Self publishing and advancement of ebook technology

SELF PUBLISHING 2011

CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. History
3. Explanations and Meanings
4. Converting File Formats
5. eReading Device
6. Advantages and Disadvantages
7. Features and Technology
8. Recommendation
9. References

PREPARED BY : RoY & Tsabit


1 Acknowledgement

First of all we want to say thanks in respect and salutation to the
organizer of the “Come and Read Campaign” who has given us the opportunity
to compile the following information on the latest development of self
publishing and advancement of ebook technology for all potential writers and
publisher who wish to explore in these area.

Note : All picture and logos displayed belong to respective producers. This ebook
does not claim any copyright to them. Copyright infringement is not intended. The
information displayed here are strictly informational for students for educational interest
use for general knowledge. The compilation is Not meant for sales . If we have
unintentionally offended any party, please accept our apology



2 History

An electronic book (also e-book, ebook, digital book) is a text and image-based
publication in digital form produced on, published by, and readable on computers or
other digital devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books
can also be born digital. TheOxford Dictionary of English defines the e-book as "an
electronic version of a printed book, but e-books can and do exist without any printed
equivalent. E-books are usually read on dedicated hardware devices known as e-
Readers or e-book devices. Personal computers and some cell phones can also be
used to read e-books.
Among the earliest general e-books were those in Project Gutenberg, in 1971.
An early e-book implementation were the desktop prototypes for a proposed notebook
computer, the Dynabook, in the 1970s at PARC, which would be a general-purpose
portable personal computer including reading books.

Early e-books were generally written for specialty areas and a limited audience,
meant to be read only by small and devoted interest groups. The scope of the subject
matter of these e-books included technical manuals for hardware, manufacturing
techniques and other subjects. In the 1990s, the general availability of
the Internet made transferring electronic files much easier, including e-books.
Numerous e-book formats emerged and proliferated, some supported by major software
companies such as Adobe with its PDF format, and others supported by independent
and open-source programmers. Multiple readers followed multiple formats, most of
them specializing in only one format, and thereby fragmenting the e-book market even
more. Due to exclusiveness and limited readerships of e-books, the fractured market of
independents and specialty authors lacked consensus regarding a standard for
packaging and selling e-books.

E-books continued to gain in their own underground markets. Many e-book
publishers began distributing books that were in the public domain. At the same time,
authors with books that were not accepted by publishers offered their works online so
they could be seen by others. Unofficial (and occasionally unauthorized) catalogs of
books became available over the web, and sites devoted to e-books began
disseminating information about e-books to the public.
U.S. Libraries began providing free e-books to the public in 1998 through their web sites
and associated services,although the e-books were primarily scholarly, technical or
professional in nature, and could not be downloaded. In 2003, libraries began offering
free downloadable popular fiction and non-fiction e-books to the public, launching an e-
book lending model that worked much more successfully for public libraries.The number


of library e-book distributors and lending models continued to increase over the next few
years. In 2010, a Public Library Funding and Technology Access Studyfound that 66%
of public libraries in the U.S. were offering e-books,and a large movement in the library
industry began seriously examining the issues related to lending e-books,
acknowledging a tipping point of broad e-book usage.

In the United States, as of September 2009, the Amazon Kindle model
and Sony'sPRS-500 were the dominant e-reading devices.By March 2010, some
reported that the Barnes & Noble Nook may be selling more units than the Kindle. On
January 27, 2010 Apple, Inc. launched a multi-function device called the iPad and
announced agreements with five of the six largest publishers that would allow Apple to
distribute e-books.However, many publishers and authors have not endorsed the
concept of electronic publishing, citing issues with demand, piracy and proprietary
devices.

2.1 Developing of E-books
1971
 Michael S. Hart launches Project Gutenberg.

1985–1992
 Robert Stein starts Voyager Company Expanded Books and books on CD-
ROMs.

1992
 Charles Stack's Book Stacks Unlimited begins selling new physical books online.

1993
 ZahurKlemath Zapata develops the first software to read digital books. Digital
book version 1 and the first digital book are published On Murder Considered as
one of the Fine Arts (Thomas de Quincey).

 Digital Book, Inc. offers the first 50 digital books in floppy disk with Digital Book
Format (DBF).

 Hugo Award for Best Novel nominee texts published on CD-ROM by Brad
Templeton.

 Bibliobytes, a project of free digital books online in Internet.



1995
 Amazon starts to sell physical books on the Internet.

 Online poet Alexis Kirke discusses the need for wireless internet electronic paper
readers in his article "The Emuse".

1996
 Project Gutenberg reaches 1,000 titles. The target is 1,000,000.

1998
 Kim Blagg obtained the first ISBN issued to an ebook and began marketing
multimedia-enhanced ebooks on CDs through retailers including amazon.com,
bn.com and borders.com. Shortly thereafter through her company "Books
OnScreen" she introduced the ebooks at the Book Expo America in Chicago, IL
to an impressed, but unconvinced bookseller audience.

 First ebook Readers: Rocket ebook and SoftBook.

 Cybook / Cybook Gen1 Sold and manufactured at first by Cytale (1998–2003)
then by Bookeen.

 Websites selling ebooks in English like eReader.com and eReads.com.

1999
 Baen Books opens up the Baen Free Library.

 Webscriptions starts selling unencrypted eBooks.

2000
 Microsoft Reader with ClearType technology.

 Stephen King offers his book "Riding the Bullet" in digital file; it can only be read
on a computer.

2001
 Todoebook.com, the first website selling ebooks in Spanish.


2002
 Random House and HarperCollins start to sell digital versions of their titles in
English.
2004
 Sony Librie with e-ink.

2005
 Amazon buys Mobipocket.

 Bookboon.com is launched, allowing people to download free textbooks and
travel guide eBooks.
2006
 Sony Reader with e-ink.

 LibreDigital launched BookBrowse as an online reader for publisher content.

 BooksOnBoard, one of the largest independent ebookstores, opens and sells
ebooks and audiobooks in six different formats.
2007
 Amazon launches Kindle in US.

 Bookeen launched Cybook Gen3 in Europe.

2008
 Adobe and Sony agreed to share their technologies (Reader and DRM).

 Sony sells the Sony Reader PRS-505 in UK and France.

 BooksOnBoard is first to sell ebooks for iPhones.

2009
 Bookeen releases the Cybook Opus in the US and in Europe.

 Sony releases the Reader Pocket Edition and Reader Touch Edition.

 Amazon releases the Kindle 2.

 Amazon releases the Kindle DX in the US.

 Barnes & Noble releases the Nook in the US.



2010
 Amazon releases the Kindle DX International Edition worldwide.

 Bookeen reveals the CybookOrizon at CES.

 TurboSquid Magazine announces first magazine publication using Apple's iTunes
LP format.

 Apple releases the iPad with an e-book app called iBooks. Between its release in
April 2010, to October, Apple has sold 7 million iPads.

 Kobo Inc. releases its Kobo eReader to be sold at Indigo/Chapters in Canada
and Borders in the United States.

 Amazon.com reported that its e-book sales outnumbered sales of hardcover
books for the first time ever during the second quarter of 2010.

