Showing posts with label ebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ebook. Show all posts

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

Navigating the World of E-Book Publishing


--> Navigating The World Of E-Book Publishing was released fourteen days ago and it has been on several Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk Top 100 Bestselling Lists since. This is a short e-book with some of the basic beginning steps on the road to e-publishing your manuscript by Deena Rae Schoenfeldt. This is not a roadmap to getting a best seller nor it is a technical manual or writing guide, rather it addresses things that most aspiring authors don't take into consideration before starting their publishing journey. Filled with tips, tricks, and helpful advice, this book a must read if you have aspirations of joining the indie publishing ranks, have already published your own book or have a full back-list of titles already on the bookstore shelves.


Book Description

With a no-nonsense, conversational style, Deena Rae of E-BookBuilders gives advice to aspiring authors about indie publishing. Filled with information about social media, pricing, formatting styles, covers, reviews and platforms (to a name a few) there is a wealth of information for the novice author. Even experienced authors and publishers will find this book helpful and informative.
With sections such as 'Authors - Quit Doing This!', 'In Praise of Audio(books)', 'Twitter Primer for Authors', and 'Should You Use Amazon's Author Central', Deena Rae gives detailed information that anyone in the industry of publishing should know and consider.
Whether you are just starting on your publishing journey, considering entering the literary world or have 30 books for sale, there is something for everyone in this book.
If you would like to add the book to your Goodread's shelf - just click the button!

What Other's Are Saying

This book is a must read for Indie Authors. Deena lays out the ins and outs of ebook publishing that many other people fail to hit on. From the novice writer to the seasoned pro, there are hidden nuggets of gold for everyone in this book. The author shares her viewpoint, having worked in the industry on several sides, as if you were talking to a friend. With helpful hints, do's and don'ts, this is the best "get your feet wet" book I've come across. -Janet W., Amazon Customer
...I got down to reading and oh my word. Almost a year into self publishing the hard way, learning everything on my own, I thought I knew it all, but no. Deena Rae's book is filled with little known information, tidbits of advice, obviously picked up from years of working in the trade. Not only was there much information to be soaked in, but my brain was pleasantly sponging every little thing up because the book is written in a fun and engaging way. I read it in one sitting, and as my kindle can attest, any other tech book is rarely read beyond 40%. -Lisa G., Goodreads Reader
...This book will answer so many questions that come up during the process, which had me baffled and almost ready to throw in the towel. The author also gives excellent information on how to promote your book. She does all this with a personal touch. You will not be buried in tech speak where even a dictionary would fail miserably....I highly recommend this book to anyone that is considering self-publishing their work, or is interested in seeing how it is all done. -Amazon Customer
I had the feeling of believing and trusting Deena knowledge, straight shooting style and passion for what she does while reading her book. She produced an ebook that was easy to read and kept me scrolling through without stopping.-Mauri B., Amazon Customer
Like many authors I wish had had read books like this before I published my first book. However it is never too late to learn. It is good to read about the things I seem to have got right, the things I could improve on and to learn a few tricks from scratch. The book is very well laid out with descriptive chapter titles so that it will be easy to dip back into which I certainly will. -Wendy U., Goodreads Reader

Who Is Deena Rae?

E-BookBuilders is the online alias of Deena Rae. She was born and raised in Texas - home of bluebonnets, boots, beef and big hair - into a family that was in the printing and publishing industries. Her father was a computer programmer for major newspapers when the equipment took up whole rooms and mother has been a publisher for almost 30 years - trying, unsuccessfully, to bring her into the family business. She is a second-generation genetically perfected super-nerd.
She was happily living her life, having three third-generation genetically perfected super-nerds herself, but then through a series of events (unfortunate and fortunate), she officially joined The Book Connection - her mother's publishing and packaging company - as the Digital Director, to create the e-publishing division in 2011. Her computer skills, willingness to help authors, love of literature, no-nonsense attitude and quick wit has helped shepherd many authors through the maze of digital publishing.
Through her work with E-BookBuilders, Deena Rae has been able to meet authors and writers from all over the world and in every genre imaginable. She has a biting wit, obscure sense of humor, awareness of the absurd, and a love of literature all which led to the creation of Bluebonnets, Bagpipes and Books, the #NSFW publishing discussion podcast she produces and hosts with Janet Wrenn and Peter Burnett. Her no-nonsense attitude makes for some hilarious discussions and plenty of "Oh my God, did she really just say that?" moments. Sometimes it is as if there is no filter between her brain and her mouth. But if she likes you she tries to be nice - sometimes. Deena also has the safe-for-everyone author interview show, B3's Bookworm. You can find her most hours of everyday attached to her computer either researching, tweeting on her 6 accounts, posting on her different Facebook timelines and pages, coding e-books for her fabulous friends/clients or with her nose buried in her Kindle reading.
If you are serious about publishing your own work, or just kicking the idea around, head over to Amazon and download the ebook Navigating the World of E-Book Publishing, available exclusively on Amazon. I am also available on many social media platforms and you can track me down that way if you have a question about e-publishing.

Thursday, 19 December 2013

How To Gift a Kindle Ebook – A Christmas Guide



Do you give books for Christmas? If you’re giving them to someone who has an e-reader, consider giving ebooks instead!

Many e-reader owners no longer want paperbacks, or only want select titles in paperback, due to:


  • Storage – paperbacks take up room, and avid readers will already have stacks of books (possibly literally);
  • Convenience – paperbacks are heavy to carry around, and inconvenient when about to finish a book, as you must carry two;
  • Ease of reading – E-readers are generally easier to hold and manoeuvre, particularly for readers of large books or readers with problems like arthritis or carpal tunnel.


