Sunday, October 21, 2012

FAQ/Summary on Independent Publishing

I wrote this on a message board, I but I liked it so much I thought I'd repost it here. :)

Here are my Basic Things You Should Know About Self-Publishing as I've picked up there and elsewhere. It's just basics on publishing itself: For instance, there's nothing here about cover design, promotion, plotting, genres, etc. This is "I have a story, I want to turn it into an e-book and sell it. What now?" If you see a mistake, please correct me: I'll fix the main post to reflect it.

Q: What's the difference between "self-publishing" and "independent" or "indie" publishing?

A: One of them starts with "self" and one of them starts with "independent." Self-publishing has a bad rep because prior to e-publishing most self-published books were published by for-fee "vanity" publishers: you paid them (handsomely) to print the books and then it was your job to sell them, which hardly anybody ever did. It was used mostly by people whose books weren't good enough and/or didn't meet the other requirements and preferences of traditional publishing houses (E.G. Random House, Simon & Schuster, etc. Also known as "tradpub" or "Big Six.") So when e-publishing really started to take off many of its users referred to it as "independent" or "indie" publishing to avoid the bad connotations of self-publishing. Same thing.

Q: What are the basic e-publishers and how do I get books onto them?

A: The biggest ones in terms of customer base are: A) Amazon.com, B) Barnes & Noble, C) Smashwords, and D) the iTunes Bookstore aka iBooks. Other large epublishers are Kobo, Diesel and Sony. Here is a quick breakdown of how to get on each one and what the rules for using them are: 



  • Amazon: Join Kindle Direct Publishing at http://kdp.amazon.com. Writers from any country served by Amazon's main national sites can join. Payment is by check or through direct deposit as you prefer. Does not require an International Standard Book Number or ISBN: if you submit a book without one, they will assign their own number, called an ASIN. Accepts a variety of e-book formats. 




  • Barnes & Noble: Join PubIt at http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com. Writers who are US citizens and have a US bank account have no restrictions: writers who are not US citizens must either have a US bank account or make other arrangements to be paid. Non-US citizens may have to provide various tax information before they can be paid. Accepts a variety of e-book formats. Does not require an ISBN: will assign an internal number. OR: Distribute to B&N through Smashwords.




  • Smashwords: Join Smashwords at http://www.smashwords.com. Accepts ONLY .doc (Microsoft Word) files. (No .docx.) Smashwords sells direct and also redistributes to multiple e-book resale sites. Provides free ISBN and allows their use for re-distributed sales. (In other words, this is how you get on iTunes bookstore without buying an ISBN.) Things to note about Smashwords redistribution: 


  • A) You have to wait for the affiliate to pay Smashwords and then you get paid on your next cycle. It can take a long time for the royalty to make it back to you. If you can it makes more sense to sell direct since you'll i) get paid faster and ii) not have to give Smashwords their cut. 

    B) Smashwords' channel distribution page indicates that they distribute to Amazon, and you have to opt out of it like any other reseller. However, AS OF THIS WRITING, Smashwords does NOT distribute to Amazon. That's the plan, but it is not yet implemented and there is no estimated implementation date. Your works will NOT go onto Amazon if you don't publish them through KDP. 

    C) Smashwords distributes to Kobo but AS OF THIS WRITING there is a LONG lag - weeks or months - before the books are received and published by Kobo. Anecdotal reports indicate Smashwords says the problem is Kobo's receiving is backed up. But in any event if you want to get on Kobo in any reasonable amount of time you'll need to publish direct.

    D) Smashwords distributes to iTunes Bookstore, but Apple reviews each title manually and this can also take weeks. However, this is true whether you publish direct or through Smashwords and if you use Smashwords you won't have to buy an ISBN. (Apple requires them: Apple does not provide them. They are very expensive to buy in small quantities.)



