Kindle only

[ProfCrash]

Even if it is limited to the US and you can upload non-DRMed material, it gives Indie authors a place to sell their EPub's that is easier to work with and that is a good thing.

I think the Nook is the number 2 E-Reader in the US so selling a book at Amazon and BN would cover most e-reader users in the US.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

Authors must have a valid U.S. Bank Account, U.S. Credit Card, and U.S. Tax ID in order to upload their e-book to Barnes & Noble's PubIt. But I noticed this in their author guidelines, which leads me to believe that e-books can be sold internationally:

Publishers who distribute their eBooks through PubIt! must have the right to do so. Select Worldwide Rights if you have the right to make your content available in all countries. If not, click United States Only or United States and Canada Only, as appropriate.

I'm confused.

They are probably a typical American company:
Worldwide = US + Canada + Mexico

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

It's not that authors/publishers don't provide ePub (and other formats) because they want to exclude readers. It just isn't as simple as offering an e-book in Kindle format. Amazon makes the process very easy. Some of the other distributors certainly don't!

I started a separate thread asking where ePub users purchase their books. The answers so far:

• Barnes & Noble
• Kobo
• Baen
• Feedbooks
• Fictionwise
• Smashwords

Nobody's mentioned the Sony store yet. So then, the question becomes, which outlet do I choose? Someone's going to feel left out because I won't be including all outlets.

I realize that not everyone is familiar with Calibre or wants to bother with it, but it is quite easy to convert between formats, especially if the file is DRM-free. I don't hate on ePub, but the choices really aren't as straightforward as some think.

I think I mentioned the Sony store, but as a place I don't shop.

The biggest problem is, so many people buy from where they get their reader from. Kindle readers use Amazon (although not much choice), nook users from B&N, etc. None of the major players do not run their own store (or their own store with no reader). And several of them attempt some sort of lock in, to keep out other people (so they have to buy their reader if they want to buy from them) and to keep their customers in (mostly just Amazon on that).

In my experience, based on what I've heard from people, most people if they don't have a Kindle or a nook buy from Kobo, since they got to be a big ebook store before they rolled out their reader, and still have that going from them.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

The biggest problem is, so many people buy from where they get their reader from.

Exactly! And with all the devices capable of reading ePubs, that's a lot of different stores—each with their own requirements, if they're even author-friendly at all.

Kindle readers use Amazon (although not much choice)....

Yes, I buy almost all my Kindle books from Amazon. I also purchase DRM-free .mobi books elsewhere. Kindle users are used to receiving their books instantly from Amazon, via wi-fi/3G, so many don't want to bother with side-loading .mobi/.prc via the USB cable, or they don't even know they can do that.

In my experience, based on what I've heard from people, most people if they don't have a Kindle or a nook buy from Kobo, since they got to be a big ebook store before they rolled out their reader, and still have that going from them.

There isn't much information on Kobo's website regarding direct e-book publishing there, but from what I've read they don't make it easy for authors! Some authors offer their book at Kobo through Smashwords, though. As I've said before, I am not happy that Smashwords only accepts MS Word files, but that may be the most practical way to get the ePub into the various stores. < sigh >

[Ron.]

I see you have a website, why not just sell the epub from there ?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

From Konrath's blog:



Would you bother with anything but Kindle?

Konrath's numbers are crap. He's gone exclusively Amazon. So why would people who don't deal with Amazon for eBooks even bother with any of his books? You start reading a series and are enjoying it, then you find out that newer books are not available in the format you use. So you get pissed and stop buying anything he's written. And if you find this out before hand, you don't buy.

This is why his numbers are crap. If he wasn't exclusive with Amazon and he posted the same numbers, then sure, I'd believe them. And anyway, why is he abandoning his fans who do not use Kindle eBooks?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by OneandonlyDoc

Point of fact, Konrath is smart enough to diversify into Epub beyond just Kindle's proprietary format.

Konrath has gone stupid then. He's now exclusive to Amazon. He's alienating a lot of people. i was going to buy his first Jack Daniels eBook, but before I got to doing so, he went Amazon. So I am not buying into his sure you can get the ones that are Amazon only in ePub by converting to ePub with Calibre. That's BS. We should not have to covert just because he wants to be an ass. I will never give any money to Amazon for exclusive eBooks.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

At the volume he is selling at, yes it probably is worth adding the lower volume channels. But now you are a much lesser known author, selling only 1% of the volume that he is.

You get 90% of your sales through Amazon. How much of your time and effort is it worth spending on the other 10% of the market? For which, on your calculations, you would receive $187. (Before taxes and administration costs)

How about if you sell 5% as many books as him. Is it worth the time and effort for $935?

If you get to be popular and your name gets out there then having made the effort to have your eBooks in multiple formats in multiple stores will have paid off. Sometimes it doesn't seem worth the effort, but it is. You get a reputation and Amazon gets a reputation and that reputation is not good.

