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Overview of digital publishing and ebooks for authors. University of Washington literary fiction class. Guest presentation.
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Date : 25 Feb 2014
Digital Publishing For Authors
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Tonight
Introductions
Digital publishing (tips, tools and why you have to do this)
Q&A
About Me
Public Affairs | Tech/Political Writer | Educator | Motorcyclist
@kegill | gplus.to/kegill | wiredpen.com| kegill.com
Introductions
Who are we?
What do you want to do?
What is your digital publishing experience?
When Robert de Graff introduced $0.25 paperback books in 1939,
publishers scoffed.
History of ebooks
History of ebooks
3 in 10adults read an
e-book last year.
Under 30? 1-in-2
What is an ebook?
A distributable digital edition of a book Text file – project Gutenberg HTML PDF epub/mobi AZW – proprietary Kindle format An app – (Al Gore, Our Choice)
Audio books may be digital but they aren’t ebooks
Your experiences? How differ from print?
Source: Statista
7 in 10adults read an
paper book
1 in 7adults listened
to an audio book
Projection:end of 2014
1-in-2 will have purchased an
ebook
What does this mean for authors? Go where readers are
eBooks > Kindle (better for text/fiction/BW) eBooks > iBook (iPad only, better for color/interactivity) eBooks > Nook/Fire (better for color) POD > print is a different format! Audiobooks (beyond scope!)
Formats Kindle/AZW
Fiction, few illustrations, for basic Kindle (B/W) No control over flow, page breaks, etc
ePub (a standard! – International Digital Publishers Forum) Images, color, cross-platform Reflowable HTML, CSS, XML, zip (compression) Fixed layout sometimes used for iPad/Kindle Fire
Formats Mobi (a standard!)
Images, color, cross-platform
PDF Fixed formatting (this is a print spec)
iBook author (enhanced, epub3) Can also export as PDF or text
See more at Wikipedia
How will you be found?
Self-publishing v “being published”
Single service providers
Delivers one or more services (formatting, design, editing, printing, promotion)
You retain control
Kobo, Lightning Source
Writer.ly helps writers find services
Guru/eLance – marketplaces for independent contractors
“Pick and mix”
Offers a package with menu of services (critique, editing, design, print, production, marketing, promotion, distribution)
Lulu, CreateSpace (the author-services company of Amazon)
Photo books > See Blurb
Do it all
Like “vanity press” of old
Can be costly
Author Solutions, Lumina Press
Emerging models
Kickstarter (crowd-funded)
WattPad (beta-readers+
Crowdspring (crowd-design)
Subscriptions (Safari Books, Scribd)
Conversion : complexity rises
Plain text
Plain text with links (this includes endnotes)
Plain text with images or tables
Formatted text (columns), images with wrap-around text, boxed features, sidebars, etc
Fixed layout
Enhanced
Covers!
How will you be found?
Not every innovation is worth mastering.
Copyright / examples
A word about DRM (Amazon v O’Reilly)
Published author chooses to self-publish – fiction
Published author chooses to self-publish – nonfiction
Fiction: Maria Murnane
The Book Deal (inside view of publishing)
+Contact
Kathy E Gill
kegill at uw dot edu or gmail or @kegill
This lecture: wiredpen.com
http://faculty.u.washington.edu/kegill
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