As fanfic writers and readers, none of us is new to the concept of electronic publishing. True, fanfic transactions are free (or perhaps provided on a "for feedback" exchange) as is required by the laws governing fanfic's existence. Does electronic publishing offer a viable option for writers who turn to original fiction?
What are e-books?
There are several sorts of e-books. The first kind works much like fanfic: an author posts an original work on a web page, taking all responsibilty for its creation, promition, and housing. The second kind takes it a step further: an author contracts with an electronic publisher who, for a fee paid by the author, provides hosting and perhaps other services. The third kind of electronic publishing takes much the same form as traditional publishing: authors submit work to editors, who make judgement and selections, then package and promote the books, paying the authors royalties on actual books sold.
In addition, e-books are available in a number of formats. Some are downloaded onto a reader's personal computer or handheld. Others are downloaded onto what's called a dedicated device - a small computer used only for the reading of electronic books.
Microsoft Reader and Adobe PDF are the major formats for the first kind of electronic book. Microsoft Reader is available for free download; software for putting text into MS Reader is also available for free download. MS Reader has formed partnerships with both Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com. Adobe PDF files are considered superior for the amount of control they give an author over the way their outputted work looks. PDF files are created by Adobe PageMaker, a fairly expensive piece of software.
RCA has introduced two dedicated devices for the 2000 holiday season. One is monochrome and costs $299. The other has a color screen and costs $699. Gemstar is the other producer of dedicated devices.
What kind of publisher should I choose?
That's entirely up to you. It depends on the nature of the work you've produced, how much work you want to put into your publishing venture, and several other factors.
Background: Traditional Print Publishers
In order to better compare the way e-publishing works, first let's look at the "old" way of doing things -- seeking publication of your original manuscript by a publishing house that specializes in printed books.
In this realm, you'll do most of your work upfront, sending out manuscripts and contacting agents until a publisher accepts your work for publication. If a publisher accepts your work for publication, and that's a big if. While book sales are soaring, profits are growing very thin. Authors who aren't big names are being left by the wayside, their books tossed onto bookstore shelves with little promotion, only to disappear a month or two later, replaced by a new batch of books. Media mergers have left only a handful of major publishing houses controlling most of the pie.
The traditional route can also be time consuming, waiting for publishers or agents to wade through the "slush pile" of manuscripts or query letters, evaluate yours, and send something back to you. Rejection letters are also very difficult for many writers to deal with. Even the thickest skinned writer may find it hard to face a growing folder of "Thanks, but no thanks" notes.
It can also depend on something as ephemeral as your story or subject matter. Leta Nolan Childers, whose e-book "The Best Laid Plans" (Diskus Publishing) was the best selling e-book in 1999, says, "There's more room in e-publishing for my kind of books, which embrace a variety of subjects and cross genres, something normally not sought by traditional publishers."
If a traditional publisher decides to purchase your work, you can expect to recieve royalties. Usually, the author recieves some money (called an "advance" which is also known as an "advance against royalties" -- basically, the publisher hedging a bet on how much your book will earn) when the contract is executed. Advances can be astonishingly low, especially if you're a new writer, sometimes as little as $2,000. The advance is an upfront payment made against royalties your book will make. Royalties are a percentage (generally less than 10%) of the net sale of the book. Net, not gross, meaning whatever the bookstore pays for your book, not the cover price.
E-publishers
Electronic publishers who follow the traditional models rarely pay an advance - authors work strictly on royalties. These royalties are typically a higher percentage, up to 50 percent.
Leta relates that her relationship with Diskus Publishing has been a good one. "Working with DiskUs Publishing has been a match made in cyber-heaven for me," she says. "Having experienced publication with both a traditional publisher and an e-publisher, I have discovered that DiskUs is every bit as conscientious about presenting my works in the best manner possible as any other traditional, royalty-paying publisher. In fact, because of the speed of communication between the DiskUs management and editorial staff and myself, it's even better than my previous experiences. It's been the most positive experience I've every had in my professional writing career."
Howard Hopkins, author of four e-books available from Dancing Willow as well as an author of traditionally print-published books, found e-publishing to be a mixed experience. "In a monetary sense ebooks just aren't making the authors (or publishers probably) loads of money right now," he says. "But as far as hearing from readers and talking to people who have read them it is very gratifying. Seeing my ideas for cover art brought to life has been rewarding as well, but there are many frustrations too, such as the sometimes inconsistent lack of response, editing and promotion. This of course can occur with print books too, but I am seeing more with ebooks. A big advantage is getting material out there traditional print publishers are reluctant to try, cross genre books and innovative ideas. it is great chance for some very talented writers to have their material published. I think there need to be some higher standards for editing and proofing and professionalism in some cases, but there are many wonderful ebook publishers."
