EPublishing category versus Self-publishing forum category

e-publishing is a format used by both trade publishers and self-publishers. So if the question relates mainly to the format, it goes in e-publishing; if it pertains more to self-publishing, it goes there. JMO

Looking at the 20-something topics on the first screen, all but two are self-publishing related and irrelevant to trade published ebooks. And those two also both relate to self-publishing in some way.

I think the issue is the number of questions that come up about "trade" publishing with electronic distribution to customers (which is what I believe this forum is for) is pretty close to nil. It's somewhat like having separate sections for paperback and hardcover.

There are plenty of e-pub only publishers and the requirements for dealing with these publishers is completely different from self publishing.
There are plenty of people on these boards who have books that are only e-published, but who have never self published.
Likewise there are plenty of people who have self published but never e-published.
It makes much more sense, to me, to separate the two out. People get e-pubbing and self pubbing mixed up enough as it is.

The needs of someone who has self published in any format are going to be closer to other self publishers than to people who have been e-published by a publisher.
Learning to format your work, or how to hire someone to do it, for example, is something common to all self publishers, but not all e-publishers (if you get a publisher, you don't need to worry about it).

There are plenty of e-pub only publishers and the requirements for dealing with these publishers is completely different from self publishing.

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I'm with you that there is a difference between "trade" and "self publishing," where I think it breaks down is thinking there's any real topic to "trade epublishing" that isn't just "trade publishing."

You submit a manuscript and an editor and publishing company take it from there, whether it goes to an ebook, a hardcover, a trade paper, a mass market paper, or whatever. Once you hand off the manuscript, it's done. How is the "e-" relevant at all?

On the other side, there are huge technical differences between formatting an ebook and a print book if you're self publishing. (There are in trade too, but as writers, who cares. They pay the advance and royalties. If they literally use lead type, who cares? They're technology is none of our affair.)

But as lastlittlebird states, the requirements and operations of strictly epublishers versus general (print/ebook) publishers can be very different. And those are also different from what self-publishers need to know about the format. So under the epublishing discussions you would look for epublisher information (trade), and actual formatting information (without the other aspects of self-publishing). Now, whether that's what this has evolved into, I couldn't say without looking at all the discussions.

If this board is needed for these questions about non-self-e-publishing, why are there no posts about non-self-e-publishing?

Katie Elle said:

If this board is needed for these questions about non-self-e-publishing, why are there no posts about non-self-e-publishing?

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Well, this is a privately owned forum and they have defined what the limits of each section are.
They've provided a place for people who are interested in talking about e-pub publishers, whether they choose to use it or not.
Just as they've provided a place to talk about self publishing.

Absolutely, I'm just saying if there's constant confusion, I think this is why it's there.

Well, how technical and historical do you want to get? Technically, it was desktop publishing before it became electronic publishing before it became digital publishing before it became epublishing before it became self-epublishing. Then there's the whole chicken or the egg thing between self-publishing and trade publishing.

There are publishers who insist that epublishing is not the same as self-epublishing, desktop publishing, or digital publishing. In many ways these publishers are much more akin to trade publishers than they are to the old days of desktop publishing and electronic publishing.

There are probably as many different ways of differentiating epublishing from self-epublishing from self-publishing from trade publishing, etc., etc. as there are writers in the genres themselves. Pigeonholing everything just sets up more fences between the various avenues of publishing and, in this case, good fences don't always make for good neighbors.

I think the lopsidedness is due to the widespread fallacy that e- is a subset of self- , and that we should not conform to that fallacy--we should correct it. And I speak as a person epublished all three ways (self-, trade, epublished). Format and self/other have issues that should not be conflated if they are to be properly understood

Bookmama said:

isn't e-publishing really a subset of self-publishing?

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No!

Are there people who are posting and reading in epublishing, who are having their work published on Kindle by a trade publisher?

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Yes!

I sort of think that questions or comments that are about self-publishing on Kindle (or Nook or Smashwords) do belong in e-publishing. Am I wrong? If so, can someone explain to me their view of the e-publishing forum category versus the self-publishing forum category is.

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Much depends on the question or comment; and because so much of self publishing now depends on electronic editions, there is more of a crossover than there used to be.

Katie Elle said:

I'm with you that there is a difference between "trade" and "self publishing," where I think it breaks down is thinking there's any real topic to "trade epublishing" that isn't just "trade publishing."

You submit a manuscript and an editor and publishing company take it from there, whether it goes to an ebook, a hardcover, a trade paper, a mass market paper, or whatever. Once you hand off the manuscript, it's done. How is the "e-" relevant at all?

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There's a big difference between established and successful trade e-publishers and the more traditional trade publisher. Royalty structures, book lengths, editing habits, promotional approaches, marketing ploys: all are different.

Katie Elle said:

If this board is needed for these questions about non-self-e-publishing, why are there no posts about non-self-e-publishing?

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Because few people who write for the trade e-press hang out here. I'd like that to change, but I can't force our members to do that.

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We mods move threads when we think it appropriate; but sometimes we miss them when they first appear; and sometimes it's not clear where they best belong, and once they're established it's too late to move them. It's a balancing act which we hope to get right, but which we sometimes gets wrong. And just so you know, it's probably more useful for you to report a thread that's in the wrong room rather than saying that it should be moved in-thread: we can't read everything, every day, but a reported post will get attention.

I have to be honest, I've been wondering about the plethora of self-publishing posts in here recently. When epublishing was first pulled out of self-publishing it was much more trade focussed (which was the whole point of separating it out). I wonder if the reason for a reduction in trade posts is partly due to the rise in self-pub posts - certainly, as a trade e-pub author I'm visiting the subforum less often because it's becoming less relevant to me - which becomes a vicious circle. Perhaps a note in the forum description would help people decide the best place for their topics?

nkkingston said:

I have to be honest, I've been wondering about the plethora of self-publishing posts in here recently. When epublishing was first pulled out of self-publishing it was much more trade focussed (which was the whole point of separating it out). I wonder if the reason for a reduction in trade posts is partly due to the rise in self-pub posts - certainly, as a trade e-pub author I'm visiting the subforum less often because it's becoming less relevant to me - which becomes a vicious circle. Perhaps a note in the forum description would help people decide the best place for their topics?

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I don't know about the solution, but I agree that I don't look here very often because it tends to just be spillover from self-publishing.

I think part of it, though, might be that most e-publishers are quite genre-specific, and if I have a question about one of them, I'm more likely to ask it either in the B&BC forum or in the forum devoted to the genre. Like, if I want opinions on romance e-publishers, I'd ask over in the romance forum...

Maybe it is because we are discussing our epub issues in genre rooms, not thinking to come here.

veinglory said:

Maybe it is because we are discussing our epub issues in genre rooms, not thinking to come here.

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Do you have me on ignore? If you do, you won't see this...

I was agreeing with your point. Maybe I should have italicized the *is*.

p.s. I don't have anyone on ignore.

veinglory said:

I was agreeing with your point. Maybe I should have italicized the *is*.

p.s. I don't have anyone on ignore.

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'Kay!

Sometimes I just wonder...