Sharon Maria Bidwell

An ebook is a book. It’s just a book in what may at present be an unfamiliar format. For the reader, that means getting used to different methods of reading and storing books but the end product amounts to the same thing — a great story to read. For the writer, there are differences between the electronic book market and the print market. The first one I became aware of was that there are no advances.

Note: I’m speaking of the romance market here as it’s what I know, but there may be exceptions of which I’m unaware. If so, I’d love to hear about them. Saying that, the print market seems to be going the same way. Advances aren’t always as large as they once were and are usually based on the amount of books a publisher “expects” the author to sell. I’ve heard of large advances being withdrawn if the author doesn’t deliver an acceptable manuscript and, in some instances, if books simply don’t sell enough to reach the market’s expectation. Advice is don’t spend an advance. Just bank it for at least a good while.

An ebook isn’t going to make it to a shelf in your local book store, not unless it eventually goes to print, and maybe not even then. Then again, many print books never make it to your local store. In addition, technology is advancing and one day your local book store may consist of a catalogue of books and a screen where you order the books you want. Then you’ll go to a counter where they’ll magically appear as some sort of electronic download or printed by Print on Demand (POD) technology. It sounds like something from science-fiction but such technology is being considered and in development, now.

The good news is that royalties on ebooks are higher and here’s where the ebook writer has a difficult choice. Print books are wonderful and you’ll probably hear every writer say they long to have a book out in print. They may read ebooks themselves and love them, but the writer wants to hold their work as something “solid” in their hands. Touch makes something feel more real to our species. It’s just a simple fact and probably why many mistaken reach the conclusion that an ebook isn’t real. There are those that say emails aren’t real letters but the technology still gets the same information across effectively. However, the writer also needs to consider that he or she can earn approximately 35% in royalties from an ebook. From a print book the average royalty payment is 8%.

I’m just letting that sink into your minds for a minute.

The writer can earn more in royalties from an ebook but they may not have such a wide distribution — although many are hoping and the evidence points to this changing. Particularly as more mainstream titles appear in electronic formats. However, there are many writers out there in print that also have a limited market and outlets. It’s a delicate balance.

Why do ebooks cost so much? After all, they skip the printing stage. Yes, they do, but this is another matter for those who scorn ebooks to consider. The printing stage is the ONLY element that the ebook skips. When you submit to a publisher your submission goes to a reader. A reader may be an editor at the publishing house or a reader only, but either way from a synopsis and first three chapters a reader will decide whether to ask for the entire manuscript. If the reader likes the manuscript, they’ll pass it on, discuss it with others in the publishing house including management, and they’ll decide if to offer you a contract. This is especially true if you’re a new name to them. More than one person will need to give your book the okay.

The book then goes through the editing process. An editor is assigned to the work. Some publishers allow a writer to work with a single editor for all work submitted. Sometimes, publishers simply hand the next book scheduled for editing to the next available editor down the line. I much prefer building up a relationship with an editor I know. You grow to understand how each other works and that makes for less friction and less time wasting. Depending on how much work the book needs, it may go through one, two, three, or more edit rounds. I’m pleased to say that two is my usual, one for story and one for grammar. It then goes to the line-editing department for a fresh set of eyes. There the book is looked over mostly for punctuation errors, house-style etc., although if the line-editors (and quite often two get to look at the book) spot an obvious story problem they will point it out. The book’s returned to your main editor and then to you. Once happy, you send it back…and this time it goes to the proofers, who cast their eye over it in an effort to spot any final mistakes and get the format ready to produce the final book. Then it’s returned to your editor and back to you one last time. If you’re happy, your editor sends it through for transfer to several electronic formats and then for release. This sounds as if it’s a leisurely process. It isn’t. I’ve got used to “Can we have this yesterday?” It’s often a fraught time.

Think of all the time and effort that goes into this editing process. As much as I love my books by the time I’ve gone through all the revisions I do prior to submitting and then all these edits, and considering that I usually re-read at every opportunity, by the time the book is published I’m usually feeling a little sick of it. Consider that most writers work part-time if not full-time as well as write. Consider that many editors do likewise. In some instances, so do the publishers. Many publishing companies, with the exception of extremely large publishing houses, are run as secondary businesses. Management, editors, line-editors, proofers, and the authors all give of their so-called “spare” time - a phrase that quickly becomes an in-house joke. When you consider the number of hours put in, it makes the financial rewards seem paltry, indeed.

Early on in the process you’ll be asked to submit a cover art request to give the cover artist some idea of your subject. The final cover may be nothing like your suggestions but you’ll need to provide whatever information the publishing house needs. Providing the artist with enough details takes considerably more thought than you might expect. Some publishing houses ask for you to okay the cover, some don’t. I have to say that in the ebook industry I’ve had good experiences, whereas I’ve heard of some print authors being extremely upset by their book covers. I’m sure there are good and bad stories in either market but, so far, my comments have always been taken into consideration.

Oh…and who writes the blurb for the book? The author does. The publisher may edit it, but the author has to write an original and full blurb. Who may have to maintain a website at the request of the publisher? The author. Who needs to promote? The author. The publisher may do this, too. They may send out to review sites but they’ll expect you to consider other ways to promote your book. This applies equally to the print market. Some publishers now request a whole marketing strategy along with the submission of your book, but if a publisher requests this with no information regarding what they will in turn do for you, then I’d be wary. Promotion shouldn’t be left entirely to the author but, nowadays, the author is expected to play their part. For the writer who envisages the romantic image of sitting before a desk tapping happily away and just sending a book “out” and then getting on with the next, nothing could be further from the truth.

It costs just as much to produce an ebook as a print book, except the book forgoes the printing stage. So why are some ebooks costing almost as much as print? Well, for one thing that’s the difference in those royalties. A book in print earns the author 8% of the cover price. An electronic book earns the author approximately 35% of the cover price and it’s only fair, as believe me or not, that percentage is earned. I’m not giving away secrets here. You can find these payment rates in almost any publishers submission guidelines. As to what this means in terms of actual money, I’ll cover that another day when I discuss what you can and can’t do with an ebook once you’ve purchased it.

An ebook goes through the same or similar process as most print books. Only the final stage — the format it’s produced in — differs. Take that into consideration and it’s ludicrous to say that ebooks aren’t ‘real’ literature. A book is a book no matter what the format. I’ll repeat it as often as necessary. As much as choosing what book to read is about choice, so should choosing the format in which one wishes to read be an act of free-will. I’d be devastated to see print books disappear, but I like to own a collection of both if for no other reason than much needed space.

Something else to consider is that I made my decision to write for an epublisher based on what I could see happening to the book market in general. Although erotic publishers were at the forefront and have been the mainstay of the epublishing market for a long time, books are up against strong competition. Many people struggle to find the time to read. The way ALL books are produced is changing, with even large mainstream publishers turning to POD technology and electronic formats. I have the works of Poe both in print and ebook. When considering an epublisher, I decided not to turn my back on what might happen to the future of books. I could see many who sneer being taken by surprise. The author who turns their back on the idea of epublshing could risk being left behind, and may miss out on some wonderful opportunities. If the market changes to the extent many believe it inevitably will, those protesting are going to have to alter their minds, be they readers or writers.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.