Showing posts with label publishing services. Show all posts
Showing posts with label publishing services. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success

The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success is a guidebook for authors. It is written by Mark Corker, the founder of the e-book platform Smashwords.   An author himself, Corker already has published several guidebooks, like the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide. In contrast to that, this book covers a wider field. In it, Corker talks about:


  • Changes in the Book Market
  • Platform
  • Pricing
  • Cover
  • Algorithms


  • The book includes several examples on especially succesful e-books and average e-books, their development in time, and effects of pricing, serialization. It's a practicle and thoughtful read, and also giving some perspective, like this advice from the first chapter: "Eighty percent of your book's success will be determined by the quality of your book. The other 20 percent is distribution, marketing and luck. If you remember nothing else from this book, remember this: The very most important marketing you can do is to write a great book that markets itself on the wings of reader word-of-mouth."

    Here's the offical introduction: "The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success reveals the best practices of the most commercially successful self-published ebook authors. This ebook is a must-read for every writer, author, publisher and literary agent. Learn over 25 best-practices you can implement today at no cost. These secrets will help you become a more professional, more successful writer and publisher. Share the secrets!"

    book page: The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success

    Direct link to PDF: The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success

    Mark Coker is founder of Smashwords, an ebook publishing and distribution platform for indie authors, publishers, literary agents and retailers. His is co-author of Boob Tube, a novel that explores the wild and wacky world of Hollywood celebrity. He also wrote the The 10-Minute PR Checklist.

    related links: 
    - a quick guide to book publishing services
    - e-book formatting guides (via GalleyCat)
    - how to create a book cover

    Wednesday, October 12, 2011

    A quick guide to Book Publishing Services (Lulu, Smashwords, Createspace, Issuu...)

    This isn't news: the digital revolution changed the way books are produced, and also the way they are read.

    Print on Demand (POD) makes it possible to create single copies of books, which allows to publish books for smaller and special audiences. Parallel, e-readers make it possible to read e-books in a new, leisure way.

    Together, this leads to a growing range of publishing formats, and publishing services, which are especially interesting for small presses and for authors.

    Below is a list of service providers, with examples of printed books and e-books that are featured in the blueprint book blog.



    Lulu
    Lulu is a company offering publishing, printing in various sizes, and distribution (including e-books).
    Since their founding in 2002, Lulu has published over 1.1 million titles by creators in over 200 countries and territories and adds 20,000 new titles to their catalogue a month.
    links: Lulu webpage, wiki-page
    examples: "lulu"-books in this blog (print books + e-books)
    cover: if you want to publish a book at CreateSpace, here some advice for creating the book cover

    CreateSpace
    A publishing/printing/distribution service that provides free tools to help self-publish and distribute books, DVDs, CDs etc. on-demand at CreateSpace and via Amazon.com. (CreateSpace belongs to Amazon, thus the listing, which only works for Amazon.com, no other countries)
    link: CreateSpace
    examples: CreateSpace-books in this blog
    cover: if you want to publish a book at CreateSpace, here some advice for creating the book cover

    Smashwords
    An ebook publishing and distribution platform for ebook authors, publishers, agents and readers that offers multi-format ebooks, ready for immediate sampling and purchase, and readable on any e-reading device.
    link: Smashwords
    examples: Smashword-books in this blog
    how-to-guide: Smashword Style Guide + Marketing Guide

    Issuu
    Issuu is a digital publishing platform that delivers full-color reading experiences of magazines, catalogs, and newspapers.
    link: Issuu
    examples: Issuu-books in this blog

    Related links: Red Lemonade, exPress tutorial, Wiki-Pages 
    ---
    Other blueprint How-to posts: