Fundamentals of Electronic Publishing (primarily ePub and MOBI) for leaders of Genealogy Societies

1. Electronic Publishing
Fundamentals for Society
Leaders
Jordan Jones
FGS 2014 – San Antonio, TX
W-120
1

2. What is Electronic
Publishing?
• Creation, production, distribution, and
consumption of textual material via electronic
means.
• Usually, the distribution is over the Internet,
not on physical media.
• The consumption is highly variable, and may
be on anything from desktop computers with
wide-screen monitors to smart phones.
2

3. Benefits
• Speedy distribution
• Lack of inventory
• Saves on production
• Saves on storage / shipping
• Protection via DRM
• Often provides a portable copy of a paper
book a reader purchased
3

4. Risks
• No “cuddle factor”
• Lack of permanence
• Reliant on technology
• Content typically “licensed,” not sold; may turn
off readers
• DRM imperfect
• Can lock readers out of content they paid for
• Can be hacked
4

5. E-Book Sources (BISG)
5

6. Market Share
• 67% — Amazon
• 11.8% — Barnes & Noble Nook
• 8.2% — Apple iBooks
• 12.8% — All Others
(Google Play, Kobo, Sony, direct from
publishers)
6

7. E-Books by Genre (BISG)
7

8. E-Books by Genre
• Genre fiction tops out the list with 50% or more
preferring e-books and only about 10% paper
• 50% of readers of History / Politics / Social
Science prefer e-books; 25% prefer paper
• 25% of readers of How-To prefer e-books;
42% prefer paper
8

9. Some E-Book Sales
Statistics
• 29% of US book revenues
• ~60% in short genre fiction (thriller; romance)
• ~20% in non-fiction
• ~10% in children’s books and comic books
9

10. Formats
What Can
You Choose From?
Source: Flickr Commons
10

11. Fixed Layout
Definition: The page design (layout) is always the
same, no matter what device or software is used.
• PDF (1993, Adobe; 2008, ISO-32000) is still the
dominant format for fixed layouts. Open standard of
ISO.
• Kindle Format 8 (2011, Amazon) — with KF8,
Amazon supports fixed layouts
• ePub (2012, IDPF) — Open standard of the
International Digital Publishing Forum
• iBooks (2012, Apple) — Proprietary standard for
interactivity 11

12. PDF (Adobe, 1993)
This format which became an open standard (ISO-
32000) in 2008 remains the dominant format for fixed
layouts.
• +: Widely used for print; easy to go from the files
used for print to files used for electronic distribution.
Works well on desktop machines.
• -: Usually not well adapted to mobile.
• Recommendation: PDF can be an important part
part of an electronic publishing strategy, especially
for reprints of historical titles. 12

13. Kindle Format 8 (Amazon,
2011)
Starting with KF8, Amazon Kindle Fire supports fixed layouts.
• Previous Kindle formats (and those of Mobipocket, the
Kindle precursor) were designed for flowing text.
• +: Has the widest customer base using dedicated
hardware. Based on HTML 5 and CSS 3, it can easily be
converted to other formats.
• -: New and somewhat limited to what can be simply done
with HTML 5 and CSS 3. Only works on Kindle Fire and
later Amazon devices or software.
• Recommendation: KF8 fixed-width is great for comic
books, but it’s not quite ready for genealogy titles. 13

14. ePub 3.0 (IDPF, 2012)
• With v3, this open standard of the International
Digital Publishing Forum supports fixed layout
books.
• This is the base format for Apple’s iBooks Reader on
Mac OS and iOS, as well as for the Barnes & Noble
Nook.
• +: It’s the most widely-used non-Kindle format.
• -: Still figuring out fixed layouts
• Recommendation: ePub itself is critical to the
industry. PDF is still better for fixed layout genealogy
titles, however. 14

15. iBooks Author .Books
(Apple 2012)
iBooks Author software creates proprietary .books
format e-books.
• +: Easy content creation platform for Macintosh users
in iBooks. Amazing multi-touch and video interactivity.
• -: Apple only allows .books files to be sold through the
Apple iBookstore eco-system. Exports only to PDF
and text. No ePub export. Requires an ISBN
purchased elsewhere (bowker.com). Books only
readable on iPad and Macintosh computers.
• Recommendation: Don’t bother!
15

16. Fixed Width or Not?
• If you are doing a reproduction, or selling a
book that is otherwise format-intensive,
consider using PDF as your method.
• PDFs, however, cannot be sold on the
Amazon or Apple bookstores.
16

