The publishers can kiss my ***! I'm doing this myself
- Thread starter Plix
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I don't mean to discourage you from your goal, but this is an oxymoron at best, and slightly delusional at worst. For non-fiction --- heck, even for FICTION, there are NO major e-book publishers, at least in the manner of selling tens or hundreds of thousands of e-books.
Unfortunately, E-books make up less than 1% of the total books sold in the U.S. The biggest ones are Ellora's Cave (erotica), and branches of existing print publishers, but even those haven't been doing too well and more of them are shutting down every day.
But, you might wander over to Fictionwise, which is a site devoted to sales of e-books from all sources and see what's offered over there in the self-improvement section.
If you're selling $1,000 worth of books in four months (I presume you mean NET sales, rather than gross), it sounds like you're doing a lot better than you would through an e-publisher.
Good luck!
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$20 for an ebook not from an existing epublisher. Best of luck with that. Why do you think peopke will pay more than a paper book would cost for a book by, I assume, a complete unknown? Do you have specialist qualifications?
I suggest that if the big publishers (print or ebook) passed on it, try medium and small publishers.
I suggest that if the big publishers (print or ebook) passed on it, try medium and small publishers.
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Plix said:
Hi there,
We are a traditional publisher and have just been approached by our distributor to reformat our books into ebooks for a couple of markets. The information I received about ebooks is that it's not a big source of revenue, but since we already have created the printed version, there are no production costs involved and it's another way to get the books to a different audience (in our case, homeschoolers who prefer ebooks to the printed version). I agree with Cathy and the others: if you've managed to bring in (net, I hope) $1,000 in a few months, you're probably doing about as well as anyone else.
I wonder, though, why you wouldn't keep trying to find a traditional publisher if you have such strong faith in your book? Have you researched your particular market to see what else is out there? There are about a thousand reasons why a publisher would reject a book, but in my case, the three biggest reasons are:
1. It's badly written
2. There's too much already done on the subject by more qualified people
3.There's not a big enough market to make it worthwhile to pursue
If you've done the research, have qualifications, written a killer proposal and still are getting rejected, then perhaps the book's subject just isn't marketable. If that's the case, an ebook isn't going to be the solution, either.
Good luck--hope this helps you!
I have a feeling the above poster is correct, item number two -- a lot of those other, strangely-titled self-help books are just celebrity/expert names slapped on top of a ghostwriter's work. The name (or credentials) does the selling.
I agree that, if you truly have faith in your book, you need to KEEP pushing it. Continue selling it like you are now, but find a "real" publisher. It might take years, but who says you can't be writing another book while you wait?
I agree that, if you truly have faith in your book, you need to KEEP pushing it. Continue selling it like you are now, but find a "real" publisher. It might take years, but who says you can't be writing another book while you wait?
Check out www.diggorypress.com who will make and sell your ebook for you on amazon and other ebook websites and you get 60% of the rrp.
e-books
If there's a market where e-books and POD books works well, it's with niche self-help books that simply do not have mass market appeal.
When big publishers say no it's always for a reason. The most common reasons are bad writing, and a book that simply isn't going to sell well enough to make publishing it worthwhile.
Going your own way with such books can work, but be absolutely certain that what you're selling is high quality. You can sell some of anything. If you have a good sales pitch, you can make $1,000 in four months by selling bags of rat
feces.
And, actually, the odds of getting published by a major house are almost 100%, if you have anything worth publishing, and almost the same at being published by a small press, if you have a niche book worth publishing.
Going your own way can work, but far more often than not it's a guarnateed way of losing several years for very little money, having a bad product on the market, and shutting yourself off from the big time permanently.
Nearly every writer out there thinks his book is the greatest thing since air conditioning. They're usually wrong.
Twnety bucks is a God Almighty lot of money for any e-book. Way the heck more than I'd pay, even if God were the author. Print books cost what they do because they cost money to make and distribute. Twenty bucks for pixels is about four times too much. I suppose there really is a sucker born every minute, but anyone who would pay twenty bucks for a PDF is someone I want to meet. I have all sorts of stuff I'd like to sell them.
Big publishers aren't the bad guys. They're very, very good at publishing what will sell, and rejecting what won't. They don't use letters to heat with, they don;t ignore good writing, and when anything smells like money, they jump all over it.
