Looking to publish your own e-book but don’t know from where to begin? Well, you need to be quite careful because choosing the right publisher is vital to the process of getting published. With such a wide variety of markets and publishing platforms available, it is critical that authors should research those options thoroughly. You need to be careful with your choice of a publishing platform, for it can come at a price to your budget and nerves.
Shedding light over the traditional times, if you wanted to know how to publish a book, you needed an agent so as to get a traditional publisher to have look at your manuscript. But today, there is another way for your book to not only get published, but to even become a bestseller. The online book publishing platform has led to the success of many authors and is also changing the book and traditional publishing industry. Hence, to help shed some light on the entire process of finding an online publisher, we have come up with a list of top tips of choosing the right online book publishing platform:
The book publishing industry is evolving and therefore, there are various options for an author to invest I their own work, either through self-publishing or co-operative publishing. If you find a platform that has comprehensive FAQs, clear training videos and a short-term agreement, go for it as it would turn out to be a great option to test the waters for a new publication with simple online needs.
If you are looking for an e-book publishing platform, you must know that the service will take a cut of the take. However, the cut can vary depending on whom you choose. Look for a company that designs or partially creates your digital version of book for you. Before posting your work anywhere, and certainly before agreeing to terms with a publishing service, make sure that you understand the terms and that they are acceptable to you. Each service takes some cut of the take- so compare, contrast, and choose the ones offering good terms.
There are some services that have limits on how to price your book. For instance, Amazon does not allow authors to offer their books for free, and offers different royalties in different price ranges. Just make sure that you understand the pricing policy before you commit to anything.
Obviously you would want your e-book to be visible. This implies that you would want your platform to be visible. Hence, choose something popular that lots of people see, than something that just sounds good but is relatively unknown. Take the most professional path you can afford so that your online book publishing platform gets your book listed with hundreds of websites as well.
Yes, you will be speaking to them on a regular basis, so it is very much important to know your publishing team and know how they actually work as a team. Remember, working with the right team is critical; hence it is important that you are compatible enough and get along. You will know straight away whether the fit is not right for you.
There are some platforms in the e-book market that identify themselves as e-book aggregators. But who is an aggregator? Well, an aggregator stands between the author and the retailer. Basically, e-book aggregators are the companies that take a file from the user, convert it into multiple formats and make it available through different distribution channels, platforms, stores and libraries.
Most of the aggregators come up with various services other than the e-book distribution and aggregation such as e-book conversion, cover design and some even have print-on-demand services. They can also assist you with ISBN acquisition, copyrighting and tracking user payments. However, their primary focus is on distributing content to more than just one store. Therefore, an aggregator helps authors and publishers reach the stores globally with their e-books.
On the whole, the most significant part is to ask yourself when choosing the right online book publishing platform is what does your ideal reader wants to experience and how you can best achieve that at lowest possible cost. The above mentioned factors will help you invest in the smartest way, so that you can achieve the maximum ROI for your content.