book publishing

E-Book Publisher Has Roots in Traditional Book Publishing

WRITERS. As you research different firms for publishing your e-books, don’t compare publishers solely on the price of their packages. For example, companies that have a history in the book-publishing business might be able to offer you services and insights that relatively new start-up companies don’t yet offer.

For example, Publish Green is a division of Hillcrest Media Group, which began as the book publisher Mill City Press. They offer a full range of e-book formatting, distribution, editing, and marketing services. Their goal is to help traditionally published authors, self-published authors, and book publishers of all sizes make their mark in the e-book publishing world.

Unlike most e-book formatters, each Publish Green e-book is converted from many different file types and perfected line-by-line by an in-house formatter.

You can submit your book as plain text, a Word document, a PDF, or InDesign file. A formatting team will then work on your book by hand to ensure that wacky spacing, missing words, or other mistakes commonly found in automated e-book formatting processes are eliminated.

After your eBook is formatted, you can perfect the final version before publication, ensuring that the e-book will be a work you can be proud of.

Publish Green uses patent-pending software with advanced features that enable virtually any form of text- or image-based book (novels, memoirs, illustrated children’s books, cookbooks, etc.) to be formatted into several different file types. Your e-book will be recognized by all major e-book reading devices.

Publish Green allows authors to keep 100% of the profit from book sales and completely own the rights to their e-books.  Through their global distribution package, you can choose to have your book distributed through many different online sellers of e-books. In addition to selling your work through Amazon and iBookstore, you can choose to have your work sold through Barnes & Noble, Kobo, the Sony Reader store, eBooks.com, Books-a-Million, Bookstrand, Books on Board, and others.

The company’s new website provides detailed descriptions of all their editing, formatting, and marketing services. I particularly liked how they listed what their editing services include (and don’t include). “Editing” often means different things to different people, so it’s helpful to find a website that clarifies the distinction between basic copy editing services and a comprehensive edit. For example, they explain that their editing services don’t include fact checking or securing necessary permissions for reproductions of copyrighted works that go beyond “fair use.”

Publish Green offers an impressive assortment of marketing services, including virtual book tours, Google advertising, book trailers, author websites, the Amazon Exposure program, and Facebook fan pages and Facebook advertising.

For newcomers to e-book publishing, Publish Green has produced a 20-page guide entitled, “The Basics of eBook Publishing.” The guide explains topics such as formats, royalties and digital rights management, and shows examples of some of the errors that can occur when e-books are converted through software that automates the process. When you download the guide, you can choose to download it in several different formats, depending on whether you plan to read it on your computer, an iPad, Barnes & Noble Nook, or Amazon Kindle.

LINKS

Publish Green

Free Guide: “The Basics of eBook Publishing”

 

Bitingduck Press Provides Full-Service Publishing for E-Book Authors

WRITERS. The recent merger of Bosun Books with Bitingduck Press has created a new publishing option for e-book authors. The expanded Bitingduck Press offers full-service publishing with no author fees for editing, copyediting, typesetting, and e-formatting.

“E-books have made self-publishing easy,” says Bitingduck Press founder Jay Nadeau, “but everyone needs an editor. We offer authors personalized attention and quality editing to make the best e-books possible.” The press also does print runs and specializes in electronic formatting of books containing equations and graphics.

Bosun Books was founded by Nancy and David McAllister, who were considered revolutionaries when they began offering electronic books through the brand-new WWW in 1994. Bosun offers worldwide distribution through all major e-tailers in all popular e-book formats. They represent nearly 100 authors worldwide, making getting published a reality for writers of quirky, geeky, or unusual mysteries, science fiction, and romance.

Bitingduck Press was created by Jay Nadeau and Chis Lindensmith, two PhD physicists with a passion for science and the environment. Their original goal was to provide high-quality, low-cost, highly accessible electronic and print books for anyone interested in science, mathematics, and the lives of scientists. The merger with Bosun enables them to expand into a wide range of quality fiction, narrative nonfiction, and technical books.

The merged catalog offers about 140 active titles for sale and six that will become available within the next few weeks to months.

