The Benefits of E-Publishing Through a Publishing House

They might be able to get you better deals on royalties (that would, in turn, be eaten up with possible fees), more exposure...
I mean, the reputable houses have experience. But I'm sure some leg work on your end might be beneficial as well.

In a word, sales.

Nowadays it's easy to self-publish your book online, but the majority of writers who do this don't make many sales, simply because there are so many self-published novels floating around the internet that no one will even notice yours. Of course there are exceptions, but they're rare. If you publish through a well-known and respected e-publisher, people are much more likely to buy and read your book.

You'll probably get even more sales and readers if you go through a big print publisher, but if you're writing something that has niche appeal that may not be an option.

An established e-book publisher like Lyrical or Ellora's Cave brings in a built-in audience for a specific kind of book. The target market for their genre is always looking for something new to read and they have high traffic websites.

You get editing, cover design, promotion, online distribution, and sometimes bookstore placement if they have a POD arm. This frees you to focus on writing.

Royalty rates are certainly less than you'd get by self-publishing via Kindle, Smashwords, etc., but you can use an e-book house to help in building a platform of readers who like your work.

Having a few pieces placed on such sites will send traffic to your website and from there you can direct them to other work you're offering via your own imprint. It helps with promotion later to point out titles placed with an established e-house.

That's the idea, anyway.

Land a contract and get something up on one first, and be writing more things to offer after you build an audience.

Tales of the Pack said:

To my mind, the only grand distinctions between traditional publishing and self-publishing are 1) Clout 2) Distribution and 3) Front end work like typesetting.

What does an e-publisher offer that I can't get on my own?

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The advantages are, more or less, the exact same things you mentioned as advantages for a traditional print publisher; their measurements are just a bit more abstract.

Things an epublisher has that you don't include a professional editor, a fanbase of loyal buyers, an art department, line editors, established distribution network, and an established reviewer network for starters.

From there you have the author support networks, conferences, publishing credentials and advertising ins.

And even though they are epublishers, this doesn't mean they don't do print. Many of the e-houses do print books.

The well established lines can have active followings who are fans of the publisher as much or more than they are fans of any particular writer who produces books for that publisher. That can be a substantial edge.

Most e-publishers don't really offer anything that you *can't* do yourself, though, because they lack that fan base. They offer editing - which you can get yourself. Artists - which you can get yourself. Ebook formatting, which is easy to do yourself for most books. Distribution - but you can get your ebook into anywhere they can. Marketing, but a) you can do this yourself and b) this is sort of a hit or miss thing a lot of the time - you might get marketing help, or might not, depending upon the publisher.

The question then becomes not "what are they doing that I *can't* do myself", but rather "is what they are offering to do worth what I am paying them (in percentage of profits)?" That's an individual accounting problem. Look into what it would cost you (in dollars *and* time) to do what they're doing; look at what income they're taking to do the job, and figure out if it's worth it to you. For some folks, it is. For others, it's not.

One caveat though: watch out for the scams! There's a bunch of people out there trying to charge writers up front for production AND take a chunk of the income. Thinking about Westbow, Outskirts, AuthorHouse, etc. here. Seeing as how you can get the same services for about the same price elsewhere as a one time fee, upload the books yourself, and keep all the royalties, these places are just bad deals.

Also, read contracts carefully. Some of the agencies-turning-publisher are including clauses where the writer gets 50% of net, but only after the production expenses are paid for out of that money. That lumps them into the same category as the subsidy press scams I mentioned above - you're just paying after instead of paying before. My opinion is, if the writer is paying for production, then the writer should be keeping all the post-retailer income.

A good epublisher has much more expertise and access to the machinery of making, distributing and promoting an ebook that I personally ever will. YMMV.

KevinMcLaughlin said:

Most e-publishers don't really offer anything that you *can't* do yourself, though, because they lack that fan base. They offer editing - which you can get yourself. Artists - which you can get yourself. Ebook formatting, which is easy to do yourself for most books. Distribution - but you can get your ebook into anywhere they can. Marketing, but a) you can do this yourself and b) this is sort of a hit or miss thing a lot of the time - you might get marketing help, or might not, depending upon the publisher.

