Free publicity for speculative fiction authors

Our sister weblog Scifi News Blog is going to start publishing news releases from speculative fiction and RPG authors. Details here. As you will see on that site we have done this before.

There is no charge, it gives me some new news content that I don't have to write, it gives scifi, fantasy, rpg and horror authors both links back and some name exposure. As those factors grow, more science fiction websites will syndicate SciFi News Blog's free news headlines on their sites and then each will reinforce the other.

So please pass the word on to SF ebook and POD authors.

You better toot your own horn, because nobody is going to toot it for you. ;)

Publishing ebooks in HTML

I am still wading through thee hodge-podge of ebook formats. But I started thinking about HTML last night.

There is a lot to be said for offering a simple HTML version of your ebook. (HTML is what web pages are built from.) Costs are low, plenty of HTML editors are available for free. (Like Composer which is a part of the free Mozilla browser.) It is easy to convert most .TXT documents into HTML. You can include hyperlinks to different parts of your ebook.

And you have your choice of distribution channels: you can display it on the web for online reading while also offering it in a Zipped up folder for download. Any computer can read it with any web browser. The tools to read HTML format are completely ubiquitous. And HTML is also easy to convert to Plucker format for PalmOS handhelds.

The downsides are you still have to convert HTML into some other format before it is readable on handhelds. There are converters available but it is another step. The other factor is you cannot DRM HTML. I'm not sure this is a drawback at all.

There is a lot to be said for letting people read both online like when they are behind a corporate firewall and cannot download and if you are going to offer a book online then it also makes sense to offer a download.

I also see a lot of ebook publishers offering HTML format and I think it remains a viable option for selling books too.

Self Publishing and Book Quality

A lot of people are wary of self published books because they think the books might be badly written. I only have partial sympathy for this worry, because I think the same problem exists in the conventional print world. There are so many conventional titles being produced that, while technically competent, are still books that I give up on after 120 pages. Just because an editor approved the book is no promise that the book will be good. In fact, the "play it safe" attitude means that conventional publishers most often only publish "marketable" books, or books which follow a safe, predictable and established formula. There are many good conventional books and many bad ones, the trick is filtering out the bad.

So just like in the conventional print world, this creates opportunities in the epublishing world: opportunities for good freelance editors, opportunities for good book reviewers to build a following of people that trust their reviews and even opportunities for artists to create cover art. The difference is one of scale, while the Internet allows for fragmentation it also allows for global reach. Likewise, electronic self publishing creates a huge influx of new titles all begging to be reviewed, discussed, and voted upon. It creates huge new opportunities for people to act as that quality filter between the mass of book titles and the mass of readers.

Busy times

I might not be posting as much as I would like over the next coouple of days. I am in the middle of creating a website that should be of interest to digital authors and small publishers, so I want to devote some time to working on it.

Sorry to be vague, but hopefully I'll be able to reveal more next week. In the mean time I will try to post but it may not be regular.

EBooks on CD-ROM

I was thinking about publishing e-books on CD-ROM. I think it made more sense back in 2000 when hard drives were much smaller, but it seems to me that trying to distribute a book on CD has a lot of the disadvantages of paper, plus a few extra that paper does not have: you still have to physically mail the disk with all the resulting time delay, international customs on mailed disks, material and time costs, money collection and order fullfillment. All those can be overcome, but I wonder if the demand is there to make it worthwhile?

Marriage of Internet and Print

An interesting article at Tenebris about patent suits over print on demand (POD) technology got me thinking about the Internet Bookmobile. The concept of the Internet Book mobile is very cool. The bookmobile will download a public domain book from the Internet, print it and bind it and give it free to people in poor and inner city areas. It costs the bookmobile only about US$1.00 to do this, while the cost to most libraries just to loan a single book is $2.00. While this will never replace a library it is profoundly important to give a child a book that they can own.

The effects are even greater in the Third World which are also launching their own Internet Bookmobiles.

Low Cost Ebook Hardware Needed

Earlier I related the need for a cheap simple hardware ebook reader.

Now look, the Indians have made a simple handheld Linux computer dubbed Simputer, a whole computer, for under $500! (Boy I would really like to play with that. It is really cool.)

If that can be done surely, somebody can design a simple ebook reader for under $60?

Cory Doctorow Lecture on Why Microsoft should get out of DRM

Here is a really interesting talk Cory Doctorow gave to Microsoft about DRM. It applies to any DRM scheme and is well worth reading. If you are worrying about publishing your work in a non-DRM format then this is what you should read.