  • Kobo: Join Kobo Writing Life at http://writinglife.kobobooks.com. Kobo allows signups from other countries, and pays direct to any bank with the proper electronic payment information. Kobo accepts a variety of ebook formats but their .doc spec was written by someone dying of an LSD overdose and you should upload ePubs. Requires an ISBN but will give you one free. OR: Distribute to Kobo through Smashwords.




  • Diesel: Diesel doesn't seem to accept direct submissions from indie publishers. Distribute to them through Smashwords. Diesel also has an erotic-specific bookstore site. If your book is romance or erotica, it will automatically get sold there as well. (If you mark it "Adult Content" on Smashwords, it seems like it automatically goes to this site.)




  • Sony: Sony does not accept direct indie publisher submissions. Distribute to them through Smashwords or Author Central (which I know nothing about.)




  • Apple: You can distribute direct to Apple but you need your own ISBN which you paid for. You are not allowed to use the ISBN from another publisher for direct resale. Since this is the case and ISBN in small quantities are prohibitively expensive, I've never looked into selling direct through Apple. Distribute to them through Smashwords. Note that Apple has very strict requirements, relatively speaking, for cover and title propriety. Profanity may be starred out in text titles and covers may be rejected if they are too risque. 


  • Q: Why are you making such a big deal about ISBN?

    A: ISBN are REQUIRED for books to be sold on some websites (like iTunes Bookstore/iBooks) and through print distribution. They are unique to the EDITION of the book: one single "book" can have a dozen ISBN. For ISBN purposes print books and e-books are different editions even when identical: you cannot use your e-book's ISBN on the print edition or vice versa. It is against the rules of the free ISBN distributors to re-use their ISBN for e-books that are published directly through other sites. You might get caught, you might not. If you do, you might get sanctioned, you might not. But those ARE the rules and you agree to them when you accept the free ISBN. See below "Sample Easy Publishing Workflow" for ways to use free ISBN without breaking any rules (or confusing editions.) ISBN are distributed online in quantities from one to a million: however, the price for buying a small quantity of them is extremely high. AS OF THIS WRITING, it does not make economic sense to buy your own ISBN when with some shuffling you can cover all requirements for free.

    Q: How do I get my texts ready for e-publishing?

    A: The e-publishers have specs on their sites: follow them. My suggestion is that you do the following:

    1) Write your manuscript in Microsoft Word or an equivalent program. Use a template which you know Smashwords will accept. Smashwords has a free style guide which is quite readable and explains most typical publishing situations, including how to exercise what it calls "The Nuclear Option." If you set up your template correctly you shouldn't have to do this to each document, but you almost certainly will have to do it to your first one at some point to get it to a clean template state.

    2) When you're ready to publish, publish your .doc to Smashwords. Many people will talk about using Smashwords' converted files for direct publishing to other sites. THIS IS A VIOLATION OF THE TERMS OF SERVICE. Besides, there's a way that's almost as easy and much more flexible.

    3) For every other site, use the free open-source programs Sigil or Calibre to convert your .doc to an .epub (which is the standard e-book document file format.) It's not hard. Then upload your .epub to Amazon, B&N, Kobo, etc.

    Q: How do I get my covers ready for e-publishing?

    A: The publishers have specs: follow them. There's all kinds of advice on making covers online and I will not pick a side/preferred format/philosophy, but I will point out that a) you should have some kind of cover picture and b) you should not use the default cover pictures that the e-publishers offer. (CreateSpace offers a small selection, but each and every one of them says, "I couldn't find a picture relevant to my book" to a reader who's been using Amazon for any length of time.) Cover photos can be licensed very cheaply from places like canstockphoto.com or dreamstime.com.

    Q: How can I get my books in physical print and into bookstores?

