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Old 05-31-2013, 04:56 AM   #163
Hitch
Bookmaker & Cat Slave
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Phoenix, AZ
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Quote:
Originally Posted by abeonis View Post
Hitch,

If the question is "Do I have to convince a paying client that this is the best eBook structure?" the answer is no. I know, I am lucky. I am the author and self-publisher but also the only responsible of my results.

Instead of spending a precious time learning how to design eBooks, I could have been a "paying client" myself. My perception as a client, is that eBooks are changing the way books are produced and consummed. It is not only a physical change, it is a BIG change in readers purchasing and reading habits. Consequently, as an author, I have to adapt my books to this change, I have to change myself (I know, nobody like changes). So, I am extremely sensitive and open to what profesional publishers recommend me (This is actually what I am doing now). If their recommendations are oriented to help me sell more books, and they convince me of that ... "please, go ahead".

That said I understand your frustration, as a commercial publisher, to have to justify a change that is controlled by Amazon, not you. My life is so comfortable as an indie author ...
Then you can afford to simply please yourself. And to clarify, I'm not a publisher, I'm a producer of ebooks. I just make them. What their publishers do with them is their responsibility, but I do try to ensure that my clients don't break Amazon's (formatting) rules, for myriad reasons. First and foremost is that not all Amazon marketing advantages (promotions, in-book features, etc.) are automatically used for every book. They are used at Amazon's discretion. A book made in direct violation to Amazon's guidelines, in print, seems to me to run a very high risk of not getting selected for any of those promotional and marketing features.

I have a client that insists on the "James Patterson TOC," which means he has an html toc at the front of the book, after the copyright page, that has the title, "Start Reading" and that's it. The full TOC is at the back. Now, James Patterson can pretty much ignore anything that Amazon may do to him, but this client of course cannot...but he persists in this, anyway, even though having the "full" TOC at the back can screw up the device's perception of how much remains to be read, etc. {shrug}. As I said...I'm just the printer, basically (the digital printer, more or less). The clients can't always be protected from themselves.

Hitch
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