For starters, if you don't know what an ebook is, visit What Is An Ebook?
If you're looking for info on that "perfect" ebook reader that'll make this whole epublishing revolution take off, there's a pretty darn comprehensive article about it at Mad About Books.
Perhaps "versus" isn't the best word choice, as they aren't against each other. The two are not mutually exclusive, and the same book can be published in both mediums. I will always try to publish everything I write in both mediums, because each attracts a different group of readers and I want all the readers I can get.
The purpose of this chart is to show why I recommend publishing your book electronically first and in traditional print (or print-on-demand) second. The chart doesn't apply to all epublishers, only the best of the bunch.
Print Publisher
Prefers established authors Wants to publish something like what it's published before Experimentation risky; safe bets preferred Survives largely on loyalty to authors Unwilling to edit a new, unproven author High initial investment of money on their part (printing costs, advertising) Wants "professionally edited manuscripts" Tends to publish two years after acceptance Hundreds of readers |
Electronic Publisher
Welcomes new authors Welcomes the new and the different Quality writing is the most important criterion Survives largely on loyalty to publishers Free editing for everything they publish High initial investment of editing time; no initial monetary investment Will turn your book into a "professionally edited manuscript" Tends to publish six months after acceptance Thousands (millions?) of readers |
And let me briefly say that, if a so-called publisher in either medium wants you to pay for publication, where's his incentive to sell books? Did you ever see a book by Vantage Press in any bookstore or any library? Me either, but they're still in business, and they first asked me for US$5000 fifteen years ago. (They didn't get it.) Their business model doesn't require them to sell any books.
Back to the subject at hand.
Traditional print publishers don't want to spend the time to edit a new author's manuscript. They're already spending the advertising budget and the cost of physical inventory. Especially the latter. So instead of paying someone to edit it before you submit it, I recommend getting publishing in print first.
What if, like me, you've written something it doesn't make any commercial sense for a traditional print publisher to accept?
In that case, before you travel down the POD trail, get some editing. They won't give it to you. Some epublishers offer free editing, then release your book in both electronic and POD formats with no setup fees for the latter. They sell both at the same URL and let the reader pick one. If you're not going for traditional print, that's really the way to go.
To skip ahead to the promotional end of book selling, how do you sell books?
To answer that, ask yourself how you buy them.
If I tell you my first new car broke down every month, you probably wouldn't buy that brand. If I tell you I drove my second one, a 1991 Ford Festiva, for 150000 miles and never put it in the shop, you might consider getting one yourself. 45 mph, too.
That's how I buy my books. Friends recommend them. Trusted reviewers recommend them and give reasons. They're on the Booker Prize Short List.
In short, word of mouth. And if you're publishing crap, nobody's gonna recommend it.
The whole point of the free workshops is to make your writing the best you can. Once you've mined that resource for all its worth, working with an epublishing editor is the next step in the process.
I don't believe the "doom and gloom" scenario for epublishing that's circulating. Those who are gone, quite simply, either published an inferior product or spent so much on advertising that they couldn't pay the bills.
Epublishing is a business for slow and steady growth, not a get-rich-quick scheme. Those with good business models succeed. To the rest, I say "Good riddance!"
Feel free to drop me a line at laroccamichael@hotmail.com.
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