May 17

What does a book distributor look like?

Distribution, Retail, Sales No Comments »

The ABA (general market booksellers and publishers) has long embraced the distributor as an important way to supply books to the bookstore market. Some of the leading players in this sector include Publisher Group West (PGW), National Book Network (NBN), and MidPoint. Publishers large and small are using these ‘consolidators’ to sell and distribute their books.

Consolidation can eliminate overhead

This phenomenon is increasing for three reasons:

  1. Retailers want to use fewer vendors, not more.
  2. Retailers are free to spend more time with their own customers rather than more time receiving product, paying invoices, and processing returns.
  3. Publishers can consolidate their sales and distribution to drive costs from their own supply chain management.

stock.xchng item 97581645

The CBA (Christian market booksellers and publishers) has been slower to see the benefits of the distributor as a long-term solution although there have been spurts of activity in the past. In more recent years Send The Light/Advocate Distribution Solutions has become an important vendor of this supply chain solution.

Wholesale replenishment business is key to a healthy retail business. Leonard Shatzkin, in his excellent book, The Mathematics of Bookselling (Sun River Press), shares his own research of booksellers who buy into the wholesale replenishment model and see their turns go from two or three times to six or more times per year. The result is a healthier business with more choices for customers, more staff time devoted to helping the customer find what they want/need, and more cash flow.

Shatzkin spends considerable time talking about the importance of inventory and the importance of measuring how quickly a store can turn the inventory dollars on the shelves into cash flow for increased investment opportunities. He says that inventory in the average store represents more than 65% of the store’s investment, or more than four times more than any other investment a store makes. It makes sense to maximize the turns by using the supply chain to do so.

The new paradigm combines wholesale replenishment with publisher distribution. This concept brings the best of both worlds to retail – selection, speed and service – along with discounts and freight options, all combined in an easy, one-source solution. Retailers can conveniently place one order with one supplier, receive one shipment and one invoice, and are provide one address for returns. Retailers can order many types of products including products from the largest publishers in the industry at competitive wholesale discounts along with some products at publisher discounts, while always receiving the maximum discount by publisher or manufacturer. Finally, the entire order combines to give the retailer the best deal on freight and payment terms.

Send The Light (STL) Distribution offers both the wholesale model and the distributor model in one-source to retailers. Some distributors offer only a handful of publishers in one box, which doesn’t allow booksellers to conduct supply-chain management across the wide range of products they need to source. In addition, other wholesalers offer order consolidation, but don’t offer replenishment on the wide range of product that retailers need (i.e., gifts, remainders, homeschool products, etc.). And most wholesalers will go to great lengths to match discounts offered by other wholesalers.

In the end, the difference will be the best combination of selection, service and speed. For authors and publishers, this is an important part of the supply chain management strategy that needs to be deployed to help booksellers be more profitable with your books.

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May 03

Ten tips for marketing and selling your book on Facebook

Marketing, Sales No Comments »

Although I am not a writer, I have talked to a lot of writers/authors and publishers about tips for using social media to promote and sell your book. Here are the ten best tips that I have heard.

  1. Use a program like Hootsuite to organize your Facebook posts (and Tweets) so that you can not only make sure that you are consistent about posting, but so that you can do the work all at once and ‘set it and forget it’ if you need to. This will allow your daily interaction to be responding to your fans and engaging them, rather than posting.
  2. Build a fan page on Facebook where you can strategically build a relationship with your fans.
  3. Use Twitter to push people to your Facebook page or a specific promotion for your book.
  4. Use your book cover(s) as part of your profile pictures at the top of your Facebook fan page.
  5. If you want to engage your fans, ask questions to get them talking and interacting. Ask their opinion about topics, plots, characters, etc.
  6. Give away free content. If you are a non fiction writer, and you have key information for your audience that may or may not be in your book, give some of it away. This can be a daily tip, devotion, thought-of-the-day, etc. If you are a fiction writer, share ‘insider’ information about your characters in your posts. Give readers something extra that they might not get from your books alone. I have even heard of authors posting as their book’s characters and building a relationship with readers that way.
  7. Use Facebook advertising to increase the LIKES on your Facebook fan page. This is an easy way to find the niche market that you have written for, or fans of other authors similar to you. Facebook has some great tools to allow you to narrow your target advertising and build your followers fast and relatively inexpensively.
  8. Share a link for your fans to buy your book on your Facebook page. You may have your own website with a store, or you may want to send your customers to another on-line retailer.
  9. If you work with Snowfall Press, you can utilize the Snowfall Facebook App that will automatically install a bookstore on your Facebook fan page, and allow you to sell your book through a PayPal check out system, where the book order will be printed-on-demand and drop shipped directly to your customer. This minimizes your risk, and is one of the only directly sales options available for books on Facebook.
  10. Experiment! New ideas and tools are being created all the time. The most important thing is to do it. It is easy to plan or procrastinate. Quoting our iconic modern philosopher NIKE, ‘Just Do It.’

