A Crash Course in E-book Self-Publishing: How to Do It Fast, Free & Easy AND How to Become a Bestselling E-book Author - from Smashwords! E-books are the fastest-growing segment of the publishing industry, and self-published authors are in the lead. This introduction to e-book self-publishing will teach you how to publish like a professional and reach a global market. Learn the top trends in e-publishing, followed by a step-by-step checklist of what’s involved to produce, publish, price, distribute, and market your e-book. This session addresses every author’s most common questions about e-book formatting, conversion, cover images, ISBNs, copyright, piracy, pricing, and distribution. The panel will give you the foundational knowledge you need to become a more professional, more successful author, regardless of your publishing experience, without technical jargon—all terms are defined in plain English. Self-published e-book authors are hitting all the bestseller lists. Nearly every week, self-published e-books are featured on the New York Times bestseller list and in the top-10 bestseller lists at every major retailer. What are these authors doing to make their books stand out from the million-plus books crowding online e-book shelves? What can you do as a self-published author to take your e-book to the next level of success? This session identifies the best practices of the most commercially successful self-published e-book authors. Session attendees will hear real-life examples of how many self-published authors broke out to become bestsellers. Among the many secrets in this presentation are best practice strategies for cover design (including examples and a cool case study), pricing, platform-building, distribution, how to turbo-charge word-of-mouth with viral catalysts and how to tap into the global market.

1. A Crash Course in
Ebook Self-Publishing: How to do it
Fast, Free and Easy
Jim Azevedo, Smashwords
jim@smashwords.com/@jazzervedo
June 1, 2013

2. My Backstory

3. Jim meets Mark Coker at Dovetail PR
18 years ago

4. Mark launches BestCalls.com, levels
investor playing field

5. Creative Pursuits

6. I join an indie metal band

7. People seem to like us

8. It’s very glamorous!!

9. Mark writes a book

10. Publishers Said “No”
• Despite great efforts by his agent,
every major publisher said NO!
(TWICE!!)

11. Mark Decided Big Publishing was
Broken
• Books judged on perceived commercial merit
• Difficult to identify potential bestsellers
• Cannot take a risk on every book
• Reject many great authors
• Hundreds of thousands of writers silenced

12. Mark’s Answer: Smashwords
 Democratize ebook publishing & distro
• Free ebook publishing tools
• Distribution to major ebook stores
• Shared best practices knowledge

13. Enough about me and Smashwords
Let’s talk about you and ebooks

14. Let’s bust a dangerous myth

18. What myth should we bust?

19. The Myth of Big Publishing

20. Writers who dreamed of becoming
published authors felt they needed to bow
down to Big Publishing

21. They felt they weren’t *really* authors
until accepted by a publisher
… and until they were accepted, their
dreams had to wait

22. Publishers Controlled Dreams
• Promised Perks of Reaching Our Dreams
• editing
• printing press
• distribution
• marketing
• royalties
• fame and respect
• readers
• “published author” inscribed
on your tombstone

23. … and if you even considered the idea of
self-publishing...

24. You were told to keep toiling and waiting.
And waiting….
… you’d get a deal when you’ve sacrificed
enough of your soul like these other great
writers…

25. Justin Bieber got a book deal

26. Snooki got a book deal

27. Kourtney, Kim and Khloe got a book deal

28. Don’t sacrifice your soul!
(or your hair!!)

29. BIG PUBLISHING IS CAUGHT
IN THE CROSS CURRENTS OF MULTIPLE
CONVERGING FORCES

30. TECHNOLOGY IS COLLIDING WITH BIG
PUBLISHING

31. Here comes technology

32. FIVE TRENDS TO ROCK THE WORLD OF
PUBLISHING

33. TREND ONE
Bookselling moving to the Web

34. Bookselling moves to the Web
• The decline of brick and mortar
• Consumer drivers:
 Price
 Convenience
 Selection
• Self-published books displayed
side by side with traditional books
• Big publishers no longer control
distribution

35. TREND TWO:
Reading Moving to Screens

36. Screens are the new paper

37. Ebooks as percentage of US
wholesale trade market
0
10
20
30
40
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
1%.5%
3%
8%
19%
>30%
Source: Association of American Publishers; 2012 Smashwords estimate

38. Why ebooks are hot
• Screens offer better reading experience than
paper
• Changeable font size
• Portable and compact
• Screens will get better/faster/cheaper
• Ebooks offer better consumption experience
• Lower cost than print
• Convenient sampling and purchasing
• Huge selection
A B C D

