publishers association of los angeles-ebooks and ereading, the changing world of publishing by david...

eBooks and eReading: The Changing World of Publishing

Publishers Association of Los Angeles (PALA)February 15, 2012

David Wogahn, Sellbox.com

David Wogahn | www.sellbox.com [email protected] | 760-942-4227

What is an eBook?

1. Can you read it—without panning & zooming—on amobile device?

2. Can someone buy it fromsome place other thanyour website, i.e. an online retailer?


What is an eReader?

It can be both hardware devices and software


Tablets vs. eReaders

29% of Americans have one or the other (Pew, 1/2012)

Differentiators: Cost, portability, battery life, multimedia, screen type, function

Lines are blurring; what exactly is “reading”? Reading more than ever…but not necessarily

traditional books


ePublishing introduces a new vocabulary & new processes. File formats Developer Conversion Aggregator Distributor

App Enhanced eBook Fixed page layout Page replica layout Side-loading

Publisher, or?: what do you call someone that prepares the eBook and manages distribution.


eBook-buying and reading habits differ from pBook habits…1.Impulse buying2.Collecting3.Grazing4.Multi-format buying


Watchword 1: Quality

Baseline just got lower Trade-off of cost for lower quality Game on

Poor formatting = poor reviews Poor editing = poor reviews Get enough = take-down

Is the public willing to pay for quality?


Watchword 2: Barnes & Noble Industry support Smart CEO Smart-money backers Physical scale 25% eBook market share: Really? Strategic acquisition candidate

Can (should) B&N survive as an independent company?


Watchword 3: Pottermore.com Who doesn’t want to sell direct and keep 100%? A few challenges:

Training readers to side-load Teaching them about eBook back-up (highlights &

notes) They’ll need to give up syncing too Marketing to readers

Will Pottermore spell the end of DRM?


Watchword 4: Apps as Books iBook Author Apps vs. Enhanced eBooks Replacing the Table of Contents and Index Can publishers and book designers compete with

software companies and website developers? UX/UI


Readers: choose your silo!

ePub


Questions I ask

1. What are the design requirements? Media elements Informational Creative

2. How close does the current formatting come to these requirements?

3. Where do you want to sell it?


eBook Publishing

Five Steps:1. Design2. Format3. Convert4. Quality Control5. Distribute

(Resource: kdp.amazon.com)


Design

Ideal: narrative text and headings Challenges:

Sidebars Outline and poetry layouts Indexes Video, audio, animation Navigation

eBook design still involves some compromises


Formatting

Use stylesheets Be consistent Read the Smashwords style guide

A complex design may require knowledge of HTML to implement.


Conversion: Amazon and B&N Word (.doc or .docx) [B&N] ePub (.epub) [B&N] Plain Text (.txt) [B&N] Mobipocket (.mobi or .prc) HTML (.zip, .htm, or .html) [B&N] Adobe PDF (.pdf) Rich Text Format (.rtf) [B&N]


Conversion Resources

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP): kdp.amazon.com CreateSpace (Amazon POD printer) Amazon has a list on their KDP site Barnes & Noble Nook: www.pubit.com Calibre: http://calibre-ebook.com/ Smashwords (also has a list of resources) Various distributors also offer these services… Do a search!


Quality Assurance & Control

Inspect the front matter for accuracy Check line spacing, indents and justification Click the menu button, do all options work? Test any hyperlinks to Web sites Check images Use Kindle Previewer Validate ePub files:

http://code.google.com/p/epubcheck/

Alas, not all eReaders display the same


3 Big Decisions


Distribution

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Barnes & Noble (Pubit) BookRix, Bookbaby, eBookit, Fastpencil, Lulu,

Smashwords, MintRight, LibreDigital, INscribe Digital

Small publishers must go through an aggregator to be placed in the Apple and Sony stores.


Reality check: Distribution vs. Sales

Through which channels are youreBooks distributed?

Which channel produces the largestpercentage of your eBook sales?

Aptara, 3rd Annual eBook Survey of Publishers-Spring 2011


Importance of Future Proofing Compatibility Color images 300 dpi resolution


Marketing

Buddy-up with other author/publishers Building addressable connections Multiple titles Thorough metadata Get reviews Be public!


Good editing and writing extends to metadata—and be consistentSearchResults

Titles &Descriptions

Press ReleaseBoilerplate


If anyone can publish a book how do you judge quality? 1. Download a sample.2. Read the reviews.3. Check out the social reading websites4. Who is the publisher? (Check their other books)5. Does the cover look professional?6. Is there an editor referenced in the credits?7. Has the author written other books?8. Is there a print edition?9. Does it appear on any ‘best-seller’ lists.10. Still undecided? Buy and return it for a refund if

necessary.


Russell Grandinetti, VP Kindle Content, Amazon.com:

760-942-4227 | www.sellbox.com

David Wogahn | [email protected]

“The only really necessary people in the publishing process now are the writer and reader.

Everyone who stands between those two has both risk and opportunity.”

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