If you are an author, what other tips would you suggest? Or, what Facebook marketing ideas have you seen work really well, even with other products?

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Apr 26

Our 100th post!

Uncategorized No Comments »

Thank you for being a part of the past 100 posts. It is our desire to bring you relevant and engaging information from the world of publishing and print-on-demand. We would love to hear from you! As we move into our next 100 posts, what topics would you like to see addressed? What information can we share with you? How do we serve you better – with more relevant information?

Feel free to respond at the bottom of this post, or simply drop me an email.

Dave Sheets, VP of Sales

Snowfall Press

 

Apr 24

What kinds of distributors are there?

Distribution No Comments »

In my last post, I talked about distribution being an equalizer in the publishing industry.

In the CBA (Christian Booksellers Association/ and publishers) market, the terms ‘distribution’ and ‘wholesaling’ are used interchangeably to describe a supplier, or middleman, who buys books from publishers and manufacturers and then resells them to retailers. And while the supply-chain function of the distributor and wholesaler are similar, there are some important differences suppliers need to know to make their businesses more profitable.

Wholesalers bridge the gap in the supply chain between the supplier and the retailer. Wholesalers provide a service for retailers. The strengths of the wholesale model are the tens of thousands of titles that can be purchased from one source, in one box, on one invoice – many times shipping with free freight. The most important factors in determining whether to use a wholesaler or which wholesaler to use are:

  • Selection (or fill rate – plenty of titles to draw from and the inventory available to fill them)
  • Speed (how fast you can get your selection form order time – wholesalers average 2-3 days, publishers 7-10 days)
  • Service (low minimum orders to qualify for free freight)

Distributors provide an additional important service to the industry by representing product lines. Here are some benefits to look for with a distributor, or company that handles a publisher’s third party logistics (3PL):

  • Distributors take publishers’ and manufacturers’ product lines and combine them with the best services of a wholesaler. (speed, selection and service)
  • Discount (all of the above at a publisher discount)
  • Direct representation (may include a sales team calling on retail clients)

Both types of supply chain companies are important to a supplier’s success. Suppliers/publishers need to consider the costs of trying to do their own distribution and juggling all that it entails, against the benefits of partnering with professional distribution companies. Sometimes, you can find both a wholesaler and a distributor under the same roof, which can be a huge benefit.

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Apr 19

I want distribution, now what?

Distribution No Comments »

What does distribution really mean? In traditional publishing, the larger publishers do their own distribution to multiple sales channels, usually from a warehouse that they control. Smaller publishers may use a smaller warehouse combined with a contract distribution facility.

Distribution can be a great equalizer. The larger publishers have direct distribution relationships with retailers, where they ship directly from their own warehouses to a retailer. This works well if the publisher has a large list to present, or well known, best-selling authors. The retailers feel like they don’t have a choice, but to order direct for the extra discount that they perceive as more important than broader product breadth.

The large publishers also use wholesalers to ensure that their retail partners can get rapid replenishment on titles, and to stock the ‘long tail’ product where a store may only want 3-4 units per year.