The first e-book by the new collaboration between Bitingduck Press and Bosun Books is “Somebody Wants Somebody Dead,” a collection of suspenseful, darkly humorous short stories by Phillip Gardner. The book is now available on Amazon.

In June, the press will offer color and black-and-white versions of “The Yoga Facelift (2nd edition),” by the founder of organic sunscreen company Marie-Veronique Organics. Also planned for publication this year are one adult mystery/suspense novel and two young adult paranormal adventures.

Bitingduck Press is open for author submissions. They will be exhibiting at the Pasadena Lit Fest May 12 in Pasadena, California; Book Expo America on June 5-7 in New York; and the book fair at the American Library Association Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California on June 22-25.

LINKS

Bitingduck Press: Who We Are

Bitingduck Press: Why Publish with Us?

Nonfiction Writers Conference To Be Held Online May 16-18

WRITERS. Registration is now open for The Nonfiction Writers Conference, a 3-day online teleconference for writers who want to learn how to publish profitable non-fiction books.  Five 50-minute sessions will be presented from 9 am to 3 pm PST on Wednesday, May 16, Thursday, May 17, and Friday, May 18.

Topics include traditional and self-publishing, e-books, virtual book tours, social media, Amazon sales strategies, blogging, SEO, professional speaking, freelance writing, information product sales, and other book marketing tactics.

Conference organizer Stephanie Chandler has assembled a stellar line-up of 15 speakers, including:

  • Dan Poynter, author of “The Self-Publishing Manual”
  • Mark Coker, founder of the Smashwords.com e-book publishing platform
  • John Kremer, author of “1001 Ways to Market Your Books”
  • Michael Larsen, literary agent
  • Penny Sansevieri, author of “Red Hot Internet Publicity”
  • Jane Atkinson, author of “The Wealthy Speaker”
  • Jim Horan, author of “The One Page Business Plan”
  • D’vorah Lansky, author of “Book Marketing Made Easy”
  • Roger C. Parker, author of “Looking Good in Print”
  • Karl Palachuk, author of “Publish Your First Book: A Quick-Start Guide to Professional Publishing in a Digital Age”
  • Dana Lynn Smith, author of “How to Sell More Books on Amazon”
  • Kevin Smokler, author of “Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times”
  • Peter Bowerman, author of “The Well-Fed Writer”
  • Bill Belew, a search engine optimization expert.

Chandler, who has written a book “From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur:  Make Money with Books, eBooks and Information Products,” will also present a session.

The speakers will discuss:

  • How to write a compelling book with market appeal.
  • Methods for generating business revenue and opportunities with your book.
  • Simple ways to attract valuable media exposure.
  • How to break into professional speaking–from free to fee!
  • Ways to build your platform and get known as an expert in your industry.
  • How to take advantage of low-cost, high-return social media marketing strategies with Facebook and Twitter.
  • What it takes to turn your website into a traffic-generating machine.
  • The pros and cons of self-publishing vs. traditional publishing and mistakes to avoid.
  • Real-world advice on how to land a book deal.
  • Insider secrets for promoting your book online.
  • How to generate passive income from ebooks, special reports and other information products.

Stephanie Chandler conducted the first Nonfiction Writers Conference in 2010. She is the author of several books, including “Own Your Niche: Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics to Establish Authority in Your Field and Promote Your Service-Based Business,” “The Author’s Guide to Building an Online Platform: Leveraging the Internet to Sell More Books,” and “Booked Up! How to Write, Publish, and Promote a Book to Grow Your Business.”

Several registration options are available, including discounts for writers who register early.  If you can‘t listen to all of the sessions live, you can register to receive MP3 recordings of all sessions and/or transcripts of the sessions.

LINKS

Nonfiction Writers Conference

About Stephanie Chandler

Survey Shows Changes in E-Book Buying Habits

Since November 2009, analysts at Bowker Research have been tracking the habits and preferences of book consumers who say they have acquired an e-book or a dedicated e-reading device within the past 18 months.  This survey of Consumer Attitudes toward E-Book Reading is being conducted for the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), a leading trade association for the U.S. book industry.

According to recently released data from the survey, e-book consumers are buying more books—both in print and e-book formats.  More than half of e-book readers increased their use of apps to purchase books and more than one-third increased their use of general retail websites such as Amazon.com.

