E-Publishing...can you publish your book if you've released it before as an e-book?

Fiona said:

What I wanted to know was.... once a book as been available as an e-book, would an publishing company ever consider publishing it if they liked it or is it a dead end after that?

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My first question is... who offered to publish your book, and how? E-books require the same standards as every other commercially published book, and if you've been accepted by a reputable publisher of e-books, I don't see why it shouldn't be as acceptable in print.

Second, others will have to answer the other question, but I would think that your first publishing right is void if you publish it as an ebook, and a paper publisher wouldn't accept it unless you could show very strong sales.

When you release your book, you are using first publishing rights, whether it is in print or ebook.

I can't tell from your first post, but it sounds like you're talking about self-publishing as a road to commercial publication. If so, it rarely works that way. Before you choose self-publication, do a lot more investigation so you know what you are getting into.

Only a small subsection of publishers, and almost none of the major ones, are completely sanguine about what you do with your digital rights.

Digital rights are not just a meaningless accessory to print rights, they are part of the long term value of the book. Long after it has been swept from the shelves of brick-and-mortar stores, the ebook can still be sold, and still benefit from whatever they invested in branding and marketing the book. So losing that benefit is significant.

Even if the publisher is so archaic that they don't intend to produce an ebook, a version of the book for sale that they don't control is going to make them uncomfortable. (With the exception of some small presses and general mavericks).

It's true. Any publisher is going to want those e-rights. That's something you'll have to hash out with your publisher. Unless you're selling tons of copies (making them really want your book) odds are good you'll have to remove the book from e-publication. Even then, if they really want the book, they really want to sell it in all venues. Unless you're making a comfortable enough living from your e-sales (which is possible but only with crazy success or a large inventory) then you'll definitely feel the pressure to print publish.