A small or micro publisher can usually get access to a wholesaler like Ingram or STL Distribution, but this doesn’t mean they are being ‘distributed’. This simply means that a book might be sitting on a distribution shelf, and listed in the database. Many times, it means that the major retailers have the title listed on their own databases and can order the title, even if they don’t have it in stock. But the book has never been ‘distributed’ so that the end consumer can find it at a retailer and buy it.

I spent two years as the Senior Vice President of STL Distribution, the largest Christian book wholesaler and 3PL (third party logistics or contract distribution) distributor in the country, if not the world. At the time, they had a huge European operation that has since been sold. STLD purchased FaithWorks in 2005, which at the time, was one of the first Christian 3PL distributors in the industry. This is the model that helps the small publisher get closer to the true distribution.

Successful 3PL operations have true sales and marketing components and represent the services that most large publishers have internally. I know the team at Advocate Distribution Solutions (the 3PL division of STL Distribution) pretty well. I hired some of them. If you think that is a fit for you, let me know and I will make an introduction.

In my next post, I will talk about the differences between wholesale distribution and contract distribution. Each is a good model, but built for different purposes. But, they both become really powerful when combined in the same box, which is what STL Distribution is doing.

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Apr 11

Book math with Phil and Turner

Distribution No Comments »

I recently wrote a couple of blog posts about the mathematics of bookselling, using a book by Leonard Shatzkin as the basis for the different purchasing philosophies that book buyers must use.

While I was at STL Distribution, we ran an marketing campaign around this same idea, and I just found the video that we produced. Enjoy.

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Mar 29

Understanding ISBNs: myth vs. reality

publishing No Comments »

One of the most confusing items in the publisher toolkit is the ISBN. It really shouldn’t be confusing considering it is just a number, but as I talk with publishers and read the online forums, it is apparent that there is a lot of misinformation out there.

For some, you may not know what an ISBN is. According to Wikipedia, an “International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created…for the booksellers and stationers W. H. Smith and others in 1966.The 10-digit ISBN format was developed…[and] since 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits…”

This topic comes up in a conversation every week with publishers and authors and I needed to make sure that I understood all of the angles, in order to help our clients. I did a bit of investigation and interviewed a couple experts in the industry in order to help clear up some of the questions surrounding this tool.

I interviewed Brian Flagler, who is the Managing Partner at Flagler Law Group, and is an expert in intellectual property rights and publishing law. I have known Brian for a number of years and have always found his answers to provide clarity on issues like this.

SFP: Does an ISBN need to be used on every book or eBook?

BF: If an author/publisher wants to self publish, they don’t need an ISBN to sell a book unless they want to sell through retail outlets. This number is the tracking mechanism, the standard uniform identifier, for retailers, distributors and publishers in the supply chain.

SFP: Is there a connection between the copyright (ownership) of the book and the ISBN?

BF: There is no legal connection between a book’s ISBN and ownership of copyright to that book. The ISBN is registered to a publisher, but that doesn’t affect ownership of copyright. However, if an ISBN is registered to publisher A, and publisher B uses the number, publisher A should realize there is a potential legal risk if the ISBN remains registered to publisher A.   Under U.S. law, the author and the publisher of a book are each held independently liable for the content published. To the outside world, the book appears to be published by publisher A, even though the content is owned by publisher B. If there is a problem with the content (plagiarized information, libelous content, etc.), the publisher of record for the ISBN (publisher A) might be named in a lawsuit involving the content. This is a risk inherent in assigning an ISBN to another party.

It is not unlike selling a car from one party to the next. Owner A has a car it sells to owner B. Owner A is wise to sign over the bill of sale that the car will be registered to owner B so that owner A can prove the car was not his when/if it is used in a crime or is involved in an accident. The liability for the car needs to go to the new owner.

In publishing, the copyright holder should want to communicate to the world that they own the book and content, so there is NO question of ownership or liability.

SFP: Does every new edition need to have an ISBN?

