eBook to promote series?

You'll never get a best-seller, breakaway hit with an ebook---ok, I won't say "never." I have one novel already with an epublisher, and I have signed contracts for a short story, two novellas, and another novel. My sales are low, my royalties are better than average (40% of cover), but I'm also writing and publishing in a fairly successful "niche"--all the people who don't feel comfortable buying erotica at a bookstore. I believe Uncle Jim has asked in the past when this subject was brought up, "Have you read an ebook?" It's definitely not a common or popular way to sell out books outside of certain areas right now, though that might change as more and more people become accustomed to reading online. I know it doesn't bother me at all to read on the computer for long periods of time, but I also know that it's a problem for many people.

If you want to go this route, I think the best thing to do is fine a reputable, royalty-paying, epublisher who has been in the business for a while--you know, three years can be an eternity on the Internet. They've already got a base of readers, theoretically, they might have contracts and contacts with other websites like amazon and Fictionwise, plus various review sites, and of course, they'll also have editing and a community of writers in the same boat as you.

You could just self-publish an ebook, but I think you'd have to be in a different sort of niche (read: Fanfic) to be...well...successful by solely publishing on the 'Net.

So I guess if your novel is fanfic or porn, you're set.

Baen has done an interesting ebook promotion, but this is only for existing serieses where they have published several books. For example, with the Honor Harrington series, the first book is available both in print and as a free ebook. They've claimed that this has, if anything, improved sales, even for the book they're giving away as a free ebook because most people would rather read a paperback.

Whether this strategy would work for an unpublished author, I'm not so sure.

Ebook

Elwyn said:

After reading a great many posts here at the Water Cooler, it seems that there’s so many first-time authors that cannot get published, even though they may actually have a potential best seller.

This is a what if scenario –

You’ve got your first stand-alone novel of a (potential) series done and can’t find an agent whose interested. You know if you can get it “out there” it will be a hit. So, you finally come to the place where you’d rather almost give it away than let it set on the hard drive forever.

That’s when you decide to make it an eBook, hoping that you’ve put enough into it to make readers (if there are any) demand a sequel.

What say ya’ll?

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Faith in your novel is good. . .up to a point. Every writer thinks his novel will be a hit, if he can just get it out there. It's almost never true. Agents and editors aren't perfect, but they are pretty good at determining what will and won't sell to the general public.

I think one of the biggest mistakes new writers make is placing too much faith, far too much time and energy, into a first novel. Many new writers spend years trying to sell a first novel, and more years self-publishing, e-publishing, POD publishing, etc., a first novel that just isn't very good.

When no agent or editor wants a novel, there's nearly always good reason for it.

I'm not saying don't e-publish, but I am saying be careful. The time and energy spent on e-publishing can almost always be better spent writing another novel, then another and another. E-publishing can work, but not often. It's more likely to be a side road that delays finding a traditional publisher for years.

Most new writers can't get published because they don't have a novel that's good enough to publish, no matter how highly they think of it. First efforts are almost always bad, no matter what the field is. There's no reason to expect first efforts to be of professional quality, whether you're talking about writing, singing, painting, wallpapering, or driving a car.

The simple truth is that not every writer has a potential bestseller, or a potential seller of any kind. Even most writers who actually sell a novel will never hit the bestseller lists.

It's more liklely to be a writer's second, fourth, or sixth novel that's actually good enough to sell, and maybe his never novel that hits the bestseller list.

The point is, e-publish IF you've really given this novel a fair shot at traditional publishers, but don't get your hopes up that e-publishing is going to make your book sell well. In all likelihood, it won't. And don't get sidetracked by the e-publishing process. Spend most of your time writing the second, the third, the fourth, and the fifth novel. That's how skill is developed. Getting siodetracked probably stops more writers from succeeding than anything else.

As for graphics and sound, yes, you can add them. I find them annoying as ants in my underwear, but you can add them. I want to read a novel, not watch it.

