Anyone want to write an eBook in 2011?

[kyrathaba]

In July 2010 that number goes to 70% for authors, provided ebooks are between $2.99 and $9.99 and not for sale elsewhere for less and that they're priced lower than a printed copy. Pressure from other retailers forced Amazon to make concessions. There's never been a better time to be an Indie author.

Read more: How to Sell a Book in Kindle Format | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4489551_sell-book-kindle-format.html#ixzz19jEd40Mf

Dear Publishers,

We are excited to announce Kindle book lending (http://www.amazon.com/kindle-lending). Kindle book lending allows readers to lend your books to their friends/family. We have automatically enrolled your Kindle books in the Kindle Book Lending program. For more information about the program, and whether you can change your book lending participation, visit our FAQ here: http://forums.digitaltextplatform.com/dtpforums/entry.jspa?externalID=581.

Sincerely,

DTP David

Anyone planning on taking advantage of this in 2011?  That would be a really awesome group project!  There are some highly intelligent, awesomely talented individuals who frequent this site.  I imagine some very high-quality works could be produced, either individually or as a group effort.

Here's a cool idea: coders developing their own instruction book teaching programming concepts.  I've noticed there are some really great teachers here on DC.

[kyrathaba]

Here's a short, concise YouTube video showing how easy it is to publish your eBook, so that it can be bought and downloaded by Amazon.com customers.

[mouser]

I think it's a wonderful idea 

[kyrathaba]

Hmm, what I'm thinking is that it would be really cool to have something similar/parallel to N.A.N.Y., except book-authoring related.  Maybe one of the following...

B.R.A.N.Y. -- Books Ready to Apprehend in the New Year
apprehend = absorb, appreciate

D.A.N.Y. -- Digital works of Art for the New Year
"art" = novels, haiku, books of your paintings, drawings, etc.

Individual or groups of individual DC members could work on these throughout 2011, giving whatever teasers they wish to keep our interest whetted, and then could spring these on us on Jan 1st, 2012.  If a work is intended for sale on Amazon.com, you'd make the purchase-and-download link available at that time.  Free works could continue to be hosted here, or on users' private websites.

[kyrathaba]

So is there not much interest in this?  I was hoping to coauthor something, with someone.

[40hz]

@k - I don't think it's so much a lack of interest as that your suggestion is likely a little too vague. Perhaps if there's a specific book idea(s) you want to collaborate on you could share it and see if there are any takers.

One problem is that a collaborative book effort is often more work for each writer than a solo authored one. You have issues surrounding the merging of writing styles, ego suppression; and, coordination of research, draft writing, revision schedules, and other duties that complicate the process. In a nutshell, it's a lot harder than it looks. Especially for writers that don't already have the experience of having written a book (or two) prior to collaborating.

Luck!

[kyrathaba]

@40hz - good points, all.

I was hoping this thread would spark some ideas.  At this point, I don't have any firm ideas myself.  I was more hoping to sign on with someone else who might be sparked by this thread.  If not, I will pitch my efforts into a solo novel.

[KynloStephen66515]

I think the main question is; is the following:

I understand that eBooks are hugely popular these days, but if you self publish on DTP, are you tied to them?

My reason for asking, is that, if I was to publish on DTP, I would also want to self-publish a physical version of the book also (Always nice to have a copy of your own book, in hardback, on the bookshelf).

[wraith808]

Actually, there's already fragmentation in this market... if I was going to do anything like this (and I had sort of planned to), I would use PubIt.

[40hz]

I think the main question is; is the following:

I understand that eBooks are hugely popular these days, but if you self publish on DTP, are you tied to them?

My reason for asking, is that, if I was to publish on DTP, I would also want to self-publish a physical version of the book also (Always nice to have a copy of your own book, in hardback, on the bookshelf).

Amazon offers a print-on-demand service for Kindle texts through it's subsidiary company CreateSpace. If the goal is just being able to get hard copies of your ebook, CreateSpace will let you accomplish that. Their prices are competitive with the rest of the industry for on-demand printing projects.