It's actually a bit over 90% that will never get published, and only about 1% will make enough money to matter, but there's good reason for this. . .only about one percent have the talent and determination it takes. Most of the rest fail to get published eithe rbecause they lack talent, they lack determination (and temerament), or they simply can't tell a good idea from a bad one.
Believe me, publishers WANT to find those who can write well, who are determined, and who can tell a good idea from a bad one. Not everyone fills the bill, and that's just how it is. It wouldn't be much fun if everyone could do it, now would it?
Good luck. You may have that one niche book in a thousand that will sell well as an e-book or a POD. You may have that one niche book in 10,000 that publishers overlook, though without knowing how many you've queried, it's hard to know whether or not you've given the book a fair chance.
But to be perfectly honest, it sounds like your attitude is more of a problem than agents or publishers.
If there's a market where e-books and POD books works well, it's with niche self-help books that simply do not have mass market appeal.
When big publishers say no it's always for a reason. The most common reasons are bad writing, and a book that simply isn't going to sell well enough to make publishing it worthwhile.
Going your own way with such books can work, but be absolutely certain that what you're selling is high quality. You can sell some of anything. If you have a good sales pitch, you can make $1,000 in four months by selling bags of rat
feces.
And, actually, the odds of getting published by a major house are almost 100%, if you have anything worth publishing, and almost the same at being published by a small press, if you have a niche book worth publishing.
Going your own way can work, but far more often than not it's a guarnateed way of losing several years for very little money, having a bad product on the market, and shutting yourself off from the big time permanently.
Nearly every writer out there thinks his book is the greatest thing since air conditioning. They're usually wrong.
Twnety bucks is a God Almighty lot of money for any e-book. Way the heck more than I'd pay, even if God were the author. Print books cost what they do because they cost money to make and distribute. Twenty bucks for pixels is about four times too much. I suppose there really is a sucker born every minute, but anyone who would pay twenty bucks for a PDF is someone I want to meet. I have all sorts of stuff I'd like to sell them.
Big publishers aren't the bad guys. They're very, very good at publishing what will sell, and rejecting what won't. They don't use letters to heat with, they don;t ignore good writing, and when anything smells like money, they jump all over it.
It's actually a bit over 90% that will never get published, and only about 1% will make enough money to matter, but there's good reason for this. . .only about one percent have the talent and determination it takes. Most of the rest fail to get published eithe rbecause they lack talent, they lack determination (and temerament), or they simply can't tell a good idea from a bad one.
Believe me, publishers WANT to find those who can write well, who are determined, and who can tell a good idea from a bad one. Not everyone fills the bill, and that's just how it is. It wouldn't be much fun if everyone could do it, now would it?
Good luck. You may have that one niche book in a thousand that will sell well as an e-book or a POD. You may have that one niche book in 10,000 that publishers overlook, though without knowing how many you've queried, it's hard to know whether or not you've given the book a fair chance.
But to be perfectly honest, it sounds like your attitude is more of a problem than agents or publishers.
I'm doing it as well....A lot of people are turning more towards e-books...heck, even Stephen King did it...There was one book he wrote (I could be wrong) that was only available on e-book... Granted there are some out there who would prefer to use an agent, but there's so much "red tape" to getting a book published. Who knows though, someone might like it and who knows.
Thanks so far
Thanks for all the answers! That's really nice
I especially liked Jamesaritchie's answer. Very comprehensive and direct.
I'd like to use this post to explain myself some more and to answer the questions "against me".
I must have an IQ of 10, because I don't know whether it's net or gross. All I know is that I have a little over 1000$ stashed at my paypal account. It that's net sales, I presume its a YES.
Yes, I do have a strong faith in my book, but it's hard to keep up the faith when all I can do is waaaaaait for the NOs and trying to find agents, which I don't really want to do. I sense that the entire market for agents is one big minefield where money gets lost instead of limbs.
I wrote my stuff 80% done, followed the Submission guidelines for the publishers and that's it. If they don't like the way I write, there's not much I can do about it. If they dump me, because of grammatical errors or my relatively limited english vocabulary, then their must be crazy. It's about my book and the content of my book... But hey, I'm not saying my script is perfect, it may very well be badly written. But that's not why they've said NO to me so far.
Qulifications: Check, both in the theoretical and practical knowledge
killer proposal: Heck, I don't know that. I've followed their guidelines and shown that my book has a major market, potential and media wise brilliant!
Book subject: I refuse to believe, that my book couldn't be marketed if books like Beverly Hills Diet, Warrior Diet, South Beach Diet etc., are bestsellers and able to sell in the millions!
That's ok. To put it straight: I've tried to get my music published by a company, sold cd's all over the world, got fan e-mails etc., got played in Digitallyimported.com and still does. Ohhh the contracts were soooo exciting, telling me about royalties etc.,
What happened? I havn't seen a more than 20€ from them, got my track tied to a pole due to their contract and actually got my *** kicked in the contract along with the other artists. And the publisher simply "went underground", never to hear from them again.
Was there a reason to file a lawsuit against them, for what could have been a silly amount of maybe 800€ or maybe 1000€ ? No, then I'd rather say **** the recordcompany and forget about it. Going to court would ruin me and be dragged on for 2 years before I got anything... if anything.
And the same thing goes for Publishers; I've made my experiences in the music industry and there NO difference in the Publishing industry. I don't believe they are my friends? I don't believe they have the best intentions for me, when they give me a contract? Hell, I'm sceptical, but I KNOW that it's a mutual way of business. I need them, to sell my book and earn me money. Then need me, because they believe in my book and will make even MORE money. So please, I don't think it's my attitude... I think it's healthy for any artist, wheter it be music, art or writing - To be sceptical against these companies and agents.
If I wasn't sceptic, I'd be signed with a contract to Publish America, which turned out to be a nasty boogyman!!
Heres the publishers I've sent to so far....
Douglas & Mcintyre Publishing Group
Health communications Inc.
Rodale Publishing
BenBella Books
Jossey Bass & Pfeiffer (Rejected)
Marlowe & Company (Rejected)
Sterling Publishing Co.
These are the big players in the industry of health related books, who accept materials from authors themselves instead of ONLY dealing with agents.
P.S. Didn't mean to sound rude in my post, so no one should feel offended in ANY way. I really appreciate the help so far
P.P.S. I'm a bit tired, to there are more misspellings than I would normally offer anyone
Thanks for all the answers! That's really nice
I especially liked Jamesaritchie's answer. Very comprehensive and direct.
I'd like to use this post to explain myself some more and to answer the questions "against me".
I must have an IQ of 10, because I don't know whether it's net or gross. All I know is that I have a little over 1000$ stashed at my paypal account. It that's net sales, I presume its a YES.
But I am trying and I have sent my script to the largest (I think) publishers in America that deals with my sort of genre. I'm gonna post the ones I've sent to and if you guys know anything else that I should know of, please let me know. Because I'm getting no-where in finding other publishers atm.
Yes, I do have a strong faith in my book, but it's hard to keep up the faith when all I can do is waaaaaait for the NOs and trying to find agents, which I don't really want to do. I sense that the entire market for agents is one big minefield where money gets lost instead of limbs.
That might very well be, but english/american isn't my mother tounge, so they should be prepared for problems like that. Well, you can see how I write on this board and these posts. Probably full of grammatical errors, but nevertheless my point get's through and it doesn't sound like I just jumped of a cuban drug ship, in the south of Miami right?
I wrote my stuff 80% done, followed the Submission guidelines for the publishers and that's it. If they don't like the way I write, there's not much I can do about it. If they dump me, because of grammatical errors or my relatively limited english vocabulary, then their must be crazy. It's about my book and the content of my book... But hey, I'm not saying my script is perfect, it may very well be badly written. But that's not why they've said NO to me so far.
Yeah I'm completly unknown as a writer, but I do have "specialist" knowledge on the subject, being a BA in the subject. So I do know my way around the subject of healthcare. On top of that, my book is controversial, And I wouldn't in my wildest dream charge much less than 20$ for my book if I had to publish it myself.
Research: Check
Qulifications: Check, both in the theoretical and practical knowledge
killer proposal: Heck, I don't know that. I've followed their guidelines and shown that my book has a major market, potential and media wise brilliant!
Book subject: I refuse to believe, that my book couldn't be marketed if books like Beverly Hills Diet, Warrior Diet, South Beach Diet etc., are bestsellers and able to sell in the millions!
Ok, first of all - You don't know what I wrote... It's fair enough that you're chocking on your coffee, when I say that I charge 20$ for my e-book, but people ARE buying it. At least for know they are. So calling them suckers is a bit harsh, especially when my intention for selling my book wasnt "Oh, I hope I get some suckers to buy my crappy book". No, no way. My e-book is good and adresses and audience than can't find that sort of information anywhere else. So all that is good. Im just saying, that if all the publishers refuse to publish my current book, then with 200% certainty, I'm gonna try to publish it again as an e-book on a website...
