So you’ve finished your book, and you’re ready to get your work published. You’ve worked with an editor, you’ve had a few people read your work with positive feedback (if you haven’t done both you shouldn’t be reading this anyway), and you’re ready to publish your book.
If you follow things in the publishing industry then you already know the likelihood of getting your work to print. Things in the publishing industry are tough right now and, unless you have a proven sales history, you will have trouble getting your work noticed. The alternative that many authors are turning to is eBooks.
The question then becomes: should you publish it yourself, or turn to an e-Publisher?
In this article I will attempt to answer that question for you by talking about some of the advantages of using an e-Publisher. Ellen from Champagne Books, was kind enough to provide me with enough information to help answer the question for you.
Publishing your own eBook
Many new authors choose to publish and sell their own eBooks, and often they end up disappointed with the results. There’s one major problem with trying to sell a fiction eBook yourself. The basic idea many seem to have is:
“I will create my own fiction eBook, list it on Amazon Kindle, put it in the MobiPocket store, and then it will sell like crazy”.
It simply doesn’t work that way. In fact, just by listing your books in online stores, you’d be lucky to sell more than a few copies. To get your writing noticed you will need to promote it.
Promoting anything online requires a good knowledge of online marketing. You’ll also need a web site, a blog, and in the case of self-publishing you’ll have to spend hundreds of hours of time (or a large amount of advertising money) to get traffic to your web site(s). You’ll also need to work to get your book distributed to more than just the Kindle Store and MobiPocket.
If you choose to publish your eBook yourself, you can expect to spend the next year or so learning about web marketing. By choosing an e-Publisher, such as Champagne Books, you take at least part of the workload away, and you gain some very distinct advantages when you promote your own work.
E-Publisher Advantage #1: The Publisher
Let me start by talking about why I chose Champagne as the publisher for this article. This particular e-publisher isn’t a large one. There are bigger e-Publishers out there; but there are two main reasons I chose this specific site to discuss.
1. They screen and edit their books before release – Champagne only publishes quality eBooks. They don’t just accept work from anyone (as some e-Publishers do). They select their authors and the books they sell carefully.
2. They promote their site and their authors as a group – From Ellen’s response to my questions “We do chats, virtual signings, online parties, and paid advertising in various locations (blogs, review sites etc). We attend conventions and exhibitions to take our material in front of the buying public. Authors are again encouraged to seek out their own opportunities and are supported by the company in their efforts.”
These two factors lead to one big advantage for the authors whose work is published with Champagne. With high-quality books, and a publisher that promotes their own site, suddenly you have a place where customers learn the quality of the work presented. Previous customers will be much more likely to become repeat buyers, and they will also be more likely to try new authors that get published on the site. To put is simply – just by having your book published by this particular e-Publisher – an author will make some sales.
E-Publisher Advantage #2: Other Authors
Of course, authors are still encouraged to promote their own work. The major difference in this case is that you would work to promote your writing, and you won’t need knowledge of SEO, PPC, online advertising, eBook distribution, or other areas of online marketing.
Common promotional methods in this case would be: blogging, social networking (sites like FaceBook), possibly writing on a public blog such as The Writer’s Vineyard, and maybe creating a book trailer. You may even decide to be creative with your promotion, and try something like Keith Latch has done on podiobooks.
With a group of author’s working to promote their work, another advantage to using an e-Publisher becomes clear. They all drive visitors to the publisher’s site. This drives sales, not only the author’s own work, but to all books on the site.
E-Publisher Advantage #3 – Distribution
Beyond the initial release of a title Champagne distributes their eBooks to many of the major online eBook stores. You can find Champagne books for sale in stores like Fictionwise, the Kindle Store, MobiPocket, and Diesel-EBooks (there’s more but I don’t care to list them all).
According to Ellen about 40% of sales are from their own site, and 60% of sales come from the sites that their books get distributed to. I should also note that Champagne puts their bestselling works in print which further adds to sales of their best works.
The Biggest Advantage – Selling Your Work
All of this leads us to the biggest advantage to using an e-Publisher – sales! To quote Ellen directly, when I asked her what an author could expect as far as sales are concerned, here is what she said:
“….if I’ve got a really gun-ho author, I can expect to see somewhere in the 500-1500 ebook sales in the first year of release. I’ve had authors easily do this in just a couple of months. For example, Ciara Gold’s dragon series (Celestial Dragon and A Noble Sacrifice) and Rebecca Goings B*E*A*S*T* series (The B*E*A*S*T* Within, B*E*A*S*T* Of Burden and Nature Of The B*E*A*S*T*) all do incredibly well (dare I say they surpass the figures I’ve indicated above), but these authors are very keen about keeping their name out in front of the public.
For some of the lesser known’s who are slowly building their audience, several hundred ebooks would be an appropriate number. And of course, as they build a backlist, those older books continue to sell.”
Coming from a writer who is experienced in web marketing, making several hundred sales a year would be extremely difficult if you were selling a book yourself. By choosing an e-Publisher to market your eBooks you gain many advantages, and you get to concentrate on writing (and promoting that writing) rather than learning to distribute eBooks and market products online.
This is the first of many feature articles on e-Publishing. Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed to ensure you get the latest news, reviews, and tips from the world of eBooks.
To Learn More about Champagne eBooks (and buy some great eBooks) Visit Their Site – For writers looking to get their work published, submission guidelines can be found here.