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*falls off chair laughing*

Is this based on personal experience, or just what you've gathered over your years of research?

Especially in the area of distribution...

Most e-publishers don't really offer anything that you *can't* do yourself, though, because they lack that fan base. They offer editing - which you can get yourself. Artists - which you can get yourself. Ebook formatting, which is easy to do yourself for most books. Distribution - but you can get your ebook into anywhere they can. Marketing, but a) you can do this yourself and b) this is sort of a hit or miss thing a lot of the time - you might get marketing help, or might not, depending upon the publisher.

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I hope you're speaking from your own personal experience and not just tossing that out there.

KevinMcLaughlin said:

Most e-publishers don't really offer anything that you *can't* do yourself, though, because they lack that fan base. They offer editing - which you can get yourself. Artists - which you can get yourself. Ebook formatting, which is easy to do yourself for most books. Distribution - but you can get your ebook into anywhere they can. Marketing, but a) you can do this yourself and b) this is sort of a hit or miss thing a lot of the time - you might get marketing help, or might not, depending upon the publisher.

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No, you can't "get your ebook into anywhere they can."

That's a terribly sweeping statement to make about all e-publishers.

What on Earth are you basing these assertions on?

Tales of the Pack said:

Stupid question time!

My mentor suggested I investigate e-publishers. What is the benefit of going through an exclusively e-publisher (like Lyrical, for instance)?

To my mind, the only grand distinctions between traditional publishing and self-publishing are 1) Clout 2) Distribution and 3) Front end work like typesetting.

What does an e-publisher offer that I can't get on my own?

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It depends to some extent on your book; for certain niches, you're better going with an established e publisher, especially in terms of editing, production, marketing and distribution.

Tales of the Pack said:

Stupid question time!

My mentor suggested I investigate e-publishers. What is the benefit of going through an exclusively e-publisher (like Lyrical, for instance)?

To my mind, the only grand distinctions between traditional publishing and self-publishing are 1) Clout 2) Distribution and 3) Front end work like typesetting.

What does an e-publisher offer that I can't get on my own?

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There are many advantages, some of which have already been stated, but aren't the 3 that you mention enough?

Would someone please tell me why Kevin M. has inspired fall-off-the-chair laughing?

He said the well-established lines have active followings and I think that's true, particularly for romance lines such as Ellora's Cave, Carina Press, and so on.

He also said that most e-publishers don't offer much that a writer can't do his or herself or hire to have done. Most of the writers I've contacted directly (I'm ready to shop my mystery) have told me they've sold less than a hundred copies of their novels. All of those writers were electronically published by small publishers. If the smaller e-publishers truly have distribution channels not available to the average writer, why are so many e-published book sales so unimpressive?

Guess I need to write comedy, next book. Never knew I was that funny. =)

On distribution:
Right now, most industry estimates have Amazon holding about 70-75% of consumer ebook sales. B&N holds a share somewhere in the teens - together, these two represent roughly 90% of all consumer ebooks sold in the USA. The remainder is mostly taken up by Apple, Kobo, and Sony (not necc. in that order, but Apple seems to have the #3 slot sewn up solidly at this point). Smashwords, Google, Diesel, Webscriptions, and buckets of other smaller companies plus authors selling on their websites fill the remaining couple of percent of consumer ebooks.

So off the bat, if you place a book on Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords (Apple, Kobo, Sony, Diesel) you have distributed to at least a high 90s percent of the overall US market. Additionally, you've distributed to the major players in most of Europe, Australia, and Japan (Apple/Amazon, with Kobo as a rising star investing heavily in those markets).

OK, that would sew up a statement of "almost anywhere". I mean, if you're in 98% of the market, and the e-publisher is in 99%, you're pretty much in good shape.

But I said "anywhere". And I stand by that. If you have a digital book market someplace that's accessible to e-publishers that you think a self publisher can't get into, tell me, and I'll demonstrate that it's possible myself.

In digital publishing, distribution is a very even playing field.

Edit: The question, I feel, remains not "what can the epublisher do that I can't?", but "is that epublisher offering me a good balance of services they render for percent of my income they are taking?" The answer to that will vary from writer to writer, and needs to be figured out individually by each of us.