 Amazon releases the third generation kindle, available in 3G+Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi
versions.

 Kobo Inc. releases an updated Kobo eReader which now includes Wi-Fi.

 Barnes & Noble releases the new NOOKcolor.

 Sony releases its second generation Daily Edition PRS-950.

 PocketBook expands its successful line of e-readers in the ever-growing marke

 Google launches Google eBooks



3 Explainations and Meanings

3.1 E-Pub

The words E-Pub is stands for electronic publication, is an open standard format
for ebooks nowadays. As an open standard, it has great compatibility across a wide
range of eReaders and has become de facto universal standard within the eReader
sector.

In contrast, Amazon’s AZW for its Kindle is a proprietary or closed format, which
means AZW eBooks can not be read by other eReaders. The Kindle is also the only
major eReading device that does not support EPUB (Sony and Barnes & Noble’s latest
crop of eReaders all support EPUB, as does Google Books).

Like MP3 or cell phones, EPUB files can also have digital rights management
included by publisher who want to restrict the copying of such files.

3.2 E- Book

An eBook, short for electronic book, is any written material similar in content and
presentation to that of a printed book or magazine, but delivered digitally or
electronically.

An eBook reader is, most simply put, any device which can be used to read
eBooks. An eBook reader can be as simple as the cellphone or PDA on which a
Japanese subway rider reads the latest cell phone novel, or as advanced as the
home computer on which an eBook reader can click his way through the pages of PDFs
or works in other formats.

For most of the early years of digital media, these were the primary options for
consumers interested in an eBook reader. The biggest benefit of eBooks is the tiny


space required, compared to a paper product. But issues like screen glare and the
prohibitive cost of the technological toys needed to read eBooks kept
the eBook reader from finding a better suited gadget on which to read them.

Then things got interesting with the release of Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader and
a handful of other devices built specifically to serve as eBook readers. Using a
technology known as e-ink, new types of portable eBook reader attempt to provide
readers with a reading experience as comfortable as reading a printed page, but with
the convenience of Internet era bells and whistles like font-size adjustment, electronic
bookmarks that never fall out, and instantaneous access to the world's largest libraries
and bookstores online.

While far more expensive than a single dog-eared paperback from the local used
bookstore, an eBook reader is more environmentally friendly than a store full of dead
tree books. Plus, they contain far more reading material at a fraction of the weight and
size required in print. The downside is, as with any emerging technology, the cost and
the delicacy.



4. Converting File Formats

This specification, the Open Publication Structure (OPS), is one third of a
triumvirate of modular specifications that make up the EPUB publication format. EPUB
enables the creation and transport of reflowable digital books and other types of content
as single-file digital publications that are interoperable between disparate EPUB-
compliant reading devices and applications. EPUB encompasses a content container
standard (Open Container Format – OCF), a packaging standard (Open Packaging
Format – OPF), and this specification, a content markup standard.

4.1 Purpose and Scope

In order for electronic-book technology to achieve widespread success in the
marketplace, Reading Systems need to have convenient access to a large number and
variety of titles. The Open Publication Structure (OPS) Specification describes a
standard for representing the content of electronic publications. Specifically:

* The specification is intended to give content providers (e.g. publishers, authors, and
others who have content to be displayed) and publication tool providers, minimal and
common guidelines that ensure fidelity, accuracy, accessibility, and adequate
presentation of electronic content over various Reading Systems.
* The specification seeks to reflect established content format standards.
* The goal of this specification is to define a standard means of content description
for use by purveyors of electronic books (publishers, agents, authors et al.) allowing
such content to be provided to multiple Reading Systems and to insureensure maximum
presentational equivalence across Reading Systems.

Another related specification, the Open Packaging Format (OPF) Specification, defines
the mechanism by which the various components of an OPS publication are tied
together and provides additional structure and semantics to the electronic publication.
Specifically, OPF:



* Describes and references all components of the electronic publication (e.g. markup
files, images, navigation structures).
* Provides publication-level metadata.
* Specifies the linear reading-order of the publication.
* Provides fallback information for when extensions to OPS are employed.
* Provides a mechanism to specify a declarative table of contentsglobal navigation
structure (the NCX).

The OPF specification is separated from this OPS markup specification to modularize
the described packaging methodology separate from the described content. This will
help facilitate the use of the packaging technology by other standards bodies (e.g.
DAISY) in non-OPS contexts.

A third specification, the OEBPSOpen Container Format (OCF) Specification, defines
the standard mechanism by which all components of an electronic publication may be
packaged together into a single archive for transmission, delivery, and archival
purposes.

Together, these three standards constitute EPUB.

4.2 Scope

There’s a lot of excitement right now about electronic self-publishing, with some
writers achieving significant sales success, especially on popular platforms like the
Kindle. One of the best resources for news and information on self-epublishing is the
blog of author Joe Konrath, who began epublishing his out-of-print backlist books as an
experiment a few years ago, and has turned that endeavor into a substantial income
stream.

There are a number of options for electronic self-publishing.

 Direct to ereading device. Amazon makes it possible (and free) to self-publish
directly to the Kindle. In 2010, Barnes & Noble launched Pub-it, a similar service
for the Nook. Apple’s iPad also allows free self-publishing (though there are


restrictions, and you have to own a Mac). One of the advantages of direct-to-
device is that you can set your own prices.
 POD publishing services. Many POD publishing services, such as Lulu or the
Author Solutions brands, also offer electronic publishing across a variety of
platforms. Many of these services charge a hefty fee, however, and don’t allow
you to set prices.
 Epublishing services. These services are specifically for electronic self-
publishing. They may charge a fee, or take a cut of your earnings. One of the
largest is Smashwords, which makes ebooks available in several formats, but
there are also many smaller ones that offer more limited services.

Whichever option you select, the goal should be to make your book available across the
widest range of platforms and vendors, for maximum visibility. If you choose to do that
through a publishing service, rather than by publishing direct to a device, it’s safest to
go with the biggest and most established companies, which are not only more likely to
be reliable, but to offer more options. It’s fairly pointless, for instance, to use an
epublishing service that only makes your ebook available on its own website.

Beware of questionable print publishers that are looking to cash in by offering Kindle
and/or iPad conversions and uploads as an extra service, for a fee. Your publisher
shouldn’t charge you money to produce your book in additional formats–especially
formats you can access yourself, for free.

Be sure also to read the Terms and Conditions, especially if you’re using an epublishing
service. Nasty things may be lurking there. For instance, you may discover that there’s
no way for you to remove your ebook from the service if you change your mind about
publishing it.

As with all forms of self-publishing, electronic self-publishers should gather as much
information as possible about their options, and be clear about their goals. There’s a
tremendous amount of hype about ebooks right now, and a lot of discussion of high-
selling Kindle self-publishers and the established authors who are bypassing their trade
publishers to self-publish online. Not all of this information is accurate or complete,
however, and it needs to be carefully assessed and placed in context.

For a more detailed discussion of the importance of context, see this post from Writer
Beware’s blog. And for a soberly realistic assessment of her own success, including the
very hard work involved, see this blog post from Kindle self-publishing phenom Amanda
Hocking, who as of this writing says she has sold nearly 1 million copies of her nine self-
published books.



