McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

An eBook publishing site

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sights unseen:
Someone at the Kelley Armstrong board has three books published by this eBooks site. So I went there. Not sure if it's entirely romance, but there are many paranormal genres.

What I like about it is you can read the first chapters of the books. I figure I can study them to see how to get my chapters going.

anywho, here's the link. If you click on the picture of the book, it will take you to where you can read a sample chapter.

http://www.cobblestone-press.com/index.htm

I might even consider sending in one of my manuscripts, if I ever get one finished. I doubt any author there lives off their royalities, but it would be a good way to get your stuff out there.

Anyone heard of this place? And would you consider eBooks as an alternate way to publish your manuscript?

Murphy's Stunt Double:
Among my collegues at the writer's group I go to, publishing an ebook is frowned upon.

Self-publishing a hard copy book is good for poets and workbooks that support a lecture, but for a fiction novel, the perception seems to be that anything self-published is self-published because it's not good enough that the writer could find anyone to take it on.  And since we all know how crappy some stuff published by some big firms can be, that must mean it's reeeeeallly bad. (Whether it actually is that bad or not, apparently the author him/herself didn't believe in it enough to persevere.)

E-book is further down the totem pole than that. E-books are good as give away teasers, but I can't see people making much money from them at all. As you said, you get to read a bunch of chapters for free. Ask yourself this... after reading those chapters, did you just *have to have* the rest of the book and pay to download it? Or did your attention quickly flit on to the nexy shiny object of your life?

That said, once you have your novel published by a reputable firm in hard copy, I've heard publishing an Electronic copy via PDF is a great way to boost your sales.

JMwriter's group's O

sights unseen:
I should ask the gal who's published her books there what her opinion is about the site. If she's happy with her 'sales', does she get many readers. She's seem pretty happy about her books being published there, but I suppose the word 'published' would make anyone giddy.

I didn't see a place on there that showed how many customers or repeat customers came to the site. But there are a heck of a lot of writer's publishing there and many books available. But those books could be sitting alone in a void if no one clicks to read them.

Are eBook sites just self-publishing sites in disguise?

Oh, down at the bottom left there was some info, but nothing on the number of customers they have. I'm still curious about it. I think the 'frowned upon' attitude is valid, but I also think electronic publishing is in our future. Maybe far future, but still, something to consider. And there are going to be authors who are going to frown on something. Some look down their noses at straight romance, others think there's too much sex in books, etc.

Murphy's Stunt Double:

--- Quote from: sights unseen on September 02, 2007, 04:27:54 PM ---Are eBook sites just self-publishing sites in disguise?

I think the 'frowned upon' attitude is valid, but I also think electronic publishing is in our future. Maybe far future, but still, something to consider.

--- End quote ---

I can't really answer that question. On the one hand, publishing via e-book *IS* self-publishing. On the other hand, are there companies out to make a profit by diversifying their products int the e-book niche and not being forthcoming about it? Probably, I just don't know.

I agree with your second comment. I think it's in our future too, sadly. My most recent laptop purchase came with a program already installed for downloading E-magazines and E-books. I do 90% of my reading and writing on the web as it is now. But there is nothing there that can take the place of an unplugged evening with a warm fire and a hot romance in my hands.

 ;)

sights unseen:
Just for curiousity sake, I emailed Cobblestone Publishing and asked about their sales and customer numbers. Seems like that information should be publically available, especially if they actually do have a large or growing customer/return customer count. Doesn't hurt to ask. I'll let ya'll know if they reply.  ;)

Didn't Stephen King do an eBook on Amazon? And I know Amazon also sells eBooks too. And from what I've read, you could put hundreds of books on one CD, or whatever it uses. I think eBooks will eventually creep into our everday worlds where we don't give it a second thought.

And I wondered about quality of writing in eBooks too.

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