Two of the most important factors in having a successful self-published book are promotion and using cost-effective sales channels. Converting your book into eBook formats can let you cast a wider net for potential readers. Although amazon.com has effectively captured the public’s association of eBooks with “Kindle” books (do you say “I need a tissue” or “I need a Kleenex?”), and is a must-do part of any eBook distribution, there are a number of other opportunities for distribution that should be considered.
The key here is not to try to address each one of the distribution outlets separately. Instead, using a central distribution service will get your eBook out to the greatest number of outlets in the minimum amount of time. Many of these services are available with no upfront fees, instead making their money off royalties charged per sale.
Smashwords
Smashwords claims to be the world’s largest, and the original, eBook distributor for indie authors and promotes itself as having a wide range of professional publishing and distribution tools. Once signing up for the service (no cost involved), your eBook can be uploaded to their website, from which It both distributes your eBook to a large number of outlets and adds it to its own retail website.
Available from within the administrative dashboard, reports track daily sales performance across retailers. If you decide to change the price of your eBook, Smashwords will transmit the change to all the retailers. The same is true for updates to your cover image or book description, making it easy to make changes and have those changes quickly propagate to all the sales channels in the Smashwords network.
This type of centralized eBook publishing can be a great time saver as you work towards getting your book out to the greatest possible number of outlets. For more information about this service, visit http://smashwords.com.
Bookbaby
Providing a similar service to Smashwords, Bookbaby promotes itself as frequently adding new outlets, some of which include Oyster and Scribd, where readers can sample your books and make informed buying decisions. They also distribute your eBook to niche interest sites such as eChristian.com or BookGourmets.uk.co as well as regional eBook powerhouses such as Ciando or Flipkart, in territories where Amazon is far from the dominant local bookstore.
To find out more about Bookbaby, visit http://bookbaby.com.
Author’s Corner can help with your eBook Conversion
There are a number of things to keep in mind in converting your book to an eBook. Although the services mentioned have a fairly simple upload process, the trick is in preparing your file ahead of time to minimize any issues. For each of the services (including for the amazon.com Kindle), guidelines are available to help in preparation. Although it is not required, some familiarity with HTML can be helpful.
If you are uncomfortable with doing the eBook conversion yourself, Author’s Corner can take care of this for you, working to make sure that your book displays correctly as an ebook. Contact us for more information.
