Learn how to produce, publish, distribute and sell an ebook. This tutorial, narrated by Mark Coker of Smashwords, offers a comprehensive primer on ebook publishing. No technical experience necessary! After a short personal introduction by Mark, he identifies the top 5 trends shaping the future of authorship, and then provides viewers a step-by-step ebook publishing checklist. Learn the key trends in the ebook market, ebook formatting secrets and how to create a cover that grabs readers. Next, Mark explains what Metadata is, and how authors can use it to increase the discoverability of their books. Additional sections of this tutorial explore and explain ISBNs, copyright, piracy, how to list your book at multiple ebook retailers, and how to market your book. A discussion on Viral Catalysts helps you learn how to increase the desirability of your book and how to maximize reader word of mouth. Be sure to check out other Smashwords tutorials! Learn to publish like a pro! View the video of this presentation at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khM4czIJUVM

1. An Introduction to
Ebook Publishing
September, 2013
Mark Coker
Founder, Smashwords
Twitter: @markcoker

2. Notes for the Slideshare edition of this
presentation
This is the companion deck to a Smashwords video workshop
available on YouTube
Here are links to each video in this 5-part series:
#1 - An Introduction to Ebook Publishing (a primer and e-publishing checklist)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khM4czIJUVM
#2 - The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (best practices secrets for reaching more readers)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnd7jYcjqm8
#3 - Smashwords Survey Helps Authors Sell More Books (pricing strategy and fun metrics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rrl4NExo3Y
#4 - 10 Trends Driving the Future of Authorship (indie authors are the future of publishing!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbT7r-DUa6M
#5 - How to Reach More Readers at Apple iBooks (merchandising secrets to grow sales!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKwwcL_FS_c
The complete video collection is at http://www.youtube.com/user/smashwords
View more Smashwords presentations on Slideshare at
http://www.slideshare.net/Smashwords/presentations

3. About this video
• What you’ll learn
• How to produce, publish, price, distribute
and sell an ebook
• 5 trends that will transform the future of
authorship
• Who this video is for
• Writers, aspiring authors, published authors
• No technical experience required!

4. My Backstory

5. This is me

6. This is my lovely wife

8. Publishers Said “No”
• Despite great efforts of our
agent, every major NY
publisher said NO (TWICE!)

9. I evaluated our options
1. The rational option
 Admit failure, assume fetal position
1. The irrational option
 Believe in ourselves
 Mortgage the house and try to fix the
problem

10. My Answer: Smashwords
• * FREE * eBook Publishing Platform
 Free ebook printing press
 Distribution to major ebook retailers and
libraries
 Free learning materials help writers
become professional publishers

11. Ebooks published at Smashwords
250,000+
September 2013
250,000
191,000
200,000
150,000
92,000
100,000
50,000
28,800
140 6,000
0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

12. How Smashwords Works
• UPLOAD
• Word .doc or .epub
• Instant, free ebook conversion
• Instantly for sale
• DISTRIBUTE
• Distribution to retailers and
libraries
• GET PAID
• Author earns 60-80% list

13. 5 TRENDS THAT WILL TRANSFORM THE
FUTURE OF AUTHORSHIP

14. TREND ONE:
Reading Moving to Screens

15. Screens are the new paper

16. Ebooks as a percentage of US
wholesale trade market
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
Source: Association of American Publishers, publishers.org. 2012 Smashwords estimate

17. Ebooks to overtake print
Print books
Ebooks
Print books
Ebooks
Dollars
Units

18. Why ebooks are hot
•
Many readers prefer reading words on
screens
•
Changeable font size
•
A
B
C
D
Ebooks offer better book-buying experience
•
Lower cost than print
•
Convenient sampling and purchasing
•
Huge selection

19. TREND TWO
Democratization of Publishing

20. In the Past, Publishers Controlled
Everything
• They controlled the …
• printing press
• distribution
• knowledge to professionally publish

21. Today, Authors Have Free Access
to the Tools
• Authors have …
• FREE ebook printing press
• Democratized ebook distribution
• Access to the knowledge of professional
publishing best practices

22. Publishers losing their monopoly
• Writers no longer need publishers to
publish, distribute and sell
• Writers asking two questions:
1. “What can a publisher do for me that I can’t
do for myself?”
2. “Will a publisher actually harm my ability to
reach readers?”

