BookBaby ebook conversion service

nitaworm · Mar 11, 2011

http://www.bookbaby.com/pricing

They don't keep a commission of earnings. But charge for ebook conversions. Anyone use them? I guess it would be good for a person who doesn't have the time, but has some $$ to pay someone to do the work.

eBook signup $149 $99 (plus $19 annual fee after first year)1 Digital distribution of your eBook to our digital partners. Includes basic formatting check, conversion to ePUB format from your supplied file type (.doc, .txt, or .html), interactive Table of Contents, and up to 30 chapter headings. Basic ePUB conversion FREE2 Our partners require that eBooks be delivered to them in the ePUB format. If you have not done so yourself, we can convert the file for you. ISBN $19 We'll assign a unique ISBN barcode to your eBook so our partners can identify your product in the digital marketplace and report sales accordingly. Add images $99 Add up to 15 images to your book. We will size and optimize the images and wrap text around them for readers that allow it. Add charts and/or graphs Starting at $100 Ideal for textbooks! We can convert charts and graphs into images that will render on most eBook readers. Please contact us for a custom quote. Add chapters $75 Add up to 30 additional interactive chapter headings to your Table of Contents (the first 30 are included in your signup fee above). Additional formatting $150 per hour If your eBook needs significant formatting, we can do it for you. Please contact us for a custom quote.

cameron_chapman · Mar 12, 2011

It sounds really expensive for what you're getting. I know of people who will do formatting for novels into Kindle and ePub for less than $100 and no yearly fee. Then all you have to do is upload it to KDP (for Kindle) or PubIt! (for BN). You can get into everything else with a properly formatted Word .doc for Smashwords conversion. And then you're in control of the entire process.

They aren't offering distribution for Kindle, which, to me at least, lowers the worth significantly. 60-80% of ebooks (depending on what stats you look at) are sold via Kindle, so you're leaving 60-80% of potential sales on the table. That's like publishing a print book but deciding you're only going to make it available at Borders.

ETA: I see they list Amazon as one of their partners, but nowhere do they mention conversion to Kindle format. So are they charging extra for that? Or is it included?

Ineti · Mar 12, 2011

That $19 annual fee is a terrible deal for any writer. A writer should be able to either do the formatting themselves or hire someone at a flat fee to do it. I'd encourage writers to not pay a royalty or an ongoing fee to anyone for services, be it formatting, a cover, etc.

Sargentodiaz · Mar 12, 2011

You can download two programs FOR FREE that will convert documents to epubs for upload to Kindle and Nook. It's called Mobipocket and there's even a very good tutorial for using it on the Kindle website.

Don't you wish you had a job like mine? All you have to do is think up a certain number of words! Plus, you can repeat words! And they don't even have to be true!
Dave Barry

Carmy · Mar 13, 2011

I've converted novels to e-books on Kindle and Smashwords. If you follow directions step by step, it's easy. I wouldn't pay anyone to do it.

tvanveen · Mar 14, 2011

Gotta jump in and set a few things straight.

BookBaby does deliver to Amazon for the Kindle. At present we deliver to Amazon, Apple, Sony, and B&N. Kobo is coming within a couple of weeks, and other retailers are on the horizon.

Secondly, we firmly believe that our business model, which pays 100% of the wholesale revenues we receive from retailers right to the author, is great for authors. Sure, you can go direct to Apple and Amazon, but not to all retailers. And there's real value in the ease and convenience of going through one entity and having all your retailers covered: upload once, manage your account from one location, all sales reporting comes to one dashboard, and you're paid by one company. You set your own pay point so that when your account hits, say, $50, you get paid. And because the funds of all retailers are aggregated you get paid faster.

Other aggregators in the market take a minimum 15% commission, or pay a flat percent of retail to the author. In our $19/year model, if you sell more than 17 copies at $9.99 retail/$7 wholesale, our fee is less than what you would've paid at a 15% commission.

Feel free to check out our FB page for comments from some of our customers: www.facebook.com/bookbaby

Tony van Veen
CEO, Audio & Video Labs, Inc. (parent company of BookBaby, and its big brother CD Baby)

Dannica · Jan 11, 2012

Tony,

I'm glad you did jump in. I read the post above saying you didn't cover Kindle and thought -- gosh, how can I be reading the terms so carelessly. Glad to have it clarified that BookBaby does distribute to Kindle and also the pointer to the Facebook page.

You must have a Google Alert on BookBaby, yes?

