Selfpublishing an e-book

by
Pauline Montagna
Founder and Proprietor of
First Edition Book Sales

February 2011

Introduction

As writers and publishers, we have to acknowledge that the e-book is the way of the future, and it is highly recommended that we publish our books simultaneously in both hard copy (or ‘p-book’, as I’ve seen it called) and e-book formats.

However, as yet, e-books only represent about 10% of the market and the industry is still in its infancy. You will notice I have placed the date at the head of this article. I have done so because the e-book industry is moving so quickly that the information it contains could become outdated quite soon.

The older ones amongst us might remember the early days of sound recording on tape when there were different types of tape formats available – reel-to-reel, cassettes and cartridges. Each format had its champions, and it took several years before the cassette became the industry standard. We might also remember that the cassette introduced a threat to artists’ copyright as it suddenly made it exceedingly easy for records to be copied.

E-books are at that stage of development.

The most well-known e-readers are the Amazon Kindle and the Apple iPad, but there are at least half a dozen more on the market. This is not only confusing to the reader looking to purchase one, it is downright bewildering for the publisher. Each one of these e-readers supports different file formats, so a publisher has to either publish an e-book in a number of formats or risk being excluded from a large part of the market. There are also issues of copyright and data protection which are still to be determined.

File formats

A comprehensive guide to file formats can be found in Wikipedia. The tables at the end of the article give a compact overview of the different file formats used by all the different e-readers. There are several file formats available, and most of the e-readers support more than one, but not all, file formats.

As you can see, therefore, it is imperative that an e-book is published in several file formats.

Digital rights management (DRM)

As with the cassettes of old, digital books have introduced the added peril of a format which can be easily copied. This, of course, brings up several copyright issues. In order to protect their investment, the large corporations who produce e-readers have adopted several systems for protecting their digital files. As with the file formats, each system is different, but they all come under the common title of DRM. A good overview of DRM can be found in Wikipedia.

DRM is not without controversy. While many writers and publishers feel that DRM is essential to protecting their copyright, there is a widespread campaign against DRM. Many e-book publishers and readers feel that DRM is not only restricting their rights but also their sales.

In my personal opinion, DRM is not essential for the self-publisher. Basically DRM can protect us from two risks.

Someone may steal an e-book in the hope of financial gain and either make multiple copies for sale, or reissue the publication under their own name.

There is little incentive for pirates to steal self-published books. Those of us who have struggled to sell even a few copies of a self-published book will know that there would be very little financial gain in attempting to sell pirated copies.

Someone who has purchased a copy of our e-book may circulate it to all their friends.

Although we may feel that this might undermine our potential sales, it is unlikely to do us much harm. Those few friends who would even bother to open the file might discover a new author and wish to read more of our books. In the worst case scenario a part of our book might go viral, but this would give us the kind of advertising we could never otherwise pay for.

[NB 30/8/11 However, I might have to change my mind about the above, given the emergence of a new trend dubbed Spamazon. (click to read more)]

Self-publishing an e-book

For an e-book self-publisher there are basically two ways to go. Find a service provider who will format and perhaps distribute our e-book, or we can format and distribute the e-book ourselves. (see below)

However, before we take either of those steps we need to prepare our manuscript.

Preparing the manuscript

As the e-book is considered to be a new publication you cannot use the same ISBN as the one on your p-book. You will need a new ISBN which you can acquire in the same way as your existing one. Remember, however, that, just as with p-books, an ISBN is recommended but not mandatory.

Ensure the manuscript you format into an e-book is the latest edited and proofread version of your book. I would recommend that you always maintain a Word or plain text reference copy of your manuscript alongside the version being formatted and edited for publication and ensure any editorial changes made to the final version are also made to your reference copy.

With the exception of the iPad, e-readers are designed to deliver text rather than a page. Most e-book formats allow text to "flow" according to the size of the screen used to view them. The screens are relatively small, and users can set their own print size and often font style. A contents screen lists the chapters for ease of navigation. Therefore a manuscript destined to become an e-book should have the absolute minimum formatting possible. Ensure page breaks are only placed after the copyright declaration page, the title page and between chapters.

