Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
New Years Resolution:
Get back to 163 and stay there.
I’m counting calories. That and exercise, and I’ll get back to 163 in no time. I’ve already lost three pounds; eight more to go. How hard can it be to lose eight pounds?
I love the way weight peels off at the beginning of a diet. If it kept falling off at this rate, I’d reach my goal in less than a week.
Any resolutions you’d like to share?
Oh, and I’m wondering: how many authors are selling their work as pdfs? Do ebook readers support pdfs? And will we eventually get to the point where authors sell directly, without a publishing middleman?
D.
← MD aware
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but if I did, it would be something to do with exercise.
I think Ellora’s Cave and publishers of that sort publish primarily to .pdf. Kris Starr would probably be a good source on that. As for whether we’ll get to the point at which there is no more middleman – I’m not sure. We’re kind of at that point now. It is possible to sell books without a publisher. I have seen the odd .pdf for sale here or there.
Traditional publishing served (serves) two purposes: they owned the presses that printed the actual books, and they served (serve) as a quality barrier. It is this second function that will be difficult or impossible to replace. I don’t know how this will shake out in the future, but I suspect that the publishing houses will continue more or less as they are, with POD replacing current big press printing.
Pretty much everybody thinks they can write. Problem is, only a very small percentage of those can actually write well, as the vast and seething cesspools of the vanity presses and the fanfiction sites will attest. I think there will always be a place for publishing houses as guardians of literature that is at least readable.
A lot of ebook vendors offer pdf as a format choice, ranging from smaller epublishers to Harlequin. I believe that Sony Readers read PDF, but am not sure about other dedicated readers. I have a Kindle, which does not, but I also read on my laptop (html and pdf files) and my iPhone using Stanza (not sure what the format is, the books are purchased from fictionwise). I also have an older Gemstar reader purchased from eBookwise, which reads whatever their proprietary format is and html.
Another format that is becoming very popular is EPUB, which I think is readable in Adobe, Stanza and maybe on the Sony Reader.
Jane at Dear Author has written a lot about formatting issues and DRM, so that might be a good place to check.
Body parts were burning, so I knew someone was talking about me. 😉
To answer your question, yes! Ellora’s Cave offers a .pdf version of each eBook. An HTML version is also available, plus versions compatible with the Mobipocket Reader, Microsoft Reader and Rocketbook.
Once you put the “book” in your cart and go through the checkout, you can select whichever version you want to download.
Sweet Tart, for example. 😉
Oh, and as for New Year’s Resolutions? I haven’t made any, per se…just more along the lines of bigger goals in terms of word count and # of titles out. I’d like to sell at least a couple more books before Junior arrives on the scene, ’cause I won’t have a ton of time to write for the first little while…
I’d stick with PDFs for distribution. The Nook supports them. Sooner or later, the Kindle will probably need to as well. Plus, they are an easy format for most people to deal with on their computers. Use something else, and it may reduce sales. You especially want to avoid anything that requires people to install special software.
I think someone had a report (can’t remember if it was free or fee) on how to get your eBook on Amazon.com. I can try to track that down if you’re interested.
Before you do anything, you should probably read some of Seth Godin‘s insights. One of his opinions is that the new paradigm is that books and content are somewhat separate. That the book is a “souvenirs” of content you enjoy. There’s a video where he explains that better. Let me see if I can find it…
Here it is:
http://toccon.blip.tv/file/970223?filename=Toolsofchange-SethGodin10BestsellersUsingNewMediaNewMarketingAndNew237.mp4
You might also want to check out these threads:
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/77333-fiction-e-book-would-fly.html
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/76703-publishing-novel-ebook.html
You guys are a wealth of information. Thank you thank you thank you.
Now, do I WANT to put my romance out there as a pdf? I like to have readers, that’s all. It’s not like I want a few extra bucks.
my sony Pocket reads *anything*, pretty much. pdfs, word files, you name it. it’s why i love it 😀
my resolutions: go to the gym at least once a week *other* than yoga. related resolution, to love my new body (got my breast reduction done, finally). get a job that makes me happy. go away, somewhere–Caucasus Georgia with my camp is a tenuous plan, Hawaii/Alaska with family is a possibility. ummm…that’s all i can think of right now. i don’t actually have a set list, more just ideas.
So, making money is not a concern at all for this?
With that out of the way, what are you looking for in terms of readers? Do you just want people to read the book? Do you want to get exposure for yourself and your work? Are you looking to build a following, grab a publisher and/or agent’s attention, and get a book deal for a future book? Do you want to do book tours? Do you want a film made of your book?
If all you’re looking for is some readers, you can just put it up on your blog and say “Here it is!” and see what you get.
But, really consider carefully what your goal really is. Because if you’re looking to achieve something in particular, you’re going to need to develop a strategy to meet that goal. And just putting it up on your blog may not be the most effective means of reaching a particular goal.
A few weeks ago, I watched part of a video where a promoter talked about how they took a musical act from basically a nobody and gradually (but relatively quickly) built up a demand for them. And he did that with a specific plan. I think they started in small venues and worked their way up systematically. On top of that, he would keep building them up. That is, once they were playing in certain sized venues, they didn’t go back down to the smaller ones. They kept building it up. On top of that, he had a geographical strategy to get them a base in one part of the country and build and spread it to the rest of the country. So, what may look like an act coming out of nowhere was actually a concerted effort to get them there.
So, the bottom line is that you need to define your goal and then develop the best strategy to meet that specific goal.
Hmm. I want readers. I’d like to get a book published for realsies some day, since it seems like a far more difficult accomplishment than anything I’ve done before. I’d like to spend my retirement writing a book a year knowing there are a few* folks who’ll look forward to my next book.
*Few = however many necessary for publishers to continue publishing my books.
But, see, if the technology changes, “few” can be, well, a few. Which would be enough for me.
In that case, I would suggest you look into some of Seth Godin’s ideas on promoting books and use that as a guideline. Build a following, and then get some sales, either through eBooks (you can use PayPal, ClickBank, etc.) or through on-demand publishing (such as Lulu), to demonstrate the market viability of your content and go from there.