    A: There are several POD ("Print on Demand") publishing services, the most popular of which seem to be CreateSpace (an Amazon company) and LightningSource. Whichever service you use, keep in mind one thing: in publishing money flows TOWARD the content creator, not AWAY. If you're paying for something it should be something somebody else created, like cover art. You should not be paying a fee to publish your books or print copies. (Although you should expect to pay a discounted price for galleys or to do direct sales.) Find a POD service you like, and use it. As far as bookstores, CreateSpace offers (AT THE TIME OF THIS WRITING) expanded distribution through wholesale for a flat fee of $25/book. If you choose to do this, your book goes into Books In Print (CreateSpace gives away free ISBN) and into a system that most bookstores can order through. Alternatively you can sell direct, but how you do that is beyond the scope of this post.

    Q: How much should my book cost?

    A: That answer is above my pay grade. All I'll say is that people don't value things they don't pay a reasonable price for. Dean Wesley Smith (see below) has several excellent blog posts on pricing.

    Q: This is all too confusing. What's a Sample Easy Publishing Workflow to get my e-books out there?

    A:

    1) Write a book. Write it in Microsoft Word.

    2) Sign up for a free Smashwords account.

    3) Get the Smashwords Style Guide and use it to format your file. Keep running it through Smashwords' auto-converter (affectionately known as the Meatgrinder) until it passes the automatic review.

    4) Once your book is accepted by Smashwords, use the ISBN manager to request a free ISBN for it, which will allow it to be distributed to Apple, Kobo, etc. through Smashwords. Go to the Channel Manager on Smashwords (you can access it on the left side of the screen when you're in your Dashboard) and turn OFF distribution to Amazon.com. If you're going to publish direct to Kobo and/or B&N, turn them off too. Leave the rest on. You have to save your changes with the big button at the bottom of the list.

    5) Upload your file to Amazon's KDP website. It will accept Word files if you don't want to mess with conversion. The only thing you have to change is to take out the "Published at Smashwords" line which Smashwords' auto-converter requires to be present on the first page of your book. (If your ebook fails conversion and the error has something to do with the first page, make sure you are including the copyright information it requires. Details are in the Style Guide.)

    6) Let Smashwords distribute to B&N, Kobo, etc. At heart if you publish on a) Amazon and b) Smashwords, you will eventually hit the vast majority of the e-book retail sector.

    7) Profit!

    Q: That's still too hard. How can I just get a real publisher to publish my book?

    A: The same way you get to Carnegie Hall: Practice, practice, practice, kissing a lot of ass, and having the Devil's own luck. Tradpub is in a furor of change and uncertainty that makes the whole music file-sharing fiasco look like a Sunday picnic. The big publishers are not going away (as a group. Some will fail.) But they are going through hard times and they are grasping at every straw. Hopping on board a leaky lifeboat is not a long-term survival strategy when you can make your own, better boat. But, if you want to go that route, there are any number of books and websites about how to do it. Buy yourself a copy of Writer's Market (you can get last year's, which is plenty good enough, at Half Price Books or other used bookstores) and start looking for publishers and/or agents who sound like they might like your work. FOLLOW THEIR SUBMISSION GUIDELINES. They really, really mean it.

    Q: Where can I learn more about being an independent publisher?

    All over the freaking place. The best blog I have seen, bar none, is Dean Wesley Smith's, at http://www.deanwesleysmith.com. He links to his wife's site a lot: if you want to go direct, it's http://www.kriswrites.com. They both link to a lot of other sites. Start there and work your way out. Sarah Hoyt's blog is also wonderful but isn't focussed on publishing (she just talks about it from time to time.) When she does talk publishing it's worth listening to. Here's a good example: http://accordingtohoyt.com/2012/10/08/how-to-indie-publish-on-the-cheap/ I would avoid the Kindleboards (the community message boards on Amazon's KDP site.) They have a very low barrier to entry and there is a lot of nonsense posted there. Until you know how to tell when somebody knows what they are talking about, stay away from people who might not know what they are talking about. (That doesn't include me. I know what I'm talking about. Always trust Centauri.)

    Q: Hey, wait a minute! I write erotica. Can I get in trouble for publishing pornography?