KevinMcLaughlin said:

In digital publishing, distribution is a very even playing field.

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Well, no, it's not. Try getting your self-pubbed e-book in University bookstores.

Try getting it listed on iBooks.

Try getting it listed at ereader.com

Amazon/Kindle and Smashwords are nifty, but they are not the entire market, by any means.

iBooks is Apple, Medievalist. Everyone who uses the Smashwords extended distribution gets on iBooks (unless they opt out). And anyone with a Mac can do it *without* going through Smashwords.

Ereader.com is a subsidiary of B&N. Oddly, it doesn't have their entire stock of books (or it'd be simple to get listed). However, it does have self published books, so I've sent them an email asking them about partnering with my epublishing firm to get my books up for sale on their site. The auto-responder said they'd get back to me within 24 hours.

Edit: Might have got me on the University thing though. I wasn't even aware that Universities were running their own ebook retail sites, selling books for various epublishers. Which ones are doing that? I'll have to check that out.

KevinMcLaughlin said:

iBooks is Apple, Medievalist. Everyone who uses the Smashwords extended distribution gets on iBooks (unless they opt out). And anyone with a Mac can do it *without* going through Smashwords.

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Not unless they pass the content review.

It's not easy. Apple is more than a touch puritanical, and oddly semi-literate about content.

KevinMcLaughlin said:

Ereader.com is a subsidiary of B&N. Oddly, it doesn't have their entire stock of books (or it'd be simple to get listed). However, it does have self published books, so I've sent them an email asking them about partnering with my epublishing firm to get my books up for sale on their site. The auto-responder said they'd get back to me within 24 hours.

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You might want to check out their criteria. It's generally easier to go through Fictionwise.

Speaking of "your epublishing firm," what exactly have you published, and where?

Medievalist said:

Not unless they pass the content review.

It's not easy. Apple is more than a touch puritanical, and oddly semi-literate about content.

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It actually IS pretty easy - most books get through; I understand they're really rough on things like erotic novels, though. And they hold all books to that standard. Again - e-distribution is a very even playing field, that's all I was saying. Distribution itself is not a benefit of publishing with an epublisher; having the epublisher do the work instead of you doing it all yourself is the benefit. It's an important distinction to make when doing your cost/benefit analysis.

MartinD said:

Would someone please tell me why Kevin M. has inspired fall-off-the-chair laughing?

He said the well-established lines have active followings and I think that's true, particularly for romance lines such as Ellora's Cave, Carina Press, and so on.

He also said that most e-publishers don't offer much that a writer can't do his or herself or hire to have done. Most of the writers I've contacted directly (I'm ready to shop my mystery) have told me they've sold less than a hundred copies of their novels. All of those writers were electronically published by small publishers. If the smaller e-publishers truly have distribution channels not available to the average writer, why are so many e-published book sales so unimpressive?

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The facts are simple. From a number of standpoints, the quality of writing being primary, 99% of all self-published books are awful. Putting the very rare exception aside, on average each would be lucky to sell 100 copies over its lifetime. In addition, if one wants to self-publish they must (or should) realize they are starting their own small business and are responsible for--perhaps not capable--of running a business. And they will spend a whole lot of money on editing, perhaps illustration, production, and much more. Then they better know how to promote, market, and distibute their book, and be active in doing so, which few are. And finally, they have to compete with trade publishing houses, which they can't. For many, many years self-publishing has been a fools errand and it continues to be so. The only way one stands a chance is if they have written a niche book, preferably nonfiction, that appeals to a specific, but small, easily identifiabl audience.

MartinD said:

Most of the writers I've contacted directly (I'm ready to shop my mystery) have told me they've sold less than a hundred copies of their novels. All of those writers were electronically published by small publishers. If the smaller e-publishers truly have distribution channels not available to the average writer, why are so many e-published book sales so unimpressive?