5. Contributor

This specification has been developed through a cooperative effort, bringing together
publishers, Reading System vendors, software developers, and experts in the relevant
standards.

Version 2.0.1 of this specification was prepared by the International Digital Publishing
Forum’s EPUB Maintenance Working Group. Active members of the working group at
the time of publication of revision 2.0.1 were:

* Alexis Wiles (OverDrive)
* Alicia Wise (Publishers Licensing Society)
* Amir Moghaddami (National Library and Archives of Iran)
* Andreas Gosling (Penguin UK)
* Andy Williams (Cambridge University Press)
* Anupam Jain (Innodata Isogen)
* Ben Trafford (Invited Expert)
* Benoit Larroque (Feedbooks)
* Bill McCoy (Invited Expert)
* Bill Kasdorf (Apex CoVantage)
* Bob Kasher (The BookMasters Group)
* Brady Duga (eBook Technologies)
* Byron Laws (PreMedia Global)
* Catherine Zekri (University of Montreal)
* Chris Kennedy (Pearson Education)
* Corey Podolsky (Entourage Systems Inc.)
* Cristina Mussinelli (AIE)
* DaiheiShiohama (Voyager Japan)
* Dan Amos (DNAML)
* Dan Galperin (Kobo)
* Dan Kok (Crossway Books and Bibles)
* Dave Cramer (Hachette Book Group USA)
* Dave Gunn (RNIB Centre for Accessible Information)
* David Mandelbaum (Barnes&Noble.com)

* Deidra Roberts (World Health Organization)
* Donald Goyette (McGraw-Hill Professional)
* Eric Freese (Aptara)
* Eric Gold (Digital Divide Data)
* Eric Muller (Adobe)
* Garth Conboy (eBook Technologies) - Working Group Vice-chair
* George Kerscher (DAISY Consortium) - Working Group Chair
* Gregory Shepherd (Cengage Learning)
* Guy Fain (Crossway Books & Bibles)
* HadrienGardeur (Feedbooks)
* HisashiHoda (Voyager Japan)
* Ignacio FernándezGalván
* Israel Viente (Mendele He-Books)
* Jim Link (Macmillan Publishing Solutions)
* James MacFarlane (Easypress Technologies)
* Jim Rura (Educational Testing Service)
* John Crossman (Benetech)
* John Prabhu (HOV Services)
* John Rivlin (eBook Technologies)
* John Wait (Pearson Education)
* Jon Noring (Invited Expert)
* Joshua Tallent (eBook Architects)
* Karen Broome (Sony)
* Keith Fahlgren (Threepress Consulting)
* Kenny Johar (Vision Australia)
* Laurie Casey (Pearson)
* Lech Rzedzicki (Pearson UK)
* LiisaMcCloy-Kelley (Random House)
* Lindy Humphreys (Wiley/ Blackwell Books)
* Liza Daly (Theepress Consulting)
* Makoto Murata (JEPA EPUB Study Group)
* Marco Croella (Simplicissimus Book Farm)
* Markus Gylling (DAISY Consortium)
* MattiasKarlsson (Dolphin Computer Access AB)
* Michael Smith (IDPF), Neil Soiffer (Design Science)
* Noah Genner (BookNet Canada)
* Pat Pagano (HarperCollins)


* Patricia Payton (Bowker)
* Patrick Barry (The Educational Company of Ireland)
* Patrick Berube (LEARN)
* Paul Durrant (Durrant Software Limited)
* Paul Norton (Invited Expert)
* Penelope Reid (EPUB User Group (UK))
* Perce Huang (Far EasTone Telecommunications)
* Peter Brantley (Internet Archive)
* Peter Sorotokin (Adobe)
* Richard Heiberger (HarperCollins Publishers)
* Richard Kwan (Invited Expert)
* Russell White (Random House)
* Samir Kakar (Aptara)
* SatyaPamarty (codeMantra)
* Scott Cook (codeMantra)
* Sean Ramsey (LibreDigital)
* Siobahn Padgett (Hachette BG USA)
* Steve Arany (John Wiley & Sons)
* Takeshi Kanai (Sony)
* Thad Swiderski (LibreDigital)
* Tim Middleton (BookNet Canada)
* Trudy Conti (Follett)
* Tyler Ruse (LibreDigital)
* William Howard (EasyPress Technologies)



5 Formats

There are a variety of e-book formats used to create and publish e-books. A
writer or publisher has many options when it comes to choosing a format for production.
Every format has its proponents and champions, and debates over which format is best
can become intense.The formats such as TXT, HTML, AZW, DOC/DOCX, OPF, TR2/3,
ARG, DTB, FB2, XML, CHM, PDF, PS, DJVU, LIT, PDB, DNL.

For this post, therefore want to focus just on the file formats that these (software
or hardware-based) readers support. So, here are the formats and a bit of information
about each.

AZW AZW is the file format used by the Amazon Kindle e-reader. It is
proprietary to Amazon and is DRM protected. The best way to both
convert a file to this format and publish on Amazon's Kindle store is to
use their Digital Text Platform site.

Their recommendation for having a successful conversion:

The preferred format for uploading content is as a single HTML file. To
include images, provide a ZIP file that includes the images as well as
the HTML file that refers to them (check the formatting guides to find out
how to link to images from HTML). The HTML and image files all have
to be in the same folder inside the zip file.

I've gone through this process to publish my novel, The Hall of the
Wood, on the Kindle store; it is a pretty painless process.

Note: A lot of people/reviewers think Kindle only supports AZW. This
isn't true. Kindle also supports (natively) TXT, PDF, Audible
(Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI and
(through conversion) HTML and DOC.



PDB PDB is DRM-protected format advocated by Palm Digital Media. It
stands for Palm Database, and originally was intended as a file format
meant to be read on the Palm handheld device. It seems from looking
around that many retailers support this format and that it isn't
necessarily required to have a Palm handheld to read files in this format
as software for PC's or Mac's is available. Also, the format is supported
on many other handheld devices.
PDF PDF stands for Portable Document File. It was established by Adobe
in hopes of creating a universal file format to promote the ready
exchange of data, specifically document files. DRM-free PDF's can be
read by the free Adobe Reader. PDF's protected by DRM can be read
by Adobe Digital Editions, which has the ability to allow or deny access
to a downloaded PDF depending on the conditions under which the file
was obtained.

If an e-book was outright purchased, you should be good to go, though
you will have to read the PDF using Digital Editions and will be further
restricted from saving or printing the e-book. On the other hand, if you
checked an e-book out from an online library and that e-book contains
DRM, chances are the e-book will "expire" after the loan period is up, at
which time you will no longer be able to view the e-book.

PDF documents can be created by any number of freely available
software converters. My preferred method of conversion is to use
the Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS add-in for Microsoft Word 2007.
Of course, there's always Adobe Acrobat Professional, too.
ODF OpenDocument Format is an XML-based file format used to
represent spreadsheets, presentations, word processing
documents, and more. While ODF has emerged as an industry
standard, the specification having been ratified by over 600 technology
companies (including Microsoft and Adobe), it is of some note that while
applications such as Microsoft Office support ODF, that suite also still
defaults to its own proprietary file formats. ODF is, however, the default
file format for Open Office, a popular open source alternative to
Microsoft Office.



