Introduction to Ebook Publishing

How to Produce, Publish, Price,

Distribute, Promote and Sell an Ebook

Plus being discovered

April 21, 2015

Patrick McCarthy

Owner, Benefit Communications, Ltd.

This event is free and open to all.

Sponsored by Mahwah Library Writers Collective

201-529-7323 x227

Let’s start with a definition: e-bookWikipedia

• An electronic book (variously: e-book, eBook,

e-Book, ebook, digital book, or even e-edition) is a book-

length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or

both, readable on computers or other electronic

devices.[1] Although sometimes defined as "an electronic

version of a printed book",[2] many e-books exist without any

printed equivalent. Commercially produced and sold e-books

are usually intended to be read on dedicated e-book readers,

however, almost any sophisticated electronic device that

features a controllable viewing screen,

including computers, tablet computers, and smartphones can

also be used to read e-books.

Another definition: PublishingWikipedia

• Publishing is the process of production

and dissemination of literature, music, or information —

the activity of making information available to the general

public. In some cases, authors may be their own

publishers, meaning: originators and developers

of content also provide media to deliver and display the

content for the same.

Publishing includes the stages of the development,

acquisition, copy editing, graphic design, production –

printing (and its electronic equivalents),

and marketing and distribution … including the electronic

media.

The Problem: Why Traditional

Book Publishing is Broken

• Publishers judge books based on

perceived commercial merit

• they can only guess what readers want to

read

• Publishers unable to take a risk on every

author

• millions of writers rejected

• Print books are too expensive

• limits affordability and accessibily

Back in the Dark Ages (7 yrs

ago), Publishers Controlled

Everything

• They controlled the …

• printing press

• distribution

• knowledge to professionally publish

Mark Coker’s Answer:

Smashwords

• * FREE * eBook Publishing Platform

Free ebook printing press

Distribution to major ebook retailers and

libraries

Free learning materials help writers

become professional publishers

Amazon

• * FREE * e-Book Publishing Platform

Free e-book printing press

Distribution to Amazon e-book devices

Plus:

Free Print On Demand (POD) production

Free Audio book production

An Amazon company

• Print paperback books on demand POD

Cost: Free to costly depending on services

and pricing you set.

Books have to sell for at least $5.00+ for a

70 page book to cover all distribution costs.

An Amazon company

Distribute audio books

Cost: Free to costly depending on

services and pricing you set.

Audiobooks have to sell at $10 to $12

just to cover distribution costs at

Amazon

Ebooks published at Smashwords

Amazon data not available

How Smashwords and Amazon

Work

• UPLOAD

Word .doc or .epub Word .docx

Instant, free ebook conversion Same

Instantly for sale Same

• DISTRIBUTE

Distribution to retailers and Distribution

libraries to Amazon

devices

• GET PAID

Author earns 60-80% list 35 – 75%

Smashwords Amazon

Quick Overview of The Ebook Market

Source: Association of American Publishers, publishers.org. 2012-13 Smashwords estimate

Publishers losing their monopoly

• Writers no longer need publishers to

publish, distribute and sell books

• Writers asking two questions:

1. “What can a publisher do for me that I can’t

do for myself?”

2. “Will a publisher actually harm my ability to

reach readers?”

Indies are hitting the bestseller

lists

• Self-published ebooks scaling all the

bestseller lists

• Self-published titles on the NYT list

nearly every week

• Prediction: Within three years, over ½ of

ebook bestsellers on NYT list will be indie

ebooks

Advantages of Indie Authorship

• Indie ebook author advantages

• faster time to market

• creative control

• better distribution to global market

• immortal ebooks never go out of print

• lower expenses

• lower prices to consumers

• earn more per book

Indie Ebook Authors Earn Higher

Percentage of List Price

• Indies earn more at lower prices

• At $2.99, indies earn ~$2.00. Traditional author

would have to price over $10 to earn $2.00

• Lower price = reach more readers = more sales at

higher profits per sale

60-80%

35-75%

12-17%

Indie Traditional

Let’s learn how to publish, distribute and

sell an ebook!

Checklist for Publishing an Ebook

Finish a super-awesome book

Format the book prior to conversion

Prepare cover image * (Keep the original art work)

Prepare the metadata

Ebook conversion to multiple formats

Pricing

ISBNs

Copyright

Distribution to retailers, libraries

Piracy

Marketing

Finish Your Super-Awesome Book

• Ebook publishing tools make

publishing fast, free and easy …

• … but they don’t make it easy to

write a great book

• Your book must move the reader to an emotionally

satisfying extreme

• You are the author and the publisher

• Edit, revise, edit, revise

• Involve beta readers (then revise again)

Ebook Formatting

Formatting is the layout and design

process to prepare your book for

publication

Formatting for Smashwords

350,000+

downloads!

Formatting for Amazon

Formatting Secrets

• Forget (some of) what you know*

• Don’t try to make e- look like p-

• Ebooks consumed differently than print

• Design for reflowability, small screens

• Less = more with ebooks

*Keep an original plain text file or other

uses (POD, audiobook, etc.)

