Just curious. Are writers here pursuing the growing ebook route ? Kindle etc. There are quite a few folks over at kindleboards - the writers cafe section - that seem to be going well, selling enough books to actually support themselves from their writing. You have to pick the genre though. Most popular seem to be Thrillers, Romance & Erotica, and Vampire stories (will they never die ?)
I'm not entirely sure how it works. I figured it was just a different medium that publishers would choose to sell through, a bit like music on ITunes, and that we authors wouldn't have much to do with that process (unless of course you're referring to self-publishers.) That's why the Kindle phenomenon scares me a bit, as digital books being passed seems like an easy target for the pirating industry.
yes it's self publishing yes it's self publishing - and self promoting. But worth a look. Once a writer has a fan base, they can ease up on the promoting part, but not altogether. Ebooks on kindle, commonly sell between $1.00 and $3.00. One successful author who started maybe 2 years ago, has sold 170,000 books in the last 6 months. Others sell 500 to 5000 books per month. Some are good writers. For some it is a pathway to regular publishing, after they have built a fan base. But many indies now say the prefer the greater control of being an indie.
Both ebooks and paper books can be "traditionally" published, meaning published by a traditional publisher, or self published. The format doesn't determine that--there are plenty of ebooks being released by traditional publishers, though I believe that those publishers generally also release a paper version. ChickenFreak
Not alway - Romance and Erotica is probably the biggest genre on ebooks - it has been pursuing it a lot longer. They will publish a lot just as ebooks. I know several people that are traditionally published but only to ebook.
Piracy is unavoidable. I mean, as far as big publishing houses are concerned, using libraries is just publicly-sanctioned piracy. Harper Collins just forced its ebook distributor to restrict libraries to 26 'checkouts' of each ebook, and other publishers take similar positions with DRM. Really, piracy for ebooks is not a huge problem, at least not at the moment, and especially not for amateur writers. The main targets of piracy are textbooks and huge international bestsellers. So fear of piracy is an insane reason to avoid epublishing.
Agreed. Piracy is (at the moment) something of a non-issue in writing. It does happen, not not any scale. And now that I think about it, it probably isn't any worse from a writer's/publisher's point of view than people buying books from second hand stores.
I am in the last chapter or two of my first book. I am writing it with Scrivener and I have my cover designed and ready. I have no intention of going anywhere near a traditional publisher where I will have to sign a contract, get paid a pittance and lose control over my writing. Scrivener will output an ePub file for me, and I will be self publishing on Amazon in the coming month. Make sure you read a selection of good web sites such as: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/ http://www.thepassivevoice.com/
I published my first novel to an eBook and it should be available in paperback through CreateSpace within the week. I don't regret it one bit. I like have control over my writing and I have a couple of author friends who went the traditional publishing route and switched to self-publishing because they enjoy the extra control and make more money as well.
No. They're vampires. This is why I don't write comedy. But yes, you are correct in that picking a specific genre will help greatly. You may not have a shot at making Amazon's #1 in Romance, but in Christian Young Adult Romance? Much more likely. And that means something, believe it or not. Popularity within a specific category can do a lot for you. Pick a specific category and own it. Then branch out after you have built a fanbase.
I don't know what you mean by commonly. Yes many are in that price range but far more are in the $4-$8 range, with the trad publishers much higher still.
yes, and no. Amazon does have digital right management on the books, if you want it. (It scrambles the words if you try to copy and paste.) And it's no small task to 'share' a Kindle book. It's practically impossible to make two copies of the thing, but you can have your copy on both your computer an your phone. But Kindle/Amazon is not about one book; it's about building series and fan bases. Once you have those in place, you don't' have to worry about Piracy. People who were actually planning to buy your books don't pirate. Those others are not your market.
That doesn't contradict what ChickenFreak said. Ebooks are a format, used by both trade and self-publishers. Some publishers only do ebooks; others do both, as well as audio books, large print, etc. The point is not to confuse the format with the method.
To the people that know what they're doing, ripping out the DRM couldn't be easier. It's really no difficulty to the educated pirate.
DRM is an abomination. I use Calibre to manage my eBooks and Kindle and I apply the same process to every eBook I buy: - Purchase - Download - Strip DRM - Make Backups copies to computer and cloud It all takes less than five minutes with no special knowledge required. When I buy a book, I consider it my property.