ODT, or OpenDocument Text, is the word processing specific version of
the ODF file format standard. Similarly, there are presentation (ODP),
spreadsheet (ODS), and other formats.
RTF The Rich Text Format was developed by Microsoft in the 1980's. Not
surprising, it is an 8-bit based format, and while it can address larger
character sets, it is through means that relegate the format to mostly a
legacy role. Still, the format is quite prolific; converting to RTF is
supported by most word processing and other applications.
DOC/DOCX The default file format supported by Microsoft Word. With Word 2007,
Microsoft introduced the DOCX format, which is billed as an open, XML
format that, unfortunately, has not been as widely adopted as Microsoft
might have hoped. One of the nice things about the DOCX format is
that it results in much leaner files. However, it is not backward
compatible with previous versions of Word.
EPUB EPUB is an e-book specific format engineered by the International
Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) and intended to replace the Open
eBook (OEB) standard. EPUB includes optional support for DRM. The
standard is supported by the Sony Reader and Apple's iPhone, as well
as other devices.As far as converting a document to the EPUB format, it
looks like there are several options: BookGlutton hosts an HTML-to-
EPUB file converter, Google Code contains a software library
called epub-tools which looks suitable for batch style conversion of files,
and LexCycle has something called Stanza which looks to be a desktop
application. I'll have to give each of them a whirl to see which is the best
option.
PRC/MOBI The PRC/MOBI file format is based on the Open eBook (OEB) standard
(which I discovered was superseded by the EPUB standard; see
above), and is considered one of the most prolific e-book file formats for
mobile devices. The biggest proponent of this format is Mobipocket.

Mobipocket offers both reader and publisher software, both
free. Mobipocket Reader will run on PC's as well as a number of
handheld devices. There are two ways to use Mobipocket Creator to
author e-books: use the application to create the e-book and then add
content and design from there or, the more practical approach, import



Word, text, or PDF documents.

The PRC/MOBI format does, of course, support DRM.
BBeB BBeB, or Broadband eBook, is Sony's proprietary file format for e-
books, as if we needed yet another one. It comes in two varieties: LRX
(LRX/LRF) for encrypted (DRM) e-books and LRF for unencrypted e-books.

Sony has their own e-book store where one can download e-books in
these formats. The newest version of the Sony Reader is a device
widely expected to give Amazon's Kindle a run for the money. In order
to read books in the BBeB format, you will need a Sony Reader, much
like the AZW format is married to the Kindle.

However, Sony opened the Reader up so that it also supports the
EPUB format. This is a good thing, and leaves the Kindle as virtually the
only device that locks its users into a proprietary format.

Two options have come to light for converting from a more standard
format to BBeB:

1.) As ZenEngineer points out in the comments below, there is a
freeware program called Calibre that will perform the conversion.

2.) Also, there is the bbebinder open-source project hosted on Google
Code which converts HTML and TXT files to the BBeB format.
LIT This is a Microsoft-specific file format whose time I can't help but
wonder may be at an end. LIT files are readable only on Microsoft
Reader, and while there are versions of the software for PC's and
handhelds, the major players in those areas (Amazon, Sony, Apple)
have their own proprietary formats.

Creation of LIT files seems a bit problematic as well. There is a Read in
Microsoft Reader add-in for Microsoft Word 2000 and higher, but
"higher" here does not include Word 2007. That kind of tells me the
format is being abandoned by Microsoft.



6 Self Publishing an e-Book

A while back I wrote a column entitled "Self-Publishing: 25 things you need to
know," which was mostly about how to create and sell your own paper book. Since then
a lot of folks have asked me to do something similar for e-books, so I have.

I begin with one caveat: The whole e-book market is rapidly evolving, and a lot of
self-publishing companies are offering e-book deals bundled into their print book
publishing packages, which makes them harder to break out and evaluate. It's all quite
complicated, and in an effort to sort through the confusion, I've decided to offer a few
basic tips and present what I think are some of the best options out there for creating an
e-book quickly and easily. As things change--and they will--I'll do my best to keep this
column up to date.

Tips

 It's gotta be good: The same rule applies to self-published e-books as it does to
print books. You have to start with a good product if you have any hope of selling
it.
 Create an arresting cover: When it comes to e-books, everything starts with the
cover image. Creating an eye-catching, professional-looking cover that also looks
good small (it has to stand out as a thumbnail image, since it's being sold online)
is easier said than done, but it can really make a difference in terms of sales. If
you can, try to get input from a real graphic designer who has some experience
creating book covers. From a production standpoint, an e-book cover is easier to
create than a cover for a print book (you just need a JPEG with decent
resolution), but it shouldn't look out of place among traditionally published e-
books. I can't tell you how many bad self-published covers are out there.
 Price your e-book cheaply: You should sell your e-book for less than $4.99.
Most successful e-book authors are finding the greatest success in the $0.99-to-
$2.99 range (it's important to note that Amazon's 70 percent royalty for authors
only applies to Kindle books priced between $2.99 and $9.99; otherwise, the rate
kicks down to 35 percent). When I self-published on the Kindle, I priced my book
at $3.99 and it worked very well. However, since then, many more self-published
books have flooded the market at lower prices.


 Avoid any outfits that don't let you set the price: This is one of the cardinal
rules of self-publishing an e-book. You must be able to control the pricing of your
e-book. If you want to sell it for $0.99, then you should be able to sell it for $0.99.
 Marketing is all about creating awareness for your e-book: I don't have any
secret marketing tips to offer, but what I can say is that you can't sell a book if no
one knows it exists. Most of book marketing is simply about creating awareness
and you need to do that however you can, whether it's through social media or
blogging or passing out fliers on a street corner. (I made a business card for my
book, which I pass out if someone seems interested in hearing more about it.)

7 E-book publishing options
Here are the three big questions to bear in mind with e-book creation: first, what is the
easiest and most cost-efficient way to produce an e-book? Second, where will it be
distributed? And third, how much of a cut do you get? With those in mind, let's take a
look at some of the more high-profile options available currently. I'm limiting it to these
options because I want to keep this as simple as possible.

Amazon Digital Text Platform (DTP)
This is Amazon's e-book publishing platform and if you think you're going to sell a lot of
e-books, you should figure out a way to upload your file (book) directly to DTP and
avoid using any sort of middleman or e-book "aggregator" that takes a cut of the profits.
If you're a true DIY person, you can create your own cover and format your e-book from
a Word file using free software tools such asMobipocket eBook Creator or Calibre.
Mobipocket Creator allows you to create an e-book with a table of contents and convert
it into Amazon's proprietary e-book format, AZW (MOBI, the file output by the program,
is the same as AZW). You can start with a Word file, which then gets converted to
HTML, then MOBI. (Check out the Mobipocket eBook Creator guide at the company's
Web site).



Amazon DTP

(Credit: Amazon)

If you don't want to go the total DIY route, you can pay someone a few hundred dollars
to format your e-book for you, but you'll still need to come up with a cover. J.A. Konrath,
who's had a lot of success in the self-published e-book space and has written an
excellent primer called "How to Make Money on eBooks," recommends Rob Siders at
www.52novels.com. You can also try Ray Fowler at rayfowler.org. (If you're someone
who formats e-books, contact me, as I'll be adding other names to the list.)

