Tag Archives: ebooks

Dead Tree Books, eBook, Self Publishing, Writing

DRM is for Suckers

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

I recently read a diatribe by an author about how great and wonderful DRM is.  And how it saved the music industry. And how they believe they “added something unique to the market, and I believe I deserve to be paid for my work.” And how ebooks are in decline.  And how “a lack of DRM decimated the music industry.”

Geez.  Some people.

So let’s set the record straight:

“Lack of DRM” had absolutely NOTHING to do with the changes to the music industry.  In fact, having DRM wasn’t even thought of when uncompressed, unencrypted music was being sold for years and years and years in the form of CDs.

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Dead Tree Books, eBook, Writing

eBooks sell better through Apple’s App Store than through iBookstore. Go figure.

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

I had wondered about this for awhile; having an interest in photography, I’ve got a copy of Master Your DSLR Camera.  When I went to the BetterBook site, I noticed that the ebook was available as an app.  It’s an ebook.  It’s for sale on iTunes.  It’s #1 in the iBookstore, but way lower on the app store.  I saw this as probably a failure of Apple; they must have categorized the ebook incorrectly, or the ebook creator had made a mistake with the upload.

Turns out that the publisher – Open Air – is selling 10 to 30 times as many ebooks through the app store as they are through iBookstore.  Being #1 in the iBookstore is 10 sales a day.  Ranking around 7th in the App Store translates to 150 sales a day.

Laura Hazard Owen wrote a piece about this particular book over on PaidContent, titled “Want to publish an ebook for iOS? Surprising tips from iPad publisher Open Air.”

From the article: Continue reading →

Dead Tree Books, eBook, Self Publishing, Success Stories, Writing

From Alli: How Indie Authors Can Get Their Books Stocked in Bookshops

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

ALLi is the Alliance of Independent Authors, the professional association for self-publishing writers.  They host an EXCELLENT self-publishing advice blog HERE.

Roz Morris has posted an article about how she got her book into brick-and-mortar bookstores.  From the article:

Indie author Roz Morris explains how she got her novel stocked by bricks-and-mortar bookstores – and how self-published books meet independent booksellers’ needs.

Like many indie authors, I wasn’t sure I’d ever get my books into shops. I made print editions because it was unthinkable not to, and I did what I could to get widespread distribution. So I was all ready to be stocked… if bookshops knew to look for me. Always the hardest part.

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Dead Tree Books, eBook, Self Publishing, Writing

Forbes: Quick-To-Market Ebooks Now Norm, Not Exception

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Forbes has taken note of how quickly eBooks can rise up the charts, and – as better and better tools become available through places like Vook, Division, and Byliner – we will see books hitting the eShelves as fast as the authors can type them.

In the example cited, it took the author 72 hours to write the eBook, 36 hours to produce it, and less than 24 hours to publish it (between you and me, though, I if he’d REALLY pushed it, he could have had a physical book out through Createspace, too!).

Authors: the world is your oyster.  Get your fingers typing, and use all of the tools in your arsenal to get your work into the hands of your readers.

From the article:

Linsanity, as the craze surrounding him became known, also swept the publishing industry. Half-a-dozen books were scheduled to be published when his compelling story reached national prominence, none more stunning than Linsanity: The Improbable Rise of Jeremy Lin.

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eBook, Self Publishing, Writing

How eBooks Are Fueling Untraditional Sales Outlets

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Jason Illian has posted an article on Good E-Reader about the how eBooks are fueling untraditional sales outlets.  From the article:

Inside of publishing, there is tremendous concern around the declining number of physical bookstores and limited shelf space. And for good reason—authors and publishers want to sell more books. As such, they need visibility and distribution to do so. Bookstores are also communities where readers naturally congregate, discover new books, and connect around content. Without them, publishing is clanking along like a dryer full of army boots.

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