For the last ten years there has been a new kid on the editorial block. And so far he hasn’t made a big tooth out of being able to play with the big boys. But all that is about to change! It’s actually changing as we speak.
I’m talking about eBooks and digital books, and if you haven’t created your eBook yet, you need to!
E-books have been a feature of the Internet since the birth of the World Wide Web, if not before. But in recent years, they have experienced a peak and have crossed paths. E-books are the fastest growing segment of the publishing market. And it is a segment that seems to be independent of the economy.
That’s part of what has led companies like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Chapters-Indigo to enter the e-book market with their own readers and book publishing. And of course, traditional publishers were not far behind.
With major bookstores like Amazon entering this market and allowing smaller publishers and authors to access their listing directly, there has been a major shift in the market. E-books are not only cheaper and faster to produce, but there are now major forces in book retail directly involved. The market is ready to take off. The market is primed for profitability.
And that profitability is about to be much higher than traditional publishing!
Of course, it’s not all roses and sunshine. Traditional publishers have not been blind to the growth or potential of e-books. Many of them are in the process of converting their entire line to digital book format. Competition for the small author or publisher is on the horizon.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for you.
If you have a traditionally published book and you still have the electronic version, you can easily convert the book to an eBook. You can sell it through Amazon and earn much higher royalties than you could writing a traditionally published book (unless, of course, you’re Steven King). In fact, one thing you should do is check with your book publishers for their digital rights. Many of them have started converting their lists to eBook format in order to have access to the eBook channels and the earnings involved.
But regardless of who publishes your book as an eBook, turning it into a digital book will extend the life of your book. That means more sales and more money in your pocket!
If you haven’t written your book yet, why not? The rise of the e-book market means that taking advantage of your e-book is now even easier. Creating a book is cheap and easy. It has always been publishing that has made it difficult to make a profit. But with the eBook marketplace, publishing is easy.
That means writing an eBook is within everyone’s reach. And yet the great marketing benefits of book writing, namely positioning yourself as an expert, still remain. To put it bluntly, the decision to create an eBook is child’s play.