23. TREND THREE
Self-published authors hitting all
the bestseller lists

24. Indies are hitting the bestseller
lists
•
Self-published ebooks scaling all the
bestseller lists
•
Retailers giving indies seat at merchandising
table

25. Prediction
Within 3 years, most NY Times
bestselling ebooks will be from selfpublished authors
- September 2013 by Mark Coker

26. Advantages of Indie Authorship
• Indie ebook author advantages
• faster time to market
• creative control
• better distribution to global market
• immortal ebooks never go out of print
• lower expenses
• lower prices to consumers
• earn more per book

27. QUADRUPLE +

28. Indie Ebook Authors Earn Higher
Percentage of List Price
Indie
60-80%
•
Traditional
12-17%
Indies earn more at lower prices
•
At $2.99, indies earn ~$2.00. Traditional author
would have to price over $10 to earn $2.00
•
Lower price = reach more readers = more sales at
higher profits per sale
•
Traditionally published ebook authors at
disadvantage with high prices, low royalties

29. TREND FOUR
The Previous Stigma of SelfPublishing is Disappearing

30. Self publishing was once seen as the option of
last resort for writers.
Now it’s increasingly viewed as the option of first
choice.

31. Stigmas to reverse
Aspire
Traditional
Aspire
Indie
Aspire
Indie
5 yrs ago Today?
Future?
Aspire
Traditional

32. TREND FIVE
Ebooks are going global

33. The Global Ebook Opportunity
•
Countries outside the US are entering the
exponential growth phase of their ebook
markets
•
Ebook retailers going global
•
•
Apple iBooks (51 countries), Amazon (~13), Kobo
(14+), B&N (US, U.K.+)
~45% of Smashwords/iBooks sales global

34. Let’s learn how to publish and distribute
an ebook!

35. Checklist for Publishing an Ebook
 Finish a super-awesome book
 Format the book prior to conversion
 Prepare cover image
 Prepare the metadata
 Ebook conversion to multiple formats
 Pricing
 ISBNs
 Copyright
 Distribution to retailers, libraries
 Piracy
 Marketing

36. 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 (the author) are the publisher
•
Edit, revise, edit, revise
•
Involve beta readers (then revise again)
•
Hire professional editor if necessary

37. Ebook Formatting

38. Formatting is the layout and design
process to prepare your book for
publication

39. Formatting for Smashwords
It’s
300,000+
downloads!
FRE
E!

40. 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

41. Reflowability: Ebook devices
(and customers) shape shift text
Example of Smashwords novel, All Good
Things Die in L.A. by Anhoni Patel
•
•
User-selected options: Font: Verdana;
Background pattern: Stone carving; text
color: Dark Violet; Font size: larger than
normal

42. Cover Image

43. Create Your Ebook Cover
• Covers are important
• First impression
• Covers are both marketing and content
• Make it:
 engaging, matched to target audience
 professional
 good as thumbnail
 good as B&W, greyscale

44. DIY Cover, or Hire Professional?
• Unless you’re an expert graphic
designer or cover designer, it’s best to
hire
• Email list@smashwords.com for low cost
cover designers and formatters
• It’s inexpensive: $50-$150 (Mark’s list) or
under $300 elsewhere (still cheap!)

