publishers association of los angeles-ebooks and ereading, the changing world of publishing by david...
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This is a presentation to the Publishers Association of Los Angeles in February 2012 by David Wogahn. The presentation addresses how eBooks are evolving, digital content and publishing trends, market developments, the five steps to eBook development and conversion, eBook distribution options for self-publishers, and basic marketing practices. And because we are all readers, there is also a slide that lays out 10 ways to evaluate an eBook before buying it.TRANSCRIPT
eBooks and eReading: The Changing World of Publishing
Publishers Association of Los Angeles (PALA)February 15, 2012
David Wogahn, Sellbox.com
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
What is an eBook?
1. Can you read it—without panning & zooming—on amobile device?
2. Can someone buy it fromsome place other thanyour website, i.e. an online retailer?
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
What is an eReader?
It can be both hardware devices and software
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Tablets vs. eReaders
29% of Americans have one or the other (Pew, 1/2012)
Differentiators: Cost, portability, battery life, multimedia, screen type, function
Lines are blurring; what exactly is “reading”? Reading more than ever…but not necessarily
traditional books
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
ePublishing introduces a new vocabulary & new processes. File formats Developer Conversion Aggregator Distributor
App Enhanced eBook Fixed page layout Page replica layout Side-loading
Publisher, or?: what do you call someone that prepares the eBook and manages distribution.
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
eBook-buying and reading habits differ from pBook habits…1.Impulse buying2.Collecting3.Grazing4.Multi-format buying
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Watchword 1: Quality
Baseline just got lower Trade-off of cost for lower quality Game on
Poor formatting = poor reviews Poor editing = poor reviews Get enough = take-down
Is the public willing to pay for quality?
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Watchword 2: Barnes & Noble Industry support Smart CEO Smart-money backers Physical scale 25% eBook market share: Really? Strategic acquisition candidate
Can (should) B&N survive as an independent company?
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Watchword 3: Pottermore.com Who doesn’t want to sell direct and keep 100%? A few challenges:
Training readers to side-load Teaching them about eBook back-up (highlights &
notes) They’ll need to give up syncing too Marketing to readers
Will Pottermore spell the end of DRM?
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Watchword 4: Apps as Books iBook Author Apps vs. Enhanced eBooks Replacing the Table of Contents and Index Can publishers and book designers compete with
software companies and website developers? UX/UI
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Questions I ask
1. What are the design requirements? Media elements Informational Creative
2. How close does the current formatting come to these requirements?
3. Where do you want to sell it?
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
eBook Publishing
Five Steps:1. Design2. Format3. Convert4. Quality Control5. Distribute
(Resource: kdp.amazon.com)
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Design
Ideal: narrative text and headings Challenges:
Sidebars Outline and poetry layouts Indexes Video, audio, animation Navigation
eBook design still involves some compromises
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Formatting
Use stylesheets Be consistent Read the Smashwords style guide
A complex design may require knowledge of HTML to implement.
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Conversion: Amazon and B&N Word (.doc or .docx) [B&N] ePub (.epub) [B&N] Plain Text (.txt) [B&N] Mobipocket (.mobi or .prc) HTML (.zip, .htm, or .html) [B&N] Adobe PDF (.pdf) Rich Text Format (.rtf) [B&N]
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Conversion Resources
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP): kdp.amazon.com CreateSpace (Amazon POD printer) Amazon has a list on their KDP site Barnes & Noble Nook: www.pubit.com Calibre: http://calibre-ebook.com/ Smashwords (also has a list of resources) Various distributors also offer these services… Do a search!
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Quality Assurance & Control
Inspect the front matter for accuracy Check line spacing, indents and justification Click the menu button, do all options work? Test any hyperlinks to Web sites Check images Use Kindle Previewer Validate ePub files:
http://code.google.com/p/epubcheck/
Alas, not all eReaders display the same
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
3 Big Decisions
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Distribution
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Barnes & Noble (Pubit) BookRix, Bookbaby, eBookit, Fastpencil, Lulu,
Smashwords, MintRight, LibreDigital, INscribe Digital
Small publishers must go through an aggregator to be placed in the Apple and Sony stores.
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Reality check: Distribution vs. Sales
Through which channels are youreBooks distributed?
Which channel produces the largestpercentage of your eBook sales?
Aptara, 3rd Annual eBook Survey of Publishers-Spring 2011
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Importance of Future Proofing Compatibility Color images 300 dpi resolution
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Marketing
Buddy-up with other author/publishers Building addressable connections Multiple titles Thorough metadata Get reviews Be public!
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Good editing and writing extends to metadata—and be consistentSearchResults
Titles &Descriptions
Press ReleaseBoilerplate
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
If anyone can publish a book how do you judge quality? 1. Download a sample.2. Read the reviews.3. Check out the social reading websites4. Who is the publisher? (Check their other books)5. Does the cover look professional?6. Is there an editor referenced in the credits?7. Has the author written other books?8. Is there a print edition?9. Does it appear on any ‘best-seller’ lists.10. Still undecided? Buy and return it for a refund if
necessary.
David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227
Russell Grandinetti, VP Kindle Content, Amazon.com:
760-942-4227 | www.sellbox.com
David Wogahn | [email protected]
“The only really necessary people in the publishing process now are the writer and reader.
Everyone who stands between those two has both risk and opportunity.”
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