publishing as an ebook ... anyone else doing it?

[Bill Sheehy]

A short time ago I ran across a comment about ebook publishing somewhere in CrimeSpace and did some investigating. What I found was some way to get some of my old western stories that had been published a while ago back out into public view. As I'm not overly proud of the westerns ... they were my apprenticeship for writing fiction ... I also have been publishing as ebooks a couple others, crime stories. Coming soon will be at least two non-fiction and even a SF novel. 

But I wonder ... how popular are ebooks? Apparently in the US people are buying eReaders which makes me think those same folks will get into reading ebooks. I don't see that happening much down here in Australia. I could be wrong, and hope I am. Anybody have information on that?

By the way ... http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BillSheehy to see what I have up there already. 

And thanks to the CrimeSpace member who wrote about Smashwords. I forgot who it was or where he/she can be found, but then I'm getting old and forgetful.

[John McFetridge]

The place to look for info is Joe Konrath's blog: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/

Look at some of his old posts, he puts up his Kindle sales numbers and all his e-book sales.

[Bill Sheehy]

Thanks ... that sounds like the place. I'll go read what Joe's experience has been.

[B.R.Stateham]

I'll have some data soon concerning ebook sales. I have one fantasy novel and a book of short stories on Amazon and Smashwords. Both should be giving me some feedback soon as to how well (or how bad) the sales have been.

We'll see.

[Bill Sheehy]

Thanks you ... I just checked and already I've had half a dozen or so people check the first crime story out ... no purchases yet, but someone found it. I'll keep watching to see how you do. Gawd, maybe I'll be able to buy baby a pair of new shoes some day soon!

[robert walker]

hey man there are a lot of authors going ebook now; we are in fact an in-group called Indie Authors and the big game is with Kindle Books at the Kindle Store. I have or will have soon some 30 or so titles in ebooks and I believe it is the way to go esp. for authors with out of print titles.

Robert W. Walker
www.robertwalkerbooks.com

[Bill Sheehy]

Yeah ... since asking my question I have published half a dozen titles myself ... and as soon as my published (ink and paper) novels go out of print and I reclaim the rights to them, I'll put them up too. Thanks for the responses ...

Bill Sheehy
www.bill-sheehy.com

[robert walker]

We are a growing IN-Group, we Indie Authors. I must agree the best source of info on the whole matter is JA Joe Konrath and I think we all oughta get together and create an Ebook Conference of Mystery-Thriller-Intrigue-Historical-Romantic-Horror Writers. Will need a bar at the location.

rob

[Bill Sheehy]

Good Idea. The Australian Chapter of the MTIHRHW Indie Authors Group met this morning, before breakfast, and voted you President for Life and Joe Chief Advisor. Our next meeting is scheduled for later this afternoon at the local pub. Of course you'll be the main speaker.
bill

[robert walker]

Oh My....I am honored and will start right in to work on my speech. I will sit on Joe's knee and he can feed me lines. That our first meeting will be in Australia, that ought to raise some eyes, eh?

rob

[KD Easley]

An outstanding idea. :) We could just have the conference at the bar. Might need to be a pretty big one, though.

[Charles A. Ray]

I just got into the ebook business with my first novel, but I've been publishing online (articles, op-eds and short stories) for a while. Even though I'm a bit old fashioned and prefer paper books myself, I have discovered that there is a large population out there that reads online. I believe that ebooks are the coming thing and as soon as the major publishers figure a way to corner the market and make a lot of money from them more and more authors will be offered ebook advances and contracts.

[robert walker]

Check this out -- a typical discussion on a Kindle chat site; it gives you insights into just how avid ereaders and Kindle ereaders in general are about their reading; Do Not Stop after the first comment as the reply is very instructive indeed. A lot of discussion has centered on PRICING your ebook and how traditional publishers are missing the boat, pricing too high for this market - a huge and growing one thnks to state of the art devices like The Kindle: READ ON --

I've always been able to go to garage sales and buy cheap books for 25 cents each. It doesn't mean I actually read more books in a year. I'm an avid reader, but I have only so much time to read. My capacity doesn't increase because books are cheaper.
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But if you're buying those books now for your Kindle instead of books from garage sales, etc, those ARE additional sales for the publishers & authors. You're buying from them instead of bypassing them for used books. And I have to say, more often than not people who use e-readers comment that they do read more now than they did before, for me it's because when my eyes get tired I can bump up the font and keep reading, where before I'd have to stop. Plus I almost always have it with me (I didn't carry paper books with me everywhere pre-Kindle), I read faster than I did before, and it's just generally more enjoyable for me to read on an e-reader than a paper book, so yes, in my case my capacity has increased. I would say "but that's just me" - but it isn't just me, from what I've read here and on other Kindle/ereader forums.

These are the words of actual Kindle owners and I think we writers need to hear them.

Rob Walker
Indie Author of Children of Salem and Dead On Writing