That's ok. To put it straight: I've tried to get my music published by a company, sold cd's all over the world, got fan e-mails etc., got played in Digitallyimported.com and still does. Ohhh the contracts were soooo exciting, telling me about royalties etc.,
What happened? I havn't seen a more than 20€ from them, got my track tied to a pole due to their contract and actually got my *** kicked in the contract along with the other artists. And the publisher simply "went underground", never to hear from them again.
Was there a reason to file a lawsuit against them, for what could have been a silly amount of maybe 800€ or maybe 1000€ ? No, then I'd rather say **** the recordcompany and forget about it. Going to court would ruin me and be dragged on for 2 years before I got anything... if anything.
And the same thing goes for Publishers; I've made my experiences in the music industry and there NO difference in the Publishing industry. I don't believe they are my friends? I don't believe they have the best intentions for me, when they give me a contract? Hell, I'm sceptical, but I KNOW that it's a mutual way of business. I need them, to sell my book and earn me money. Then need me, because they believe in my book and will make even MORE money. So please, I don't think it's my attitude... I think it's healthy for any artist, wheter it be music, art or writing - To be sceptical against these companies and agents.
If I wasn't sceptic, I'd be signed with a contract to Publish America, which turned out to be a nasty boogyman!!
Heres the publishers I've sent to so far....
Douglas & Mcintyre Publishing Group
Health communications Inc.
Rodale Publishing
BenBella Books
Jossey Bass & Pfeiffer (Rejected)
Marlowe & Company (Rejected)
Sterling Publishing Co.
These are the big players in the industry of health related books, who accept materials from authors themselves instead of ONLY dealing with agents.
P.S. Didn't mean to sound rude in my post, so no one should feel offended in ANY way. I really appreciate the help so far
P.P.S. I'm a bit tired, to there are more misspellings than I would normally offer anyone
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with all due respect, you may be shooting yourself in the foot and making your situation harder than it needs to be...
"If they dump me, because of grammatical errors or my relatively limited english vocabulary, then their must be crazy. It's about my book and the content of my book..."
actually, at the very beginning it's NOT. Imagine yourself as an agent or a publisher sitting there at your desk with literally HUNDREDS of partials, queries or full manuscripts piling up each time the mailperson drops on by... you're looking at a stack of paper (or emails!) that demand your attention. You're probably going to start sorting them by the easiest method possible - can this person WRITE???
you haven't really stated your credentials, but unfortunately a BA in any subject hardly qualifies you as an expert in many peoples' eyes - add to that the fact that English isn't your first language and you're making it easy for the agent/publisher to toss your work into the trash bin.
instead of taking such an aggressive stance, why not get someone to help work on both your query and your manuscript before you dash off to try and sell it as an e-book? Even as an e-book you're unlikely to make a lot of sales if your first few pages are unreadable by the average person, no matter how pertinent the content may be.
if you don't think enough of your writing to deliver the best product possible to a potential publisher or agent, why do you think they should publish it? It's one thing to correct the odd spelling error, another to have to rewrite the entire manuscript. No matter how "vital" or "important" you feel your book may be.
"If they dump me, because of grammatical errors or my relatively limited english vocabulary, then their must be crazy. It's about my book and the content of my book..."
actually, at the very beginning it's NOT. Imagine yourself as an agent or a publisher sitting there at your desk with literally HUNDREDS of partials, queries or full manuscripts piling up each time the mailperson drops on by... you're looking at a stack of paper (or emails!) that demand your attention. You're probably going to start sorting them by the easiest method possible - can this person WRITE???
you haven't really stated your credentials, but unfortunately a BA in any subject hardly qualifies you as an expert in many peoples' eyes - add to that the fact that English isn't your first language and you're making it easy for the agent/publisher to toss your work into the trash bin.
instead of taking such an aggressive stance, why not get someone to help work on both your query and your manuscript before you dash off to try and sell it as an e-book? Even as an e-book you're unlikely to make a lot of sales if your first few pages are unreadable by the average person, no matter how pertinent the content may be.
if you don't think enough of your writing to deliver the best product possible to a potential publisher or agent, why do you think they should publish it? It's one thing to correct the odd spelling error, another to have to rewrite the entire manuscript. No matter how "vital" or "important" you feel your book may be.
