Future Authors

Tools & Tips for

Publishing eBooks

Dr. Cynthia CalongneCTU Student Support Community, Oct. 11, 2014

Image by Lyr Lobo; book design by Imagechef.com

Agenda

• Your Career• Terminology• Advantages• Publishing Tips• Resources

Terminology

• Digital Publishing vs. Self Publishing– Both involve publishing your own work

• Digital Publishing focuses on eBooks

• Self publishing includes printed material– Distribution concerns– Print on Demand – CreateSpace– Book signings

Self Publishing

• Amazon CreateSpace (2014)– Writing the book– Hiring an editor – content and typographical– Book cover design, including the flyleaf– Converting to .epub, .mobi, .doc– Marketing

• Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (2014)– Do it yourself guides – (Jacobs, 2014, April 25) – (Writer’s Digest (2013, February 21)

Digital Publishing

• eBooks – you are responsible for– Writing the book– Hiring an editor – content and typographical– Book cover design, including the flyleaf– Converting to .epub, .mobi, .doc

• Unless using Smashwords

– Marketing– Back Matter

ePublishing Sellers

• eBooks– Amazon– Nook (B&N)– Smashwords– Kobe– iTunes, iBooks– And many others

Digital Publishing Advantages

• Larger % of the profits – up to 70%• Control of your book cover

– The best marketing tool is a good cover– Don’t forget the fly leaf for print and icon readability

• Control of your content and brand– Ensure quality control – back matter

• hire an editor & a graphic artist

• For authors - printing your backlist– eBooks do not have to go out of print– eBooks can be updated – new covers, back matter– Preorders! (Hoffelder, 2014, July 7)

Smashwords

• Mark Coker (2014a, 2014b)

• Smashwords – free eBook publishing & distribution– Every writer deserves the right to publish– Can upload MS Word .doc or .epub for conversion– Distribution to major eBook retailers and libraries– Free resources– Tools that help readers discover your book

Smashwords’ eBooks (Coker, 2014a)

• 2008 – 140• 2009 – 6,000• 2010 – 28,800• 2011 – 92,000• 2012 – 191,000• 2013 – 276,000

Smashwords Earnings

• Authors edit & upload their work (Coker, 2014a)• Smashwords distributes it– iTunes, Nook, OverDrive, Scribd, Oyster, Kobo– iBooks, Flipkart, Blio, Diesel, Baker & Taylor, Aldiko– Axis360, Page Foundry, and more

• Earnings– Authors earn 60% of list price (60%-80% list)– Retailers earn 30% of list price– Smashwords earns 10% of list price

Smashwords Reports

• Readers prefer longer eBooks – 2014 survey results– Romance rules! (Coker 2014a)– Top 70 Bestselling Smashwords’ romances 96,197 words– 70% of the top 100 Smashwords bestsellers

• Romance authors experiment, write series & publish more books• Romance genres: Contemporary, General, Paranormal, Young

Adult, Historical, Suspense and other

eBook Tips

• Hire a professional editor• Design a great cover – Hire a graphic artist or cover specialist– Use a good font for the cover title– Make sure that the book cover icon is easy to read– Publish in several formats (ePub, Mobi, HTML, PDF)

• Write books, release a new one every few months– Increases your author visibility, readership & rankings– Increases discovery of your books– Authors with more books tend to sell more books

• Readers prefer longer books

Bestseller Lists (Gow, 2014, February 3)

• The New York Times (NYT)• ABA IndieBound (ABA)• Barnes & Noble (BAN)• Publishers Weekly (PBW)• The Boston Globe (BOG)• USA Today (USA)• The Denver Post (DPO)• The Wall Street Journal (WSJ)• The Los Angeles Times (LAT)• WalMart.com (WAL)• BN.com• Amazon.com

Bestseller Tips

• Amazon Bestselling Hot Releases, Teen List• For NYT, need x sales in a week, not total sales• Pre-orders for 7-12 weeks count as 1st week sales

• Attractive pricing – Free first book in a series or promotional sales– $3.99 is a popular price for fiction– Can get up to $6.99 for fiction, but fewer sales– Non-fiction tends to be priced higher– Amazon pricing strategy for Kindle Direct Publishing

– NYT (2014). Best Sellers. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/overview.html

Fiction Pricing

• Free books - 39 times more downloads (avg)• Was 91 times in 2013 and 100 times in 2012• Great for intro to a series of books – platform builder• 35 million free downloads of Smashwords titles at iBooks

in a 12 month period

• Prices – to increase unit sales - $3.99 is most popular–Most common are $.99, $2.99 and $3.99– $1.00-1.99 and $4.00-10.00 have lower sales

Non-Fiction Pricing

• Most downloads (Coker, 2014a)