I'm not sure which posts have convinced you that there are a great many unpublished writers with good MSS who can't get published. My take is that most unpublished writers' books are not good enough for publication (meet William of Ockham - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_Razor).

Rather than continue to flog the dead horse by e-publishing, I'd suggest the hypethetical writer shelve the project and write another book, preferably a stand-alone, and get that one out there.

MTF

Marcusthefish said:

I'm not sure which posts have convinced you that there are a great many unpublished writers with good MSS who can't get published. My take is that most unpublished writers' books are not good enough for publication (meet William of Ockham - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_Razor).

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It's the good ol' Everyone wants to be the exception syndrome.

Elwyn said:

It would seem that being published with an eBook publisher may have less of a stigma than POD or self-publishing. What say you?

Who knows, I may start my own eBook site - I do have the resources at my disposal (T-1, servers, etc.)

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It seems to me that self-publishing an e-book is no different from self-publishing a paper book -- the same caveats apply (lack of editing, lack of second opinion), and that would probably deter most reviewers, readers, and vendors. There're plenty of folks who just post their work on their website; nobody reads it. I don't think it would be any different with an e-book. There's such a glut of edited fiction, with some quality control -- why would anyone read a self-published novel?

My two cents.

ebooks -
visit Baen's website and look at the e-book program there. Eric Flint put it together,and supports it wholeheartedly. He is an admitted marxist, and he gives the ebooks away. If you're interested in getting paid, on the other hand....

Elwyn said:

Thanks, Pepper -

This may be a way to get started for a new writer - I've not researched it thoroughly yet, though. It would seem that being published with an eBook publisher may have less of a stigma than POD or self-publishing. What say you?

Who knows, I may start my own eBook site - I do have the resources at my disposal (T-1, servers, etc.)

Oh, one more thing about eBooks = it would seem that you can add sound and graphics - enough to make it almost an eMovie? A writer good with Flash may have an advantage.

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I don't know about less stigma. I know that when I told many people about "New Frontier" they asked the following questions:
A) Can I buy it at the store?
B) Can't I just read it for free since it's online?
C) Dude, anybody can epublish! Why did you go that route?
D) Don't you want your work to be edited?
E) How can you make money off that?
F) Cool, but when will you really get published?

The Answers:
A) No
B) No
C) Anybody can self-publish or use a vanity press too..
D) It was edited by a wonderful editor and I'm extremely pleased with the results
E) Well, I've made triple digits now with New Frontier. It would be considered an abysmal failure by any other standard, but I'm quite pleased with the sales figures--but only because I went into this with eyes wide open.
F) I am really published. The manuscrit went through a vetting process, an editing process, a professional artist designed my cover, and I get paid royalties every quarter. But it's still not the same to many people.

I've even been told not to include my publishing credits in letters to agents, even though my publisher *is* a real publisher. For many people, epublishing is synonymous with selfpublishing or vanity publishing

And of course, it does require a lot of self-promotion. My publisher does what it can, but I have to do the legwork.

Elwyn said:

After reading a great many posts here at the Water Cooler, it seems that there’s so many first-time authors that cannot get published, even though they may actually have a potential best seller.

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"May" is the operative word here. The majority of manuscripts submitted to publishers and agents need a lot of work to make them publishable, much less best-sellers. Every author thinks lots and lots of people would want to read their book. Most of them are wrong, unfortunately.

That’s when you decide to make it an eBook, hoping that you’ve put enough into it to make readers (if there are any) demand a sequel.

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Hmm. Here's a problem with that: You're publishing the first book as an e-book to get enough readers to interest a print publisher in the sequel. First, it'd take thousands of copies sold to get a publisher's attention. That's really, really hard to do. Most self-published print books are lucky to break 100 copies sold, and you can count on lower sales for an e-book.

Second, let's assume that, against all odds, you do sell thouands of copies. Now any publisher interested is going to do a market analysis to see if you've already sold about as many copies of your book as that book is going to sell! If research shows there are about 6000 people who'd buy your book, and you've sold to 5000 of them, it doesn't pay for the publisher to pick up your book, because they could sell 1000 or so, tops, and they can't make enough profit on that to make it worth publishing.