Amazon has upped its royalty to 70 percent for authors, but some rules apply (see the
complete list of terms). This is the same royalty that Apple offers iPhone/iPad app
developers and authors who sell e-books via its iBookstore store. However, you
currently have to use an "aggregator" like Smashwords or Lulu to get into iBookstore
(see the complete list of "approved" iBookstore aggregators). Even though the iPad
supports all of the leading e-book stores (Amazon's Kindle, Barnes & Noble's Nook,
Borders/Kobo), getting onto iBooks is becoming increasingly important; the iPad is
selling incredibly well, is already one of the leading e-readers on the market, and it will
only gain.

Smashwords
Smashwords, one of the e-book pioneers, is very much a DIY operation. You bring your
Word file and cover image, upload it into the company's "meatgrinder" tool, and in a
matter of minutes, you create your e-book in just about every format you'd want. You
can then sell that e-book on Smashwords.com or have the company aggregate it out to
most of the major e-book sellers, including Barnes & Noble's eBookstore, Apple's
iBooks, Sony, Kobo, and Stanza. Smashwords says it will soon have a deal in place for
the Kindle.



Smashwords is an Apple-approved aggregator.

(Credit: Smashwords)

Smashwords offers a free style guide for formatting your e-book and focuses on
keeping things simple. I created an acceptable-looking e-book in about 30 minutes after
making some tweaks (usually they involve spacing between chapter breaks) and
reprocessing my file three times. You don't get a table of contents, which some people
care about and others don't. Your e-book will not look exactly like an e-book from a
traditional publisher, but if you follow Smashwords' guidelines, you can end up with an
e-book that looks decent and will satisfy most readers.

Smashwords prides itself on not charging you for creating your e-book and taking only a
small cut of author's royalties (see Smashwords' overview ). Though the cut is small, it's
still a cut, but that's the price you're paying for the convenience of having your book
distributed on a wide array of platforms. You also have the option of acquiring your own
"premium" ISBN. I'm not going to get into a full on discussion of ISBN, which is "a
unique identifier associated with your e-book, but most companies provide a free ISBN
for your e-book or roll the price up into a package. Smashwords has a good quick guide
to e-book ISBNs that you should take a look at.


As you might imagine, when you have a middleman taking a cut, it becomes harder to
figure out just how much you're taking home from every sale of your e-book. I asked
Smashwords' CEO Mark Coker how much an author stood to make on an e-book priced
at $2.99. Here's what he had to say:

 A $2.99 Smashwords book on Apple's iBookstore earns $1.794 (60 percent of
the retail price). Smashwords takes 10 percent of the retail price or $.299.
 At Barnes & Noble's eBookstore, a Smashwords author earns 42.5 percent of the
suggested list price set by the author, so a $2.99 book = $1.27 to the author and
$.22425 to Smashwords. This equals 85 percent of the net to author.
 At Kobo, which also powers Borders eBookstore, an author earns 46.7 percent of
the suggested list price, so $2.99 = $1.39 to author and 25 cents to Smashwords.

Lulu
When you publish a print book at Lulu--and a lot of people do--you also have the option
of just publishing an e-book. Lulu e-books are distributed to Apple's iBookstore and
Lulu.com. Lulu charges from $99.99 to $299 for conversion if the author needs it.

Lulu is also an approved Apple aggregator.

The main benefit Lulu offers in the e-book realm is that it's one of the designated
aggregators for Apple's iBookstore. When you look at Lulu's iBookstore terms at its Web
site, you will see that the wording is be a bit confusing: "Apple retains 30 percent of all
revenue from sales on the iBookstore. The author receives 80 percent of the remaining
revenue and Lulu receives only 20 percent. So, when an eBook sells for $19.99 on the
iBookstore, the author receives $11.20."

What this really means is that the author receives 56 percent of the retail price for a
book sold at Apple (versus 60 percent at Smashwords) and Lulu takes 14 percent
(versus 10 percent Smashwords). For e-books sold on Lulu.com, Lulu charges a


"production fee" of $1.49 per book sold, in addition to taking 20 percent of the sale
price. But that's only if you have Lulu set-up the e-book for you. A company rep told us,
"Authors are free to create and publish an ePub of their own using one of the many free
conversion programs available, which we list in our help section and on our blog." (Click
here to check out Lulu's e-book creation options).

FastPencil
FastPencil has several self-publishing packages, including ones that offer combo print
and e-book publishing or just e-book publishing. Its system is template-based, so you
chop up your Word file and cut and paste it into a template for formatting (you can also
upload a formatted, print-ready PDF if you want). Some people find this Wizard-based
system appealing, but FastPencil does charge an upfront fee of $149 for its basic e-
publishing package that includes "wide" distribution. You have to import your own cover
image, and you don't get any design help for that $149.

FastPencil has an e-book only package.

(Credit: FastPencil)

What you do get is distribution in Barnes & Noble's eBookstore (Nook), Apple's
iBookstore (iPhone/iPad), the Kindle Store, Sony Readers, and Ingram's Digital network
that feeds your book other ebookstores. (Technically, FastPencil isn't an approved
Apple aggregator, but it appears to use Ingram for distribution in the iBookstore.)

Once you sort through the numbers, the royalty rates seem similar to Lulu's, which
means they're not quite as good as Smashwords. If you sell your e-book in Apple's
iBookstore, FastPencil takes 14 percent of the sales price versus 10 percent of the
sales price for Smashwords.


I asked FastPencil how much I'd earn if I sold a $2.99 e-book in the iBookstore. The
answer I got was:

 A 56 percent royalty rate, or $1.68.

In other words, you currently make 11 cents less than Smashwords.

You'd have to sell a lot of e-books for those 11 cents per book to really start turning into
significant dollars, but I'm just putting the numbers out there so you know what you're
dealing with (again, Fast Pencil does have an upfront fee of $149 for "wide
distribution"). In fairness, it's worth pointing out that FastPencil does offer a free option
for trying out its e-book creation system. You can choose to create your e-book and
keep it private or offer it up for sale on FastPencil's site for a one-time $9.99 fee (see
pricing options).

Publish Green
We're seeing a few hybrid e-book publishing companies start to crop up and we expect
to see more of these guys proliferate. Publish Green, which is part of the Published.com
division of Hillcrest Publishing Group in Minnesota, has some similar attributes to Fast
Pencil but touts a more hands-on approach, with "professional human e-book
formatting." Taking a jab at Smashwords, its marketing pitch goes like this: "We don't
smash your works through a 'meat grinder' like other eBooks converters do. Instead, we
format your eBook to look great on eBook readers. What's the point of selling your
eBook if it looks terrible on eBook reading devices?"

Publish Green emphasizes a human touch to its e-book formatting.

There's something to be said for that and Publish Green has a number of packages that
run anywhere from $299 to $897. With the most basic $299 package, you submit a
Word, PDF, or InDesign file, and get back a Kindle compatible e-book file that you then
upload yourself (and you have to make your own cover art, of course). In essence, the
basic packages are a formatting service and $399 gets your Mobi (Kindle) and ePub
versions of your e-book with some customized "themes" from which to choose.