– Over 140% for prices $.99, $2,00-2.99

– Over 110% for prices $9.00-9.99

2013 Author Earnings (Coker, 2014a

• Prices; 100% = average earnings– 155% for prices $3.00-$3.99– 126% for $6.00-6.99– 125% for $4.00-4.99– 120% for $10.00+– 113% for $2.00-2.99– 112% for $5.00-5.99

The Writer’s Journey – Analysis (Vogler, 1998)

1. Ordinary world

2. The call to adventure

3. The refusal to take the call

4. Meeting the mentor - the supplies and confidence to continue the journey

5. Crossing the threshold - committing wholeheartedly to the adventure - you gotta want it - hard on your ego and heart

BAT. (n.d.). The writer’s journey: Mythic structure for storytellers & screenwriters by Christopher Vogler. Retrieved from http://bornagaintechnologies.org/ohs/moodledata/8/Summary_of_Hero_s_Journey.pdfVogler, C. (1998). The writer's journey: Mythic structure for writers. Studio City, CA: M. Wiese Productions.

The Writer’s Journey - Analysis II

6. Test allies and enemies – who is part of your tribe? Lifelong allies

7. The approach to the innermost cave - progress among all the rejections

8. The dark night of the soul - the hero accepts rejection (and death)

9. The reward -the consequences of surviving death - celebrate it!  

The Writer’s Journey – Analysis III

10. The road back - to the ultimate destination - smell like authors, researchers, game designers, players

11. The resurrection - the final moment of death and rebirth

12. Return of the elixir - to improve the ordinary world

Writers’ Tools

• Writer’s Diet – to identify balance in writing– http://writersdiet.com/WT.php– Use the tool, refine, re-evaluate– Focus on the areas that are read first

• Word Frequency Counter – ID trends & overuse– http://www.textfixer.com/tools/online-word-counter.php

• Grammarly – to evaluate with 250 grammar rules– http://www.grammarly.com/

Digital Publishing Resources• Calibre eBook Management - free

– eBook Conversion tool– http://calibre-ebook.com/

• Scrivener– http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

• WriteItNow– http://www.ravensheadservices.com/

• Delve Writing– http://www.delvewriting.com/

• Writer’s Digest – tutorials, webinars, job opportunities– http://www.writersdigest.com/

Additional Tools

• Text2Mindmap– http://text2mindmap.com/

• 13 browser-based tools for writers– http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/13-browser-based-tools-writers/

• Distraction-free writing tools – FocusWriter, Pen io– http://www.gradhacker.org/2011/09/07/distraction-free-writing-tools/– 7 apps to catalogue home library

• http://www.gradhacker.org/2014/06/13/7-apps-for-cataloguing-your-home-library/

– Using Evernote to store research records and notes• http://www.gradhacker.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/gh-Evernote.png

• Writer’s Digest – http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/the-basics-of-diy-e-book-

publishing

APA ReferencesAmazon CreateSpace. (2014). CreateSpace: Authors are at the heart of what we do. Retrieved from https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/

Amazon KDP. (2014). Kindle Direct Publishing. Managing your sales: Sales reports. Retrieved from https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A3VJZKPUQXAU57

Apple. (2014). Working with iTunes: Authors & Book Publishers: Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from https://www.apple.com/itunes/working-itunes/sell-content/books/book-faq.html

BAT. (n.d.). The writer’s journey: Mythic structure for storytellers & screenwriters by Christopher Vogler. Retrieved from http://bornagaintechnologies.org/ohs/moodledata/8/Summary_of_Hero_s_Journey.pdf

Coker, M. (2014a). Hit the ebook bestseller lists with preorders. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/Smashwords/hit-the-ebook-bestseller-lists-with-preorders-a-guide-to-preorder-strategy

Coker, M. (2014b). Money Money Money: Facts & Figures for Financial Payoff: New 2014 Data. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/Smashwords/2014-smashwords-survey-how-to-sell-more-ebooks

APA References 2Gow, K. (2012, February 3). What being a “bestselling author” really means. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/1813678/what-being-bestselling-author-really-means

Hoffelder, N. (2014, July 7). Smashwords’ new 2014 survey shows the value of pre-orders. Retrieved from http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/07/07/new-smashwords-2014-survey/#.VDmyvRai-1V

Jacobs, D. (2014, April 25). How to self-publish your book through Amazon. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2014/04/25/how-to-self-publish-your-book-through-amazon/

Smashwords, Inc. (2014). Slideshare Presentations on Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/smashwords/presentations

Vogler, C. (1998). The writer's journey: Mythic structure for writers. Studio City, CA: M. Wiese Productions.

Writer’s Digest (2013, February 21). The basics of DIY e-book publishing. Retrieved from http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/the-basics-of-diy-e-book-publishing

Questions?

Future Authors

Tools & Tips for

Publishing eBooks

Dr. Cynthia CalongneCTU Student Support Community, Oct. 11, 2014

Image by Lyr Lobo; book design by Imagechef.com