To bring you a Thursday blegging post.
Not as many of you are reading this as before, but perhaps those of you who are hanging around can answer this, or maybe pass it on to others who might have an interest.
I’m really interested in exploring ebooks.
Now, some of our books are already on Kindle – for example, the Loyola Kids’ Book of Saints has done well there, and I should know exactly what “done well” on Kindle should mean in a couple of weeks as I get my first post-Kindle royalty statement from Loyola. The How-to Book of the Mass is on Kindle. And others.
(By the way, I’ve done a separate webpage on The How-To Book of the Mass here. With the forthcoming new translation, we have what we call a “teaching moment” coming on the Mass, and this is an excellent resource – for the second edition, Michael took into account the proposed changes to the translation that were most likely to pass muster – like “and with your spirit,” for example. More here. Pass the link on to RCIA directors, and so on if you’ve a mind, too. )
Okay, back to the ebooks. Ebooks are still a tiny segment of the market, but they are there and they’re growing. All kinds and all formats -from pdfs you read on your computer to Kindles and Sony Readers to IPhone apps. A lot of ebooks are uploaded for free, some for a price. Different types of reading is done on different devices by different demographics. I’m just trying to understand it all and make some moves in that direction. And I’m mostly doing it from the outside because as we’ve discussed before, as much time as I spend on the computer, I am still a between-the-covers girl when it comes to books and longer magazine pieces – but I have friends who love their e-readers, so I’m a believer on their behalf.
The reason I’m looking at this is because I have quite a bit of unpublished material hanging around here. Some of it is mine, a lot of it is Michael’s. He was an idea man – anyone who knew him will tell you that – and his computer is filled with projects, some just seeds, but a surprising number either completed or nearly so. I’ve run a couple by traditional publishers with mixed results. I’m in the process of trying to learn about ebook publishing and figure out the best direction for these projects – which will be varied, according to the nature of the work. I have a couple that I think I will upload to be free for the taking and few others I will attempt to actually sell, including the YA novel that many publishers said was very good and well-written but couldn’t sell because it did not feature vampire girls shopping and gossiping. And as for Michael’s work, there was is good stuff there, and it would be a shame to just let it sit in computer files, and giving a shot with some free and some low-priced ebooks seems a good way to get it out there so others can benefit.
So…here are my questions.
If you are a reader of ebooks…tell me about it. Do you buy ebooks or limit yourself to what you can get for free? If you buy, what is your preferred price point? Do you have preferred formats? Have you encountered any really disastrous programs or applications which you want to warn me (or others!) away from?
If you have written, designed or sold ebooks…tell me about it. Any recommendations?
In particular, I am wondering about Smashwords.
I’m also wondering about Wattpad. What I’m wondering if anyone uses Wattpad as a marketing tool – that is uploading a part of a book for a free read, which then leads to a point of purchase at another site. Does anyone do this? Is it allowed?
Oh, and if there is anyone who is experienced at such things out there who would like to work with me on developing an Iphone app pro bono or close to it, let me know. I have some ideas.
(Speaking of digital/electronic media and such – today is a very exciting day because a new series of In Our Time begins on BBC radio 4, and best of all, the subject this week is Thomas Aquinas. You can download the podcast here, but only for a week, then you can only listen to it online.
Here is my take — perhaps of limited value because (a) I am kind of a techie, probably unlike most of your potential readers, and (b) I am located in Europe rather than the US.
1. The main problem with Kindle, from my perspective, is its limitation to the US market.
2. I don’t think developing your own iPhone app is worth the effort. Create your eBooks for the free Stanza application (PC and iPhone) and the many other readers which support the open ePub format (look in Wikipedia for more info on this).
3. Smashwords sounds good and supports Stanza and the Stanza online catalog.
4. Wattpad also sounds good; I don’t see why publishing part of a book on Wattpad and then directing readers to some shop site for the full text should not be allowed — the only restriction Wattpad seems to impose is — entirely reasonably — that you only upload/publish books you hold the copyright for.
5. I expect to pay significantly LESS for an eBook than for the same title in hardcopy because the production cost is significantly less. And since even as a techie I consider reading an eBook a lesser experience than reading a well-produced printed book, I don’t see why an author should pocket all of the financial benefits of electronic publishing and not share part of it with me, the reader, in the form of lower prices.