BF: The generally accepted practice in the industry is to issue a separate ISBN for eBooks, but not for every type of eBook. Other iterations of the content, like audio books, would need a separate ISBN too. With pBooks, a new ISBN would be issued if new content was added to the book. Books with new covers don’t necessarily need new ISBNs and some sales strategies suggest that for sales reporting, the same ISBN is important to keep adding to the same sales reporting history. This can create operational challenges with returns if the new book uses the same ISBN, because a publisher can’t identify the old book from the new book, which makes it hard to set clearance pricing and clear old stock.

A second strategy suggests reintroducing a book with a new ISBN allows a publisher to sell it as a new product, with new promotion. Retailers are hesitant to promote backlist titles, but are more likely to advertise and promote a ‘new’ frontlist book that doesn’t have a negative sales history.

I also had the privilege of interviewing Beat (“Bay-Yacht”) Barblan, Director of Identifier Services with Bowker. R.R. Bowker LLC (“Bowker”) is the exclusive ISBN Registration Agency for the United States.

SFP: There is chatter in the industry about ISBNs being available on eBay and through other sources who ‘sell’ them as part of their services. Can ISBNs be sold?

BB: ISBNs cannot be resold, they can only be assigned. We (Bowker) have channel partner agreements with other organizations that offer an ISBN assignment service on behalf of their customers. In essence, they collect the information from their customers and forward it to us. We then assign the ISBNs and register the information in the Books in Print database. ISBNs may not be purchased for the sole purpose of reselling.

SFP: How do other channel partners get away with charging for the ISBN (assuming they aren’t ‘selling’ it)? Are they allowed to charge for the reassignment ‘service’?

BB: Official channel partners don’t actually “charge” for the ISBN, although the wording on their website at times is unclear (we are working with a number of them to remedy this). They can charge for their services, and the ISBN assignment is part of that.

SFP: What would you say to a publisher who finds a third party who has an ISBN for sale?

BB: I would recommend caution. ISBNs are not for sale and we’ve had complaints from authors/publishers who have “bought” ISBNs from third parties only to find out later that the third party, not they, was listed as the publisher on the ISBN. I would also point out that the perceived savings are at times exaggerated by third parties. The seller might quote that official ISBNs cost $125, price for a single ISBN, neglecting to point out that even with a purchase of only 10 ISBNs, the price goes down to $25 per ISBN; and 100 ISBNs can be purchase for $5.75 each. Since most titles are published in at least two if not more formats, the 10-ISBN “package” is the one most commonly purchased, reducing the cost to $25 per title. Buying an ISBN from the official US ISBN Agency, ensures that the author/publisher is listed as the Publisher and that there are no hidden strings attached to the purchase.

According to the terms and conditions at Bowker’s website, there are four terms that a purchaser has to agree with:

  1. Registrant hereby certifies that it is a publisher. A publisher is a person or firm whose business is the publishing of books or other publications to which an ISBN can be assigned, and includes e-book publishers, audio cassette and video producers, software producers and museums and associations with publishing programs.
  2. Registrant will only assign ISBNs to publications to which it holds publishing rights.
  3. Registrant will not sell, license, distribute, disseminate, assign or otherwise make its assigned ISBN prefix and ISBNs available to other publishers or to any third parties.
  4. Registrant agrees to follow the International ISBN Standards for use of ISBNs.

The best bet seems to be – follow the rules and buy your ISBNs from Bowker, or from an official Bowker channel partner who will assign the ISBN to you. It is clear that a publisher needs to have the ISBN registered in their own company name to avoid problems in the future.

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Mar 26

Start up publishing model – building for the future.

Marketing, publishing, Retail, Uncategorized No Comments »

This is an interview with Les Bradford and Andy Blanks, Co-Founders and Publishers at youthministry360. Both Les and Andy have years of youth ministry and product development between them.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your organization?

A: youthministry360 is a Christian publishing company that produces a variety of Bible study curriculum for churches. We also focus on training and community building through a daily blog and social media initiatives.

Q: How did you learn about Snowfall Press?

A: We had a pre-existing relationship with Snowfall’s Vice President of Sales, Dave Sheets, through previous experiences in publishing. We heard Dave talk about Snowfall for a couple of years before the right project came along to take the plunge with.

