Curiosity: E-publishers...

[Quiet_Cool]

I opened RogueLurker's thread about Mardi Gras Publishing and it brought about curiosity as to the nature of e-publishing.

To those who've tried it, or even just heard some things, what's the overall deal?

Is it anything like regular publishing? Is the standard of quality an equal, or lesser? Does it pay well, or at all?

What's the skinny about e-publishing?

Q_C

 

[rgraham666]

It's been a boon for me.

Most of the stuff I write is unlikely to be accepted by a regular publisher. I don't write novels and that's what print publishers demand.

The quality varies from publisher to publisher. Mine, Phaze and Aspen Mountain Press seem to be pretty good.

It does pay but I can't currently make a living at it.

The best thing for me is that it all takes place on line. Face to face meetings aren't something I handle well.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

In the world of publishing you have Book Publisher, E Publishers and Self Publishing Companies.

Generally, the Book Publishers do not want or will even concider Erotica (there are a couple of small presses that are the exception). The book publishers want Mainstream Novels, Non-Fiction and Historic Fiction. There are a few who want Romance (non-erotic). The biggest market in the large Book Publishers seems to be Non-Fiction and How-To Books, actually.

There are becoming fewer independant Book Publishers. It looks like the biggest four or five are buying out most of their competition and taking them in as part of their own empires. These guys dominate about 80% of the market. With only a few exceptions, they are very hard to get into as an unpublished writer. Most requre an agent (that's another hurdle that about a mile high). However, the Book publishers do pay all the upfront publishing costs and market your book for you.

Self-Publishers mean they take your book, you pay them for the editing, art work, typesetting and printing and binding costs. Then the books are yours. Where you going to sell them? They don't market them.

E-Publishers are the easiest place to get your work accepted. Many of them publish erotica, some do novels. Like Book Publishers, they pay for the editing, Art Work etc. and market your book.

Pay wise, Print Books are by far the largest market. As a writer you will earn a royalty of between 5 and 15% of sales. You may even get a check up front of $5000 to $15000.

With E-publishers there won't be any advance, but your royalty will be 40% to 50% of the gross sales. That sounds good, but the size of the market at this point is very small compared to Book Publishers.

Be careful. There are sleezy operators in all the three types of publishers. Before you give a publisher the go-ahead, read your contract.

Look for -
Who pays for what?

Are there income guarantees?

Are there Advances? If so how are the paid back from your royalties? All at once or over time?

What do you have to do to promote your book?

How are your royalties paid? Monthly, Quarterly? Annually?

What is the length of the contract?

What about foreign markets?

What about film rites?

The list goes on.

 

[English Lady]

A good link for anyone looking into publishing :

http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/pebp.htm

It lists publishers and if they are any good or if there have been problems with them.

Online publishing is great, there is money to be made but it takes time. You're not going to make a living from selling one short story online but get together a number of ebooks and the amount begins to pile up. I've got nothing but praise for my current publisher, Phaze but I am sending stuff out to other publishers now, simply to get more of my stories out there.

 

[rengadeirishman]

A good link for anyone looking into publishing :

http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/pebp.htm

It lists publishers and if they are any good or if there have been problems with them.

Online publishing is great, there is money to be made but it takes time. You're not going to make a living from selling one short story online but get together a number of ebooks and the amount begins to pile up. I've got nothing but praise for my current publisher, Phaze but I am sending stuff out to other publishers now, simply to get more of my stories out there.

quite helpful, im currently writing a fantasy novel so this was well timed.

 

[impressive]

Jenny's got a good handle on the business, but keep in mind that there's some crossover.

Many e-publishers also do print. Some do a lot of it (Ellora's Cave, Samhain).

Some require your book to meet a sales benchmark electronically before it's taken to print (Phaze, for example). That benchmark is usually the point at which the book has made enough money for the publisher to cover the overhead costs of its publication, both digitally and in print (i.e., editing, cover art, distribution/upload fees, ISBN, etc.).

Still others (WCP, for one) charge the author a flat fee to go to print. This inspires some heated debate amongst authors & publishers, for it is considered "subsidy publishing," and lots of people look down their noses as it (just as lots of people look down their noses at e-publishing). Interestingly, this is a point I negotiated out of the Coming Together contracts with Charles River Press. The original contract said the books could be taken to print if I paid $100 each. I suggested that a sales benchmark be used instead, and the publisher agreed.

The royalty rate is, as Jenny noted, much higher in e-publishing (because the overhead is lower). When (not IF, WHEN) sales start to rival print, it will be easier to make a living strictly in e-publishing. And, ebook sales ARE on the rise. A publishing industry report from last spring showed the ebook sector as the only one experiencing growth. It's just got a long way to go. Improvements in e-readers, environmental concerns with dead-tree books, and the vast difference in the amount of physical storage space involved will all contribute.

As Rob said, it's a great venue for shorter works. No print publisher is going to take a 30K word novella to print (outside of an anthology) because it would take too long to break even -- and print shelves have limited space. (Whereas the shelf life of an ebook is unlimited.) If part of an anthology, royalties are split amongst the authors.

Right now, e-publishing doesn't get enough respect. There are a lot of start-ups trying to find a niche, and there's an element of natural selection. The healthy ones will survive ... and the smart ones will thrive.