17. Fixed Layout Quality
Considerations
Allows for Interactivity Looks “just like the book”
PDF Limited Y
KF8 Limited N
ePub 3.0 Limited N
.iBooks
Incredible, but viewable
only on iPad and Mac OS
N
17

18. Fixed Layout Distribution
Options
Amazon
Kindle
Apple
iBookstore
Google
Play Books
Your Own
Website
PDF N N Y Y
KF8 Y N N Y
ePub 3.0 N Y Y Y
.iBooks N Y N N
18

19. Embedded Publications
• Several apps and websites will embed PDFs
in a web page, allowing authorized readers to
read the book in their browser or in the app
• NextMedia
• Scribd
• Most of the benefits of presentation for PDFs
are available in these platforms.
19

20. Flowing Text
• The sweet spot for e-books is flowing text.
• To best deal with the variety of devices,
software, and eyes people might use to read a
book, most formats focus on ensuring that text
can flow and be re-sized as needed.
20

21. ePub vs. MOBI
Open
Standar
d
Editable at
the Code
Level in
Sigil
Easily
Converts
to the
Other in
Calibre
Designed
for Apple,
B&N, and
Google
Designed
for
Amazon
ePub Y Y Y Y N
MOBI N N Y N Y
Both formats are essentially Zip-compressed
files of HTML, with some special files for
metadata and book objects (cover, table of
contents). 21

22. Creating ePub
and MOBI Files
• Adobe InDesign (MOBI requires a free plug-in)
• Scrivener (MOBI requires a free plug-in)
• iBooks Only: Apple iBook Author
• By contract, you can only sell these at Apple
• They are not industry-standard ePub, but
iBooks
• ePub Only: Sigil (highly technical; code level)
22

23. Print-on-Demand
Those who still want a paper book, or who want
both a paper book and an e-book, should
consider Print-on-Demand or POD.
23

24. True PoD
• In true PoD, no book is printed until one is
ordered.
• The publisher (your society) carries no
inventory.
• Can be challenging when going to
conferences.
24

25. Short-Run Printing
• A modified form of PoD is available: short-run
printing, where 1-200 copies are printed, but
inventory is kept as low as possible.
• Allows for exhibiting at conferences, but limits
up-front investment and shipping and storage
costs.
25

26. You Can Combine Printing
with E-books
• Using authoring tools designed to create
printed copy, you can start from one source
file and export PDFs for printed books
(whether PoD, short-run, or regular printing)
and for e-books
• Adobe InDesign is the best tool for this, but …
the e-books tend not to be clean, especially if
there is complex formatting
26

27. What’s the
Deal with
DRM?
How can it protect your
content? What are the
pitfalls?
Source: “Padlock,” userid: Zebble, Flickr Commons
27

28. Digital Rights Management
• Designed to prevent unauthorized access of
content.
• There is not a DRM scheme that cannot be
cracked.
28

29. E-Books are Licensed, Not
Owned
• Apple, Google, and Amazon do not sell e-books
• They sell limited-use licenses that do not allow
you to rent, sell, or give away the books
• The limitations scare away some readers
• Some publishers are now selling books
without DRM and with a lifetime-ownership
model
29

30. DRM Protects the Copyright
Owner
• Putting DRM on your publications protects you
as a publisher, and the copyright owner,
whether it is you or someone else who has
licensed you to publish.
• While DRM is not foolproof, having content
under DRM along with a “no unauthorized
copies” request in writing in the book, can
protect you from violations of copyright.
30

31. Any DRM Scheme
Can Be Hacked
• DRM is designed to slow down, but cannot
definitively stop those who want to remove the
DRM
• Simple plugins exist to do this with Kindle, with
the stated goal of personal flexibility with
licensed content. This is a gray area because
the content is licensed, not sold.
31

32. Electronic
Rights
Do you have the right to
publish that file?
Source: D. Keith Robinson, Flickr Commons
32

33. The Conundrum of
Electronic Rights
• The shift from paper to electronic publishing
left a major gap in contract law.
• Many publishers assumed they had electronic
rights, but they did not.
• If it’s not in writing at this point, you probably
do not have electronic distribution rights.
33

34. How to Get
Started
34

35. The Carpenter’s Motto
Measure twice; cut once
• Decide on goals
• Print + Electronic?
• Electronic only?
• Evaluate Costs & Price the Book
• Create E-Book
• Distribute E-Book 35