Q: What sort of publishing model do you use?

A: At the time of writing this, we’re still relatively new as an organization, less than two years old.  We publish all our own resources through a variety of methods and vendors, depending on the product. We’re primarily e-commerce though we do have some titles in the trade channels.

Q: Why does the print-on-demand (POD) service fit your publishing model?

A: It offers us a ton of flexibility when it comes to cash flow and inventory. With traditional printing, there are set-up fees and, of course, accounts due. Because you have to order large quantities, it puts a burden not just on actual sales, but on innovation, as well. There are some ideas that are too big of a risk to commit to printing thousands of copies on the front end. It makes it easier to take the risk in a POD model where you don’t have to pay for or warehouse large quantities.

Q: What strategic steps did you take to make POD work?

A: For us it was waiting on the right title to test the waters with. We wanted to have a concept we thought would sell well so we could really observe how our systems would work, in terms of being able to market and fulfill orders. We work with quite a few vendors. We wanted to see how well POD would work with multiple logistical needs. We have been very pleased with the results.

Q: What types of books are you publishing?

A: We’re publishing books for adults who work with teenagers in the local church. And we’re publishing books that help teenagers develop their faith. We’re a company that puts a high value on quality and creativity. One of our concerns going in was whether or not the POD model with Snowfall would allow us to deliver on these values. We’ve been very pleased with the results.

Q: How do you currently work with authors?

A: We operate in a content rich environment. So many youth ministers are producing content, whether it is through a personal blog, or for their church services with youth. Youth ministry in general also values peer-to-peer training. And so there is just a lot of content development going on. We seek out some of these better writers and engage them in what it might be like to grow some of their ideas into book-length projects. We’re moving to a place where we will also entertain unsolicited manuscripts, but we’re not there yet.

Q: How are your books distributed and what sales channels do you focus on?

A: We operate as the publisher and provide commerce in a direct-to-consumer model (whereas in this case, the consumer is the church or the youth minister). We also have other partners selling our products, as well as some limited sales through traditional retail channels.

Q: With Snowfall’s emphasis on technology, how does this help your organization?

A: Being able to manage the supply to meet demand through the Snowfall account repository is a huge benefit. It gives us all the control we need to keep inventory as it should be. One of the biggest bonuses for us is the drop shipping (i.e., virtual warehouse) component of printing with Snowfall. For a light and lean company like us, this is a huge benefit. We’re also extremely excited about the upcoming Snowfall gateway to Facebook. Snowfall’s commitment to technology is part of why we publish with them.

Q: What types of marketing have you found to be successful, especially direct to consumer?

A: The most successful marketing we’ve done has been to offer incentives to our mailing list. Cultivating a strong email list is crucial. How this is done for various authors and/or publishers will vary. But for us, we’ve made growing and managing a healthy email database a priority. We’ve seen very good success when we have emailed our database with a special discount for being “insiders.”

Q: What marketing ideas would you recommend for other new publishers?

A: You can have the best content around, but if you don’t have an audience and/or a pipeline to an audience, it’s very challenging to move units. Maybe in the past the cream rose to the top. But in our experience, you have to have solid content and you have to be able to communicate directly with the purchaser. Direct communication for us happens mostly through social media, a daily blog, and as previously mentioned, a growing email database. I would also add that it’s important to go where your audience is. Utilize Facebook ads (they work). Comment on blogs your customers frequent. Aggregate content your audience may find useful and disseminate it through twitter, email, and blogs. And, don’t underestimate the importance of SEO (search engine optimization). If you can generate organic search engine traffic or even pay for some ad words, you’ll find you can bring in an audience that is primed for your message.

Q: What advice do you have for other publishers considering POD?

A: I would challenge them to consider what it would look like to in their projections (especially as it pertains to cost of goods and obsolescence) if they were to have a number of their titles in the POD model. For us, and for the other publishers using Snowfall (whom we’ve talked with!), it has opened up a creative solution for publishing that has provided us with flexibility and a new way of generating revenue. It’s a simple model to learn and adapt to. We’ve been very pleased.

