I have a few of my out of print books that I want to put on Kindle, Smashwords, and the rest. Someone recommended a service that turns actual books into Kindle ready files. Has anyone used a service like this? What is a fair price to get the book formatted. From what I understand, once it's formatted and once I have a cover, I should be ready to go. What I want to know is, how much is my upfront investment per book?
Paying for formatting
- Thread starter popmuze
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Are you asking about scanning an already printed book (i.e. using a scanner to turn printed pages into digital ones, and image recognition to turn the scanned images into ebook text)? Or are you just talking about turning your .doc file on your computer into an ebook?
Yes. I have six previously published books I want to eventually turn into ebooks. I'm trying to get a handle on what that would cost me up front if I hire out the scanning and the cover (what else would I have to hire out)?
dgaughran
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There is a big difference in cost depending on whether you have a digital copy of the text or a printed book.
If you have a digital copy, freelancers will convert it to the formats you need for as little as $35, but the people I recommend start at $100 for the most basic manuscript (i.e. no pictures etc.). The more popular services charge around $200 and there is quite a wait time.
As it's an out of print book, you probably don't need an editor, but you might want to have it proofed - you will know best.
Aside from formatting costs (which you can do yourself if you want), proofing costs (if applicable), and a cover, that's it.
Any money you want to spend on marketing is up to you, but there aren't enough hours in the day to get through all the free options available.
However if you only have a print copy of the book, that will cost you a good bit extra because they have to scan it, then fix it all up, which is time-consuming.
Dave
If you have a digital copy, freelancers will convert it to the formats you need for as little as $35, but the people I recommend start at $100 for the most basic manuscript (i.e. no pictures etc.). The more popular services charge around $200 and there is quite a wait time.
As it's an out of print book, you probably don't need an editor, but you might want to have it proofed - you will know best.
Aside from formatting costs (which you can do yourself if you want), proofing costs (if applicable), and a cover, that's it.
Any money you want to spend on marketing is up to you, but there aren't enough hours in the day to get through all the free options available.
However if you only have a print copy of the book, that will cost you a good bit extra because they have to scan it, then fix it all up, which is time-consuming.
Dave
dgaughran
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Cover designers really vary in terms of cost and what they produce. Cast a wide net, make sure to check portfolios of e-books they have designed covers for before (it's a very different skill).
That's what I have, six of them. What is the ballpark on scanning? Is there a discount if I give them all six books? I'd love to have a chance to re-edit some of these books. Is that a possibility?
I foresee so many changes to the manuscript that I might be better off just typing into Word myself. I could save the scanning costs and probably get 60,000 words typed in a couple of weeks or less.
popmuze, rather than pay someone to scan it, find two good typists to keyboard the entire book.
You then compare the two files using a Unix program call diff; it highlights any differences between the two versions.
You then check the highlighted differences against the printed book.
You get much much cleaner copy this way.
You then compare the two files using a Unix program call diff; it highlights any differences between the two versions.
You then check the highlighted differences against the printed book.
You get much much cleaner copy this way.
Yep. What Medie said. Scanning in books can be disastrous; pages get missed, pages get put in upside down, and OCR makes the most bizarre mistakes. Humans are better.
I think typists are just as expensive. As I said, I will probably retype the book myself, since I want to make changes to the text.
I'm not trying to derail this thread since I'm thinking of doing the same as popmuze, but at first with only one of my out of print books. (Mod, please delete this post if I am derailing).
Mine is a nonfiction children's book of 96 pages and I only have the printed book from which to work. There's black type on each left hand page and full color illustrations on each right hand page. Since it seems to me that this setup may not be desirable for an ebook, I'm thinking of an ebook of about 50 pages with the text on the top (or bottom) of each page and the appropriate full color illustrations on the same page. I was thinking about turning this project over to an outfit like CreateSpace, although I haven't discussed it with them. Any thoughts about CreateSpace or another company being able to handle what I want, and approximate total cost?
Mine is a nonfiction children's book of 96 pages and I only have the printed book from which to work. There's black type on each left hand page and full color illustrations on each right hand page. Since it seems to me that this setup may not be desirable for an ebook, I'm thinking of an ebook of about 50 pages with the text on the top (or bottom) of each page and the appropriate full color illustrations on the same page. I was thinking about turning this project over to an outfit like CreateSpace, although I haven't discussed it with them. Any thoughts about CreateSpace or another company being able to handle what I want, and approximate total cost?