Note: I don't know if you have to go through CreateSpace, or if you can freely pick another hard copy printer or publishing company, if you originally release your book on on Kindle. But I'd definitely double-check every detail twice (and ideally have an attorney review it) before I signed anything with Amazon.

Amazon is not a bad company to deal with. But business is business - and Amazon is ALL business.

[kyrathaba]

I understand that eBooks are hugely popular these days, but if you self publish on DTP, are you tied to them?

My reason for asking, is that, if I was to publish on DTP, I would also want to self-publish a physical version of the book also (Always nice to have a copy of your own book, in hardback, on the bookshelf).

The DTP website's user-forum stated that any hard-copy printings must not cost less than the Kindle version.  I don't recall if they require you to use CreateSpace for hard copies, but I don't think they do.

[kyrathaba]

Amazon is not a bad company to deal with. But business is business - and Amazon is ALL business.

+1.

I've re-read the DTP site, and so far (haven't re-combed through it a third time, yet) I see no mention of a requirement to use CreateSpace -- no prohibition about using other sources to print hard copies.

What intrigues me about Amazon is how easy it appears to be to get an eBook into electronic print and on their website for sale.  Did you guys check out the YouTube video I linked to earlier?  Extremely simple.  Just upload your Word document and BOOM!  Also, I'm intrigued because Amazon sold over 7,000,000 Kindles just in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  There are LOTS of Kindles out there, and will be LOTS more in the very near future.  Although Amazon's in-print book sales continue to increase, those have been far outstripped by Kindle eBook sales.

As an added note, I've found nothing (again, so far) on the DTP site stating that the author is under any restrictions about making free copies available to friends/family -- although I probably haven't read the fine print carefully enough on that score.  I can't imagine them permitting that, since their goal is to make money on individuals' authorship efforts (but hey, that's no different than hardcopy print houses).

[mouser]

Nudone and i think also timns and I have very briefly discussed the fun idea of a book teaching programming with a cartoon Cody illustrating concepts

[kyrathaba]

Points of interest extracted from the DTP Terms & Conditions page:

5.1.4 Digital Book Withdrawal. You may withdraw your Digital Books from further sale in the Program at any time on five business days advance notice by following the then current Program procedures for Digital Book withdrawal or un-publishing

you retain all ownership rights in and to the copyrights and all other rights and interest in and to your Digital Books.

The way I read it, and I'm no lawyer or expert, is that you can opt out from selling your book via Amazon, and within a set number of days, they have to pull your book from their digital shelves, so to speak.  You'd then be free to distribute your content through other channels.  Lemme know if I've got this wrong.

[kyrathaba]

Nudone and i think also timns and I have very briefly discussed the fun idea of a book teaching programming with a cartoon Cody illustrating concepts

Awesome!  Lemme know if I can contribute in any way.

[mouser]

Lemme know if I can contribute in any way.

you could write the book

[40hz]

Lemme know if I can contribute in any way.

you could write the book

I was wondering how long it was going to take before somebody said that.  

If you ever go to a writer's workshop, you'll hear that said about a dozen times an hour to first time would-be coauthors.

(Please don't ask me how I know that.) 

[mahesh2k]

Interesting. Once i finish with wordpress theme for DC, i'll see if i can help contribute. 

[Renegade]

Actually, there's already fragmentation in this market... if I was going to do anything like this (and I had sort of planned to), I would use PubIt.

Pricing there is STEEP~!

Barnes & Noble may update or alter the Pricing and Payment Terms at any time and changes will be effective and binding on you on the date thirty days from posting, as described in the PubIt! Terms & Conditions.

Publisher will set a List Price for each eBook between $0.99 and $199.99.