Reflowability: Ebook devices

(and customers) shape shift text

• Example of Smashwords novel, Heller

by JD Nixon as viewed in iBooks e-

reading app

• Users can select font style, font size and

nightime mode, or view in portrait or

landscape mode. Reflowability enables

this!

Cover Image

Create Your Ebook Cover

• Covers are important

• First impression

• Great covers make a promise

• Make it:

engaging, matched to target audience

professional

good as thumbnail

Don’t be sloppy

Don’t do this either

Great covers make a promise

Great covers make a promise

Great covers make a promise

Great covers make a promise

Great covers make a promise

Great covers make a promise

Great covers make a promise

Evolution of the 36 Week Jam

Session cover

• Start with a good image

• Speak to the promise of what the

reader will experience.

• Following slides show the development

of 36 Week Jam Session cover

Which Book Cover Do You Love?

This is a potential e-book cover for an anthology of 36 short stories targeting the young adult market

36 WEEK JAM SESSION

36 Week Jam Sessionby Aimee McCarthy

Race

Yi Yi Yippee Yi Yo!

Graffiti Friendship

Weird Cooking

Ultimate Courage

True Character

There’s Gold in the

Backyard!

The Red Evidence

¿Animales!

The Nearly-

Permanent Label

Manufacturing Mommy

How to Marry

Stubborn

For the Fans

Blorange

Around the World at

Hare Speed

…

Race

Follow link to Survey to cast your vote:

• https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MDPPJSX

• This the survey question:

Flower

Stack of books 1

White paper

Circles

Stack of books 2

Open book small

Open book large

Band

1. Which Book Cover Do You Like?

This is a potential e-book cover for an anthology of 36

short stories targeting the young adult market.

Review the images below and select one.

A case study…The evolution of one cover

to this cover

… to this cover…

The cover sparked a breakout at Apple

And landed her on the NY Times Bestseller List

Metadata

Metadata is data that makes your

book discoverable in a store

Book title

Book description

Author name

Book category

Price

Publication dateISBN

Language Tags

Metadata for 36 Week Jam

Session

• Smashwords:

girl scouts, gold award, homeschool,

emotions, surprise, shock, suspense, joy,

love, contentment

• Amazon:

surprise, shock, suspense, joy, love,

contentment

Ebook Conversion

Conversion = Turning your formatted

manuscript into an ebook file readable on

multiple ebook reading devices

E-reading Devices

Automated Ebook Conversion

Smashwords Amazon

•Your masterpiece uploaded

as a Word 2013 docx plus

Word (DOC)

•HTML (ZIP, HTM, or HTML)

•MOBI (MOBI)

•ePub (EPUB)

•Rich Text Format (RTF)

•Plain Text (TXT)

•Adobe PDF (PDF

KDP

Conversion

MOBI

•

)

Your masterpiece

uploaded as an epub or

Word .doc document

Pricing

How Price Impacts Units Sold

What Price Yields the Greatest

Author Earnings?

ISBN

Amazon

(ASIN: B00P0CCQ78)

What’s an ISBN and ASIN?

• ISBM is:

Unique digital identifier

A 13-digit number

Helps supply chain communicate about book

Required for Smashwords distribution to Apple,

Kobo, others

• Where to get an ISBN:

FREE at Smashwords

• ASIN

Amazon’s unique 10 digit identifier

FREE at Amazon

Automatically assigned by Amazon

Copyright

Copyright Simplified

• By publishing something you created,

you have copyright

• Copyright entitles you to an exclusive

bundle of rights

• The notation of © is optional

• For best legal protection, go to

Copyright.gov and register copyright

online

Distribution to retailers and libraries

Smashwords Distribution Network

Amazon Distribution Network

Piracy

Everything you need to know

about piracy

• Don’t worry about piracy

• Obscurity is your biggest risk

• Black hat pirates who steal your book

wouldn’t have purchased it anyway

• Most piracy is accidental – think of it

as enthusiastic fans marketing your

book for you

• Combat piracy by making the ebook

easier to buy than steal

Marketing

Marketing

• Marketing is a catalyst, not fuel

• Your book is your best marketing

• Reader word of mouth determines your success

• Focus on discoverability

• Viral catalysts amplify word of mouth

What’s a Viral Catalyst?

• A viral catalyst is something that makes your

book more available, accessible, desirable

and enjoyable to readers

• Read the Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (it’s

FREE!) to learn how viral catalysts spur word-of-mouth

Viral Catalysts

• Every thing you do right increases

virality

Great cover

Great book

Broad distribution

Fair price

Good categorization

Professionally edited

Great formatting

Great title

Great author biography

Great book description

Great marketing

Social media enabled

Sampling enabled

Multiple formats

• Fall short anywhere and you create

unnecessary friction

LUCK!

Discoverability via libraries

• Smashwords library distribution:

• Two models:

• Traditional model: Overdrive, Baker & Taylor, etc.

• "Douglas County Model.“

• Library Direct is available to libraries that host and manage

their own ebook checkout systems, typically using Adobe

Content Server, and that are capable of acquiring a large

opening collection.

SELF-e, Library offers a discovery service:

• Cuyahoga County Model from Library Journel

• Mass. State Library pilot.

http://www.slideshare.net/Smash

words/2014-smashwords-survey-

how-to-sell-more-ebooks