As I recall, the experiment tanked. Stephen King's ebook tanked. How well do you think Little Bitty Unknown Author's ebook is going to do?aspiringwriter said:
Jamesaritchie said:
Uh... where do I go to buy a bag of rat feces? That has to be better value than a $20 e-book.
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why not try self publishing or print on demand instead of an E-book?
i wouldn't be interested in an e-book, no matter what the subject. the idea turns me off. bogging down my computer .............yucky reading on the screen. I'd rather buy a real book and read it at my leisure, wherever I choose.
try self publishing. But, if you are trying to sell to a professional market, perhaps you can hire an editor to clean up a few errors. Just a thought.
I totally agree that the world of publishing SUCKS .............& I, too, feel that I have an excellent, marketable book that would sell, and have been pulled along by a loser agent who did nothing for me but waste 6 months of my time, and other times I had high hopes .........from agents and/or publishers.
I don't want to die before I see my book in print, I don't want my work wasted either. So, evenutally, I will self publish.
i wouldn't be interested in an e-book, no matter what the subject. the idea turns me off. bogging down my computer .............yucky reading on the screen. I'd rather buy a real book and read it at my leisure, wherever I choose.
try self publishing. But, if you are trying to sell to a professional market, perhaps you can hire an editor to clean up a few errors. Just a thought.
I totally agree that the world of publishing SUCKS .............& I, too, feel that I have an excellent, marketable book that would sell, and have been pulled along by a loser agent who did nothing for me but waste 6 months of my time, and other times I had high hopes .........from agents and/or publishers.
I don't want to die before I see my book in print, I don't want my work wasted either. So, evenutally, I will self publish.
I noticed the monetary symbols in Plix's posts kept changing and I think he/she is selling the e-book for 20 Euros instead of 20 US$. I just checked the exchange rates and 20 Euros is approximately 24 US$, which makes it worse, or better depending on your perspective.
Plix, most ebooks sell for less than 5 US$. If you have managed to sell that many ebooks at such a price, you are either a marketing genius or incredibly lucky or else.... Since you don't seem to know the difference between net and gross, I'm betting on either incredibly lucky or the other.
Plix, most ebooks sell for less than 5 US$. If you have managed to sell that many ebooks at such a price, you are either a marketing genius or incredibly lucky or else.... Since you don't seem to know the difference between net and gross, I'm betting on either incredibly lucky or the other.
Birol: I prefer to see myself as a marketing genius then. But not as big a genius to have a real published book between my hands.
The publishers has until december 2005 and then i'm dumping my new e-book on my own website and sell if for 21,95$
Then we'll just have to see where that takes me. Better than using all my time and hard work as a substitute for toiletpaper don't you think?
The publishers has until december 2005 and then i'm dumping my new e-book on my own website and sell if for 21,95$
Then we'll just have to see where that takes me. Better than using all my time and hard work as a substitute for toiletpaper don't you think?
Plix said:Better than using all my time and hard work as a substitute for toiletpaper don't you think?
Probably a fairly close equivalent, I'd guess.
Jamesaritchie said:
I'm just wondering where you got your numbers from in this post. There are countless stories of publishers that did not publish books that went on to sell well. You don't think there are many books out there that have been rejected that are very very good? Of course there are. Look at the rejection rates of the big publishers and you will see that a 100% chance of being published even for every good book is not likely. The book publishing industry works like any other industry. They have to hear about the work first. This is why agents work well with big houses. These publishers have many good books to pick from, and they can't publish all of them. Also let's not forget that they publish books many times that aren't worth while and that do fail to sell.
I do agree that they are not the bad guys. I think that anyone who is a writer wants to be with a big publishing house sooner or later, of course. That's, in most cases, where you can make a living off your writing and have people read your work. It is not a matter of bad or good, just a matter of how things work. It is very hard to get published, everyone knows this, but it is not impossible.
I don't see anything wrong with going a different route. Publishing an ebook, I do not think will bring lots of money, readers, or fame, but I think it matters much more how you go about using the book you've published.
I think the goal of self publishing should be that you get someone to see the book. Enter your ebook for publishing awards are indy awards. I think you're hoping to show yourself as a good writer. You did not get that affirmation when you published the book, so now you have to get it after you've published. If you can't do that, the book, I think, will never sell. If no one likes it or if you are a bad writer or whatever you'll be weeded out one way or another either by the publishers or by people that read your book. If the book is good you can work to find it a place, but I think selling it yourself is a very difficult long shot. Try to get someone to see it. If you win an award for it and then sell a little it proves to a publishers that you can do it. I'm not an expert by any means. So take my advice as you will.
