independent author on what Sony demands to list her books

[Bob Russell]

Here's something that's sure to be an unpopular alternate view...
(This is just exploring the implications, not saying this means the fee structure is correct.)

We know that the big name authors will sell, so what we are talking about here are the unknown authors. As mentioned above, quality is also unknown. I don't know what kind of screening there is for quality. Surely at Amazon they will sell anything that gets to print, won't they?

But here's the observation... The higher the cost, the higher the quality or more interesting the submissions. My reasoning is that the author of absolute junk is unlikely to want to spend the $200 entrance fee. (Well, unless they depend on misleading the reader with a great cover and title and blurb about the book, I suppose. I hadn't thought about the ramifications of how consumers may buy stuff without checking reviews or sample text from other sites.)

But my point is that with a cost to get into the store, people will only "pony up" if they have reasonable expectations that the book will sell.

[yvanleterrible]

Guess so!

[HarryT]

US$200 to get a book listed seems amazingly cheap to me. Difficult to imagine any author with so little confidence in their work that they wouldn't be willing to up such an amount to get widespread distribution. You'd have to spend a heck of a lot more than that to get any mainstream publisher to touch a book from an unknown author - very few publishers will look at unsollicited manuscripts these days.

[jæd]

Are non-Connect store authors free to promote their books as readable by the Reader, or make them available in Reader compatible formats...? Ie, the $200 is a more a marketing cost than a publishing cost... If an author can promote their site for under $200 and get the same sales then whats to make them use the Sony Store. (Apart from exposure to readers)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jæd

If an author can promote their site for under $200 and get the same sales then whats to make them use the Sony Store. (Apart from exposure to readers)

"Exposure" is precisely what it's about, I'd guess. The point about "Connect" is that it's the one place that any "Reader" owner would go to find commercial books. Probably very difficult indeed to get owners to look at independent web sites.

The other thing the author gets via "Connect" is DRM, of course. Although it would be trivial for any author to offer a book themselves in an open format. DRM is important for a lot of authors, and "Connect" is probably the only way to get that.

Regards,

Harry.

[jæd]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The other thing the author gets via "Connect" is DRM, of course. Although it would be trivial for any author to offer a book themselves in an open format. DRM is important for a lot of authors, and "Connect" is probably the only way to get that.

Good point... Is DRM not available, apart from through the connect store...?

[yvanleterrible]

Maybe I missed something but are there exclusivity rights when you sign on with SONY?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jæd

Good point... Is DRM not available, apart from through the connect store...?

It's implemented by the software on the Connect store. I would guess that no "third party" has access to that mechanism.

Regards,

Harry.

[igorsk]

Actually, Connnect implements Marlin DRM, which is supposed to be transferrable between the Coral Consortium participants (which includes Philips btw). So in theory, you should be able to transfer your licenses to other devices which implement Marlin DRM. Of course, since there are no such other readers so far, we can't really check that

[lensman]

It seems to me that the attractiveness of the model depends on your goal. I have a friend who I pays an editor $50 a week when he's in "full writing" mode. I don't think he'd balk at a chance to get his book published for $200, though I dunno whether the agreement talked about gives Sony any rights as his exclusive publisher for this book or any follow-ons.

[rjnagle]

mobipocket's publishers' agreement is looking very attractive by comparison
http://www.mobipocket.com/ebookbase/..._agreement.asp.

Free creator software. quarterly payouts assuming you make $150+. ability to name your price and to sell elsewhere and remove your material.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Steve Jordan! I'd love to have your opinions on all of this!

Actually, I'm wondering about my opinion on this too!

I'd contacted Sony about getting into the Connect store, but they hadn't gotten back to me yet (other than letting me know they'd received my inquiry). So all of this is news to me.

Right now, I'm on the fence. No, $200 to essentially get some great exposure for your book isn't bad. After all, it's Sony. It's a high-profile point to sell your e-books. If Amazon offered any author this opportunity, they'd jump at it. I'd consider it... a book at a time (otherwise, I'd be coughing up two grand for my 10 books!).

On the other hand, if I can provide (certified) proofread material, and can format the book myself, there should be a discounted price for someone like me. Or maybe a smaller cut from Sony. (Shyeah, right...)

And it does give rise to these questions: Can anybody with 2 C-notes get published? Is someone at Sony, or their formatting contractor, going to be judging what does and does not make the cut? And if so, by what criteria?

I'd be willing to consider it... pending more info, like Sony's cut of the sales, terms of acceptable submissions, exclusivity contracts, DRM requirements (I'd still like to look into selling sans DRM), and any other servicing/administrative/"stocking" fees involved.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Actually, I'm wondering about my opinion on this too!

I'd contacted Sony about getting into the Connect store, but they hadn't gotten back to me yet (other than letting me know they'd received my inquiry). So all of this is news to me.

Right now, I'm on the fence. No, $200 to essentially get some great exposure for your book isn't bad. After all, it's Sony. It's a high-profile point to sell your e-books. If Amazon offered any author this opportunity, they'd jump at it. I'd consider it... a book at a time (otherwise, I'd be coughing up two grand for my 10 books!).

On the other hand, if I can provide (certified) proofread material, and can format the book myself, there should be a discounted price for someone like me. Or maybe a smaller cut from Sony. (Shyeah, right...)

And it does give rise to these questions: Can anybody with 2 C-notes get published? Is someone at Sony, or their formatting contractor, going to be judging what does and does not make the cut? And if so, by what criteria?

I'd be willing to consider it... pending more info, like Sony's cut of the sales, terms of acceptable submissions, exclusivity contracts, DRM requirements (I'd still like to look into selling sans DRM), and any other servicing/administrative/"stocking" fees involved.

All that means also lawyer fees I guess!

Before you had you site as a sales point what kind of marketing or distribution points have you tried to approach?

[Liviu_5]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Actually, I'm wondering about my opinion on this too!

I'd contacted Sony about getting into the Connect store, but they hadn't gotten back to me yet (other than letting me know they'd received my inquiry). So all of this is news to me.

For more info check the ebook community group on Yahoo. Independemt publishers/authors share many experiences there.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/

Liviu

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Before you had you site as a sales point what kind of marketing or distribution points have you tried to approach?

I contacted publishers about the original books, and could not even get read by them. When I decided on e-books, it was always my intent to sell them myself.

Actually, my site has been very passively marketed. My 1st year marketing approach has been to spend time haunting SF and e-book related web sites (like this one!), commenting in forums, mentioning my books (but not constantly), and hoping traffic and sales would be bolstered by word-of-mouth to create additional traffic and sales.

While we're on the subject<Public Disclosure Moment>: As the site's 1-yr anniversary passed last month, I evaluated the success of my passive marketing campaign. In 1 year, I sold a grand total of (drum roll, please...) about 200 books. Sure, 200 more than I would have sold if I was still trying to penetrate print publishing... but still, only 200 books in 1 year. "Word of mouth" turned out to be the noticeably absent part of my plan.</Public Disclosure Moment>

That's why I'm considering actually paying to market this year... but saddled with a small budget, I'm not sure how far I can go. I may also go talk to a publisher or agent, armed with good reviews (though not the stellar sales I hoped would go with it), and see what develops.

Of the distribution points, I've either been unimpressed with a site I examined, or I found a site that only wanted print-published works that could be converted. No, I didn't approach or examine all of them, but I never saw the distribution site that made me say, "Man! I want to sell through these guys!"