Cohost of the TransMissions Podcast. Writer, Blogger, Musician.
August 26th through the 28th Hannah, Lyle, and myself where at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Seattle. We all had a really great time and are already talking about going again next year.
Some of the highlights of our trip for us where:
Why write an ebook? Why not? We live in a wonderful time where we as individuals can self publish our own work and make money at it. It’s never been easier or more cost affective to take something you have created and put it out their for the masses.
At the very least writing an ebook is going to require time. Time for you to write your ebook, edit it, and format it for an ebook reader. Things like cover art can be done through an ebook sell, such as Amazon.com, for free. A lot of the effort of creating an ebook has been made easy for you, the writer, by removing a lot of the stress, time, and waiting that one would normally experience going through a traditional publisher.
At most an ebook is going to cost you time and money. The time to write your ebook, the money it costs to have it edited by a professional editor, the money it costs to have someone professionally design your own cover art. It all depends on how far you want to take it.
I have been documenting my experiences of writing and self publishing. I hope to share my experiences with you in this and future blog posts. Hopefully answering any questions you might have about the process so you do not have to hunt around digging for answers much like I have had to do.
When I say self publish an eBook I am also talking about self publishing a physical book. Companies like Amazon.com offer people a way to sell their self published books on the Kindle eBook reader. They also offer people a Pint On Demand (POD) option which means when someone buys a physical copy of your book, one is created as needed to complete the sale. In almost the same way you can upload your book so it can be sold for eBook readers, you can also upload your book so a physical copy can be sold and not cost you a dime.
In both the eBook and POD options you have the choice to set the price of your book which allows you to determine how much commission you will make for each book’s sale. Wether it be an ebook or a POD book. Isn’t living in the future cool?
Recently sales figures show that eBook copies have been out selling physical copies of the same books. This means that people who are buying books are choosing to buy electronic versions. This could be for any number of reasons. Perhaps its because they don’t have to carry around heavy books anymore. Maybe its because of the ease in which you can purchase an eBook. Or still it could be because eBooks tend to cost less than physical books. Whatever the reason may be, its clear that people are making the shift from paper books to eInk eBooks.
Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than paperback books. Since the beginning of the year, for every 100 paperback books Amazon has sold, the company has sold 115 Kindle books. Additionally, during this same time period the company has sold three times as many Kindle books as hardcover books.”This is across Amazon.com’s entire US book business and includes sales of books where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the numbers even higher.
For anyone who has not yet read on an eBook device like the Amazon Kindle, I can honestly say from my own experience that reading on such a device has been a great experience. Its like staring at a piece of paper. I have never once experience eye strain from reading on an eBook device. The technology is sound and proven.
Creating something and getting paid for it has never been easier. In fact I think the hardest part is just creating. Give yourself some time each day. Even if it is just a couple of minutes and write, photograph, or create. Whatever it is. Just create!
My wife and I play this little game whenever we go out called the ‘License Plate Punch’ game. I am sure this game goes by other names through out the verse, but this is what we call it here. I think I started playing it with her shortly after moving to Alaska. I remember seeing a Hawaiian license plate in town and thinking to myself that getting a car from Hawaii to Juneau can’t be the easiest thing in the world to do. I was reminded of playing the ‘License Plate Punch’ game with my friends back in Washington state so when I saw it I reached over and punched my wife on the shoulder. It was not a hard punch mind you. Not the kind that Ralph Kramden would threaten Alice with that would send her to the moon. No, this was more of a tap on the shoulder than punch.
My wife quickly picked up on the simple rules. You see an out of state license plate while driving around and you gently punch the person next to you.
That was all fine and good, but now the problem is my wife keeps making additions to the rules without telling me. Its become a game for me just to figure out what these new rules are since the only way I find out about them is by getting punched. Just recently I learned that I can get punched via cell phone text message. Who knew?
I have figured out some of these new rules. They are:
Simon & Schuster just signed a deal with John Locke, the first self published author to ever sell a million eBooks. I have been reading more and more about self published authors who are being signed to publishing houses. What makes the deal with John Locke so unique is that he gets to retain all of his eRights. That is unheard of. Simon & Schuster wont get one cent for any sale of his eBooks. John Locke gets to keep it all for himself.
When an author publishes an eBook and sells it through and online service like Amazon.com they normally get to keep 70% of each sale. When an author sells an eBook through a normal publishing house like Simon & Schuster it is considerably less. I am just floored that any publishing house would sign and author and not retain the eRights like that.
I can’t help but wonder what these means to the Publishing industry. Is this the first nail in the coffin for publishing houses? Will big name authors start demanding eRights to their own content? It is going to be really interesting to watch what unfolds.
I am so excited to tell the world today that my first book ‘All That Matters‘, is now available for the Amazon Kindle (US, UK, DE) e-book reader. The book is free of all DRM and only costs $0.99!
‘All That Matters’ has been the result of ten months of hard, but incredibly fun and creative work. Staring late last September I wrote multiple drafts of the story to get the right flow and timing down. Hired a proofreader to go through the book and make sure all the ‘I’ where dotted and ‘t’ were crossed. Gave out several copies of the book to willing readers to make sure it was an enjoyable story. Formatted the book for various e-book readers. Designed a book cover. And created a website for the book at www.AllThatMattersTheBook.com. There anyone can learn more about the book and download the first three chapters for free!
I have a little bit more work to do before the book will be available for the Barnes & Noble Nook, or from Apple’s iBooks store and others ebook retailers, but I will make an announcement the moment they are available.
‘All That Matters’ also has a listing on GoodReads.com which is a great website for people who like to read books, track the books they read with their friends, and follow authors. Think of it like Google+, only for books. So please be sure to check it out along with my GoodReads.com author page and Amazon Author page.