Remember though many many people are publishing their own books now. I've seen numbers as high as 40% of books are books have a print run less than 100 (I haven't seen many numbers on ebooks). On one hand this sounds great in that you are not alone in publishing your own book. On the other hand many people are now doing it and that makes it even harder for people to see your work.
egem said:
Another reason that many more people may be self-publishing is the technology to do so is more accessible.
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Egam, it's really good to see you in this thread. I think you're going to learn a lot by reading about the experiences people have had with POD and self pub.
Did you check out PODdy Mouth's blog? I really hope you will. She has found good books in the POD world and reviews them. The thing that's most telling about her blog though are the facts about what an uphill battle these really well written POD books have in the market. This post, in particular, is very illuminating: http://girlondemand.blogspot.com/2005/10/shelly-rivoli-discusses-pod-sales.html
but the whole blog is worth your study if you really think POD is for you.
Did you check out PODdy Mouth's blog? I really hope you will. She has found good books in the POD world and reviews them. The thing that's most telling about her blog though are the facts about what an uphill battle these really well written POD books have in the market. This post, in particular, is very illuminating: http://girlondemand.blogspot.com/2005/10/shelly-rivoli-discusses-pod-sales.html
but the whole blog is worth your study if you really think POD is for you.
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egem said:
James can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe he meant a well-written and publishable manuscript has 100% chance of getting published by the first house you send it to. It could be that Random House just published 3 manuscripts of that same type, or that particular editor didn't like what he read.
However, if you have a well-written and publishable manuscript you *will* find a house that will publish it. Maybe not the first one, maybe not the first five, but if it's worth publishing it will find a home.
As a side note, thick skin is a must in this business. Even after your book hits the shelves the work is not over. It's one thing to get a publisher to like it, another to get bookstores to like it, yet another to get reviewers to like it, and yet another to get readers who like it. If you've written something that people want to read, you have a 100% guarantee that you will find success in all those areas. But that still does not mean that 100% of the people in those areas will appreciate your work.
I'm going to openly admit that I'm not a publisher nor have I ever worked at a big house. I have worked with a couple smaller houses, and I'm going to make some assumptions that those with more experience can correct.
Big houses like agents because agents get rid of the manuscripts that are submitted in crayon, or the ones where english clearly wasn't the first language of the author. While every book is a chance and some do better than others, every book is scrutinized for what will be the best chance on that particular market.
Good to see you in another thread, Egam!
Canada James
Canada James said:
James I agree with you 100% on what you are saying about agents. This is sort of where I was going. Yes agents weed out all the bad things, and bring the "good" works to those large houses. I think they are needed and help a great deal. I do not have one, but some day would like to.
On having a 100% chance of getting published I do not agree. I think where we are missing each other's meanings here is in the term "publishable." Here is where I was having problems in the other posts and did not realize it until it was too late (meaning that the flame war that ensued was so hot it burned off my eye lashes and chest hairs). I believe that there are well-written manuscripts out there that fall outside of the "publishable" realm. It depends on how we define publishable. I would guess the term points to the work having some kind of market that will want to read it (this is how I take the term and could be wrong). I think there will be at least two kinds of mss that fall out side of this term. The first is an ms that entertains or informs so few people that it is not worthwhile to a major publisher. The second is a work that those publishers cannot see a market for. The market exists but is unknown.
Throughout history we've seen writers publishing their own works. Whitman did it with the Leaves of Grass. No one liked the book save a few other poets that were willing to see outside of the conventions of the day. Today Leaves of Grass arguable helps define the entire modern age. The book was certainly well-written but it didn't have a market. I'm sure this is happening today somewhere. Technically it is still correct to say that someday the ms will be published. It just might take 60 years give or take 40.
E-books attract young writers
Indranil Chakraborty
Come December 2005, the young and talented writers will be invited to join eAuthor contest by Oxfordbookstore.com. They are the fiction writers whose works have never been published as printed books. This time around, they will get an opportunity to have their works displayed on the internet after the online talent search competition.
“The first three shortlisted fiction by young authors will be put on our website for public reading, besides the cash prize for the best fiction,” says Mona Sengupta, manager —marketing and alliances, Apeejay Oxford Bookstores Pvt Ltd. This is one example of virtual publication which is seriously posing as an alternative to print or offline publication.
