Today, more than every before, authors are presented with publishing opportunities that have never existed before. This is not to understate the hard work that authors have to go through to get recognition, write great books, and make a full time living from their passion of expression. However, it is to say that today, due to advances in communications technology, authors can now get their books distributed much easier than they could a decade ago. One very popular way that authors are distributing their work is digitally through e-books. Digital books are gaining so much popularity that even some of the most popular authors in the world have used it to distribute their books. Stephen King, for example, published “Riding the Bullet” exclusively in e-book format. When this e-book began distribution over Barns and Nobel and Amazon.com, there was so much demand for the download that the servers of these two book giants slowed down almost to a halt. People that wanted to download the e-book were put in a large queue with the hundreds of thousands of other who downloaded the e-book as well.
It’s not only big name authors that are finding success in e-books. We at E-Book Architect have been helping authors create, market and sell their e-books online for years now with great success. Many of these people are first time authors and are often amazed with the success of their e-book sales. Below are some of their e-book writing tips.
Don’t underestimate the power of the E-Book
E-Books are still looked upon as unpopular by many authors who have not yet taken the time to learn about the success within this industry. For example, while the traditional publishing industry growing at the sluggish rate of 5% a year, the digital publishing industry is growing at rates between 30% -50%. This means that the opportunities within the publishing industry are growing at a fraction of the rate that opportunities within the digital publishing industry are growing.
To set up an e-book, you don’t need to be a tech wizard
Setting up your e-book from the idea conceptualization stage to the selling stage can’t be completed overnight, but it is definitely something that can be done by anyone, regardless of your technological background. If you can use a word processor, then you can create and sell an e-book online. While it is recommended you set up your own website, it is not necessary. There are outlets such as amazon.com, to name only a few sites, that allow you to post your e-book on their servers.
Setting up an E-Book site is virtually cost less, and you keep 100% of the profits
With traditional publishers, you’ll be lucky to see 10% of the profits from your book. With e-books, however, you keep 100% of the profits minus the fees required to set up the site, which are minimal. Here is the fee breakdown for e-books vs traditional books
E-Book vs Book cost
E-Book = Free to create an unlimited number of copies
Book = Approximately $1500 for 200 copies of a 200-page soft cover book
Rights and profit
E-Book = You keep 100% of the profits and rights to your e-books
Book = You get 10-40% royalty (usually about $2-$5/ book)
With the above examples, it is easy to see that for first time authors, e-books make a lot of sense. The risk associated with publishing an e-book is much lower than it is with distributing a soft or hard cover book. Likewise, as an e-book author, you’ll keep virtually all of your own profits.
If nothing else, it is something worth consideration. E-Books may not replace traditional paperback books, but they certainly are gaining popularity at a rate that should make all authors stop to think about how they could use e-books to their advantage.
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