For more money, Publish Green will distribute and manage your e-books for you and
according to a company rep, most customers choose this option. "We've found that
most authors wish for us to do the distribution," she said, "as many of the retailers we
submit to require that the book come directly from a publisher and not the author."

What's a little tricky to deal with is whether you want to pay an extra fee in order to
collect 100 percent of your royalties (to get your full royalty, you have to pay $199
extra). With the default distribution packages (no extra fee), you collect a 90 percent
royalty, which is similar to what Smashwords offers. Overall, I'm more partial to having
direct control over your e-books, with no middleman involved, but folks who aren't
technically savvy may choose to pay some extra dough for these types of packages,
thought it's important to note that you still have to bring your own cover art. (Note:
Publish Green says it's in the process of revising its packages, so expect to see some
changes soon).

CreateSpace, iUniverse, Xlibris, AuthorHouse, and other POD self-publishing
outfits
Most of the large print-on-demand self-publishing operations offer some sort of e-book
conversion service and distribution--and sometimes it gets bundled into a print-
publishing package (like Lulu, these companies usually charge a few hundred dollars for
converting your e-book). In some cases, this can work out OK for authors who don't
care about extracting as much money as they can from each sale and don't want to
work with a separate company to create an e-book once they've uploaded their PDF file
for their print book. For those who don't think they'll end up selling a lot of copies of their
e-book, this can be a fine arrangement, but just beware that in many cases you can't set
your own price and more money is being taken out of your net profits than should be.
Again, you should strongly consider avoiding companies that don't let you set your own
price.

Scribd
Scribd.com offers one of the fastest and easiest ways to get an e-book or even a short
story up on the Internet. After you create an account, you simply create a PDF of your
book with the cover image embedded in the first page of the PDF and upload the PDF
to Scribd.

Scribd is trying to become the YouTube for documents.


(Credit: Scribd)

Its online software quickly converts your document into a file that can be viewed on a
PC, iPad, or other portable devices. You can also choose to allow people to download
your file for viewing.

Recently, Scribd has added HTML5 coding, so your document can easily be read on the
iPad via the Safari browser (this allows you to use Apple's finger-based, pinch-and-
spread touch zoom controls). Currently, the majority of documents posted to Scribd are
free to view or download (it's a great way to post samples of your work), but you can sell
your work on Scribd as well. (If you want to see an example, I posted a free excerpt of
my own book to Scribd. Alas, I should have made my cover larger so it didn't have a
white border, but so it goes).

PubIt! is now live.

(Credit: Barnes & Noble)

Barnes & Noble's Pub-It
Barnes & Noble's Pub-It self-publishing operation launched in October and offers similar
features to Amazon's DTP, but the two platforms do have their differences. Barnes &
Noble has set the PubIt royalty rate for authors at 65 percent of the sale price for titles
priced $2.99 and higher. The rate falls to 40 percent if you choose to go lower than
$2.99 or higher than $9.99, with B&N setting $.99 as the lowest allowable price and
$199.99 as the highest.

That rate is close to Amazon's 70 percent royalty, but not quite as high (Amazon also
has pricing restriction to get its highest rate). However, PubIt includes a free conversion
tool that takes your Microsoft Word, TXT, HTML, or RTF files and automatically
converts it to an ePub file, which you then upload to Barnes & Noble's eBookstore
(alternatively, of course, if your e-book is already an ePub file, you can just upload it

directly through PubIt). Barnes & Noble aloows you to preview how your content will
look on one of Barnes & Noble's eReading devices using the Nook emulator. Currently,
Amazon doesn't offer a conversion tool.

Barnes & Noble says that going forward it will offer some unique features and is looking
for ways to tie-in the Nook's in-store Wi-Fi streaming features and feature local self-
published authors in stores specific to each location.

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In sum

To be clear, there are other ways to go about self-publishing your e-book. For example,
I haven't talked about such outfits as Ingram Digital, Overdrive, or LibreDigital, because
they're geared toward larger publishing or self-publishing operations rather than
individuals. To help focus your decision-making process, I've tried to stick to what I
consider the important players right now.

I should also say that everybody comes to the self-publishing process with a different
agenda--and a different book--and some e-book self-publishing options will appeal to
you based on the type of book you have (for the record, this article is slanted to
publishing more text-based e-books rather than books with lots of illustrations or graphic
images, such as children's books). For those who are publishing an e-book as an
experiment or "just to get it out there" and who are less concerned with making money
and extracting every last dime out of a sale, aggregators offer a convenient solution to
get your book in a variety of e-bookstores and roll up your sales into one single record
that you can easily track (most companies pay out earnings from e-books within 60-90
days; Amazon is 60).

It's also worth noting that you can mix and match and go direct with Amazon (DTP),
uploading your own file and managing your account, and then use an aggregator for
additional distribution to other e-bookstores. At this point there are no hard and set rules
and, as I said in the beginning, the e-book market is very fluid, seeing significant
changes almost every month. As always, please feel free to post your opinion in the
comments section, particularly if you've had experience publishing your e-book already
and can share your observations with others. And remember, Google is your best friend
for the finer parts of self-publishing, such as converting a Word file to a PDF.



8 Advantages
8.1 Generated Automatic Money

You can make a lot of money by writing and self-publishing your own material, if
you are willing to write the books, manuals, reports or newsletters that millions of people
across the United States, and throughout the world for that matter, desperately want to
buy.

Today, more than ever before, is the age of information. Twenty-four hours a
day, seven days a week, there continues to be an incredible demand for information
throughout America and the world. There is an astronomical demand for information
packed books, manuals, reports, and newsletters of almost every imaginable kind.
It's really much easier than you might have ever guessed to start filling your bank
account with cash from information you possess. People crave information that appeals
to their basic needs and will somehow educate or enlighten them. Simply by putting
your own specialized information into books, manuals, reports or newsletters, you can
start putting a hefty price on information you have no doubt been giving away.

FIND YOUR MARKET-THEN WRITE YOUR MATERIAL

Anyone who can communicate an idea to another person, should be able to get
their same message across on a written page. If you are either an expert on some
subject, or are interested enough to obtain the information needed for a project, you
have what it takes to go from having an idea to self-publishing your own material in
whatever format it develops into.

There are hundreds of publications filled with ads by people just like yourself,
who discovered they could make a lot of money writing and publishing their own work.
Looking through opportunity magazines, or other publications that cover the field you
are interested in may a good place to start looking for ideas.

Review all the advertisements in the magazines you have chosen to see what
popular topics and subjects are being written about in books, manuals, reports and
newsletters. Then ask yourself if you can come up with a better way, or have equally
interesting information you can present from a different angle, or with a different twist
that would also be of interest to the readers in that market. If the answer is "yes," then
you can enter that market and also make some incredible money!



CASH IN ON YOUR CREATIVITY AND EXPERTISE

Be creative in developing your material. Perhaps you are aware of some
techniques that allow people to accomplish their goals faster in a certain field. Maybe
you can think of a better way to cash in on some current fad. The bottom line is that
people are hungry for information and ideas, and you can become the writer or self-
publisher of information people want to buy.
People are eager to buy information that can help them improve their lives:
1) Financially;
2) Physically; and
3) Emotionally.
If you can fill any of those needs with information that can be put onto a written page,
there are millions of people waiting to hand over their cash to get it.