Best seller authors like John Grisham have started putting up the first chapter of his new fiction on the internet to entice the readers to buy the print version. Several global internet companies like Google and Amazon plan to offer online versions of various printable contents available in the libraries across the world, besides the existing print version with a price tag to see and download the online version. Recently, Microsoft announced that it would tie up with Open Content Alliance (OCA), that includes Yahoo and University of California and Internet Archive, to develop a MSN Book Search.
One of the earliest initiatives in electronic books was that of Project Gutenberg started by a student of Illinois in July 1971. For him, the goal was to source books whose copyright had expired and make them available free in the virtual world. The first digitised library was developed out of the project Gutenberg and it was also the first internet information site.
According to Marie Lebert’s article on “Michael Hart: Changing the world through e-books”, Michael himself typed in the first hundred books. Now, volunteers across the world have joined the project and a million e-books will be available by 2015. The project has becomeglobal and at the same time country-specific.
“The books are digitised in text format with caps for terms in italic, bold or underlined, so they can be read easily by any machine, operating system or software,” said Ms Lebert. If this is one example of ebooks, the other is the initiatives by Google which is Google Print. Google’s aim is to digitise the content of libraries and develop a database which would be linked to Google search. It plans to make part of the text available to the netizens. In the US, Authors’ Guild and Association of Publishers are opposing Google’s Print program as the both the publishers and authors believe that their could be copyright violation once the texts are available online. Both Microsoft and Yahoo have announced that they will separately fund OCA digitisation and scanning of works available in the public domain. Penguin India president Thomas Abraham thinks that in the Indian market, e-publication of books will be limited to reference materials like dictionary and encyclopedia. At present, Penguin India’s online initiative is limited to promotional activity of sample chapters of forthcoming books.
URL: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_...ntent_id=107225
Indranil Chakraborty
Come December 2005, the young and talented writers will be invited to join eAuthor contest by Oxfordbookstore.com. They are the fiction writers whose works have never been published as printed books. This time around, they will get an opportunity to have their works displayed on the internet after the online talent search competition.
“The first three shortlisted fiction by young authors will be put on our website for public reading, besides the cash prize for the best fiction,” says Mona Sengupta, manager —marketing and alliances, Apeejay Oxford Bookstores Pvt Ltd. This is one example of virtual publication which is seriously posing as an alternative to print or offline publication.
Best seller authors like John Grisham have started putting up the first chapter of his new fiction on the internet to entice the readers to buy the print version. Several global internet companies like Google and Amazon plan to offer online versions of various printable contents available in the libraries across the world, besides the existing print version with a price tag to see and download the online version. Recently, Microsoft announced that it would tie up with Open Content Alliance (OCA), that includes Yahoo and University of California and Internet Archive, to develop a MSN Book Search.
One of the earliest initiatives in electronic books was that of Project Gutenberg started by a student of Illinois in July 1971. For him, the goal was to source books whose copyright had expired and make them available free in the virtual world. The first digitised library was developed out of the project Gutenberg and it was also the first internet information site.
According to Marie Lebert’s article on “Michael Hart: Changing the world through e-books”, Michael himself typed in the first hundred books. Now, volunteers across the world have joined the project and a million e-books will be available by 2015. The project has becomeglobal and at the same time country-specific.
“The books are digitised in text format with caps for terms in italic, bold or underlined, so they can be read easily by any machine, operating system or software,” said Ms Lebert. If this is one example of ebooks, the other is the initiatives by Google which is Google Print. Google’s aim is to digitise the content of libraries and develop a database which would be linked to Google search. It plans to make part of the text available to the netizens. In the US, Authors’ Guild and Association of Publishers are opposing Google’s Print program as the both the publishers and authors believe that their could be copyright violation once the texts are available online. Both Microsoft and Yahoo have announced that they will separately fund OCA digitisation and scanning of works available in the public domain. Penguin India president Thomas Abraham thinks that in the Indian market, e-publication of books will be limited to reference materials like dictionary and encyclopedia. At present, Penguin India’s online initiative is limited to promotional activity of sample chapters of forthcoming books.
URL: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_...ntent_id=107225
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Birol said:
Birol,
Where do you get that figure? The reason I ask is that our distributor has just recommended that we convert some of our print books to ebooks, and suggested that the price should be 15-20% lower than the lowest print price.
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