E-books? Hell, yeah!

[Julie Morrigan]

Less than two weeks ago, I read some stuff that opened my mind to the possibilities and opportunities presented by e-books. I did a complete about face and went from being totally disinterested in them to becoming very enthusiastic about them. Perhaps the most insightful observation made to me regarding this was that I was initially looking at e-books from the point of view of a reader who would far rather have a 'proper' book, and moved to the standpoint of a writer who wanted to be able to have direct contact with readers. I think that sums it up quite nicely!

Mind you, I've since downloaded the Kindle for PC and started reading e-books for myself: Nick Quantrill's 'Broken Dreams' and Nigel Bird's 'Dirty Old Town' were two of my first purchases. Along with J A Konrath's 'A Newbie's Guide to Publishing'.

I've learned a lot, and fast. And I have now published my first e-book, a collection of short stories drawn from those I wrote between 2006 and 2011, and containing a previously unpublished piece. 

Here it is. I have to say, I'm really rather proud of it!

 

[Benjamin Sobieck]

Hot damn, Eric, that's terrific.

[Julie Morrigan]

Good points, Eric. And many congratulations on your e-booksuccess, that's brilliant!

[Eric Christopherson]

Self-pubbing is just another avenue, not paved with anymore gold than trad pubbing, only a few will get rich; yet everyone gets paid to some extent when they self pub. Not so via the traditional route, of course.

 

Regarding the marketing of self-pubbed ebooks, once you establish yourself--i.e., once your books establish themselves via sales and reviews--you don't have to market all that much. I'm on pace to sell 3,500 ebooks this month, and I rarely put in more than two hours a month now marketing them.

[Julie Morrigan]

To be honest, I don't expect to make tons of money self-publishing e-books. But if I look at what I get from publishing 'proper', 'best-selling' business books with a 'proper' publisher, well, that's also pretty poor, so I don't feel I have much to lose. And anything earned from fiction is a bonus.

For me, a wee jaunt self-publishing e-books is an adventure, albeit one for which I have a structure and a plan. Promotion is the key and - sadly - also the thing I'm worst at. But I'm trying to get better at it. If I take nothing else from my venture, I'll have done okay. And then there is the fact that I've started reading e-books, some of which simply aren't available elsewhere. My inner reader is delighted!

[Benjamin Sobieck]

I read Konrath's blog and was initially excited about the possibilities of self-publishing eBooks. But then I took a step back and really thought it through.

 

He's only one guy who's been very successful. For every one of him, there are 1,000s who aren't nearly as successful. I think people underestimate how much time you need to market an eBook to match that level of success. I'm talking about "leaving your real full-time job" time.

 

If you don't have that time, then I wouldn't take Konrath's claims of "put out an eBook and you'll make tons of money" too seriously. Remember, that's all he does. He sells 1,500 eBooks a day and turned down an interview with one of the largest newspapers in Minnesota last week because he didn't have the time.