KNOWING HOW TO PACKAGE YOUR INFORMATION
CAN EARN YOU A FORTUNE!

After you have written your material, you will have to decide on how you will
package the information to make it sellable. Depending on your market, some
packaging will sell better than others. For example, you can print your information in a
series of publications, print it in a book, manual, report or newsletter, put it on cassette
tapes, or present it at seminars. You can focus on one area, or utilize many areas.
One thing is certain, people are paying billions of dollars to obtain well-packaged
information! There are books that sell for up to $100 and more, with manuals coming in
a close second. There are reports that consist of 10-12 pages selling for up to $10 or
more, while some seminars can cost as much a $15,000 for a single weekend. It may
sound incredible to the average person, but people are willing to pay top dollar for
information. However, the "packaging" must be perceived as being worth the price you
are asking.

But before you decide on how to package your information, you must first
consider who your primary audience is, and cater to those people in everything you do.

FOCUS ON SUBJECT MATERIAL THAT IS SELLABLE

Information for your subject matter can be found in various places. For the very
best results, start with your own field or expertise and turn it into a book, manual, report
or newsletter.


Focus on providing your targeted market with simple, understandable, and
helpful information. It must overwhelmingly appeal to your customer's wants and
desires.

Never forget that this is the age of specialized information. People are completely
willing to spend their money for tens of thousands of different forms of information,
provided it is useful to them. Your job is to either find a need and fill it, or create the
need and supply it.

One of the best ways to get started is to sit down with some paper and write
down every subject you have some degree of knowledge about. Your list of subjects
doesn't have to be in any particular order. Don't force it. When ideas for headings no
longer come easy, stop and start up again at a later time. When you feel comfortable
that you have covered most of the areas you know, start picking out the topics that
interest you the most. Then you can start researching more material for your writing
projects.

FILL YOUR MATERIAL WITH SELF-INTEREST BENEFITS

Many new writers fail to understand that if they expect any hope for business
survival, let alone success, they must come to realize early on that a big part of their job
is to arouse the emotions and desires of their customers. Your product, whether a book,
manual, report or newsletter, must be portrayed as being jam-packed with self-interest
benefits. Millions of dollars in failed business ventures are wasted every year simply
because entrepreneurs fail to understand that what they have to say is not necessarily
what customers want to hear. You should never forget this valuable lesson. It can make
you rich!

YOUR MATERIAL MUST STIR EMOTIONS AND DESIRES

Emotions are what move people to buy anything. Therefore, the job of your
product and advertisement vehicle is to move your prospect to buy. You have to stir
enough emotions, not only to cause desire, but the rationalization that provides an
excuse based on logic.

Even after a prospect makes a commitment to buy your book, they may think
they have acted logically. None of your customers will ever admit that emotions had
anything to do with their purchase. What you must always be aware of, however, is that
logic probably had little to do with a buyer's decision. That is because human actions
are often caused by instincts and compulsions that most buyers are unaware of.
As you write your material for publication in any form, or as you develop an ad or other
sales package, always think in terms of how a particular benefit will stir a reader's


emotions and desires. Try to understand how your product might be perceived by
readers by focusing on your own feelings.

ADVERTISING IS VITAL TO THE SUCCESS OF YOUR SELF-PUBLISHING
VENTURE

The success of your advertising will ultimately depend on the salability of your
book, manual, report, newsletter, etc. Good advertising will make a good book sell
better, but it cannot transform a poor book into being successful.
Advertising is vital to any business venture because:
1) It allows a business to deliver their message repeatedly and reinforce it in the minds
of targeted consumers.
2) It allows a business to reach hundreds of thousands of potential customers at a
relatively low cost compared to individual sales calls.
3) It allows a business to target their market and test their product.
4) A business identity can quickly be established.
5) A forum for showing a product, together with benefits and advantages can be
established.

BASIC ADVERTISING RULES

Effective marketing is a vast field. It includes using marketing tools such as:
direct mail; space and classified ads; signs; radio and TV commercials; business
involvement, and more. In fact, the approaches you can take and the methods you use
are only limited by your imagination and resources. There are basic rules that do not
change, however. They are as follows:
Rule No. 1 - You must get a prospect's ATTENTION.
Your headline is the most important part of an advertisement.
Rule No. 2 - You must create reader INTEREST.
Your ad should be built around an idea that offers value.
Rule No. 3 - You must arouse the reader's DESIRE.
By focusing on all the benefits they will receive.
Rule No. 4 - Your ad must move them to ACT.
Tell your readers exactly what it is you want them to do.

ALWAYS REMEMBER THE A.I.D.A. FORMULA WHEN CREATING AN AD

In order to avoid making careless advertising decisions that can cost you money,
it is important that you understand and participate in your own strategies. That means
getting involved and researching what strategy will produce sound advertising.


It is essential that you have a plan before you take action on developing and advertising
strategy. Your plan must be based on an objective analysis that has resulted from your
knowledge and research.

It doesn't matter what your background is, you can learn to master the type of
mail order advertising that is needed to launch a self-publishing business.
Through research and careful planning you can become familiar with the writing skills
you will need to create effective ads. Obtain all the information you can from the
masters in the business. Read and study every book, manual, report, newsletter, ad,
article, and publication you can get your hands on that will help you in developing your
own successful strategies and techniques. Then bring all of that knowledge together to
obtain winning results.

10 MONEY-MAKING REASONS WHY SELF-PUBLISHING IS THE BEST CHOICE

You become a "self-publisher" by taking your material (book, manual, report,
newsletter, etc.) and by-passing all the middlemen. You by-pass the middlemen by
going directly to a printer and handling all the marketing and distribution of the product
yourself.

As a self-publisher you invest your talent, time, energy and money. The benefits
you receive are complete control over your product and all the profits! Here is a
condensed version of 10 good reasons why you should self-publish:
1) Self publishing may be the only way to get published. With thousands upon
thousands of manuscripts, etc., being sent to publishers continually, you may not be
able to get anyone to even look at your idea. Self-publishing may be your only solution.
2) As a self-publisher you get to keep all of the profits from your sales. Why accept 4%-
6% in royalties from a publishing company when you can have it all?
3) You have absolute marketing and editing control when you self publish. According to
Writer's Digest poll, 60% of the big publishing firms do the final editing, 23% select the
final title, 20% will not even consult an author on the cover design, and 37% do not
involve authors in promoting their own material.
4) Major publishers may receive up to several hundred manuscripts a week. Unless
they have already published your work, the odds they will even look at your material
aren't very high.
5) When you self-publish you are in control every step of the way. By depending on
another publisher to make things happen for you, you take the chance of never getting
anywhere.


6) By self-publishing you gain the perspective of being able to see the complete
marketing picture from a publisher's point of view.
7) Even if a publisher did accept your work, it would take an average of 18 more months
before the first copy reached the market place. Self-publishing will save you valuable
time. Especially if you can't afford to miss a market that can quickly pass by.
8) Waiting for a letter from a publisher that never comes can be frustrating and
embarrassing. Self-publishing eliminates the waiting and wondering.
9) When you self-publish and get directly involved in marketing you will obtain a more
total business overvue.
10) As a self-publisher you will receive more business tax advantages.