We got the agency model because of companies wanting to stop Amazon from trying to take over.

Think of it like this... You have a DVD player. You like DVDs. You buy DVDs from your favorite video store. Now along comes Amazon. They get companies to sell them movies that they will not sell to other stores. But, Amazon's not selling DVDs. Amazon is selling VHS tapes. How would you feel about that?

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Konrath has gone stupid then. He's now exclusive to Amazon. He's alienating a lot of people. i was going to buy his first Jack Daniels eBook, but before I got to doing so, he went Amazon. So I am not buying into his sure you can get the ones that are Amazon only in ePub by converting to ePub with Calibre. That's BS. We should not have to covert just because he wants to be an ass. I will never give any money to Amazon for exclusive eBooks.

But you are odd. You must realise this.
Not everyone has the obsessive hate of Amazon that you do.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Ron.

I see you have a website, why not just sell the epub from there ?

Well, I did try that with the .mobi and eReader size-optimized .pdf versions (for seven months), with disappointing results.

I just published the Kindle version of my husband's book at Amazon last month. In that short period of time, there have been six times the number of sales at Amazon when compared to website sales over the entire seven-month period. Our website doesn't get a lot of traffic, I think there's a "trust factor" involved, and many people don't like PayPal. I don't think I want to go there again.

At this point, I'm leaning toward publishing directly at Barnes & Noble and then submitting to Smashwords for distribution to Apple, Sony, Kobo, etc. It's going to be a lot of work getting the files ready for submission, but I'll get to it one of these days, in between my other projects.

Thanks so much for your help, everyone!

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Konrath has gone stupid then. He's now exclusive to Amazon.

You've got a funny definition of "exclusive." He has over 25 books available at Smashwords.

He has contracted for some titles to be exclusive to Amazon, at least for a while (I suspect Amazon doesn't have indefinite exclusivity rights); he hasn't removed his other titles from other stores.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

It's not that authors/publishers don't provide ePub (and other formats) because they want to exclude readers. It just isn't as simple as offering an e-book in Kindle format. Amazon makes the process very easy. Some of the other distributors certainly don't!

I started a separate thread asking where ePub users purchase their books. The answers so far:

• Barnes & Noble
• Kobo
• Baen
• Feedbooks
• Fictionwise
• Smashwords

Nobody's mentioned the Sony store yet. So then, the question becomes, which outlet do I choose? Someone's going to feel left out because I won't be including all outlets.

I have shopped at all the stores mentioned and I also shop at Sony. Smashwords is my least favorite store and I do find myself being rather annoyed getting an eBook at say B&N that came from Smashwords.

I really don't like the quality of the underlying code from Smashwords' meatgrinder. I take my ePub and fix them to fit the way I like to read and Smashwords eBooks are a lot more work. So if you do submit to Smashwords, please put something in the description. I'd like to know to avoid.

For my husband's Kindle book, I created a .prc file from HTML and submitted that to Amazon for the DRM-free Kindle version. It turned out great. But I'm going to have to tweak the HTML for ePub. For me, there will be a learning curve, as I've never created an ePub before. And I don't have a device to test it on.

Adobe Digital Editions for Windows will do quite nicely to test your ePub. You can get Sigil and use that to convert your HTML into ePub. Or you can use Calibre to do the initial conversion and then Sigil for any tweaks.

When you get a nicely made ePub that's not made buy the meatgrinder, I'd be interested in buying a copy. I took a look at the description at Amazon and it sounds like I'd enjoy it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

But you are odd. You must realise this.
Not everyone has the obsessive hate of Amazon that you do.

How is it hate of Amazon when an author pulls a stupid stunt to alienate a lot of customers? Hate is not something I've said so please get rid of your hate vendetta.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

You've got a funny definition of "exclusive." He has over 25 books available at Smashwords.

He has contracted for some titles to be exclusive to Amazon, at least for a while (I suspect Amazon doesn't have indefinite exclusivity rights); he hasn't removed his other titles from other stores.

But he has put his newer Jack Daniels series books up at Amazon only. So if you don't want Amazon eBooks and you like the series, tough luck, screw you. That what he's saying to people.

His response to what about people that want ePub is to buy from Amazon and convert with Calibre. That's not a valid answer to his loyal customers who use ePub.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I really don't like the quality of the underlying code from Smashwords' meatgrinder.

I feel the same way. I have quite a few .mobi books from Smashwords, and I find the quality too variable. Many of them are okay, but others have botched formatting, missing covers, wacky metadata, etc. That's why I was hoping to upload ePub to the stores directly rather than going through Smashwords. But, except for Barnes & Noble (and Amazon ), the major e-book stores don't make it easy for authors!