    A: While the author of this post is a lawyer, nothing in it should be interpreted as legal advice. Consult an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction and familiar with the relevant law before making legal decisions.

    That being said, in the US the First Amendment protects everything that isn't "obscene." It's pretty damn hard to accidentally write a text (without pictures) that a modern court will consider obscene. (It can be done: this is not a challenge. As an example underage sex for titillation purposes will do it without much trouble.) Other countries have laws that vary widely. What you really need to worry about is the publishers' rules, since they can and will nix your book for including content they don't like. The main ones are underage sex, true incest (hence the popularity of "stepcest," sex between stepchildren and other stepchildren/stepparents) and bestiality. Given the flood of content and lack of manual review, the only way to really get caught is to get reported by a disgruntled viewer, but that can and does happen. Read the rules for each publisher and make your own decisions accordingly.

    Sunday, October 14, 2012

    New Anthology Up... and now available on Kobo!

    Love Spells: Three Dreams of Control is now available as an ebook on the major publishers (or will be very shortly.) It's a magic-theme erotic mind control anthology incorporating A Matter of Trust, ...And All His Heart's Desires, and the critically-acclaimed* Awakening. Here's a link:


    Back cover text:

    Do you believe in Magic?

    The second anthology in the "Dreams of Control" universe takes the reader on three mystical journeys where chance, fate, and will grant three very different men the power of control. Suddenly, any woman they want can be theirs, any way they want, any time they want. Afterward, their lives will forever be changed. Will they seek love or be ruled by lust?

    Or do they really have to choose?

    Collects the magically-themed erotic mind control novellas "A Matter of Trust," "...And All His Heart's Desires," and "Awakening."


    Also, ALL of Unspeakable Publications' books, including all of the Dreams of Control stories, are now in the publishing queue at Kobo. No offense, Smashwords - my understanding is it's a backup on taking affiliate submissions at Kobo itself. But a fellow's got to do what a fellow's got to do.

    Enjoy!

    *By one critic, anyway! Thanks Pat!

    Saturday, October 13, 2012

    Okay, Kobo: Let's Rumble

    Smashwords apparently has a line of books to ship to Kobo backed up to somewhere around the orbit of Mars. Not anybody's fault, just the way it is. However, I'm way too impatient, so this week I learned to convert files for Kobo's "Writing Life" self-publishing system. The first one I did, Maestro, went live yesterday and it looks good, so this weekend I'll be converting the rest and putting them up. Koboites, I am coming for you!

    Also today or tomorrow Love Spells: Three Dreams of Control will be going up in e-form. Enjoy!

    Sunday, October 7, 2012

    Dreams of Control Anthologies

    Cheating a little bit here: the next two Dreams of Control books will be anthologies of existing stories. My laziness is your gain, however, because they will be priced such that buying the anthology is considerably cheaper than buying the individual stories!

    The first one, Better Loving Through Chemistry, should be up today (it's already on Smashwords and is visible on Amazon by searching.) Here's a link:




    In other news, Maestro and the two anthologies will be available in trade paperback! You can buy them here:

    Maestro: https://www.createspace.com/4005028

    Better Loving Through Chemistry: https://www.createspace.com/4009969

    Love Spells: https://www.createspace.com/4010386

    What? Love Spells, the second anthology including the critically acclaimed Awakening, is already available in paperback??? Yes, yes it is! So if you just gotta have it early, you can, and for only a dollar more than the e-book version. Enjoy!

    Monday, October 1, 2012

    Missed It By That/Much!

    I am sorry to say that we did not break our sales volume record in September, so there will be no free story released this month. It was very close, but close only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and nuclear weapons, sorry. Since there will be two new books coming out in October as well as the first release of paperback versions, with any luck at all, there'll be a free story in November.

    Well, I'm sorry I didn't sell more books, but I'm not sorry I don't have to write a free story. I don't count those against my every-two-weeks publishing schedule. They're a pain. I do it for you, though! Because it's all about love. Well, love and mind-control.