The Ebook Revolution - San Francisco Writers Conference 2010 with Dan Poynter and Mark Coker

San Francisco Writers Conference Dan Poynter of Para Publishing Mark Coker of Smashwords The Ebook Revolution February 13, 2010

Is About to Begin

Pioneering publisher & distributor of eBooks
Founder of Smashwords
A free service
Serving 3,500 authors and publishers—worldwide.
Contributing blogger to Huffington Post

Selling downloadable documents since 1996
Speaking on eBook since early 1990s
Publisher of eBooks
Reader of eBooks
Dan is an eBook
author, publisher, advocate & consumer

S: Someone printed out the whole thing?

Attending the Writers Conference
Deciding to wring more value out of your work.
pBooks to eBooks
 

How many have a
Kindle?
Sony Reader?
iPhone or iPod Touch?
PocketPC?
Other reader?
Read eBooks on a computer screen?
How many publish eBooks?
Still write letters and buy stamps?

9 editions of the same Work

For credibility
For promotion
Reviews
To opinion molders & thought leaders
Uploading is faster then printing S: Cape Town

People on the move
Portable
Less weight & volume
Think outside the (paper) book
Audiobooks My travels

Less expensive
No typesetting
No printing
No inventory
No wrapping
No physical shipping
Quicker to market
Speed of light
S: Spm-2 editions

Amazon Kindle books to iPhone.
1,000,000? Kindles.
45 million iPhones and iPOD Touches.
More hardware is coming.
Some reading devices are large enough to replace newspapers and magazines.

The World is your potential market
We are selling information—not hard goods
Distribute via the Internet
No cost to ship
No import duty
No sales taxes
Instant delivery

N: Mark Coker

Pioneering publisher & distributor of eBooks
Founder of Smashwords
A free service
Serving 3,500 authors and publishers— worldwide.
Contributing blogger to Huffington Post

eBook publishing and distribution platform
Launched 24 months ago
Authors upload Word .doc, we convert to multiple eBook formats, publish instantly.
7,500+ eBooks published
3,500+ authors
Mission: make eBook publishing fast, easy, FREE and profitable for authors/publishers

Only the delivery substrate changes
Each represents a different way to convey knowledge, information, entertainment

Made poor first impression on early adopters
Screens poor substitute for paper
Overpriced
DRM = confusion, frustration
Limited selection
… yet the failure of eBooks was greatly exaggerated

Data: AAP http://www.publishers.org/documents/S12008Final.pdf plus recent sales data. 2009 is an estimate based on YTD percentage growth rate Jan-Nov 2009, multiplied by 2008 sales

Data: AAP http://www.publishers.org/

“ When we have both (print and eBook) editions, we sell 6 Kindle books for every 10 physical books”
--Jeff Bezos/Amazon, January 28, 2010

Early adopters new evangelists
Screen reading rivals paper
Proliferation of great eBook devices and apps
Dedicated devices: Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, B&N Nook, Apple iPad
Mobile phones: eBook-ready smart phones, including iPhone, Blackberry, Android phones
eBook apps: Stanza on iPhone (2.5+ million users) and Aldiko on Android phones (100,000 users)
Free books are gateway
Greater content selection
Lower prices
Impulse buying

Superior reading experience
Screens will become better than paper
Customizable reading experience
Limitless library in the cloud
Lower costs
Instant gratification
Prices dropping for both eBooks and eBook reading devices
Photo credit: http://alittlehut.blogspot.com/2007/12/decorations-la-tinker-toys.html

Fastest growing segment of book publishing
Instant worldwide market
Shelves everywhere
Never go out of print
Flexible publishing (short stories, full length)
Favorable economics
Faster, easier, cheaper to publish an eBook than a print book
Little to no incremental cost to go from p- to e-
No printing, inventory, returns, shipping
Lower retail cost + worldwide availability
Image credit: http://photography.cemalkin.com

Larger available market Low Cost More sales & profit

Forget (some of) what you know
Don’t try to make e- look like p-
eBooks consumed differently that print
Less = more with eBooks
Liberate text from complex formatting and layout
eBooks are shape-shifting creatures
(see next slide)

Example of Smashwords novel,
All Good Things Die in L.A. by Anhoni Patel
iPhone, using the Stanza reader. User-selected options: Font: Verdana; Background pattern: Stone carving; text color: Dark Violet; Font size: larger than normal