For more information about youthministry360, join them on online at youthministry360.com.

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Mar 21

Bible publishing, a lifetime of work.

Global Distribution, publishing No Comments »

Because the publishing industry is usually focused on sales and profits, and the big news tends to be about award winning authors, and books that hit the best-sellers lists after sales in the hundreds of thousands, and even millions of units; it is refreshing to hear stories of books published after years of diligent work, that eventually pay out more than money could ever buy.

Recently, we received a letter from a missionary in Peru who shared this story with us. I hope that it impacts you like it did us:

…I’m writing from Lima where we arrived last night with the Ticuna Bibles…the Ticuna language is the mother tongue for some 50,000 people living along 600 miles of the Amazon River in the 3 countries of Peru, Colombia and Brazil which involves 2 national languages in addition to the Ticuna language. The Peru/Colombia and Brazil versions of the New Testament were dedicated in 1987 and have gone through two reprints since then. The Peru/Colombia version of the Old Testament selected portions (40%) was dedicated in 2007 and the dedication on the Brazil version took place in May 2009. And now, thanks to…you Snowfall Press, we have both the New Testament and the Old Testament selected portions in one book.

The Ticunas have their own Bible Institute…and we’re now planning to give each of the graduates of next year’s cycle one of the Ticuna Bibles you have so wonderfully made available.

Blessings on you and the work there at Snowfall Press…

It is stories like this that help us get up each morning, and serve our publishers. Thanks for the work that you do. If you have another story about your book, and the impact it has made on someone, please share it with us.

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Mar 16

An eBook Primer

E-book, publishing No Comments »

This is a guest post by Brian Schwartz, Snowfall Expert & ePublishing Consultant.

Confused about what to you need to do to make your book available a Kindle/Nook/iBooks? Wondering what work is involved to transform your work into a sellable ebook?

For the purposes of this article; epub refers to any format of epublishing –whether it be mobi for Kindle, epub for iPad, or epub for any other device. A mobi file is built on the same foundation of epub file – just a few minor tweaks are required by Amazon. Both are compressed files that take up little space. The eReader expands (ie. unzips) the files every time you open a new eBook on your eReader.

While there are few rules in print layout (other than page size and a printer’s requirements), there are limits to what you can do in an epub layout. Epub is built on HTML standards because all eReaders are essentially stripped down web browsers programmed to display html pages. If you break the rules of the eReader, your book won’t look right.

Thankfully, the process of formatting an ebook isn’t as difficult or costly as print and doesn’t require buying expensive software like InDesign or Quark. The time involved (or cost) will always depend on the complexity of the layout. Unless you have a need for more complex formatting, you can create a ready-to-epublish directly in MS Word or Open Office. The fact is, ebook buyers accept that an ebook is going to look different than the print edition, and I often wonder why some authors don’t realize this as well.

You basically have 4 options to transform your work into sellable ebook formats for the major ebook marketplaces:

  1. Learn how and do it yourself
  2. Hire someone to teach you, and do it yourself
  3. Hire a professional to do the work for you
  4. Offload the work to a publisher, distributor, or aggregator

Option 1: Learn to do it yourself

This is what I did back in 2009, it took me a long time, and I do consider myself technically savvy. The research effort can quickly become a rat hole because there are a lot of dead-end solutions on the web, with many different techniques, and many different tools. Unfortunately, the most popular methods which Google ranks high aren’t necessarily the easiest or even up-to-date techniques.

I wasn’t intimidated because I knew a little bit of HTML since I had been building websites for a few years. I wanted to know how to do it myself because I had over twenty titles to convert and several more I was working on. I had ideas to release different ‘digital only’ versions of our books and wanted flexibility to utilize my content in many different ways.

Ultimately, I came back to use Open Office & Word, programs I was already familiar with. As an avid ebook reader myself, I try to keep the ebooks I create simple without introducing a lot of formatting that I’ll know will either confuse the reader or add no value in an ebook edition. When it comes to more complex formatting, if you are doing it yourself, you need to weigh the trade off of the extra work it will cause vs. the value to the reader.

