Digital Publishing and the Independent Author
By Justin Oldham
Alaska authors have many hurdles to overcome. We don’t have convenient geographic access to agents and publishers. Alaska themes are often hard to sell because they are misunderstood or classified into niches or genres that may not do them justice. Mainstream publishers routinely classify what we write as “Hunting and Fishing Stories,” “Outdoor Lifestyle,” or “Native Culture and History.” Such myopic expectations have frustrated many Alaska writers who want to get into print.
THE GOOD NEWS
With self-publishing and e-books, Alaska themes are no longer hostage to the prejudices of publishers. The Internet has spawned a new form of publishing that authors can afford. Digital publishing is still in its infancy, but it seems poised to diminish the monopoly previously held by hard-copy publishers, printers, and distributors.
To the average writer, digital publishing means e-books. E-books are individual computer files that contain all the information you’d normally find in a printed book—from text to charts, tables, photos, and diagrams (if those are in the original). Based on my first-hand experience with self-publishing and e-publishing, I have found that an e-book’s average production cost is about 10 percent of the cost of producing a paper edition. Preparation times are similar to printed books. E-books require just as much time and attention to detail when it comes to editing and overall quality control.
E-books are gaining in popularity. They’re easy to get, often cheaper to buy than their paper counterparts, and they don’t clutter up shelves or bedroom floors. Anyone with a desktop computer or dedicated electronic reader can enjoy one. According to information I have seen on Amazon.com, they currently seem to make up about four to seven percent of the total retail book market.
It’s rapidly becoming fashionable to release an e-book edition immediately after a print release. The digital option allows an author to be his or her own publisher, complete with copyrights and ISBNs.
E-books can be a touchy subject for mainstream publishers and others who fear breach of copyright. The average e-book file is not encrypted, nor is it specially protected from copying or illicit distribution. But the comparatively “lawless” nature of the Internet also has a plus side in that it gives the independent author access to a variety of publishers and distributors. As for those copyright concerns: Early e-book adopters point out that technology now also makes it easier to copy and distribute print publications. The best an author can do in any case, they say, is register copyright and let fly. (Editor’s note: For up-to-date information on copyright, including how to register online, see the official U.S. Government Copyright Office website at http://www.copyright.gov.)
It’s not hard for a writer to enter into a e-book distribution agreement. Within six to eight months of launch, your e-title can be found all over the World Wide Web.
THE BAD NEWS
Electronic books are still in their infancy. Mainstream publishers don’t like them for a variety of reasons. The market share is tiny. The medium is insecure. Sales horn in on the publishers’ print action, and provide yet another thing to keep track of on an already busy balance sheet. Publishers also point out that that there’s no “industry standard” for e-books. All of that is true—for now.
Though the market share for e-books is small, it is growing. Younger readers are embracing e-books in ways that older readers aren’t. Increasing sophistication of handheld electronic devices means that anyone can flip open his or her gizmo to read a book. Reading on the go is popular. Consumers currently have their choice of more than a dozen devices that can display e-books. The numbers of devices and readers choosing to use e-books are likely to increase over the next ten years.
Most e-books live in files that are roughly half a megabyte in size. After reviewing the devices for sale on Amazon.com, I have found that the average handheld device built for reading e-books costs $375 and can hold up to 750 titles. At last count, I saw seven different proprietary file formats to choose from, in addition to the most popular format of all, the portable document format (PDF) file.
In general, .PDF files can be created using free software that is available on-line, such as “Cute PDF.” However, to have the most control over how your final product will look, and what features it will contain, you may want to invest in a mainstream .PDF software package, such as Adobe’s Acrobat.
Whether PDFs will remain the dominant e-publishing format remains to be seen. Each new generation of software becomes harder to crack and copy. That’s why there are so many e-reader devices. Each is built to support its own programs that make the author’s work harder to hijack. A universal standard has not yet been developed, but each year brings improvements in security.
Until recently, e-books haven’t been widely available, and having no computer meant no book. But the proliferation of both large and small electronic devices has fueled an explosive growth in e-book distribution. This trend shows no signs of slowing. Technology is on the side of the consumer, and younger readers are voting with their dollars. The buzz in mainstream media is that print sales are slowly declining as e-sales are rising. Authors who publish digitally may not see big sales numbers, but they will get their work “out there.”
