Self-Publishing Primer: Part 13 – Do I need a Web site … and should I make my book available as an e-book?
February 28, 2007 by Lillie
Table of contents for Self-Publishing Primer
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part I – Introduction
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part 2 – What is traditional publishing?
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part 3 – What is vanity publishing?
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part 4 – What is subsidy publishing?
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part 5 – What is self-publishing?
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part 6 – What are the pros and cons of self-publishing?
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part 7 – Who should self-publish?
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part 8 – How do I write my book?
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part 9 – How do I set up a self-publishing company?
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part 10 – What do I need to know about copyrights and ISBNs?
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part 11 – How much does self-publishing cost?
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part 12 – What do I need to do and when do I need to do it?
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part 13 – Do I need a Web site … and should I make my book available as an e-book?
- Self-Publishing Primer: Part 14 – How can I market and distribute my books?
You will find links to the other posts in the series at Self-Publishing Primer.
Writers who expect to sell their books in personal appearances or through brick-and-mortar stores may not see the value of having a Web site. But even if you don’t want to sell your books online, it’s important to have your own Web site:
- Readers and the media expect writers to have Web sites. Journalists are using the Internet more and more for sources, and you want to be findable if a reporter is doing a story related to the subject of your book.
- You can provide more information about your book and yourself than what is on the back cover or in an online bookstore. Readers love to find out “inside information,” like why you came to write your story, and they like to read excerpts -which can lead to sales when they get hooked on the story and want to know what happens.
- You can use your Web site content to demonstrate your expertise and establish credibility. A blog or articles about something related to your book provide a valuable service to Web site visitors searching for information. When readers find the information you provide interesting or helpful – or both – they are more likely to buy your book.
- You can use your Web site and an e-mail list created from site visitors to keep readers informed of your booksignings, speaking engagements, and other events … and you can promote your next book.
- You can sell books from your Web site, or, if you prefer not to take orders online, you can link to an online bookstore that carries your books. However, remember that you will give a 40% to 55% discount to the bookstore, and you will be selling the book at retail on your Web site. Selling your own books on your own Web site, like personal selling, will be more profitable than selling through other distribution channels.
Many authors don’t see the need to publish their books in electronic formats because they don’t really understand the advantages of e-books:
- The costs of production and distribution are negligible. Once you create an electronic file, you can offer it for download over and over again with no printing, shipping, warehousing, or distribution expenses.
- E-books can be read on numerous devices, not just at the computer. eBookMall and Fictionwise have information on a number of different devices, including PDAs, handheld computers, and dedicated reading devices. Readers who enjoy e-books usually have a favorite device. I prefer to read e-books because my eyesight is very bad, and I can adjust the font and lighting on my eBookWise reader for more comfortable reading than most print books.
- Some avid readers prefer to buy e-books because they cost less and don’t take up space on their bookshelves. They can buy more books with their book-buying budget.
- The lower price of e-books encourages readers to try new authors and publishers – if they don’t like the book, they haven’t wasted a lot of money. If they really like the book, these same readers will often buy a print copy as well for their “keeper shelf.”
- Readers who are looking for something to read NOW may order an e-book online when they wouldn’t (or couldn’t) make a trip to a bookstore or wait for delivery of a print book from an online store.
- E-book stores will carry your book for you if you prefer not to, but it’s fairly simple to deliver e-books on your own Web site.
- Publishing your book in electronic format will give you more opportunities to sell more books to more readers.
For other views on Web sites and e-books, read these articles:
- How They’ll Find Your Book Online (or) Winning at Search Engine Optimization by Fern Reiss at The Publishing Game
Ten Top Reasons Authors NEED a Web Site by book coach Judy Cullins - Do You Need an Author Website? by Moira Allen, an excerpt from her book Writing.Com: Creative Internet Strategies to Advance Your Writing Career
- Do You Need An Author Web Site? by Dawn Seewer on FictionFactor.com
- Use an Email Newsletter to Promote Your Book by Fern Reiss at The Publishing Game
- E-Book Resources on my Web site – follow the links to helpful sites about e-books
Next, in the final installment of this series, we’ll talk about promoting and marketing your books.
[tags]publishing, self-publishing, writing[/tags]
This is a really good Primer with a lot of tips. I want to mention a website that helps people with self publishing, it’s http://www.lulu.com I don’t know if you know about it but it has some good tools.
thanks for the primer.
Thanks for the comment, wagi. I believe you can use your own ISBN with Lulu, but if you use their ISBN, it’s subsidy publishing. That may be appropriate for some writers in some situations, as long as the writer is aware.
If you want to really make a splash with an eBook you need to Joint Venture. All of the other stuff listed does work, but it can take a lot of time – especially anything search engine related. JV’s are the quickest and biggest way to make a splash.
I responded to this comment with thanks but the reply was lost.
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The Self publishing primer does give some good information, many of which I was not aware of. As far a website is concerned I feel every Journalists/writer should have a website of there own, and should use social media, like twitter, facebook etc.. to keep in touch with their readers and fans.
One note of caution for E-book, publishing an ebook is obviously great but also involves great risks of piracy and illegal circulation of the material, one needs to be proactive to stop such activities.
Jason,
Yes, social media like those you mention can be very helpful, I’m sure, though I’m no good at social media so can’t speak from personal experience.
Some publishers choose to protect their e-books with digital rights management (DRM), but most small press and self-published authors recognize this only hurts sales of the book and doesn’t really protect the content from someone who is determined to steal it.
The point that ‘if they don’t like the book, they haven’t wasted a lot of money. If they really like the book, these same readers will often buy a print copy as well for their “keeper shelf”’ is very much true and that is why people go for e-books. So it is always advised to keep e-books.
Priya,
As you can tell if you look around this site a little, I’m a big fan of ebooks.
I’m currently working on 2 books to be self-published. A lot of the content available in various e-books around the web aren’t available in print. Either because they aren’t marketable or information changes too fast to be worth printing. In my case I write about obscure grammatical topics. It’s all about your market and where they are.
Mark,
You are very wise to recognize that you go where your audience is, not expect them to come to you.
Interesting concept …
This series is talking primarily about books that are primarily print but I’m suggesting that self-published authors make their titles available as e-books, also, as an option.
Do JVs work as well for print books and for fiction e-books or nonfiction e-books that aren’t focused on making money on the Internet?