Okay, but they could publish the second book in the series, you say. They're not likely to publish Book 2 if they can't offer Book 1, are they? Sure, it's possible, but not likely.

So, if I were you, I'd make Book 1 as good as I could possibly make it and shop it around to every decent publisher and agent in my hemisphere, and only if it got rejected by all of them would I consider self-publishing it as an e-book or any other way. (Although, I'd also consider that if it got that many rejections, maybe I should just trunk it and write something better.)

I suggest trying a lot of print publishers first. Then move onto the better epublishers. Epublishing is about as real as I need it to be, I can bank the checks. But if I was in print there might well be another zero on those checks.

MarkPettus said:

ebooks -
visit Baen's website and look at the e-book program there. Eric Flint put it together,and supports it wholeheartedly. He is an admitted marxist, and he gives the ebooks away. If you're interested in getting paid, on the other hand....

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Well, Baen e-books have worked very well for them, increasing sales etc., so if you're interested in getting paid, giving e-books away might be the way to go... but first you need to be published by Baen. However, self-published book from an unknown is not going to do the same.

In Flint's case, giving the backlist away increases its appeal -- clearly, because it is something the readers want, and because it gives them a chance to sample the author for free. Flint claims that it translated into bigger sales in the long run -> more overall money. Giveaways by established authors have high perceived value, while giveaways by an unknown have no value whatsoever -- or even negative value.

Fishmonkey said:

Well, Baen e-books have worked very well for them, increasing sales etc., so if you're interested in getting paid, giving e-books away might be the way to go... but first you need to be published by Baen. However, self-published book from an unknown is not going to do the same.

In Flint's case, giving the backlist away increases its appeal -- clearly, because it is something the readers want, and because it gives them a chance to sample the author for free. Flint claims that it translated into bigger sales in the long run -> more overall money.

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I agree with Flint, by the way. I downloaded his and David Drake's 1632 into my PDA and love it. I do not particularly enjoy reading in the format, but I always carry the PDA, and don't always have a book with me...

Another way to gain readers is to give away your traditional books, or post on writers' forums. I found Eric Flint because someone threw away his novel 1633, and I rescued it from the garbage. I found James Ritchie's westerns because of his posts here, same with James D. McDonald's works. ebooks might be good marketing tools, but I doubt they are a viable business model in their current incarnation.

eBooks and the reading devices for them are a growing part of the publishing market. There are a number of quality, reputable ePublishers out there and many of them do both eBooks and print books. But it's still a relatively small market at this point when you compare it to the traditional print industry. Certain genres tend to do better than others in terms of sales.

If you would like more info and a list of publishers who do eBooks, visit the EPIC web site: http://www.epicauthors.org/index.html

Beth

Baen

Fishmonkey said:

Well, Baen e-books have worked very well for them, increasing sales etc., so if you're interested in getting paid, giving e-books away might be the way to go... but first you need to be published by Baen. However, self-published book from an unknown is not going to do the same.

In Flint's case, giving the backlist away increases its appeal -- clearly, because it is something the readers want, and because it gives them a chance to sample the author for free. Flint claims that it translated into bigger sales in the long run -> more overall money. Giveaways by established authors have high perceived value, while giveaways by an unknown have no value whatsoever -- or even negative value.

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Baen's method works well because it's used with known writers. The trouble with a new writer trying it is that if it fails, publishers will prbably never want the novel.

cwfgal said:

eBooks and the reading devices for them are a growing part of the publishing market. There are a number of quality, reputable ePublishers out there and many of them do both eBooks and print books. But it's still a relatively small market at this point when you compare it to the traditional print industry. Certain genres tend to do better than others in terms of sales.

If you would like more info and a list of publishers who do eBooks, visit the EPIC web site: http://www.epicauthors.org/index.html

Beth

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Most of the growth and sales of e-books comes from print writers who already have many fans. Take these out and the e-book market is miniscule.