39. TREND THREE
The Rise of Ebook Self-Publishing
(a.k.a indie ebook publishing)

40. Indie Ebooks Released via
Smashwords
0
75000
150000
225000
300000
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Today
6,000
28,000
92,000
190,500
140
~230,000

41. Why is this happening so quickly??

42. Artwork by Chuck Ingwerson

43. New tools open book publishing
and distribution to all
• Authors and small presses now
empowered to professionally
publish
• Printing press in the cloud
• Distribution to major online retailers,
libraries
• Knowledge of best practices freely
accessible to all

44. TREND FOUR
Content Explosion Leads to
Downward Pressure on Prices

45. Glut leads to ebook price
competition
December 2012October 2010
$4.25
$3.00
Average price of Smashwords ebooks

46. TREND FIVE
Publishers Losing Primacy as
Stigma of Self-Publishing
Disappears

47. Publishers losing their primacy
• Writers no longer need publishers to
publish, distribute and sell
• Writers starting to ask:
• “What can a publisher do for me that I can’t
do for myself?”
• “Can a publisher actually harm my ability to
reach readers (by pricing too high)?”

48. Indies are Now Out-Publishing Big
Publishers
• Indies scaling all the bestseller lists
• Retailer and traditional media lists
• Indie ebook author advantages
• faster time to market
• better distribution to global market
• never go out of print
• greater creative control
• lower expenses
• lower prices to consumers
• earn more per book

49. Indie Ebook Authors Earn Higher
Percentage of List Price
• Indies earn more at lower prices
• Indies earn more selling a $.99 ebook ($.60-$.70) than a
traditional $8.00 MMP ($.40)
• At $2.99, indies earn $1.80. Trad. author would have to
sell at $10+
• Lower price = reach more readers = more sales at
higher profits per sale
• Higher price = less readers
60-80% 5-17%
Indie Traditional

50. Planning your move to ebooks

51. Checklist for Publishing an Ebook
 Finish a super-awesome book
 Format the book prior to conversion
 Prepare cover image
 Ebook conversion to multiple formats
 Pricing
 ISBNs
 Copyright
 Distribution

52. Finish Your Super-Awesome Book
• Ebook publishing tools make publishing
fast, free and easy, but…
• They don’t make it easy to write a great
book
• You’re the publisher, act like one
• Edit, edit, edit, revise, revise, revise
• Involve beta readers (then revise again)
• Hire professional editor if necessary

53. Ebook Formatting

54. Formatting is the layout and design
process to prepare your book for
ebook conversion

55. Formatting Secrets
• Forget (some of) what you know
• Don’t try to make e- look like p-
• Ebooks consumed differently than print
• Design for reflowability, small screens
• Less = more with ebooks

56. Ebook devices (and customers)
shape shift text
• Example of Smashwords novel, All Good
Things Die in L.A. by Anhoni Patel
• iPhone, using the Stanza reader with user-
selected options

57. Cover Image

58. Create Your Ebook Cover
• Covers are important
• First impression
• Covers are both marketing and content
• Should look
• engaging, matched to target audience
• professional
• good as thumbnail
• good as B&W, greyscale

59. My Backstory

60. DIY Cover, or Hire Professional?
• Good covers make a promise (so do
bad covers)
• Unless you’re an expert graphic
designer or cover designer, it’s best to
hire

61. Don’t be Lazy

62. Don’t be Dim
Le Peuple de L’Etat de New York Contre Dominique Strauss-Khan

63. Most of us design poor covers

64. So Mark Hired a Pro for $45.00
Send email to:
list@smashwords.com
for “Mark’s List”

65. Ebook Conversion

66. Conversion = Turning your formatted
manuscript into an ebook file readable on
multiple ebook reading devices

67. E-reading Devices

68. Pricing

69. Pricing
• Determine objective
• Platform building, sales, or both?
• Think like a fisherman
• Blended strategy of chum and hooks, low
prices and higher prices
• Investigate
• Check out what others are doing. Don’t
over/under price your books.

