Is it wise to publish a novel as an e-book, and how would I do it?

Should I e-publish?

It depends heavily on your goals, on the effort you're willing/interested in investing, and on your skill with the various abilities involved with e-publishing.

• If you aim to eventually sell your book to a traditional publisher, then do not e-publish. Traditional publishers will very rarely buy manuscripts that have already been published elsewhere - including as an e-book.

• If you're asking about publishing an e-book with a traditional publisher, then in this day and age, they'll probably handle that themselves. You can ask all about it when you've got an agent and a contract.

• If you're planning on self-publishing both e-book and hardcopy, and are hoping to achieve commercial success then an e-book version is probably a good idea. Since in self-publishing you'll be doing all your own marketing and distribution, it's a huge benefit to be able to market a product you can distribute online - something potential readers can get their hands on easily - rather than a physical book that most people just won't come into any contact with. The trick here is, as with most internet marketing, you'll be starting out as a very small fish in a very big tidal wave. You'll have to do a ton of work marketing your book, making it visible, setting it apart from the millions of other self-published books. You'll also need to make sure, on your own, that your work is top-notch and professionally presented - otherwise you'll get bad responses from the people you got with your marketing.

• If you don't care about commercial success or being traditionally published, but simply want your work available, then you can whip up an e-book, and let it float around the internet. People will read it or they won't; you can put as much or as little effort as you like into marketing it; it will exist and be available - just probably nothing more than that.

How do I e-publish?

I don't know the details, but there's tons of services and e-book sites that'll take you through the minimum requirements. You'll probably want more than the bare minimum, though. Here's an excellent essay by Nancy Fulda offering a "Mini-handbook on independent publication", covering a lot of what you'll need (and want) to do if you decide to go the e-book route.

posted almost 13 years ago

CC BY-SA 4.0

Standback‭

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Do you know how to self promote? Are you already good at it? Are you interested in learning how? Are you highly disciplined? Are you a DIY kind of person?

Those are important questions if you are thinking about self-pub. If self promotion/marketing is something you have the discipline to do and passion to excel at, then self-pub becomes a much more interesting option because it does give you a lot of personal flexibility. Your work lives and dies on YOUR merits as a writer and promoter.

I self-pub info products and I am passionate about marketing and promotions. I am fascinated by why people buy things and how to engage people so they will buy MY things. I also really like doing things myself. I love the idea of self-pub as a result. Where do you stand?

There is a lot more to it than what I've mentioned here, but I didn't see any other answers addressing this aspect specifically.

posted almost 13 years ago

CC BY-SA 3.0

JS Maxwell‭

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