Option 2: Hire someone to teach you and do it yourself

If you want to learn to do it yourself – you’ll find many different approaches, solutions and techniques out there. However as someone who has worked with the majority of them, I would recommend you stick with MS Word or Open Office. I still go back to my template even after doing this work for nearly 2 years. I do offer templates for both Word & Open Office that I know help my clients avoid many frustrating hours of trying to do it without a proven template. The tutorials that accompany the templates will speed up the learning process considerably.

After literally hundreds of hours of trial and error – I teach authors how because doing so is an important step on the path to mastery: Learn-Do-Teach. I offer this option because I get a lot of authors coming to me who ultimately want a how-to and this is the simplest way I’ve determined it can be done.

Option 3: Hire a professional to do the work for you

If you want to hire a professional, there are many of us out there. Ideally, work with someone you’ve been referred to. Most of my clients come via referrals, and I find it’s always easier to work with referrals because it creates a higher level of trust from the beginning. Just keep in mind experience is paramount, and a low price will often mean the work is either being done outside the USA or you will be waiting for your files OR you will be asked to pay fees whenever there are changes. One company I know of offers a low price to do the initial conversion, but then charges $75 each time the author needs something changed. Be extra cautious of anyone willing do the work for free. You know as well as I do that there is something in it for them, and you need to find out what that is.

If you only have a few books, are already have plenty of other todo’s on your plate, I recommend you hire someone to do the work for you. I provide full service ebook layout and conversion through my website KindleExpert.com. Along with the conversion, we provide tutorials to get you through the process of proofing and uploading your files, and a marketing map to help you get off to a good start.

I suspect you will realize a much quicker ROI (return-on-investment) with your ebook than with your print edition. Some authors I’ve worked with and recouped my entire fee in less than a month!

Option 4: Offload the work to a Publisher

In the era of self-publishing, when you see the word distributor or aggregator, think publisher. There are many out there now and some of the biggest are Ingram Digital, Bookbaby, and Smashwords.  If you are giving up any parentage of your ongoing book sales to another company, they are essential your publisher. You need to trade off if the increased exposure will offset the percentage of revenue you’ll be giving up.

In some cases, you won’t be able to publish to some marketplaces unless you go through a publisher/distributor (Apple, Sony, and Kobo are 3 of the biggest). Authors who take this path are more concerned about doing it right and appreciate that an experienced partner can help get them more visibility. This arrangement always entails some form of revenue share in the book and/or ebook sales.

In this option, you offset the costs of the work to convert and setup your title for the eBook marketplaces by offering a partner a percentage of your sales. I do provide this path to approximately 30 authors who’ve elected to utilize my publishing company: Wise Media Group. A great option for those who simply don’t want to hassle with the ebook version and want someone else to manage everything for them end-to-end. We do provide some marketing services, and I offer my authors the option to pay us a larger percentage of royalties in return for tangible marketing services that translate to increased sales.

Hybrid paths

There’s plenty of ways to combine portions of each option above to create a hybrid option that is just right for you. In the case of KindleExpert.com, we now offer a hybrid of Options 2 & 3, as it seems to be the path many authors and publishers alike seek. They want us to help them get started with the template we’ve developed, and need to be taught how to do minor edits and corrections themselves, allowing them to be in full control of the final document. Of course, the ongoing changes an author makes is exactly why print-on-demand (especially Snowfall Press) and eBooks are so popular today. Today, I only use InDesign on rare occasions for complex layouts, because of the fact is that MS Word offers a far smoother path for both the eBook edition and print-on-demand editions alike.

I hope I’ve helped answer some of your ebook questions and given you more confidence to move forward in what we all know is the biggest game changer in publishing since the Guttenberg Press. I encourage you to never stop learning – you can continue to build your base of knowledge on the topic of e-Publishing on my website www.KindleExpert.com.

My best to your continued self-published success!

(Snowfall Press Note: Brian has graciously offered to discount his services exclusively to Snowfall Press customers. Visit: www.KindleExpert.com/snowfall for details.)

 

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