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Are Paperbacks Worth It? [Discussion]

March 26th, 2012 by Toni

The recent news of eBooks outselling their printed counterparts got the little wheels in my head turning. For us indie authors, paperbacks represent a much larger investment, both in terms of time and money. Breaking down the differences between paperbacks and eBooks:

Paperbacks:

  • Require more extensive design (layout design/formatting, spine and back cover design, high-resolution cover design in general)
  • Cost more to produce (there’s a cost involved in printing the physical book)
  • Take more time to publish (waiting for design, setup with printer, proofs, etc.)
  • Represent more of an investment for readers (generally $10+, have to carry them around, risk losing them)

eBooks, on the other hand:

  • Require only simple design (I know you can get fancy, but it’s not necessary — Word and a cover design will do)
  • Include no overhead (outside of the cut the publisher/distrbutor takes)
  • Can be published almost instantly (not counting the waiting for Smashwords‘ book processor)
  • Less cost to readers (both in terms of the price of the book and convenience factor)

With that in mind, we want to know: are paperbacks still worth it?

We want to know:

  • Have you published/do you plan to publish your book in both paperback and eBook form? How did you make the decision?
  • When it comes to your personal reading habits, do you prefer eBooks or paperbacks?
  • Do you think there will come a time when paperbacks are extremely rare/obsolete?
  • Does a paperback book feel “higher quality” (in terms of writing) than an eBook?
  • Are certain types/genres of books better suited for eBooks/paperbacks than others?
  • Do eBooks/paperbacks offer unique marketing opportunities/challenges?

We can’t wait to hear your responses! To join the discussion, please leave a comment below addressing any (or all) of the above questions. Also, mention the discussion to your indie author friends — we’d love to hear from everyone!

More from Discussion, Publishing | 18 Comments

Quoting Lyrics and Dodging Copyright Issues [Guest Post]

March 20th, 2012 by Guest Poster

The following is a guest post by Grant Piercy. Thanks for a great post, Grant!

So you’re in the process of writing your masterpiece. Say you’re in the car, contemplating your work-in-progress, and a song comes on the radio. You hear some great lyric that somehow clicks with your manuscript; it applies so well that you want to share it, either in text or as a preface to the work. Or maybe you just have a character listening to or singing the song.

Stephen King does it. Bret Easton Ellis does it. Alan Moore does it. Why can’t you? It doesn’t help that there are hundreds of Web sites out there built on posting lyrics. People quote lyrics, somewhat annoyingly, on their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Later, when you’re thinking of actually publishing your literary masterpiece, thanks to Kindle’s easy-to-use self-publishing tools, or those of Barnes & Noble’s Pubit, or Apple’s iBooks, etc., you begin to wonder. “Are there any legal ramifications to publishing someone else’s lyrics in my work? It’s only one line, what damage could it do?”

Let me make this perfectly clear. Unless you want to pay royalties to someone else, or you want to limit your print run (self-publishing e-suicide), you probably don’t want to quote lyrics.

I understand. It’s going to be different for you. You’ve heard this before from some other author who couldn’t get the job done. You’re going to quote your favorite artist and that artist is going to think your work is awesome and point to it and say, “Look. This guy quoted me. This book is awesome.”

No. No. No. (more…)

More from Publishing, Writing | 9 Comments

As The Self-Pub World Turns: Amazon’s Taking Over Edition

February 24th, 2012 by Toni

At our weekly Duolit pow-wow, Shannon mentioned that she missed the Links of the Week posts from back in the day (last year is totally “back in the day”). I don’t know about you guys, but I agree with her! The posts were a great way to recognize the awesome work being done by self-publishing bloggers as well as share interestingness we stumbled upon in our web travels.

Good news, everyone! As of…now, those posts are back in a series called “As The Self-Pub World Turns.” Here’s what we’ve been checking out this week: 

I know you guys have also found some awesome posts/resources this week — won’t you please share with the class? Take a few moments to leave the link in the comments so we can all have some lovely weekend reading!

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3 Reasons Why You Need a Compelling Book Cover (And 2 Ways To Get One)

February 22nd, 2012 by Toni

You need a compelling book cover design.

*collective groan*

I know, I hear you guys out there. You’ve gotten the message from design advocates all over the web. Most prospective indie authors understand that they should create an effective, awesome book cover, but think that it’s too much work for too little reward.

Maybe you’re one of those authors. Have you convinced yourself that you like your default Createspace cover? That it gets the job done? After all, the content is the most important part of your book…right?

I hate to break it to you (please don’t shoot the messenger), but that default cover doesn’t get the job done and, while quality content is very important, no one will have the opportunity to read it if they’re not compelled enough by your cover design to learn more. You need a book cover that inspires action. Not convinced yet? Stick with me!

3 Reasons Why You Need A Compelling Book Cover

1. You are not a special snowflake.

A coworker recently told me a story of working at a music store in the early 90′s. On Super Bowl Sunday, Whitney Houston belted out her amazing rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner. On Monday, customers were lining up to purchase it.

Her record company was so taken aback by the demand that they had little time to produce the single itself, let alone fancy artwork for it. The tape had a plain white cover with the title and artist printed in a default typeface — the end. The result? It sold like gangbusters anyway because no one gave a hoot what the tape looked like — the song was that good.

Taking the theme to books, you’ll frequently see covers for classics that look like this. You know — Tolstoy, Austen, etc. Their books don’t have to look amazing because people are going to purposely seek them out and buy them anyway.

Sadly, you’re not Tolstoy. And that’s okay! I know I’m sure as heck not Austen. But recognizing this allows us to pair our books with effective cover design that speaks to our book browsers, converting them into readers. (more…)

More from Book Design, Publishing | 8 Comments

The Old Shell Game of Publishing [Guest Post]

February 8th, 2012 by Guest Poster

The following is a guest post from Allan Douglas and an entry in February’s Self-Publishing Writing Contest. Click here to vote for the winner of this month’s contest. Want to help out your fellow indie authors? Consider entering March’s contest!

There was a time when publishing a book was pretty straightforward; you had two courses. One: find an agent to represent you, seek a publisher who in turn will produce and promote your book and pay you for the privilege of doing so. Two: take your manuscript to a vanity press and pay them to produce your book so you could promote and sell it yourself.

Today you still have those choices, but you also have the option of going the route of some form of self-publishing. This choice has been around in the form of vanity presses (they prefer the term “subsidy press”) but that route has always been very expensive. Technology has come to our rescue by making eBooks and Print On Demand (P.O.D.) books available directly to authors. Now we can choose to sidestep the agent, thumb our noses at the publisher and go directly from manuscript to publication, if we want to.

As a result, some agents have decided to embrace the new model by becoming publishers themselves. Some publishing houses are cutting deals directly with successful indie authors. And many new “publishers” are springing up all over the place. (more…)

More from Guest Posts, Publishing | 27 Comments