6. I have bought and will buy both audio books and e-books; probably more e-books than audio because I have not found as satisfactory a tool for listening to audio books (and instantly get back to where I stopped) as the Stanza experience has been for eBooks.
7. I expect to be able to re-download e-books I have purchased as long as the vendor is in business. By their nature e-books are less permanent than printed books, and while we all should back up our data sometimes things go wrong. I will favor publishers that do not then make me re-purchase the books I have already bought.
Hope these comments are helpful.
Well, briefly, I purchase ebooks for my iPhone Kindle app. I used to use Peanut press with my old Handspring Edge, and only used it for fiction. Now, I am comfortable with the Kindle format for convenience and selection, and have no interest in exploring other options. The iPhone experience has taught me I don’t have to struggle to manage my media, and so the convenience offered by Amazon is worth it to me. I’m thinking about a full size kindle, but the price point is too high and I have a series of unanswered objections, mostly around note-taking abilities and the long term viability of the format (what will happen to my purchases in 10 years? Will I be able to use them on other future devices?). Therefore, I only presently purchase ‘light reading’ books that I don’t think will be a major reference for me in the long term. This includes most fiction and intro level non-fiction works. I won’t pay more than $10 for an ebook — anything more and it might as well be on a bookshelf.
If I had an actual kindle, it might be a different story…
Take a look at lulu.com. They started out small but they now have some interesting stuff. It’s self-publishing, for sure, but it offers a variety of formats. It’s definitely a good place for the stuff you’re willing to make available at no or low cost.
I do some research into obscure areas of Christian history and I’m amazed at how much I’ve found on lulu! Some of it is amateur, but some is darn good……….publishers probably won’t touch the stuff because it’s so obscure, but that’s just a publishing fact of life.
As far as e=books go, I think it will take another 10-15 years to wean people off of real books…………..bookstores provide so much more than just content.
Good luck, Amy. You have lots of readers out here who wish you even more success.
I have read a good number of eBooks. I use the iPod Touch as an eBook reader and was surprised at how capable it was at this. I even found to that to an extent I now prefer eBooks since it means I always have my books with me for reading. Plus it is excellent for nighttime reading since you don’t need a book lite and one handed operation is quite easy.
I use Stanza and the Amazon Kindle App mostly for reading books. The majority of eBooks I have read I have paid for. I love the fact that I can just download a book when I want it. My poor book shelves are overwhelmed, so eBooks are a great solution.
I was quite happy when Ignatius Press recently said that they would be releasing all their new books as paper, eBooks, and AudioBooks. This is a great way to deliver to multiple segments of the market.
I use e-books on a very limited basis, and I tend only to read the ones I can upload to my very old PocketPC. The programs I use most often are Microsoft E-Reader and MobiPocket reader (which is the one my library supports). I have never paid for an e-book, but I would consider it in the future if it were priced pretty low. I wouldn’t pay as much for an e-book as for a paper book. I use e-books most often as a way to kill time in doctor’s offices, etc., but I still greatly prefer “real” books when I’m at home.
Amy I am an emerging ebook reader, thanks in large part to Jeff Miller’s enthusiasm.
For now I am using the Amazon iPhone app, and am saving up for a Kindle 2.
I read a mix of free and purchased books. Haven’t bought anything over $9.99.
I’ve begun downloading a lot of free samples. I can imagine that many of my future purchases will be influenced a lot by the experience of reading the samples, especially with author’s that I am not familiar with.
Since I imagine that I’m not alone in using free samples this way, a question I’ve been thinking about is whether that may affect how the author crafts that part of the book.
I have a Kindle 2 that I enjoy very much — especially when we travel. The last time we were on a trip I used Kindle Shortcuts to access a number of web pages that I frequent. I hope that new versions of the Kindle will have even more web access. The Amazon Daily articles are usually of interest and often on topics I’d never have read about otherwise. Another feature I like is the ability to download a sample first to see if I want to order. Sometimes that will be as much as a chapter of the book. As another reader said, the price point should be lower because you can’t loan the book. I wish there were some way to share within the family. My daughter was just telling me today about a new iTunes feature — Home Sharing. You can now copy song files from one computer to another. According to today’s WSJ, you can look into the shared library on another computer set up to allow this and then select a song and drag it into your own library. I think there are limitations such as number of computers and perhaps on same network. That would be great for Kindle. I’ve been disappointed a couple of times recently that books that were recommended to me were not available on Kindle. I will probably buy a similar book on the topic that is available on Kindle. Did I read today also that Dan Brown’s new book has sold more Kindle copies than hard copies?