The gains for these digital vendors come at the expense of brick-and-mortar bookstores. More than a third of e-book buyers decreased their spending at national chains and 29% said they are buying less from their local independent bookseller.

“The e-book market is developing very quickly, with consumer attitudes and behavior changing over the course of months, rather than years,” said Angela Bole, BISG’s Deputy Executive Director.

While dedicated e-readers remain the dominant e-reading platform, the study shows that multi-function tablet devices and smartphones are gaining in popularity.
Almost 17% of respondents indicated that tablets were the devices most used to read ebooks— up from 13% in the previous survey.

Dedicated e-readers were preferred by 60.9% of all respondents, down from 71.6% in the previous survey.

Respondents who preferred smartphones jumped from 5.3% to 9.2%.

The data in the Consumer Attitudes toward E-Book Reading survey is derived from a nationally representative panel of book consumers (men, women and teens).

LINKS

PDF: Summary Report Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading

About the Book Industry Study Group, Inc.

About Bowker

 

Writer’s Digest and Abbott Press Award First Mark of Quality

WRITERS. Now that everyone can become a published author, readers must discern for themselves which books match the type of quality standards they have come to expect through traditionally published books.

One helpful mark of distinction is the Writer’s Digest “Mark of Quality.” The designation is reserved for books published through Abbott Press that come highly recommended for style and literary merit by the Writer’s Digest editorial staff.

Earlier this month, the first Writer’s Digest “Mark of Quality” was awarded to the memoir “Prague: My Long Journey Home” by Charles Ota Heller.

The “Mark of Quality” provides many benefits within the writing community. First, the book will be recognized in “Writer’s Digest” magazine. It will also be listed in Writer’s Digest’s F&W Media Catalog, which is distributed to over 200,000 subscribers.

Additionally, authors receive a free pass to the annual Writer’s Digest conference and reception, where they will have the opportunity to network with other authors, agents and industry professionals.

“As a long time subscriber to ‘Writer’s Digest,’ I was blown away to learn my memoir will be the first ever to receive its Mark of Quality distinction,” said Heller. “My whole experience with Writer’s Digest’s Abbott Press division has been very rewarding. As someone who has published previously with a traditional publisher, I have been very pleased with the comparable level of service and professionalism they offer.”

In the book “Prague: My Long Journey Home,” Heller chronicles how his idyllic early childhood in Czechoslovakia took a drastic turn when Germany invaded the nation in the early stages of World War II. He recounts some of the measures he took to survive after the war tore his family apart and forced him into a life on the run. Ultimately, Heller fled post-war Eastern-Europe to escape the grasp of communism and emigrated to America, where he achieved success as a businessman and educator. His story culminates with an emotional journey home to embrace his heritage and face the demons of his past.

“The Mark of Quality is the highest literary achievement an Abbott Press author can receive,” said Keith Ogorek, senior vice president of marketing at Author Solutions, Inc., the publishing partner of Abbott Press. “Charles Ota Heller’s memoir is an incredibly powerful piece of literature and a very deserving recipient of the distinction.”

LINKS

About Writer’s Digest Mark of Quality

About Abbott Press

Prague: My Long Journey Home

About Writer’s Digest Magazine

Author Solutions

 

Nov8trix Helps Smaller Publishers Sell Works on iPad

Do you have photo books, art books, graphic novels, literary journals, or magazines that you would like to be able to sell through iTunes App Store? If so, check out the new iPad Publisher program from Nov8trix.

The iPad Publisher program can help any publisher, organization, self-publisher or content creator have the same global mobile-distribution reach as Time Warner, Hearst, and other mega-publishers.

“We give clients their own fully-branded, exclusive iPad digital storefront app for their publications. Clients have 100 percent creative control over the inventory placed in their app. Apple pays our clients directly for their sales and we do not take a share,” said Manish Sehgal, CEO of Nov8rix.

The iPad Publisher apps from Nov8rix are designed to remove some of the complexity and risks involved in producing books or publications to sell through the iTunes App Store.

“Our goal was to make it affordable for anyone to ‘dip their toe’ into mobile apps without spending much money or time. When clients work with us, all they have to do is provide us with their content and we take care of everything else,” adds Manish. “By giving clients their own bit of real estate in the iTunes App Store, we enable our customers to reap (and keep) what they sow.”