Dannica

Nick Russell · Jan 11, 2012

I've formatted all of my books for Kindle, Smashwords, etc. If you take your time and follow directions, it's not very difficult.

nitaworm · Jan 12, 2012

I found a great free tool to do the conversions. It's called Calibre for you that are interested.

popmuze · Jan 13, 2012

I'm the kind of a guy who prefers never to do anything himself. I've got a book up at Book Baby and it's available everywhere. That being said, it's selling nowhere.

inkkognito · Jan 14, 2012

I vote for doing it yourself. I'm only selling on Kindle and Nook at present, but it wasn't hard at all to do the formatting. Most have no pictures, but one of the books is photo heavy and even that was easy.

Chrisla · Feb 23, 2012

Book Baby

I'm getting lots of ads from Book Baby. Anybody familiar with them?

BookFormatterJen · Feb 28, 2012

It's good if you know formatting an ebook all by yourself but for those who does not know and prefer to hire, aside from Bookbaby, there are other services who have a low price rate and does not charge a yearly fee. One advantage of this is that you save time and concentrate on setting up the marketing aspect of your book rather than getting busy with the formatting.

But If you are on a budget and wants to save cost, then it is best to learn to do it yourself. There are lots of free tools in doing this (Open Office, Calibre, Sigil) and video tutorials. Each publisher have also a book formatting guidelines which is just easy to follow. Just remember that it is very time consuming if you are still learning.

Sargentodiaz · Mar 2, 2012

There are lots and lots of FREE applications that allow one to format e-books!

Paying anyone to do is it stupid!

merrihiatt · Mar 2, 2012

lvcabbie said:
There are lots and lots of FREE applications that allow one to format e-books!

Paying anyone to do is it stupid!

The #1 rule here at AW is respect your fellow writer. No one is stupid simply because they chose to pay to have their e-book formatted.

MartinD · Mar 2, 2012

popmuze said:
I'm the kind of a guy who prefers never to do anything himself. I've got a book up at Book Baby and it's available everywhere. That being said, it's selling nowhere.

Popmuze, you're kind of terrific. I love how you lay it on the line.

Mac H. · Mar 2, 2012

BookFormatterJen said:
.. aside from Bookbaby, there are other services who have a low price rate and does not charge a yearly fee.

Is there a list somewhere?

I'm sure that somebody is going to point out that it's on the main site with a big label that I'd have to be an idiot to miss ... but I did look!

Mac

Dannica · Mar 22, 2012

lvcabbie said:
There are lots and lots of FREE applications that allow one to format e-books!

Paying anyone to do is it stupid!

Last time I checked these free applications didn't run themselves and upload the files to the different platforms.

Just like paint in the cans at Home Depot doesn't throw itself on my walls. If I want the walls to look good, I have to do it myself or hire a painter. I've been doing-it-myself on home improvement for years now which explains why my house looks crappy. I wanted my ebooks to look better and get done sooner, so I paid someone else to make that happen and will do the same again.

NewKidOldKid · Mar 22, 2012

I paid somebody $5 to format my ebook. He did an amazing job (and my ebook had photos, which makes the formatting more difficult!). I think the prices here are really, really high for what you get.

popmuze · Mar 23, 2012

MartinD said:
Popmuze, you're kind of terrific. I love how you lay it on the line.

Thanks for the compliment. Along with that compliment, if you would buy my book at Book Baby, then I would have one sale.

popmuze · Mar 23, 2012

NewKidOldKid said:
I paid somebody $5 to format my ebook. He did an amazing job (and my ebook had photos, which makes the formatting more difficult!). I think the prices here are really, really high for what you get.

Who is this person who charged $5 to format a book? I would gladly pay as much as $10.

popmuze · Mar 23, 2012

cameron_chapman said:
That's like publishing a print book but deciding you're only going to make it available at Borders.

My marketing plan exactly! Hmmm, no wonder I haven't sold any books.

veinglory · Mar 23, 2012

The yearly fee is a deal killer.

popmuze · Mar 23, 2012

Also, when I look at my account on Kindle, it shows the book I have up there, which I put up by myself, after having it formatted by someone else. But the book I have on Book Baby only shows up on the Book Baby site.

NJLIBRARIAN · May 19, 2012

Question about BookBaby

What are people's experiences with Bookbaby?
I couldn't find anythiing from the Better Business Bureau or Editor and Preditors?
Thank you

BookBaby ebook conversion service

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