Publisher will be paid a royalty off the List Price according to the following terms:

  1. For eBooks with a List Price at or between $2.99 and $9.99
          * 65% of the List Price
  2. For eBooks with a List Price at or below $2.98 or at or greater than $10.00 (but not more than $199.99 and not less than $0.99)
          * 40% of the List Price

Publisher will, at all times, ensure that the eBook List Price:

  1. Is no greater than the eBook's List Price at any other retailer, website, or sales channel.
  2. Is no greater than the eBook's print edition (if applicable).
  3. Complies with the minimum and maximum pricing policy as stated above.

Sample royalty calculation:

  1. List Price: $9.99 - Publisher Royalty: $6.49
  2. List Price: $20.00 - Publisher Royalty: $8.00

Especially for just listing your product. It's not like they're actually going to market it or do anything. 40% or 65% just to put on on the shelf? YIKES~!

[nudone]

Lemme know if I can contribute in any way.

you could write the book

Heheh, exactly.

[timns]

I must admit, this is of interest, if there's a little more free time coming up in the very near future.

In terms of testing the waters, how about pimping the Codex Transportica site into a little e-book?

[kyrathaba]

You could write the book

Hehe.  In this particular case, I am quite certain that nudone, timns, and you Mouser (or surely at least two of the three) have coding experience/expertise surpassing my own.  Is the book going to cover C++ (in which I have zero background), or Java (in which I have even less), or C# (in which I have considerable background, but am not yet an expert)?

Or is it, rather, going to cover general programming principles, with examples from multiple languages?

I have, to be honest, been giving serious consideration to writing a mid-length book on programming, from scratch, a text-adventure game in C#.  Seems like books on programming games sell like hot-cakes.  However, I'm thinking about putting that off another year or two, until I get "C# 3.0 Design Patterns" and "C# Game Programming for Serious Game Creation" under my belt.

[wraith808]

Pricing there is STEEP~!

Barnes & Noble may update or alter the Pricing and Payment Terms at any time and changes will be effective and binding on you on the date thirty days from posting, as described in the PubIt! Terms & Conditions.

Publisher will set a List Price for each eBook between $0.99 and $199.99.

Publisher will be paid a royalty off the List Price according to the following terms:

  1. For eBooks with a List Price at or between $2.99 and $9.99
         * 65% of the List Price
  2. For eBooks with a List Price at or below $2.98 or at or greater than $10.00 (but not more than $199.99 and not less than $0.99)
         * 40% of the List Price

Publisher will, at all times, ensure that the eBook List Price:

  1. Is no greater than the eBook's List Price at any other retailer, website, or sales channel.
  2. Is no greater than the eBook's print edition (if applicable).
  3. Complies with the minimum and maximum pricing policy as stated above.

Sample royalty calculation:

  1. List Price: $9.99 - Publisher Royalty: $6.49
  2. List Price: $20.00 - Publisher Royalty: $8.00

Especially for just listing your product. It's not like they're actually going to market it or do anything. 40% or 65% just to put on on the shelf? YIKES~!

Actually, I think you're reading that wrong   Look at the bold part... and you are the 'publisher'.

You *get* 65% if your book is between $2.99 and $9.99, i.e. 5% less than Amazon.  So Amazon is a better deal since they changed their rules (I believe after PubIt launched), but not by much.

[Renegade]

Actually, I think you're reading that wrong   Look at the bold part... and you are the 'publisher'.

You *get* 65% if your book is between $2.99 and $9.99, i.e. 5% less than Amazon.  So Amazon is a better deal since they changed their rules (I believe after PubIt launched), but not by much.

Are you sure?

If I write a book, I'm the author. I then take it to a publisher for publication. Seems like they're eating a lot there.

And for a more expensive book you get paid less? Huh?

Are they saying that this is "self-publication"?

Here's my book:

Part 1: $9.99
Part 2: $9.99
Part 3: $9.99

Who would ever publish a $30 book?

Seems a bit corky to me.

[wraith808]

I'm sure.  When I signed up, I was listed as the Publisher, and they wanted a publisher name.  So the book would show up as published by X, written by Y, with Y being my name, and X being the name assigned as the publisher.