There are also more e-book distributors--with access to e-book stores and other sites to which authors don’t generally have access. Booksellers sign up with distributors to get automated feeds of available books that they then post on their websites. I learned about this process by reading industry-related articles available on-line.
Even so, print publishers often ignore electronic publishing credentials. First-time authors need to be aware of this bitter pill, before they swallow it. Despite some notable exceptions, print publishers also generally won’t touch anything that’s been e-published. Wide readership seems to be about the only thing that will make them overcome this bias. My experience has been that being e-published first equals previously published. And yet, there is also the view that printed is better, and e-published is inferior or second-rate, so a work that has been published this way is most likely not worth a traditional publisher’s time. I disagree, and believe that my point of view will be proven correct as e-books continue to gain market share. If nothing else, the lower cost of an electronic publication as compared to printed works will continue to cause the popularity of e-books to grow.
There is one important thing to remember: E-book-only credentials might not count for much right now, but they will one day become the norm. Those at the forefront of the e-publishing revolution have the opportunity to set the standards and influence the direction e-publishing takes in the future.
THE PROCESS
Amazon’s Kindle is just one venue available to writers who want to exploit digital options. Other companies make e-readers that use other software programs.
Each format has its proponents. There are the “Kindle snobs,” for example, and there’s even a segment of the literary world that looks down its nose at all proprietary book readers and software. (They’d rather see one file format used for all e-books, much in the way VHS, DVD, and Blue Ray conquered their respective media.) Both sides can be rude to authors they believe chose poorly, but neither can take you by surprise if you see them coming.
Amazon’s “Kindle” is currently the most popular hand-held e-reader on the market. It also happens to be the most expensive. It reads electronic files from a variety of formats, including PDF, DOC, and certain MOBI files. Users can subscribe to e-newspapers and e-magazines. Depending on the version, content may even be wirelessly downloaded directly to the device. Amazon has the largest selection of wirelessly downloadable material for the Kindle. The device itself and the media fed to it are both marketed by Amazon, but much of its book content is acquired and managed by a company it owns, called Mobipocket.
Mobipocket is an e-book distributor. It makes items in its inventory available to online booksellers around the world. Some sellers specialize in e-books, while others sell electronic and print versions of publications. Some, but not all, of the content Mobipocket supports can be found on Amazon.com, ready for use in the Kindle e-reader. Mobipocket’s content is also accessible to other electronic information devices, such as PDAs and computers, by using the company’s free, downloadable Mobipocket Reader software.
When choosing your distributor, review the file formatting information as carefully as the distributor’s author/copyright owner contract. Think about your audience and your goals. If you may want to print even one copy in “traditional,” non-e-book format, ease of transition back to print from an electronic format, for example, could be an important consideration.
Authors who want to self-publish in digital format start by following many of the same steps they’d use for print: a process that begins with a completed and edited manuscript. All the rules for quality control apply—and quality control takes on a whole new dimension when you’re doing it yourself. When there is no outside publisher to provide editorial or proofreading review for your work, any problems with your work will point right back to you. (On the positive side, with an electronic publication, it’s fast and easy to make fixes.)
Don’t reach for that mouse until you’ve copyrighted your work, though. Many first-time authors make the mistake of e-publishing before they get their stuff officially protected. Even if you are published through a traditional publisher, don’t assume this step has been taken care of for you. That may be true in some instances, but not in all; it depends on your contract. Being accepted by an e-book distributor doesn’t mean you’re in the clear either. Some e-book distributors will insist that you show them the copyright certificate before they list your work. Others aren’t so picky. They’ll just throw some boilerplate language into their contract that protects them from your mistakes.
To publish through Mobipocket, independent authors and publishers of all sizes follow a similar path: The relationship begins with downloading free software to convert your file from your favorite word processing format into the Mobipocket format. Be aware: Conversion errors in this step can create typos where none existed before. The prudent author will budget extra time to carefully review and edit the converted version, or get somebody else to do so.
With Mobipocket, your next step is to download and complete Mobipocket’s Publisher Application. It includes the language for their profit-sharing agreement. It’s a good idea to download and read the text of the document slowly before you fill in any of the blanks and send it off.
