Amazon declared that consumers are buying more e-books than print. It’s convenient when dozens, even hundreds, of “books” can reside on a convenient and compact e-reader, often cheaper to purchase, you can get instant downloads and start reading right away… add to that various e-reader features like type-face sizes, audio, and more. Students use e-readers for textbooks, families are making use of “folders” for individual reading preferences, and many, many popular books are available in at least one e-book format.
Until recently the e-book industry met with derision and skepticism. Since e-publishing is generally less expensive than print books, many folks questioned the professionalism. Popular and big-name novels were made available as “real books”, you know, the kind that can be held in your hands and feel the pages. There was even a time when many would-be authors produced their books as .pdf files and sold them straight from their websites. Now there are many legitimate sources which help make it easier to upload a manuscript in various formats and help to guide you through the publication process. Several e-book publishers are out there too and e-books never go “out-of-print”, they can be kept available indefinitely.
Whether you are considering a non-fiction or a novel, self publishing or using a recognized e-book publisher, there are certainly a few rules to keep in mind. An e-book has to be easy to read, make your sentences and paragraphs brief. All books, even hard copy printed, must be written with a target audience in mind – non-fiction or fiction, keep your audience in mind while you write (are you writing for professional engineers, first time parents, mature adults, etc?) Make sure your title , especially for non-fiction, is relevant to the subject. Proofread! It is disconcerting to have to wade through misspellings and sentences that do not make any sense.
If you are looking to self publish your e-book, search the internet for e-book providers and follow their formatting instructions.; this is easy to do with online retailers like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing or and others so long as YOU own all of the rights to your work. Format and upload, don’t forget to promote your work. Or search for an e-book publishing house, they are becoming more and more prevalent and many formerly print-only houses are branching out into e-books. Again, follow the formatting procedures for submissions.
All books, print or e-book, have to be promoted. Get the buzz out as soon as possible through blogs, virtual tours, URL signatures on all of your emails, etc. Keep an adequate supply of “swag” on hand too – swag includes things like bookmarks, personalized T-shirts, postcards, trading cards and more – these are the things to hand out and even sometimes sign for a fan.
Writing exercise: Choose an object in your house that “sees” a lot of action. Write a diary entry for that object and talk about the things that were seen or said. For instance, my refrigerator would probably mention the assorted folks who come into the kitchen and stare into the fridge for several minutes just to make faces at the leftover pizza or groan at the older and should-be-thrown out before it walks out stuff. The fridge might have a lot to say about the state of mind of the individual preparing dinner – was he/she rushed, picky, indifferent? Were there leftovers put back into the fridge? Let the fridge make an assumption about the success or lack of about the meal. You get the idea.
Writing prompt: Give first names to your ten most used items; for instance my son calls his car Charlotte. Make a list. Then give a very brief explanation why that particular name fits that particular object.