The e-book industry is struggling right now. There's nothing like sticking your nose between printed pages.

Jamesaritchie said:

Baen's method works well because it's used with known writers. The trouble with a new writer trying it is that if it fails, publishers will prbably never want the novel.

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My point exactly -- Baen's model is not relevant for a new author, ESPECIALLY if it is self-published.

Brave New World

The e-book industry may well be struggling right now, but it will be interesting to see where it stands in 5 years time.

I sense a massive shake-out of the publishing industry just around the corner, and I think the only thing standing in the way is affordable and acceptable technology.

The music industry is in the throes of just such a radical change, despite fierce resistance from a cabal of major players. The distribution system for getting sounds into ears has been revolutionised by three pieces of technology: first the Internet, second MP3 as a standard compressed format, and third the reduction of the size/price of flash memory/hard drives to the point where reasonable capacity players are available at a price the target market can readily afford. Now you can buy the tunes you want for 99c each instead of forking out for a whole CD, and the children do say, "Yea, verily, this is A Good Thing".

The same shift is destined to happen to the movie business. Other than a handful of movies that just have to be seen on a huge screen, there are many arguments for watching at home on DVD with a plasma screen and home theatre system. The cost of those items are rapidly approaching affordability by most households, and as soon as they are, the relative cost of renting a DVD compared to a family outing to the cinema makes it a no-brainer. (Not to mention avoiding the flurry of seat swapping to get little Jimmy out from behind the woman with the bouffant hairdo. Or pausing for a pee-break, a grab-another-beer sally, a raid-the-fridge-for-goodies moment, or just because you feel like it).

Similarly, it can't be long before a practical, convenient and acceptable e-book reader is available at an affordable price. What then?

Yes, I hear you say, you prefer paper, it's look and feel and smell. So do I, at the moment. But it's a bit of a nuisance. I'm not buying many books these days, because I've run out of space in my bookshelves. Get some more shelves? Running out of places to put those, too. Move house? Can't -- too many books; no removalist would risk the compo claims for hernias. There's a lot to be said for an alternative that fits hundreds of books on a single CD-ROM or thousands on a DVD.

Then there's the cost. Paper is expensive. It doesn't start out that way, but by the time it's been cut, wasted, printed on, shipped, taxed, and stuck on a shelf, the number of mark-ups along the way make it rather expensive. Silly really, because the value of books is in their content, the golden words, which are ephemera that flow from the writer's mind to the reader's consciousness. With this paper system, the writer is happy (!??!) to get a buck or two out of each sale, whereas the bookshop owner demands 5 to 20 dollars. Does that seem fair?

Books are the same as any other commodity in that they exhibit price/demand elasticity, ergo reduce the price, increase the number of copies sold. The more you think about it, the greater the argument for taking paper out of the equation and delivering them electronically. The price of a book experience could be considerably reduced (halved, easily, because there's minimal cost of product) while the number of 'copies' sold would increase, as might royalties received by the author.

Where's the flaw in this argument? Only that the paper publishing/bookselling industry currently acts as a clearing house for quality. The rewards for success and risks for failure make them very focussed on making what they think are the right choices. As a buyer therefore, we can (theoretically at least) browse the shelves of a bookstore confident in the belief that anything we buy will be up to a certain minimum standard. Browsing the web site of an e-publisher you've never heard of doesn't inspire the same confidence.

This is, however, only a branding issue. If Random House, Harper Collins or Tor, for example, suddenly changed to e-publishing only, there would be no reason to think the e-books they offered would be of lesser quality. Their outlays and risks would be dramatically reduced, so they could also publish more authors.

With this scenario of reduced outlay and risk, there would be every opportunity for new e-publishers to emerge with exactly the same standards of publishing integrity as the current hard-copy players. The only unknown is how long it would take them to establish their credentials. Given the experience of other brands on the Internet - e.g. Amazon, e-bay, Yahoo, Google etc - the communicativeness of the environment is such that it might not take long at all.