Profit-sharing refers to how the share of profits from each download or sale will be split between the owner or publisher of the work and the distributor. Typical owner shares vary from company to company, and may range from 35 to 50 percent. (In this case, “owner” means the person holding the rights to submit for publication. It is possible to e-publish without owning the copyright as long as you can prove you have the appropriate permissions. The e-publishers I am familiar with require that you be the author and copyright holder.)
Most companies’ agreements can be downloaded long before you begin the digital publishing process. Mobipocket’s contract is available to read at any time. But a few firms will only e-mail a contract to you after they’ve seen your work for themselves.
Once you are approved as a Mobipocket publisher, you are given a user ID and password to access the company’s e-publishing arm. At that time, you will set up your account and provide address, banking, and other information needed to pay you your share of any profits.
As of August 2009, Mobipocket reserves the right to withhold royalty payments until they amount to US$150 or 150 Euros. Mobipocket provides quarterly statements to show how many books were sold, when, and how much you are due.
Once you have a Mobipocket account and are satisfied with the proofreading and editing of your converted document, you are ready to upload your work. (As of September 2009, Mobipocket doesn’t charge a setup fee, and at this point I’m not aware of any e-book publishers that do.)
Mobipocket lets individual publishers set their own book retail prices. Other companies may prefer to set these for you. When deciding how much to charge, be realistic. Set the price low when you can. (Some even choose to “sell” for free or next to it.) Keep your commercial goals in perspective. E-books won’t make you rich, but they will flesh out your resume and get your name in front of the reading public.
Still want to make the leap to print? Having a well-formatted e-book will make your landing a little easier. Assuming you took time with quality control earlier, a well-made e-book is just one step away from being print-ready. To produce a printed version, a traditional or print-on-demand OK. publisher will only have to reformat your file to sync with the company’s own software, including adjusting headers, fonts, and margins.
That way, whether you just want some copies for an in-person event—or a publisher comes calling after all—it will not take much to turn this digital data back into a traditionally formatted book.
A Few More Words from Justin Oldham on:
Why I Went Digital
My story is no different than any other writer’s: I wanted to be published. When I got serious about my production, in 1998, the digital option didn’t exist. I completed one manuscript after another, and the Internet continued to evolve. Months turned into years. I lost track of how many times I trekked to the post office to mail my stuff.
It’s been my experience that getting published is harder than actually writing a book. The actual “tactics” of publishing have changed quite a bit in the last ten years. Publishing-on-demand (POD) has come a long way since I first made use of it in 2004. Digital publishing is the next most obvious evolution in the market force that’s making it easier for writers to reach their audiences.
Self publishing in either print or e-book formats is appealing because you can have it now-now-now. You’re buying your way in to the market place, rather than waiting for time honored practices to find you worthy. You’ll spend more money getting your copyright and ISBN than you will digital publishing the work itself. Print publishing will cost thousands; electronic publishing will cost hundreds.
Why Did I Self-Publish?
I see self-publishing as a way of generating credentials. It’s a mercenary attitude that many don’t appreciate, but I’m a big boy; I can take the criticism. I went POD with The Fisk Conspiracy in 2004. I had enough success and encouragement with it to go electronic in 2006. The reviews I got justified (to me) the time and resources that I’d put in to the effort.
There were plenty of miseries along the way. Even so, I achieved my limited goal of gaining a few crumbs of badly needed exposure. Within a year, my fortunes had changed. I was getting call-backs on manuscripts, where previously I had had none.
Tales from the Kodiak Starport was picked up in late 2008. The publisher wanted both print and electronic rights. I think they wouldn’t have given my work a second look if I’d been just another hopeful writer with a blank resume.
I have no illusions about my future. Yeah, sure. I had to buy the boots that let me kick the door in, but I’m in and I’m going to fight (tactfully) for whatever I can get.
THAT is why I went digital.
About the Author
Justin Oldham is a legally blind author and commentator who lives in Anchorage, Alaska. He holds degrees in History and Political Science from the University of Alaska. His digitally published works include The Fisk Conspiracy and Tales from the Kodiak Starport.
Links:
Web site:
www.justin-oldham.com
September 25, 2009
