Everything About Epublishing (or Where to Find it)

Howdy folks,

Like most writers, I can?t afford to ?just write.? Like most writers, I have to hold down a day job. That?s pretty much where the similarities end.

Unlike most writers who have a day job, I don?t work 6 or 8 or 12 hours a day, four or five days a week. I work 10 to 16 hours a day, roughly 28 days a month. I don?t receive a regular paycheck with a company logo on it every week or every two weeks or once a month. My paychecks show up in varying amounts and at varying times in my PO Box or my PayPal account. Strictly speaking, the income I derive from my day job is termed ?disposable income.? To earn it, I compete with movies and miniature golf and a weekend trip to the lake and the family vacation and dinner out once a week and that new smart phone or camera or laptop or other gadget. In other words, the services I provide in my day job are not absolutely neccessary for survival. I don?t provide food, shelter, clothing or water. And let?s face it, everything else?including everything I provide?is a luxury? well, unless you?re serious about writing. If you want to see a professional outcome, you hire a professional. That?s really all there is to it.

But the fact is, some people can?t afford to pay for my services although I keep those services as affordable as possible. I constantly hear things like ?We?d really like to have you come share your knowledge about epublishing (or editing or writing or?) but we need to know the miminum you?re willing to charge and the minimum number of attendees who would be required to show up.?

(Okay, first, you?re asking me to come to you, so who?s going to show up shouldn?t be a bargaining point. On your end everybody should show up. If you want to know what I know, especially at bargain rates, showing up should be your Number One priority. Second, I?m not coming back to you with, ?Well, what?s the maximum you?re willing to pay?? only because I?m really not into bickering and I need to move on to other pressing matters.)

But I digress? leave it to a teacher to contain within him the constant urge to lecture. Anyway, It Just Is What It Is, so given that, plus my propensity to give greater weight to getting the word out than earning a paycheck from it, here are a few things you really should do if you don?t want to have to pay a guy like me to come share my knowledge about epublishing:

1. This is a biggie. Go to StoneThreadPublishing.com and read both the About page and the FAQ page. The fifteen minutes or so that you spend there will give you most of the basic knowledge you need and correct some pretty severe but common misconceptions. I also invite you to check out StoneThread as a possible publishing venue for your novel, memoir or short fiction collection. We run some excellent free contests too. See the Contests tab.

2. Go to HarveyStanbrough.com. If you haven?t already, sign up for my blog posts and get a free humorous ebook on writing. But even if you don?t sign up (content is currently open to everyone), click on the Blog tab and scroll down through the posts. You?ll find several on Epublishing and even one or two on Emarketing? and a lot of other good stuff too. Check out the Writers? Resources while you?re there, and click our Events Calendar to see all the new seminars we have coming up.

3. Go to Smashwords.com and download their free Smashwords Style Guide and Smashwords Book Marketing Guide in PDF. The author?s style is a bit convoluted, but all the information is there if you don?t mind waiding through segments of ?what you don?t need to do.?

4. This is another biggie. Go to DeanWesleySmith.com and read his Think Like A Publisher series. If you want to publish your own work on paper and/or via ebooks, this is an absolute necessity, and I am not using the phrase lightly.

5. Go to Kindle Digital Publishing at Amazon.com and read their FAQs.

6. Go to PubIt at BarnesAndNoble.com and read their FAQs.

Here are a few generalities you need to understand:

1. Smashwords, Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Diesel, Kobo, Sony et al are not publishers. They are sales venues. You are the publisher. (Okay, in the Bowker records, since you?ll want to use the free Smashwords ISBN, Smashwords will be the publisher of record, but that really doesn?t matter. In the front matter of your book it should say ?a YourName or Whatever publication.?)

2. Smashwords, Amazon and Barnes & Noble will convert your correctly formatted (see the Smashwords Style Guide or attend my upcoming seminar on The Essentials of Digital Publishing) and uploaded Microsoft Word file.

3. Amazon will not distribute your book outside of Amazon, although they currently have venues worldwide (for a list, see StoneThread?s FAQ).

4. Barnes & Noble will not distribute your book outside of Barnes & Noble. I?m not sure where their outlets are.

5. Smashwords will distribute your book to Apple, Baker & Taylor, Diesel, Kobo, Sony et al. (If you don?t opt-out in their Distribution Channel Manager, they will also distribute to Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I recommend opting out of at least Amazon if not both.)

6. You cannot open a publisher account or otherwise publish your book directly to Apple, Baker & Taylor, Diesel, Kobo, or Sony. If you want to sell your book through them, you must go through a distributor, and for my money the best one is Smashwords.

7. The print edition and the ebook edition of your book must have different ISBNs. However, you do not have to purchase an ISBN for either one. Smashwords provides an ISBN (free) for those venues that require it; Amazon and Barnes & Noble use their own stock numbering system for ebooks; and CreateSpace (for print books) also provides a free ISBN.

8. Finally, for print publishing, I strongly recommend going through CreateSpace. I can recommend someone who will format your work for print, create a cover (from your design) and submit the work to Create Space for you for under $200, but you can also do this yourself if you want to invest the time in learning the process. To check it out, go to CreateSpace.com and, you know, read the FAQs.

If you want to go through a subsidy publisher, I recommend BookLocker.com. I fiercely recommend against using AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford, Wheatmark and XLibris.

Of course, for traditional, no-fees, non-subsidy epublishing, I recommend submitting your work to StoneThreadPublishing.com, where your only cost is the edit or proofread (your book has to be edited anyway) and you earn a 70% royalty if we accept your work for publication.

Okay, I?ve probably yammered on long enough. There y?go. This is pretty much everything I know about epublishing, or where to find everything I know about epublishing, and all it will cost you is a few hours of your time, total.

If you?d rather enjoy a live crash course in which you can ask questions and receive answers in camaraderie with other like-minded writers, attend my upcoming seminar on The Essentials of Digital Publishing. It?s only thirty bucks for three to four hours of instruction. Email me to register or for further information.

?Til next time, happy writing and publishing!

Harvey

PS: Remember, find any one of the three errors in this post and win a free short story. Just comment below and point out one (only one please) of the errors.

Source: http://www.harveystanbrough.com/2012/11/25/everything-about-epublishing/

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