Migrate your easy books first
Fiction/Poetry/Biographies easy
Picture books, complex layout, more challenging
Avoid DRM Copy Protection
Adds complexity and expense
DRM treats law abiding customers like criminals
Use DRM-free as competitive advantage
Obscurity a bigger risk to authors than piracy
Lead the inevitable change, don’t be victimized by it

There are many different eBook formats
Why multi-format matters
PDF does not = eBook anymore
Multi-format lets customer enjoy your book their way
Expands your distribution options
Expands selling opportunities

EPUB - An open standard for eBooks. Critical format.
PDF - A good format if your work contains fancy formatting, charts or images. Horrible for straight form narrative.
Plain Text - The most easily read format, works on virtually any screen
.MOBI - For Amazon's Kindle reading device, others
RTF - Cross-platform document format supported by many word processors and devices
Learn more in the Smashwords Style Guide: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52

Preparation
Most print books originate in Word,
InDesign and Quark
Anticipate the shape shift
Simplify formatting and layout,
see Smashwords Style Guide at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52
Conversion Options
Automated (e.g. Amazon, Smashwords)
Direct from book layout software (e.g. save as PDF)
Conversion tools (Google ‘eBook conversion tools’)
Complex books ( hire an eBook formatter/coder)

printer Print Publisher Shipper/w/d customer bookseller customer ebookseller customer ebookseller E-distributor customer E-publisher E-publisher E-publisher remainder pass along Used bookstores PRINT BOOKS eBOOKS

Proliferation of digital shelves
Online retailers
Amazon, Barnesandnoble.com, Sony,
Apple iBooks
Dozens of smaller, specialized retailers
(Smashwords, Omnilit, Diesel-Ebooks)
Hybrid retailers
Mobile E-Reading apps (Stanza, Aldiko, Kobo, Word-Player)
Ebooks as apps (Apple, Android, Blackberry App World, Palm, Nokia)
Publishing platforms (Amazon, Scribd, Smashwords, Sony)
eBook Distributors (one to many)
Ingram Digital, Mobipocket, Overdrive, Smashwords

Determine objective
Maximize readers, profits or both?
Price lower than print
The higher the price, the smaller the market
Non-fiction supports higher prices than fiction
Price is not sole determining factor
If you create insatiable desire, price matters less
High prices may encourage piracy

Source: Smashwords survey of 13,500 recent purchases, analyzing relative total net sales at each price point per title Preliminary data. Revenue data for price points $11.00 and higher may lack statistical significance due to lower underlying sample size.

Source: Smashwords random survey of 353 “name-your-own-price” sales Average, paid sales: $3.20 Median, paid sales: $3.00 Average, paid & free: $.49

Free as a strategy for audience building
Eliminates friction
Conversion opportunities
Opportunity to sell things that go with your free stuff
Builds goodwill
Danger
Can devalue content
Alternatives to free
Free samples that lead to sales
Contests with free eBook prizes

Marketing begins BEFORE you finish book
You are the brand, your book is your product
Word of mouth most important
Go viral with social media
Make easy for fans to share links to your book via social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)
Shareable samples and coupons
Blog tours instead of book tours
Support community reviews (bloggers, Librarything, Goodreads, Shelfari)
Widgets (shareable, interactive ads)
More ideas in the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/305

Develop and implement an eBook strategy now
Your readers want eBooks
Experiment
Digitize easy books first
Design for plain and simple
Get closer to your customer
Enlist readers and fans as your sales force
Don’t abandon print

“ ."
Where to find Mark Coker: Web: www.smashwords.com Blog: blog .smashwords.com HuffPo: huffingtonpost .com/markcoker Twitter: @ markcoker Email: first initial second initial @smashwords.com Where to find Dan Poynter: Web: www.parapub.com Sign up for the FREE Publishing Poynters ezine Twitter: @ danpoynter Email: FirstnameLastname @ parapublishing .com SizzleReel: http://www. youtube .com/watch?v=mWl0fnBu7bs

THE END Electronic books are not going anywhere—they are already here

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The Ebook Revolution - San Francisco Writers Conference 2010 with Dan Poynter and Mark Coker

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The Ebook Revolution - San Francisco Writers Conference 2010 with Dan Poynter and Mark Coker Presentation Transcript