E-Book Self-publishing
The other option is to take things into your own hands. Whether you house your work on a server yourself or take it to a subsidy or "vanity" publisher who will house it for you, your considerations and work will largely be the same.
First of all, there's your manuscript. You like it and your friends like it. Is that enough? This is something you should ask yourself before you invest your time and energy and your hopes. Maybe you collected rejection letters because your subject matter isn't trendy this year - or any year - no matter how solid your storytelling. Or maybe those publishers could see what you were too close to see: something was weak.
Does that matter? Probably not. There are lots of really bad, professionally published books out there. Likewise, an online-published book was nominated for Britain's prestigious Booker Prize this year, and some originally self-published books have gone on to become bestsellers.
Annette Gisby is an author who chose to use a subsidy publisher, GreatUnpublished.com, for her novel, "Silent Screams." She says of the process, "It was a difficult decision, in a way, it felt a little like giving up hope of having it published by a traditional publisher, but since I still have all my rights, it is posssible to still be published that way if I want to. I've received many a rejection slip from traditional publishers, and it was nice not to get rejected for once."
Whether you self-publisher or use a subsidy publisher, you'll need an editor. A lot of you won't send out your fanfic until it's been beta read. This is the same concept. However, I don't recommend handing your manuscript off to your beta. Professional editing, or at least proofreading, will make a difference. Trust me.
Copyright comes next. In the US, your work is copyrighted as soon as you create it. In theory. But it never hurts to protect yourself. For $30, you can obtain official copyright from the government. Visit www.loc.gov/copyright for more details.
Your book also needs a cover. If you've surfed some of the e-publishing sites, you may have noticed...how can I put this delicately...a lot of the covers look really cheesy. And you may be thinking, I have Photoshop and the Web at my fingertips, I can make a rockin' cover. That may be true, but most images you'll find on the Internet are copyrighted. The same with images from magazines. So unless you can draw, create, or photograph on a near-professional level, an investment in professional graphic design for your cover is probably a good idea. After all, readers tend to judge books by their covers.
If you are going with a subsidy publisher, do your research and read your contracts. "A number of disturbing complaints about Xlibris have come to my attention," writes Edwina Berkman in The Perils of Subsidy Publishing, in which she details some of the problems both Xlibris and iUniverse have had recently, including hidden charges and poor communication with authors.
Make sure the fee you pay covers the things you may not have the time or know-how to accomplish yourself. The first of these things is acquiring an ISBN number. This is a unique number assigned to your book, and it's required if you're going to sell your book to Amazon or other major online booksellers. ISBN numbers are sold to publishers in sets of 10 for $205 by a company called RR Bowker. You can purchase ISBNs yourself (www.isbn.org) but if you don't need 10, or don't want the hassle of paperwork, this is one advantage to dealing with a subsidy publisher, who will generally assign an ISBN to your book.
Another thing RR Bowker produces is a work called Books in Print. This is a listing of all the books out there. The information in this database allows bookstores to special-order books for customers. You can get listed in Books in Print by filling out an Advance Book Information form. You'll need your ISBN before you do this.
Some subsidy publishers also offer print on demand facilities. This is an advantage *if* they deal with a company called Lightning Source, which is linked with Ingram, a major book distributor. If your print on demand book is available through Ingram, it will be listed and available to bookstores nationwide, and also at online booksellers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It's nearly impossible to get books into bookstores without a distributor, so this is a heavy advantage over doing it yourself.
"I've just received my paperback version of "Silent Screams" and it looks very professional, like any bookstore book," says Annette. She also points out, "On the plus side, the turnaround time from when you submit your book until it becomes available for sale, was less than a month for me. The book can also be ordered as a print on demand paperback, so that people who prefer a paper version to the electronic one are also catered for." The publishing process for a traditionally printed book can be a year or longer.
After all this is done and your book is uploaded and ready to go, you may take a deep breath and sit back feeling proud. Don't sit back too long, though -- books don't sell themselves. This is true whether your book has been traditionally published or not.
Marketing
All authors need to market their books, whether those books are print or electronic. Danielle Steel's publishers send her on a whirlwind media and book signing tour at their expense. She's also published 50 books and is an internationally known name. It's not a risk when her publishers send her out. They know they'll get a return on their investment.
For most other writers, the investment will be their own. You'll need to know who to send review copies to, write press releases, and follow up. Setting up a web site is a great idea. Uploading a free sample chapter will let readers know what they're getting since they can't flip through the pages at their local bookstore. What about a mailing list? A discussion board? A chat? All good ideas. Booksellers often create hits by "hand-selling" books they've enjoyed. Handselling is what you're going to have to do, too.
Research the market. Find out how other successful e- or self-published authors have made their success. Did they recruit affiliates? Send out clever press kits? Or just get rave reviews that made readers seek out their book, no matter the format? Businesses create written documents called marketing plans for their products and services. Brainstorm and write a marketing plan for your book. Try a little bit of everything to see what works, and whatever works, keep doing it.
Leta Nolan Childers, author of 1999's best-selling e-book, "The Best Laid Plans," says she tried a lot of different methods to market that book. "The long and the short of it is that I used every option I could think of to create an awareness of myself and my book on the Internet," says Leta. "I filled out interviews, I became a friendly member of many lists--never once touting my book, but simply including information about it in my signature line, I donated copies of books, I swapped banners and ads, I guested at workshops and chats. I even held cyber-signing parties. I did everything I could that was free or as close to free as possible. Then, once I began achieving some awareness, it spiraled on itself. I became known as an expert on ebooks and epublishing (indeed, having worked in every aspect of the business except that of an actual publisher myself, I have expert knowledge on everything from cover art to text conversion to promotion.) Because of that expertise, I was called upon for more interviews--these in national and international magazines and periodicals, on television and on radio."
She also kept future publications in mind. Leta says, "In other words, I concentrated all of my promotional skills on "The Best Laid Plans" in the hopes that awareness would create sales for my other books, which it most certainly did." If you'd like to know more about her experiences, she's written a book about it: "e-Lectrify Your Sales: The Writer's Guide To E-Publishing Success" (Diskus Publishing).
The Way of the Future?
No one can say for certain whether electronic books are the way of the future.
A December 2000 study by Forrester Research concluded both e-books and reader devices face slow growth in the years ahead - as little as $251 million in revenue over the next five years. "Publishers are expecting trade eBook sales that won't materialize -- the drawbacks of reading onscreen will discourage all but the most motivated readers," said Daniel P. O'Brien, senior analyst at Forrester. The research company predicts digital delivery of textbooks will succeed, and that other e-book ventures will continue to require the support and investments of traditional publishers.
However, Roland Laplant, chief marketing officer for Xlibris, told Wired that "Ultimately e-books will eclipse paper books. It's just not convenient now.... There needs to be a lot of change in actual consumer behavior for that shift to occur." Andersen Consulting agrees, predicting 28 million people will be reading e-books by 2005, creating a $2.3 billion market.
In short, the future isn't set. So make of it what you will.
More information
There are a variety of organizations you can join to get more information about the world of independent publishing. Here are a few:
- SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network)
- SPAN (Small Publishers Association of North America)
- PMA (Publishers Marketing Association)
Writing magazines also offer advice, not only on publishing, but on crafting your book and marketing it. Here are a few:
- Writer's Digest (available on newsstands or on the web)
- Romantic Times (for romantic fiction; also reviews e-books)
- Publishers Weekly (the trade magazine for the publishing industry; reviews e-books)
- ForeWord (another publishing magazine; also reviews e-books)
Here are some of the more well-known e-publishing and print-on-demand companies for your further investigation:
- Xlibris.com (which is a partner of Random House)
- iUniverse.com
Several sites are devoted to covering e-books, with innovations, business news, and background information. These are my favorites:
www.ebookconnections.com - offers a good primer and a list of e-publishers
www.ebookad.com - great for keeping up with current news
www.ebooknet.com - offers feature articles, reviews, and message boards
Sources:
The above sites and sources
Entrepreneur's Self-Publishing business guide
Interview with Annette Gisby, author of "Silent Screams"
Interview with Leta Nolan Childers, author of "The Best Laid Plans" and many other books
Interview with Howard Hopkins, author of four e-books and many other books
"eBooks Will Flop, but Print on Demand and Ditigal Textbooks Will Thrive, Predicts Forrester Research"
"E-Book Forecast: Cloudy" by Kendra Mayfield, Wired, January 11, 2001