Don’t like giving gift cards? No fear! You can gift a personalised selection of Kindle books on Amazon and here’s how.


  • Account – If you don’t have an Amazon account, set one up. Follow the link to Amazon - note that you can't give Kindle books as gifts from some Amazon Kindle Stores;
  • Choose your books – In the search bar, use the drop down menu to select ‘Kindle Store’ and search for books you know the recipient will like;
  • Gift details – On the right of the book page, click ‘Give as a gift’, and select ‘Email the gift to me’.  Complete the recipient’s details, and your gift message. Change ‘Your Name’ to the names you want the gift to be from e.g. Mary, Bob, Matt and Lucy;
  • Place order – Select place order to have the gift voucher emailed to you;
  • Print voucher – Once you receive the emailed voucher, print it and cut it to size;
  • Gift Wrapping – Amazon gift vouchers (when cut to size) fit nicely in pre-made DVD gift boxes, so you even still have a gift to put under the tree! If you can’t find any of these boxes, put the vouchers in a beautiful Christmas card.
DVD gift boxes - perfect for Amazon gift vouchers


Got it wrong? If the recipient already owns the book, or doesn’t want it, they can easily exchange it on Amazon. 

So next time you’re considering buying a paperback for someone with an e-reader, think twice – I know people who no longer want paperbacks, and even have paperbacks that have been loaned to them lying around unread.

Christmas doesn’t mean you can’t give digital books!

In the New Year, I’ll be posting about what e-book preferences means for brick-and-mortar stores, and how bookshops need to adapt and evolve to survive.

Saturday, 5 October 2013

What Would You Pay For A Book? What Do You Charge For A Book?



I’ve always had views about book pricing. I won’t buy a book priced at $0.99, because if that’s all it’s actually worth, then it’s not worth my time. The exception is a book on sale at $0.99 – in principle, anyway, because I still don’t think I’ve ever bought in that case either. 

$2.99 is another favourite price point because that gets the writer the 70% royalty offered by Amazon, but still, it’s an awfully cheap price for the amount of effort that actually goes into a book. 
I’ve long believed that selling books too cheaply results in them being undervalued by readers. There is anecdotal evidence than readers don’t value free books – many people collect free books and never read them, probably because something they’ve paid for always takes priority. There’s been no real expenditure of effort for a free book, so it can wait.

My opinion was somewhat vindicated when I saw some people questioning why a medical text was being offered for the price of $99 – I suspect they were spoiled by cheap ebook prices on Amazon, as well as having no clue about intellectual property.

I have been harbouring the hope that eventually readers would cotton on to the fact that you get what you pay for, and start avoiding $0.99 books as assiduously as I do in favour of something priced a little higher and hopefully of a better quality.

Then I read this article, by Dean Wesley Smith - http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=7891

The author has strong opinions about pricing, and even offers a suggested pricing structure. He’s been around the traps a bit, having published over a hundred novels in thirty years and hundreds and hundreds of short stories across many genres. He wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. He also co-wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom, and wrote novelisations of a dozen films, from The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown.

The article is worth reading, but if you don’t have the time, this is his suggested pricing structure in a nutshell:
 
— Novels

  • Front list, meaning brand new. Over 50,000 words. $7.99
  • Shorter front list novels, meaning 30,000 to 50,000 words. $6.96
  • Backlist novels, meaning already published by a traditional publisher. $6.99

— Short Books

  • Short books, meaning stories from 8,000 words to 30,000 words. $3.99

— Short Stories

  • Short stories … 4,000 to 8,000 words. $2.99
  • Short stories under 4,000 double with another bonus story… $2.99

— Collections

  • 5 stories $4.99
  • 10 stories $7.99

I like his prices. I’d pay them, as a reader, but then I’m coming from the perspective of an Australian reader, conditioned to pay $22 for a trade paperback , so these prices are still cheap as chips. Hell, $9.99 is cheap as chips.

There is a sweet spot for pricing, but that doesn't mean
everything should be priced there - for example, a
short story priced at $9.99 probably wouldn't sell much.
Your prices need to match what you're selling!
I think these prices are fair, but I’m not convinced that many readers, still spoiled by abysmally low book prices, will yet pay them – although I still hope that in the future they will.

I’ve just released my novella, Confronting the Demon, which I had originally planned to price at $1.99. This article suggests $3.99. I compromised at $2.99, and decided to see what happened, and use this as a guideline to pricing future books. It’s still early days as yet, but I’m getting upwards of 15 clickthroughs to the Amazon store each day, but usually no sales from that. I’m getting people to the book page, but they aren’t buying. Is it the price? Or something else?

So tell me what you think:
  • Would you pay the suggested prices? If not, why not?
  • Would you pay $2.99 for a novella including a bonus short story (totalling 30,000 words)?
  • What do you think is a fair price for ebooks?
  • How do you price your ebooks?
I’ll be signing copies of Confronting the Demon at the IndieVengeance Day Book Signing in Dallas, Saturday, October 12, 2013 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM (CDT). Register here - http://www.indievengeanceday.eventbrite.com/.

Blurb - Confronting the Demon

The gates to hell are thrown wide when Alloran is betrayed by his best friend, Ladanyon, and framed for forbidden magic. He is hunted by the guards and the wizards both, tormented by the gruesome murder of his friends and loved ones, and crippled by fear for the living. Now Alloran must face his demons, or damn the woman he loves.

A Magical Melody

When a lethal spell is stolen from a locked and warded room, Avram must hunt down the thief before the song of power buries a city of innocents beneath a thousand tons of ice.
Links to Buy Confronting the Demon - How would you like to read?

Trade Paperback


On my Kindle


On my computer



Coming soon on Nook, Kobo, and Apple devices.

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