70. Considerations Beyond Price
• Quality, reader (fan) passion
• Length
• Author platform/brand
• Marketing that builds urgency
• Series or not
• Non-fiction supports higher prices

71. ISBN

72. What’s an ISBN?
• What it is:
• Unique digital identifier
• A 13-digit number
• Helps supply chain communicate about book
• Required for distribution to Apple, Sony, Kobo
• What it is NOT:
• Does not connote ownership or copyright
• Does not imply “professional” or “real”
• Not a common discovery method

73. Where to Obtain an ISBN
• Go to Bowker.com
• Expensive unless you purchase blocks of
10+
• Lists you as “publisher” in Books in Print
• Go to Smashwords
• FREE ISBNs

74. Copyright

75. Copyright Simplified
• By publishing something you created,
you have copyright
• Copyright entitles you to an exclusive
bundle of rights
• The notation of © is optional
• For best legal protection, go to
Copyright.gov and register copyright
online
• Learn more at the Copyright Clearance
Center at www.copyright.com

76. Distribution to Retailers

77. Ebook retailers want indie ebooks

78. Q&A Break
Next up, we’ll investigate ebook
best practices...

79. How to Become
A Bestselling Ebook Author!
Jim Azevedo, Smashwords
jim@smashwords.com/@jazzervedo
June 1, 2013

80. …By reviewing the secrets of
the best-selling indie authors

81. ePublishing and eDistribution Is Easy

82. Reaching Readers is Still Difficult *
* but achievable if you emulate best practices

83. Secret One

84. #1 Write a great book
• Honor your reader with a great book
• Turn readers into evangelists
• With the power to publish comes the
responsibility to be a superb publisher
• Be fanatical about quality
• Edit, revise, edit, revise, repeat
• Leverage beta readers
Super Awesome
^

85. Secret Two

86. #2 Create a Great Cover image
• Invest in a quality cover image
• Your first impression on path to discovery
• Look professional
• Resonate with target audience
• Makes a promise to the reader
• Should arrest reader with thumb nail

87. Would You Buy This Book?

88. Great covers make a promise

89. Here’s another promise

90. And now a case study…
The evolution of one cover

91. Slightly better

92. … and better yet

93. Improving the cover image
From this... To this...

94. Sparked this: A breakout at Apple

95. And then there are the rule
breakers …
Ebook cover for Why Me? by Sarah Burleton

96. Landed on NY Times Ebook
Bestseller List

97. 21+ Weeks on NY Times
Bestseller List

98. Secret Three

99. #3 Publish Another Great Book
• Best-selling authors and
publishers at Smashwords offer
deep backlists
• Each ebook offers the opportunity to
cross-promote other titles
• Build trust with your reader
• You’re the brand

100. Secret Four

101. #4 Maximize Distribution and
Avoid Exclusivity

102. #4 Maximize Distribution, Avoid
Exclusivity
• Ebook retailing is not like sports, religion or
politics
• If your book is not available everywhere, it’s
not discoverable or purchasable
• Retailers & device-makers invest millions of
dollars to attract readers to your books
• Consider using a distributor to get your book
sold in as many ebook stores as possible
• Spend your time writing, producing,
marketing

103. Secret Five

104. #5 Give (some of) Your Books
away for Free
• Most misunderstood, underutilized market
development tool
• If you have a deep backlist, offer at least one
full-length book for free
• Eliminates financial risk for first-time readers
• Turbo charges a series
• The highest grossing authors/publishers at
Smashwords offer at least one free book

105. Secret Six

106. #6 Patience is a Virtue
• Ebooks sales develop differently
• Traditional print books – big sell-in, then yanked from
shelves, then sales go to zero
• Ebooks – can start small and grow slowly before
breakout
• Ebooks are immortal
• Never go out of print
• When your book lands at retailer, it’s a
seedling, nourish it
• An asset – a fruit tree – that will yield fruit over the
long term
• Never pull out by the roots

107. Slow boil, breakout, slow boil,
bigger breakout

108. Slow boil, slow build, breakout,
slow boil

109. Slow boil to breakout
Ruth Ann Nordin’s An Inconvenient Marriage

110. Secret Seven

111. #7 Trust Your Readers and
Partners
• Don’t worry so much about piracy
• DRM copy protection is counterproductive
• If you don’t trust your readers to honor your
copyright, you’ll reach fewer paid readers
• Trust your supply chain partners
• If you limit distribution due to lack of trust,
you’ll limit your sales

112. Secret Eight

113. #8 Platform Building Starts
Yesterday
• Platform = your ability to reach readers
• Utilize multiple tools
• Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus
• Book sales, free downloads
• Cultivate your social network
• Contribute, share ideas, support your fellow
writers and publishers
• Don’t spam your network

114. Secret Nine

115. #9 Architect for Virality
• Books have always been a word of
mouth business
• Your readers determine your success
• Understand the power of your “First
Reader”
• Reach “First Readers” with marketing,
social media, networking

116. The Viral Dream
First reader
More Readers

117. Viral Decay, The Reality
First reader
Readers

118. Negative Virality
First reader
This book
sucks!!!!
= Last reader
Fun fact: 29 of 30 Apple bestsellers
had rating of 4.5 stars

119. How to Architect for Virality
• Implement the Secrets
• Eliminate friction that limits
• availability
• sampling
• purchasing
• enjoyment
Additional resource: Read The Viral Loop by Adam Penenberg

120. Viral Catalysts
• Every thing you do right increases
virality
Great cover
Great story
Professionally edited
Great title
Great book description
Great book
Great marketing
Fair price
Social media enabled
Sampling enabled
Multiple formats
Broad distribution
Good formatting
Good categorization
LUCK!

