Consider Self Publishing in Ebook Format
Today, more than every before authors are presented with
publishing opportunities that have never existed before. This is
not to understate the hard work that authors have to go through
to get recognition, write great books, and make a full time
living from their passion of expression. However, it is to say
that today, due to advances in communications technology,
authors can now get their books distributed much easier than
they could a decade ago. One very popular way that authors are
distributing their work is digitally through ebooks. Digital
books are gaining so much popularity that even some of the most
popular authors in the world have used it to distribute their
books. Stephen King for example published “Riding the Bullet”
exclusively in ebook format. When this ebook began distribution
over Barns and Nobel and Amazon.com there was so much demand for
the download that the servers of these two book giants slowed
down almost to a halt. People that wanted to download the ebook
were put in a large queue with the hundreds of thousands of
other who downloaded the ebook as well.
It’s not only big name authors that are finding success in
ebooks. We at Ebook Architect have been helping authors create,
market and sell their ebooks online for years now with great
success. Many of these people are first time authors and are
often amazed with the success of their ebook sales. Below are
some of their ebook writing tips.
Don’t underestimate the power of the Ebook
Ebooks are still looked upon as unpopular by many authors who
have not yet taken the time to learn about the success within
this industry. For example, while the traditional publishing
industry growing at the sluggish rate of 5% a year the digital
publishing industry is growing at rates between 30% -50%. This
means that the opportunities within the publishing industry are
growing at a fraction of the rate that opportunities within the
digital publishing industry are growing.
To set up an ebook you don’t need to be a tech wizard
Setting up your ebook from the idea conceptualization stage to
the selling stage can’t be completed overnight but it is
definitely something that can be done by anyone regardless of
your technological background. If you can use a word processor
then you can create and sell an ebook online. While it is
recommended you set up your own website, it is not necessary.
There are outlets such as amazon.com, EBay and Lulu.com to name
only a few sites that allow you to post your ebook on their
servers.
Setting up an Ebook site is virtually costless and you keep 100%
of the profits
With traditional publishers you’ll be lucky to see 10% of the
profits from your book. With ebooks however, you keep 100% of
the profits minus the fees required to set up the site which are
minimal. Here is the fee breakdown for ebooks vs traditional
books
Ebook vs Book cost Ebook = Free to create an unlimited number of
copies Book = Approximately $1500 for 200 copies of a 200 page
soft cover book
Rights and profit Ebook = You keep 100% of the profits and
rights to your ebooks Book = You get 10-40% royalty (usually
about $2-$5/ book)
With the above examples it is easy to see that for first time
authors ebooks make a lot of sense. The risk associated with
publishing an ebook is much lower than it is with distributing a
soft or hard cover book. Likewise, as an ebook author you’ll
keep virtually all of your own profits.
If nothing else, it is something worth consideration. Ebooks may
not replace traditional paperback books, but they certainly are
gaining popularity at a rate that should make all authors stop
to think about how they could use ebooks to their advantage.