45. Most of us design terrible covers
As an experiment, I tried to create a cover. It
was an embarrassment!

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

47. What’s this book about?

48. Covers should make a promise

49. Here’s another promise

50. Here’s another promise

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

52. Look what happened when the
author went from this cover

53. … to this cover…

54. The cover sparked a breakout at
Apple

55. And landed her on the NY Times Bestseller
List

56. Metadata

57. Metadata is information about
your book
• Metadata enables
• Discovery
• Sales reporting
• Author payments
• Some metadata you or your publisher
will create
• Some is auto-generated

58. Metadata is data that makes your
book discoverable in a store
Price
Book title
Book category
Language
ISBN
Author name
Book description
Tags
Publication date

59. Ebook Conversion

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

61. E-reading Devices

62. Ebook Conversion Options
Conversion Options
1. Automated
(Smashwords, Amazon)
2. DIY conversion tools
(Calibre, Sigil, Adobe InDesign)
3. Hire ebook formatter/
designer/coder
(Complex books)

63. Pricing

64. Pricing
• Determine objective
• Platform building, sales, or both?
• If you publish multiple books, cover
multiple price points to capture the
most readers
• FREE, $.99, $2.99, $3.99, $4.99+
• Non-fiction supports higher prices than
fiction

65. ISBN

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

67. 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

68. Copyright

69. 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

70. Distribution to retailers

71. Ebook retailers want indie
ebooks

72. Maximize Availability, Avoid
Exclusivity
•
Ebook retailing is not like sports, religion or
politics
•
If your book is not available at every retailer,
it’s not discoverable or purchasable
• Exclusivity
• angers fans
• limits audience
• increases your dependence upon a
single sales outlet

73. Two options for getting your book
on a retailer’s virtual shelves
1. Use a Distributor (such as Smashwords)
•
Upload one file, reach many retailers
•
Centralized metadata management
•
Time-savings, consolidated payments and tax
reporting
•
Preorders to Apple, B&N, Kobo
1. Direct to Retailers
•
Format for each specific retailer
•
Upload to, and manage each retailer separately
•
Sony, Diesel, Flipkart, Libraries require distributor

74. Piracy

75. Everything you need to know
about piracy
• Don’t worry about piracy
• Obscurity is your biggest risk
• Black hat pirates who steal your book
wouldn’t have purchased it anyway
• Most piracy is accidental – it’s
enthusiastic fans marketing your book
for you

76. Irrational fear of piracy leads
leads to obscurity
• The only reliable method of piracy
prevention is to NEVER PUBLISH
• Anti-piracy measures such as DRM only
limit availability, accessibility and
enjoyment
• Combat piracy by making your book
easier to purchase than steal
• Low, fair price
• Broad distribution

77. Marketing

78. Marketing isn’t as important as
you think
• Marketing is a catalyst, not fuel
• Your book is your best marketing
•
Reader word of mouth determines your success
• Focus on discoverability and platform
building
• Viral catalysts amplify word of mouth

79. What’s a Viral Catalyst?
•
A viral catalyst is something that makes your
book more available, accessible, desirable
and enjoyable to readers
•
Read the Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (it’s
FREE!) to learn how viral catalysts spur word-of-mouth

80. Viral Catalysts
• Every thing you do right increases
virality
Great cover
Great book
Broad distribution
Fair price
Good categorization
Professionally edited
Great formatting
Great title
Great book description
Great marketing
Social media enabled
Sampling enabled
Multiple formats
LUCK!
• Fall short anywhere and you create
unnecessary friction

81. The Plan Forward

82. The Publishing Industry is in Flux. These
changes will…
Benefit Indie Authors
Disadvantage Traditionally Published
Authors

83. YOU are the future of publishing

84. YOU have a right to publish

85. YOU are your own gatekeeper
YOU decide when your manuscript
graduates to published book

86. Honor your readers
Give them great books
(and do it faster with lower prices)

87. The task before you is not easy, yet…

88. The Opportunity to Reach Readers
Has Never Been Greater

89. Free Ebook Publishing Resources
•
NEW! Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (best
practices of successful authors)
•
Smashwords Book Marketing Guide (how to market any
book)
•
Smashwords Style Guide (how to format an ebook)

90. Please share this video with a
friend!
Look for other Smashwords
videos coming soon!
Connect with Mark Coker and Smashwords:
Web: www.smashwords.com
Blog:
blog.smashwords.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/markcoker
Facebook: facebook.com/markcoker
HuffPo: huffingtonpost.com/mark-coker
Twitter: @markcoker