121. Secret Ten

122. #10 Unit Volume and Royalty
Rate are Levers for Success
• Unit volume (sales and downloads)
increase platform, drives readers to
your backlist
• Unit sales X royalty rate = profit
• Pricing strategy essential to
maximize both

123. How Price and Royalty Impact
Success

124. Q:
What impact does price have on
unit sales?

125. How Price Impacts Units Sold
Our reference point is $10+. So, looking back to the left, books priced at $.99 sell 3.9x more than books that sell at $10 and above. $1.99 is a black hole, but $3.99, we’ve learned, has become a sweet spot. Currently, $2.99
seems the most popular price point, and authors may even be under pricing their books.We suspect that $3.99 may become “the new $2.99” once authors discover they’re selling $4.3 times as many books.
You might conclude, correctly, by a simple glance that chart that as prices go up, unit sales decrease. But what price nets the author the most earnings?
--
• This set of data examines how price impacts unit sales
• 1.0 = normalized reference point. For example, books priced in $3.00-$3.99 price band, on average sell 4.3 times more units than books priced $10.00+
• Key findings:
• Low prices tend to sell more units (not a surprise)
• $1.99 price point dramatically underperforms (surprise)
• Is $3.99 the new $2.99? I see untapped opportunity there, where indies may be able to raise prices but not suffer unit volume decline.

126. Q:
What prices earn the author the
greatest amount of money?

127. What Price Yields the Greatest
Author Earnings?
Again, using $10.00+ as our reference point, and 100% as our average, we can see that $3.99 books, on average, netted the
authors more earnings (profit per unit, multiplied by units sold) than the average book at any price. When we look at the $3.99
price point compared to the average @ 100%, that price earned the author about %55 more. So if you’re trying to make a
decision about how to price your book in order to attract readers and still get a respectable earning, now you know that an
ebook priced at $3.99 will produce more earnings for you AND enable you to reach >4X the amount of readers that a book
priced at $10+.
The lower-priced books are building author brand faster. Never mind that an indie author earns more per $3.99 unit sold than a
traditionally published author earns at $10. If an author can earn the same or greater income selling lower cost books, yet reach
significantly more readers, then, drum roll please, it means the authors who are selling higher priced books through traditional
publishers are at an extreme disadvantage to indie authors in terms of long term platform building.

128. The Interplay Between Unit
Volume and Dollar Volume
Implications
• Lower priced books sell more units
• Ebooks priced @ $3.99 EARN MORE and REACH 4X
MORE READERS than ebooks priced @ $10+.
• Indie ebook authors’ long-term advantage over
traditionally published authors

129. Secret Eleven

130. #11 Pinch Your Pennies
• You’re running a business
• Profit = Sales minus Expenses
• Most books don’t sell well (!!!!)
• NEVER borrow money to publish a book
• NEVER spend or invest money you need
for food and shelter
• DIY then reinvest

131. Secret Twelve

132. #12 Think Globally

133. Apple, B&N, Kobo, Amazon and
others are going global
You Have the Tools to Reach a
Worldwide Market Today, and
The Tools are FREE

134. Apple operates iBookstores in 51 countries.
In Sept 2012, ~46% of Smashwords Apple
iBookstore sales were outside the US.
The market for your books outside the US
will soon dwarf the US market.

135. When You Leave Today...

136. DON’T FORGET
• Your opportunity to reach readers has
never been greater
• Free tools make it fast, free and easy
to publish a book
• A great book is your best marketing

137. YOU are the future of publishing

138. YOU are your own gatekeeper

139. YOU decide when your
manuscript graduates to PUBLISHED
BOOK

140. Take risks, experiment and share
your experiences

141. Free Ebook Publishing Resources
• NEW! Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success
• Smashwords Book Marketing Guide
• Smashwords Style Guide

142. Thank you for listening!
Connect:
Twitter: @jazzervedo
Web: www.smashwords.com
Blog: blog.smashwords.com
Email: jim@smashwords.com