One organization that has used the Nov8trix product is Women in Aviation, International.
“The folks at Nov8rix went out of their way to make the seemingly gargantuan task of creating an iPublisher app simple,” says Amy Laboda, Editor-in-Chief, Aviation for Women Magazine. “Manish met with us and explained the process succinctly. That made it a simple matter of uploading our finished materials to Nov8rix and watching them work their magic. Our magazine displays beautifully on the iPad. And within a week, we were available to a much, much larger marketplace.”

Founded in 2009, Nov8rix develops products that make it easy for you to take your content mobile. The New York-based company has released 200+ apps on the iTunes App Store and the Android Market.

LINK

Nov8trix iPad Publisher

 

Book Publishing Trends that Will Affect Aspiring Authors

Books on library shelvesWRITERS. Here are a few links, quotes and predictions from a variety of expert sources in the book-publishing industry. Reading these posts can help you think strategically about how you develop your skills and manage your writing career.

E-book Market Forecast to Hit $2.5 Billion as the Book Industry Burns

In this post on GigaOM, industry analyst Michael Wolf states “I’ve never seen a market changing faster than the digital publishing market of today, where the sudden love of e-books has created a ‘digital backdraft’ that has set the entire publishing industry value chain aflame.”

He notes that book discovery is going social: “Whether readers are learning about new books from friends or general-purpose social networks like Facebook or through reading-centric networks like Goodreads, social recommendations are becoming increasingly important in the age of ebooks.”

Why 2012 Will Be the Year of the Artist-Entrepreneur

In another post on GigaOM, Michael Wolf observes that: “Everywhere you look, artists are taking more control over their own economic well being, in large part because the Internet has enabled them to do so. You see it in all forms of content, from books, to video to music.”

He says the web has democratized everything: content production, distribution, and monetization. He also sees a generational shift toward more tech-savvy artists who are creating their own apps and websites.

Ten Bold Predictions for Book Publishing in 2012

In this post on Digital Book World, Jeremy Greenfield includes these predictions:

  • “We will see more self-published best-sellers next year, with an exponential rise in the number of million-selling authors”
  • “Authors will become disenchanted with the rights they sign away to publishers. Shorter and more flexible copyright terms will become more attractive to authors.”
  • “The standard ebook royalty from major publishing houses will rise next year and will escalate with increased sales.”

David Farland Predicts That the Release of the iPad3 in 2012 Will Spell the End of Reading as We Know It Within 3 Years

In a press release issued on PRWeb, the author who founded East India Press predicts that “enhanced books” are about to change how we read. He believes we are at the start of a new era in which creative troupes of authors, artists, musicians, and publishers will collaborate to produce “books” in which text, images, and sounds come together in a collage.

The Publishing Industry, 5 Years from Now: Theories from the Frankfurt Book Fair

On the BookBaby blog, Chris Robley suggests 5 ways he believes that publishing will look different 5 years from now.  Here are two of his predictions:

The market for shorter works (10 pages to 10,000 words) will expand. He says, “Size really doesn’t matter. It only matters how useful and engaging the content is. So, pretty soon the novella will be back in vogue. Short stories will sell individually. If you’ve got something valuable and succinct to share, you no longer have to pad it out with fluff, filler, or filigree.”

Digital books will be serialized, including non-fiction books. Readers who purchase an upfront subscription will receive each chapter as soon as it’s finished. Meanwhile, as an author, you can get instant feedback from readers, so you can revise as you go. Robley writes: “By the time you release the full book, it will have gone through an invaluable editing process (for free) and it will be completely up to date.”

Publishers will recognize two types of consumers: those who like the “enhanced” ebooks that include video, audio, and interactivity, and those who prefer “old-fashioned” text-only ebooks. He predicts that publishers will “market these two kinds of products in increasingly different ways.”

Because of the increased costs involved in printing and distributing physical books, Robley also predicts that five years from now publishers will produce e-books for all of their authors, and physical books for only a few.

So, what’s your take? Would you like to share any other links to other big, bold predictions for the future of book publishing?