8.2 Self-Publishing Myths

The only authors who self-publish are those whose writing is not good enough to
be published by a traditional publisher.

Truth:This was probably never true because the first publishers were in direct
competition with rich men who could afford to self-publish. These publishers actually
created the concept of the vanity press, and rode that horse to huge profits. Today,
however, things have changed. Rumor in the book industry has it that no large
publishers are offering contracts to new authors unless that author has a following of at
least 25,000 and a large online presence. For most major publishers, this is unofficial
policy. Book sales in the 10,000 to 20,000 range used to be enough to make the midlist,
but these days, a book with these sales would be considered a failure by large houses.
The midlist author of the past is today's self-published author.

Readers don't want to read self-published books.

Truth: Readers do not want to read bad books, no matter how they were produced.
Although publishers and other writers might be biased against self-published books,
readers just want to know that they're going to get their money's worth. Huge self-
publishing successe s like The Celestine Prophecy, and The One Minute
Manager prove that readers are interested in the content, not who published the book.
The issue is trust. That's why it's so important forself-published authors to make sure
they get the best book possible out there. If it's well written and well marketed, readers
will buy it.

People who read can tell when a book is self-published because the standards of
production are lower.


Truth: While publishing professionals might be able to tell the difference, regular readers
will not notice minor differences in binding or laminating, and as long as your book looks
more or less the same as similar books and the text is easy to read, most buyers won't
know (or care) about the size of the margins or the gutters.

Self-publishing is expensive because you have to order a lot of books up front
and pay for publishing services.

Truth: A book is a product that you are trying to sell, and it has to be comparable in
quality to the competition: other books that others are trying to sell. If you know how to
format your own book and design your own book cover using software like Photoshop
you can probably do a lot of the setup yourself. You will still need to obtain and ISBN,
an EAN, a Library of Congress number, and a barcode, and you will also want
distribution, and possibly editing. If you can afford it, these services are available
through publishing companies. Some publishers do require their authors to order
minimum print runs, which can cost thousands, or even tens of thousands, of dollars.
However, POD (print on demand) publishers don't require authors to order any
books. And in some cases, a number of books are included with the publishing
package.

No one reviews self-published books.

Truth: In fact, self-published books do get reviews. Some even get reviewed in major
magazines and newspapers. However, these are the exception, not the rule. Most POD
books get reviewed on radio, in local media, in regional magazines, and on the internet.

Self-publishing is expensive because you have to pay large setup fees.

Truth: Some publishing companies include the actual publishing of the book in the setup
fees. If the setup fee includes formatting, the essential administrative numbers (ISBN,
EAN, LOC#, and barcode), a custom cover, and distribution then you aren't really
paying for setup, you're paying for publishing services. Watch out for those companies
who tell you a small setup fee that doesn't include any real services.

It's hard for self-published authors to succeed because they have to do all their
own promotion.


Truth: Here's a quote from a Senior Editor at Harper Collins: "I won't even look at a book
unless the author is prepared to do a book tour and book signings..." If that's not work, I
don't know what is. All authors are required to do promotion on their books. No one,
except celebrity authors, gets their books out into the marketplace without working for it.
No large publisher will take on a new writer who isn't about to do the promotion, the
book tours, and the media interviews.

Self-published authors are at a disadvantage because they're unknown and
there's no quality control system in place on published books.

Truth: Self-published authors are usually unknown; there's not much that can be done
about that. However, there are a few self-publishing companies who do insist on quality
in editorial as well as production values. Such publishers don't take every book that
comes in "over the transom," and because they have standards, it's easier for potential
readers to trust the books they sell.

Most self-published authors can't get their books into large chain brick-and-
mortar bookstores like Barnes and Noble and Borders, and you have to have
books on these shelves to be successful.

Truth: Once, chain bookstores were the only place to buy books, but that's no longer
true. According to a recent poll, only 32% primarily shop for books in chain bookstores.
43% of respondents buy their books online and 9% buy most of their books from small,
independent bookstores. 16% bought elsewhere--in drug stores, specialty shops,
supermarkets, warehouse clubs, and airports. Plainly, since 68% of buyers buy
elsewhere, chain bookstores are no longer the be-all and end-all of bookselling.

Self-publishing is okay for some, but I want writing to be my career.

Truth: The length of the mainstream author's career is under the control of his or her
publisher, and future prospects are only as good as the sales of the last book. If your
book doesn't earn back its advance, or sells only modestly beyond the advance, the
publisher will not want to publish your next book. It may be rare for a self-published
book to become a bestseller, but for that matter, it's rare for any book to become a
bestseller. Most books make their money in the long tail of sales, which can bring in as
much income as the bestseller, the difference being that this money comes in over time
rather than all at once. Those writers who persevere no matter what, who continue to


write and to publish, who continue to add books to their product line and promote them,
can succeed.

A self-published author's career isn't over until the author decides to stop publishing.
The self-published author's career makes it or doesn't based on the author's work and
the author's willingness to keep writing, publishing, and promoting. It's not up to anyone
else to decide if you'll be an author; and it's not up to anyone else to decide when you'll
quit.



9 References
1. http://www.scottmarlowe.com/post/Some-thoughts-on-traditional-vs-electronic-
publishing.aspx
2. http://www.scottmarlowe.com/post/Manuscript-Formatting.aspx
3. http://www.scottmarlowe.com/search.aspx?q=the%20process%20how%20to%20
written%20manuscript%20self%20publishing
4. http://www.scottmarlowe.com/post/Selling-Your-E-Book-Without-a-Publisher-
Part-2-E-book-Formatting.aspx
5. http://www.topboast.com/html/publishing/self_publish_your_own_books_report_a
nd_manuals.html
6. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00008ZGRY?tag=ebookpublishi-
20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B00008ZGRY
&adid=0J7FDJZ86B84PK0F0F61&
7. http://www.idpf.org/doc_library/epub/OPS_2.0.1_draft.html
8. http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/pod/
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-book
10. Social Bookmarking intelligence –laura maya
11. http://www.scribd.com/doc/45763091/How-to-Self-publish-an-E-book
12. portables.about.com/od/ebookreasers/f/What-Is-Epub.htm

Note : The above presentation have been compiled by students for Project submission
for Final year Pre-graduation submission on the subject of the latest in Self Publishing
and ebook technology in Line with the launch of the
“Come and Read campaign “ organized by their Institution for industrial attachment

Disclaimer :

All materials published in this school project ebook , including the information contained on
mentioned web site, undergoes review to ensure fair balance, relevance. The editors of the
material herein have consulted sources believed to be reliable in their efforts to provide
information that is complete and in accord with the standards at the time of publication in year
2009/ 2010.

In view of the possibility of human error by the editors of the material contained herein, neither
the publisher nor any other party involved in the preparation of this material warrants that the
information contained herein is in every respect accurate or complete, and they are not
responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such. Readers
are encouraged to confirm the information contained with other sources.


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