yet it still came as a big revelation to me. It’s not about having a blog, or a Twitter account, or a large group of Facebook friends. It’s about publicity, marketing, and ultimately, selling: segmenting your customer base, making the right proposition, and closing the deal.

Many years ago, I asked my wife (who is so much wiser than me) if I should quit my job and run my own business. She said I shouldn’t – not because my ideas were no good, or my business plan wouldn’t work, or I didn’t have the skills needed, but because I wouldn’t enjoy running a business. She was right and that’s why I don’t enjoy self-publishing. It’s a business. You make things, you package them, and you sell them. I can do it. I’ve made a fair bit of money at it (lots more than any publisher has ever earned me) but I don’t enjoy it. Some do. Some don’t.

(5) Editors Should be Certified

As well as working with many publishers over the past few years, I’ve also worked with a lot of editors, including independent ones. And I’ve come to the conclusion that editors should be qualified. They should do a three years degree in editing (not an MFA or an Eng. Lit. degree!) and then take post-grad courses in particular genres. Only then will they be fit to be let loose on the world.
I have encountered many degrees of incompetence in editors – from small presses especially, but not exclusively – and I have worked with just a couple who can do it right, who “get” what you’re trying to do and use their skill to help you achieve it the best way you can. Some editors I’ve worked with have been barely literate. Some were rule-following robots. Some were just not very bright. The one I have now is extremely good and, I have to say, even if I never make a cent from my contracts with Momentum, I’d be tempted to stick with them just so I don’t have to work with poor editors ever again.

(6) An Agent is Only Good for One Thing

Because I don’t enjoy the business side of self-publishing, and because I am generally disillusioned with small publishers, I have decided I only want to be published through big publishers – preferably the Big 6 (or however many there are left now). Small publishers will let you send them manuscripts “unsolicited” but the majority of the big ones still insist on receiving submissions through an agent. It is this function, interfacing with publishers who otherwise refuse to speak to me, for which an agent is invaluable. I simply can’t do business without one.

(7) Friends Matter Too

I think it’s because I’m a chronically shy, introverted type, that I have never really seen it before but people will help you. Other writers will help you. You don’t have to do it alone. In fact, I was never able to do it alone and any success I’ve had is traceable the kindness of other people. Asking for help might seem like the hardest thing in your life (even worse than asking for sales) but I’m discovering that you don’t always even need to ask. People are just that darned nice!

So let me sign off with a special thank you to Joanna for hosting this post.\


 

Graham Storrs is a science fiction writer living in rural Queensland. A former research scientist, IT consultant and award-winning software designer, his published non-fiction includes three children’s science books, over a hundred magazine articles, and more than thirty academic papers and book chapters, in the fields of artificial intelligence, psychology, and human-computer interaction. In recent years he has turned his attention to writing science fiction and has published over twenty short stories in magazines and anthologies.

Graham recently signed a two-book deal with Momentum, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, to publish his time travel thriller, Timesplash, and its sequel, True Path.

Getting Ready to Publish

The very first thing to do when you start thinking “Should I self-publish?” is to find out what kind of publisher you might become. This decision is critical because it will influence the decisions you make down the road about organizing your publishing business, if you start one, budgeting for your book, and the way the book will be manufactured.
In order to help decide on your publishing path, take a look at these articles on the different ways to be a self-publisher:

What Kind of Self-Publisher Am I?

Two Kinds of Self-Publisher—Which One Are You?
Self-Publishing Basics: Four Ways to Publish Your Book
5 Good Reasons to Self-Publish Your Book
7 Reasons Not to Self-Publish—Is This You?
The Self-Publisher’s Self Questionnaire

Now that you know the direction you want to go, it’s time to do some homework. You’ll have to establish your company with local authorities, pick a name for your press, and establish yourself in the world. You’ll be putting in place the infrastructure your new company will need to launch your book. You’ll deal with companies like Bowker and get your ISBNs in preparation for publishing your book.

Preparing for Publication

How to Create, Register and List Your New Publishing Company
Slow is the Best Speed for Self-Publishing

You’re just about ready to start your publishing life. It’s natural to feel a little nervous about the world you’re entering, but pretty soon you’ll feel right at home. Each time you make progress toward publication, or to increase your readership, you add valuable experience. For most self-publishers, this book is the first one they have written and published. It’s daunting to have to learn everything at once.

Becoming Part of the Community

Becoming part of the community of self-publishers, indie writers, editors, book designers, marketers and everyone else associated with indie publishing gives you the opportunity to learn from dozens of experienced people.

5 Things That Shouldn’t Surprise You About Self-Publishing
Top 5 Discussion Forums for Self-Publishers
3 Indie Publishing Discussion Groups: Getting Your Questions Answered

There’s no other way to say it: Self-publishing can be an exhausting and demanding job, but it’s also satisfying in very unique ways. Sometimes when you’re getting started it helps to remember both sides.

Getting Up and Running as a Self-Publisher

6 Ways to Jump-Start Your Self-Publishing Career
8 Answers That Help Self-Publishers Get Up and Running

And even though we won’t talk about marketing until later in this journey, it’s time for your publishing company and you as an author to have a presence online. The sooner the better. Authority and influence build over time.

Author Platform: What Are You Waiting For?

And the next step in your journey is Planning Your Book. Onward.