Non-fiction books present their own challenges. This How-to article is primarily about formatting for Smashwords (see below) but its tips on preparing a non-fiction manuscript are generally applicable.

My recommendations

As stated above, there are several options a self-publisher may take – either find a service provider, or do-it-yourself. I have listed here a few suggestions and helpful articles to get you started. If you go on to do further research yourself, you’ll undoubtedly find many more.

Smashwords

Smashwords is an online service for independent publishers based in the United States. It allows publishers to upload their own files as Word docs which are then automatically formatted into several e-book file formats. The e-books are then sold from the site's own e-book shop and can also be distributed to the major online e-book stores, such as Barnes & Noble and Sony. There are no upfront fees, and publishers set their own prices. Smashwords only receives a fee when the books are sold, while publishers receive substantial royalties. It also has a generous affiliates' program (ie a third party can sell Smashword e-books on their own website and receive a commission).

Smashwords provides a comprehensive service, but there are some issues that a publisher should be aware of.

Smashwords is DRM-free in line with the founder Mark Coker’s personal philosophy.
Uploading your file may prove difficult, especially for non-fiction books. Publishers should read the Smashwords Style Guide thoroughly before attempting to upload their file.
As Smashwords is based in the United States, a large percentage of your income will be withheld for tax purposes. The publisher will have to write to the IRS in order to negotiate to reduce the percentage withheld as per Australia's treaty with the USA. (However, the word around the traps is the Smashwords will soon go international, which might eliminate this problem)
Smashwords does not currently distribute to Amazon, but expects to do so imminently.

DoctorZed

DoctorZed is a South Australian-based e-publisher and distributor, otherwise known as Dr Scott Zarcincas. Except for a few optional extras, DoctorZed does not charge upfront fees, but takes his fee from the sale of books and returns a substantial royalty to the publisher. He has access to a wide range of e-book retailers in Australia and around the world, including major retailers such as Amazon.

Unlike Smashwords, DoctorZed can provide a personalised service. The publisher need only provide a Word document and a PDF meeting certain minimum requirements, and DoctorZed does the rest. DoctorZed will only distribute e-books to retailers that can provide DRM protection. DoctorZed also maintains a storefront website where his e-books can be purchased albeit indirectly through the retailers with whom he has placed the books.

Upload your own book to Amazon.com

The Amazon Kindle is currently the most popular and widespread e-book reader. Amazon has also made it very easy for self publishers to upload their files directly to their website. Publishers can set their own price and choose whether or not to include DRM. Uploading your file is quite simple and Amazon has provided an official guide on YouTube.

However, the publisher should be aware that they are creating only one file format which will only be available through one retailer.

D.I.Y

Your final alternative is to produce e-book files yourself and sell them from your website using services such as PayLoadz or PayPal Digital Goods.

While the mechanics of selling the e-book will be relatively simple, the most difficult part will be producing the e-book files. Each file-format will have to be produced and sold separately using different software, some of which may be free, but you won’t be able to include DRM with most of the techniques available.

A plain text file (.txt) can be produced using Notepad or WordPad, both of which are amongst the Accessories included in any Microsoft operating system. You can also create one in Word by saving your document as ‘Plain Text.’
You can create a HTML file in Word by saving your document as a ‘Web Page, Filtered’. You can also produce a HTML file using Notepad or WordPad if you know basic HTML coding, or you can use a website creation program such as Dreamweaver.
To produce a Kindle compatible (.mobi) format file you can use the free Mobipocket Creator which now has DRM capability
An ePub file can be produced by Adobe InDesign CS4 and onwards. There are also several other ways of creating ePub files as listed in this How-To article.
Adobe Acrobat is the most common program for creating PDF files. There are also several alternative programs available on the market and free from the internet. However, if you want DRM you will require Adobe Acrobat 9 (included in Adobe Creative Suite 4).

Conclusion

Despite the complexity, I would encourage all self-publishers to consider publishing in e-book format in order to ‘future-proof’ yourself and reach the widest possible audience.