I buy books for my Kindle; my price point is:
$9.99 reasonable
$6.99 nice
$4.99 attention-getting
$2.99 or less – if the subject is anything I may ever be interested in then it’s for me.
I have a Kindle 2 which I read everyday. It works well for my needs. I’ve read 30+ books in the last six months. I’m a wide spectrum-reader. I don’t mind paying for good stuff in the “$6.99″ range. I got the whole Douay Rheims for $0.99. Ditto for Imitation of Christ. I read most of the fiction and then store it back at Amazon. I read some political & non-fiction content as well… I haven’t subscribed to any Blogs or Magazines as I spend a lot of time behind the computer and catch up to things there. The Kindle is convenient and I can get any of their content in less than a minute. I still buy “real” books when I think I’ll need them for reference work. I just find the ebook concept better for most of my leisure reading. The Kindle2 is small, compact and holds a pile of content (especially when traveling).
Put some stuff out there and see what happens. Couldn’t hurt. I’d buy it.
I didn’t have a good Biblical Way of the Cross on my Kindle…Now I do…Thanks!
Thanks for all your good writing, Amy. I have not yet bought any ebooks, but I’ve looked into it. I’ve also thought about buying a Kindle. A little shameless self-promotion: I just had my first book published: Radical Surrender: Letters to Seminarians. (www.ipfpublications.com). I’ve also started a new blog: http://www.liveholiness.com
I like writing and I’ve thought about possibly putting some spiritual meditations into an ebook in the future. I do think that more and more people are moving in the direction of ebooks, particularly since many of them are cheaper to buy than paperbooks.
I say you should go for it!
My 2 euros as a bookseller and a consumer. if i could sell through your e-books, i have a limited market to do so. most of my internet sales are done in house because people are “afraid” of buying online.
As a consumer, i like downloading teaser chapters for free and then choosing to purchase the whole e-book for no more than 4.99.
Lulu is a great resource. Paulist will also do small runs, surprised that OSV wouldn’t continue to publish as a matter of course – kinda disappointing.
I don’t have anything to contribute regarding ebooks but was reminded of your initial mention of BBC radio 4 and “In Our Time”. What a great recommendation! I listened a great deal around Christmas but haven’t been there lately. Thanks for the reminder!
Stunning how much better BBC radio is than the US counterpart.
I can’t speak for the rest of your readers, but I wasn’t reading your blog because (a) I didn’t know you were blogging here after you moved to the “Via Media” blog and (b) I got the sense that you were finished with blogging some time ago when you killed “Via Media”.
Regarding e-books: it seems to me that they are so easily pirated that you couldn’t make a single dollar off of them (even if they’re religiously oriented). Plus, if most Catholic dioceses are still in the 20th century when it comes to the web, I suspect the vast majority of Catholics are as well.
But if the subjects of your e-books are youth-oriented (i.e. “Prove It”) then perhaps you have a market!
I have been reading books on my blackberry curve, and I think this is more than sufficient. I highly doubt that I would be willing to carry around another device with me when my cell phone works just fine. Great article!
I write Christian fiction and have seen 5 of my novels published in e-format. There is a growing body of work available for the Christ-centered reader who wants e-books.
I think there is, and will continue to be, a home for both “dead tree” and e-fiction. It’s not an either/or proposition, the way I see it. Paper books for one application/environment/use; e-books for others. I don’t see why these two delivery platforms cannot co-exist and play nice.
To another point, I’ve never seen evidence of any of my books being pirated. I did have occasion to send a single “stop” order to an online e-content provider after the rights to that book had reverted to me, but this is once in 7 years. So I don’t believe the piracy thing with legitimate e-publishers is that much of a fear.
Self-publishing via the e-route may be more fraught. I’ve no experience with this and won’t comment on it.
Amazon lists quite a few Christian fiction titles for the Kindle. A simple click-through onto the publishers’ data on some of these titles will show the customer other formats.
I wish I were more qualified to discuss Christian fiction that’s specifically Catholic, and if I knew of some, I would. Hopefully this market will grow to match the rest of the Christian market in breadth, volume and richness.