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scope said:

The facts are simple. From a number of standpoints, the quality of writing being primary, 99% of all self-published books are awful. Putting the very rare exception aside, on average each would be lucky to sell 100 copies over its lifetime. In addition, if one wants to self-publish they must (or should) realize they are starting their own small business and are responsible for--perhaps not capable--of running a business. And they will spend a whole lot of money on editing, perhaps illustration, production, and much more. Then they better know how to promote, market, and distibute their book, and be active in doing so, which few are. And finally, they have to compete with trade publishing houses, which they can't. For many, many years self-publishing has been a fools errand and it continues to be so. The only way one stands a chance is if they have written a niche book, preferably nonfiction, that appeals to a specific, but small, easily identifiabl audience.

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I think, Scope, that you misread MartinD's post: If I read him correctly, he wonders why e-books published by e-publishers have such unimpressive sales.

I'm generally unimpressed with the current e-publishers.

Sure, there are successful e-publishers like Lyrical and Elora and Carina, but they only publish romance in all its forms.
I have a suspense novel, MartinD has a mystery novel.
So where do we find an e-publisher equivalent of Lyrical/Elora/Carina?

I checked out some of the e-publishers that publish suspense/thriller e-books but I was distinctly underwhelmed - clunky websites, awkward formatting, and the proofreading they provide didn't reach the level of AW SYW in terms of weeding out head-hopping, inconsistences, shifting POVs and a plethora of typos. Where are the benefits?

AmsterdamAssassin said:

I think, Scope, that you misread MartinD's post: If I read him correctly, he wonders why e-books published by e-publishers have such unimpressive sales.

I'm generally unimpressed with the current e-publishers.

Sure, there are successful e-publishers like Lyrical and Elora and Carina, but they only publish romance in all its forms.
I have a suspense novel, MartinD has a mystery novel.
So where do we find an e-publisher equivalent of Lyrical/Elora/Carina?

I checked out some of the e-publishers that publish suspense/thriller e-books but I was distinctly underwhelmed - clunky websites, awkward formatting, and the proofreading they provide didn't reach the level of AW SYW in terms of weeding out head-hopping, inconsistences, shifting POVs and a plethora of typos. Where are the benefits?

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I've never researched the e-market for MTS so I can't comment. But I did hit the massive 'con' OH has mentioned before about publishing to Kindle.

I was browsing Amazon for historical novels set in Roman Britain a few nights ago. I found the perfect title, it was self-published but I was willing to pay the £1.77. What stopped me? Kindle, I have a Sony Reader.

Amazon's solution? Buy a Kindle. No thanks I love my Sony Reader.

So no sale. Considering that Sony Readers are in every Waterstone's shop front that must be a major slice of the market a Kindle author can't access.

AmsterdamAssassin said:

Sure, there are successful e-publishers like Lyrical and Elora and Carina, but they only publish romance in all its forms.

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Incorrect - Carina have published at least one non romance. By me. It says in their subs guidelines that romance is not required.

We publish a majority of romance but are also very interested in and publish women’s fiction, science fiction, fantasy, futuristic, mystery, thrillers, horror, and niches. If you have something new and fresh we would be happy to read your story!
Important note: We do not require non-romance genre fiction books to have romantic elements. We read, acquire and publish non-romance with no romantic elements as well!

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So there you are. If you look on their ebook shop site, you'll see several books listed under straight mystery for example.

IdiotsRUs said:

Incorrect - Carina have published at least one non romance. By me. It says in their subs guidelines that romance is not required.

So there you are. If you look on their ebook shop site, you'll see several books listed under straight mystery for example.

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Hey, thanks. That wasn't up there last time I checked their submission guidelines. And my suspense novel, while not 'romantic suspense', features an MC with a new love interest, so there is a romantic element.

Hmmm, maybe, if Tor Books [who are currently considering Reprobate] won't commit I'll sub to Carina...
I just hope I won't be thrown on the pile of Romance Writers - I prefer being a Suspense Writer.

gothicangel said:

I was browsing Amazon for historical novels set in Roman Britain a few nights ago. I found the perfect title, it was self-published but I was willing to pay the £1.77. What stopped me? Kindle, I have a Sony Reader.

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a) did you check if the title was available on smashwords/B&N?
b) have you tried converting a .mobi file to .epub file using Calibre?