While I can't help being a bit sentimental about the old-fashioned book, overall I'm convinced that technology is poised to bring us a brave new era that will probably be more favourable for writers. As soon as an e-book reader is available for, say, <$150 that is close to the convenience of a book for reading at the beach or in the john, I have no doubt that some forward-thinking parties either at existing publishers or new ones will be making new, top quality content available for them.

No doubt many e-publishers will emerge with the ethical standards of a P.A., and more and more execrable work will be made available. But more and more good work will also become available, and the reader's problem of sorting the wheat from the chaff will merely be an expanded version of the current bookshop-browsing experience.

Technology is grand, and I am sure it is inevitable with some things to fold to the electronic age...but not with books. Too many books? Are you kidding? I have over a thousand and have read and reread the majority of them. You can't highlight and take notes in the margins with e-books. You can't fold the pages of favorite passages. Books don't need to recharge batteries, repair fouled up buttons, nor worry about the sand from the beach getting in to them. E-books may do well eventually, but print will always be available, I believe. Otherwise, we might as well be a Fahrenheit 451 society, but rather than burning books by electronic means you will be monitored by what you read and when you read it. It's no business of anybody. To me it ranks right up there with those horrid store club cards that you must present to get a low price which is the same as what they charged before they began carrying the cards. No thanks, I want no supermarket monitoring what I buy, and no agency monitoring what I read. I seriously refuse to enter the e-book generation because of that. Call me old fashioned, paranoid, or a conspiracy theorist, but that's my stand. Big Brother has no business in my business. By the way, no at home movie will ever be as good as going to the theater with the crowd laughing or ooing and ahing as the sound fills the room on the big screen.

The key difference between the music industry and the publishing industry is that recorded music has to be played on something, but when you buy a book, you get the medium when you buy the content.

So you can distribute and sell MP3s over the internet, but people still need their iPod, computer, whatever to play the file. When you buy a book, OTOH, it comes with a player*.

So until someone comes up with a player that's as easy to use and convenient as paper**, e-books are going to remain the second choice for most people.

*Okay, it's kind of wonky, but I think the base idea is sound. The words are the content, the physical paper and binding constitute the player.

**paper doesn't have batteries, paper can get wet, you can sit on paper and it will bend and not crack (in most cases) etc. etc.***

***So what this means is when we get digital paper, then e-books are going to be huge.

I seriously refuse to enter the e-book generation because of that. Call me old fashioned, paranoid, or a conspiracy theorist, but that's my stand. Big Brother has no business in my business. By the way, no at home movie will ever be as good as going to the theater with the crowd laughing or ooing and ahing as the sound fills the room on the big screen.

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This garners a big "huh" from me. I know that part of the reason why erotica romance does well is precisely because of the privacy factor. What Big Brother do you think is going to monitor or care about your purchases? I just don't understand why buying and DLing a PDF of, say, "The DaVinci Code" is any different than buying a regular book from Amazon.com--or even from the bookstore. One is just as likely as the other to track your purchases, right?

Besides, you don't want the an agency monitoring what you read? Too late. You ever notice the "The FBI Has Not Been Here (Watch For Removal of this Sign" displays in your local library? I have, in my University libraries and my local libraries. The Patriot Act makes it legal for the FBI to demand any and all records of library patrons *without* warrant or notification (hence the signs. If they're removed, it means the FBI has visited and may have record of all the books you read in the past year or decade or whatever). If you're worried about Big Brother, he's already here. Feel safer?

There are a couple of reasons Baen is doing well with its free ebooks.

First, Baen keeps its books in print and available pretty-much forever, so when folks want a paper copy they can get it.

Second, by the time folks get to around chapter five in the ebooks they're so annoyed with reading an ebook that they break down and buy the book to find out what happens next.

This implies that Baen's authors can write books where folks will read all the way to chapter five despite an annoying interface and want to find out what happens next.

If you can write a book that'll drag readers all the way to chapter five and have 'em wanting the rest -- you're going to be able to get published anyway.