36. Goals
Know what you want to do
before you start
36

37. Why Publish This Title?
• Make an out-of-print county history available
• Publish the history of a prominent local family
• Distribute back issues of your journal
37

38. Costs
How to calculate what this
will run you
38

39. Cost Estimation
The potential revenue needs to be set against
the costs, which will be highly variable, but may
include:
• Author’s royalties (if any)
• Design and layout (up-front costs)
• Cost of physical books (printing, shipping,
storage)
• Review copies
39

40. Pricing
Estimate Costs, but also
the Return
40

41. Price / Revenue Estimation
List Wholesale Member E-Book
Cover Price $30.00 $30.00 $30.00 $9.95
Wholesale
Discount (40%)
-$12.00
Member
Discount (25%)
-$7.50
E-Book
Discount &
Fees (30%+)
-$3.05
Net Revenue
Per Unit
$30.00 $18.00 $22.50 $6.90
41

42. Creation
42

43. Sample E-Book Workflows
• Paper > Scan > PDF > Cleanup > Distribution
• Paper > Scan > ePub > Cleanup > Distribution
• Born Digital > MOBI > Cleanup > Distribution
• Born Digital > PDF > Distribution
43

44. E-books are Not Turnkey
E-book output needs to be tuned. For example:
• footnotes
• tables
• indexes
• tables of contents
• images
44

45. Software
Some of the Software You
Can Use to Create, Edit,
and Convert E-books
45

46. Adobe InDesign
46

47. Scrivener
47

48. iBooks Author
48

49. Kindle
Previewer
49

50. Calibre
50

51. Sigil
51

52. Distribution
52

53. Distribution Options
• DIY Distribution — Create and manage
accounts with Apple iBooks, Google Play,
Barnes & Noble, and Amazon
• Professional E-Book Distribution — Hire
someone else to do it
53

54. Smashwords
Note: No Amazon or Goo5g4 le

55. Smashwords Pricing
Free — Smashwords converts your files from
Word; pays 60% of List; 80% on
smashwords.com
55

56. BookBaby Features
• Features
• Sells to Amazon, Apple iBooks, Barnes &
Noble Nook, Scribd, Oyster, and others
• E-book conversion as well as distribution
56

57. BookBaby Pricing
• Free — You supply e-book files; pays 85% of
Net
• Standard $99 — BookBaby converts your files
from Word, InDesign, etc.; pays 85% of Net
• Premium $249 — BookBaby converts your files
from Word, InDesign, etc.; pays 100% of Net
57

58. Lulu Features
• Sells to Amazon, Apple iBooks, Barnes &
Noble Nook, Scribd, Oyster, and others
• E-book conversion as well as distribution
58

59. Lulu Pricing
• Do-it-Yourself (Free) — You supply e-book
files; pays 90% of Net
• The Assistant ($99) — Lulu converts your files
from Word; pays 90% of Net
• The Insider ($139) — Lulu converts your files
from Word; pays 90% of Net; provides marketing
guidance
• eBook Amplifier ($) — Lulu converts your files
from Word to e-book and prints in paperback;
pays 90% of Net; provides marketing guidance 59

60. Amazon Kindle Direct
Features
• You work directly with Amazon, with over 100
million customers.
• Limited e-book conversion as well as
distribution (Word, PDF, ePub source)
• Amazon sales reporting
60

61. Amazon Kindle Direct
Pricing
70% Option 35% Option
61
You Receive
70% (less costs, of usually
less than $0.50 per sale,
i.e., $0.15 / MB)
35%
Price Restrictions
Kindle Price Must be at
least 20% less than any
sakes channel for the
printed book
N / A
Content
Restrictions
Cannot consist primarily of
public domain content
N / A

62. Promotion
Let people know
your e-book is available!
62

63. Promotion
• To cover this would take another presentation.
• Suffice to say:
• Plan promotion from day one
• Figure promotion into your cost estimates
• Ensure your authors are committed to help
promote the book
63

64. One E-book
Promotion Idea
Use your distribution platform
• Most e-book distribution platforms will allow
for pre-sales
• Pre-sales book on the official launch date of
the book, boosting its ratings on the site
• Most e-book distribution platforms allow for
sales; use them to build buzz
64

65. In closing …
Keep the following in mind …
65

66. E-books Are
• A key way to broaden your demographic reach
• Often an addition to the paper book for
readers
• Harder to create than you may think,
especially if there are complex tables, images,
and other formatting elements
66

67. Thank You!
These Slides will Be Posted
by Labor Day to
http://www.genealogymedia.com
67