Re: [epub] e-book help

[Cathy Stucker <cstucker@xxxxxxxxx>]

At 07:23 AM 7/25/2000 -0700, Angelique Watkins wrote:
>I would like to place a book that my husband wrote in
>an e-book online so it can be downloaded on the
>internet by others.  
>
>I am seeking resources and the proper way to do this.

Angelique, there are lots of ways to do this. 

If you don't want to sell it, there are several sites which list free
e-books.  You can format it as you choose, then upload it to them.  Make it
available at your website, and offer it as a freebie to other websites who
attract the people who would be interested in your e-book.

There are lots of other options if you hope to make some money on sales. 

You can try to interest one of the e-book publishers who operate much like
traditional book publishers (in that they have an exclusive on your book).
You still do the marketing, just as in any other publishing venture, but
they handle the technical aspects of creating the book, order fulfillment,
etc.

Similarly, you can contract with one of the subsidy e-publishers who charge
to format and make your book available.  They accept anyone who can pay, so
acceptance is not an issue.  Costs vary widely.  Again, you do the
marketing.  How available the e-book is depends on the publisher.

You can create an e-book yourself using Adobe PDF or other formats.  Then,
market and sell the book from your website and others.

If you create your own e-book, you can also offer it for sale at
non-exclusive online bookstores, such as http://www.booklocker.com/. (They
require it to be in PDF.)

Perhaps the easiest way is at http://www.mightywords.com/.  You can upload
a file in one of several formats (including PDF or MS Word).  They format
it as a secure PDF file, then offer it for sale.  They charge you $1/month
for each file you have there.  You set the selling price, and they pay you
50% of each sale.

No matter how you do it, you are responsible for marketing to get people to
find and buy the e-book.  Most of the options here free you from doing
technical stuff and order fulfillment.

One thing to consider in all this is the best format for your book's
audience.  Do they all have Rocket e-book readers or Palm Pilots?  Will
they likely read the book on the screen, or will they want to print it out
and read it from paper?  Does it contain searchable data--will they want to
be able to rearrange the data (such as an address list), and do you want
them to be able to do so?

Hope this helps.  E-publishing is getting more complicated by the day, as
new options open up.  But it's a great time to be an e-publisher!

Cathy Stucker
Author of 'Selling Bytes, Not Books: Publishing on the Internet'
Available in hardcopy and e-book editions
Order the first edition now, and 
get a FREE copy of the second edition e-book!
http://www.idealady.com/products.htm
cathy@idealady.com



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