Boing Boing: Why Microsoft should get out of DRM

Link to Cory's Lecture

Download Cory Doctorow's Microsoft DRM Lecture:

Adobe PDF Format

Palm and PDA Friendly Formats:

PalmDOC for eReader and most other PalmOS readers.

zTXT for Weasel Reader

The text of the lecture is public domain. No claims are made by me, I just converted it into some other formats, so you can take them with you, because they are important.

eBook Acceptance: Involves Software and Hardware Both

Teleread has reported on two interesting posts: one by a publisher lamenting lack of affordable hardware readers and a response by an advocate of open software solutions.

I do not think this is an either/or proposition, because both are right. We need a $50 - $75 easy to use ebook hardware reading device because paying $200 or more dollars for a PDA just to read books on is not going to fly with the public. And there has to also be an easy way to get an ebook purchased online onto that device easily. More easily and more intuitive than the present PDA sync software.

But this has to be combined with some simple standardized software that will read a uniform format on that $50 device, plus also on PalmOS, Pocket PC, Windows, Mac and Linux.

As you can see from the posts I have been making over the last week, there is a bewildering array of ebook formats and software that will read them. This is enough to put off all but the most hardcore geeks. Add to it the DRM schemes and it is a wonder any ebooks are sold at all. Right now you really need to publish in several formats.

I am willing to bet that if a decent open reader software could be developed a hardware device could also be designed and manufactured in China or India for global distribution.

zTXT Format

xTXT format is a handheld text format which offers a higher compression ratio than other publishing formats. While this does not matter for short articles and short stories, it is very handy when trying to publish an 800 page novel and read it on a PDA. zTXT seems to be only available on PDA's using the Palm OS.

If you have a long book, it is especially good to offer in this format in addition to the others.

Readers:

Readers are what you install on your handheld to read the files.

Weasel - free
TiBR Pro - shareware

Compilers:

Compilers are software that converts your manuscript from one format into zTXT.

JMakezTXT - Java application so it runs on Windows, Mac, Linux etc. Free.

Txt2Palm - Windows only.

New Functions here at ePublishing Blog

I got to playing around with the Blogger templates here. On the individual post pages I have added the ability for visitors to search for the wording of the message title on several search engines. Here is an example. Look down at the bottom of the post, where it says my name and you will see links to search on either Yahoo or Gigablast. The neat thing is you not only find related web pages this way but all sorts of other interesting stuff sometimes.

The third link is to Technorati which will show who is linking to that specific post. It helps provide some recognition for other bloggers that link to an article here.

TeleRead: An e-book primer

The following article explains the different types of hardware devices one can read e-books on. Very useful and a good introduction.
TeleRead: An e-book primer

Two eBook Blogs

I ran across two interesting ebook blogs yesterday so I figured I would mention them. PDA Fiction and TeleRead

eReader Format

eReader (fka: PalmReader) is the ebook reader from Palm Digital Media that reades DRM'd "Palm" ebooks. So if you are buying an encrypted ebook this is the reader to use for the encrypted Palm files. It also reads the older text only PalmDOC format which is why I recommend it to a lot of people.

You get a 15 day trial of the full powered version and then it continues to work but in a Lite mode with some of the features disabled. Even in the Lite, free mode it is a good reader. The interface is elegant and easy to use. What is great is there versions of eReader for PC's, Mac's, Palm and Pocket PC so this reader will work on both your desktop computer and your handheld. That is an important consideration when recommending reader software to others.

Compiler:

Unfortunately for the self-publisher problems hit when you want to use the compiler: eBook Studio. eBook Studio looks like a great program with the ability to embed graphics and photos in a handheld freindly ebook. Unfortunately, they want royalties based on the number of copies sold. They do have an option for self-publishers selling only a small number of units so it might be worthwhile checking out the compiler. For straight text ebooks there really is little reason to use this unless you really feel you need to DRM your ebook.

Summary:

eReader = Good
eBook Studio = There are other options for most small self publishers.

Time for Reform in the Publishing Industry

Time for Reform in the Publishing Industry is about the situation in Scotland, but I do not think this is too different from America in regards to the changes with big box stores and the publisher's response to them.

PalmDOC Format for Palm Handhelds

PalmDOC is an early non-DRM reader format for the Palm Pilot PDA. It is about as close to being the ubiquitous format for the Palm as most of the readers will read PalmDOC in addition to their proprietary formats. Think of PalmDOC as filling the same sort of role on the Palm as RTF does on computers.

PalmDOC is not the most compressed of file formats which can be a problem with long novels, but it is probably a good idea to offer your novel in PalmDOC to cater to the Palm owner. It is great for short stories and articles. This is a text only format so illustrations are not supported.

Fortunately, for the self publisher, PalmDOC is well supported by free readers and compilers that will run on just about any type of computer: Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, Unix, etc.

PalmDOC Readers:

eReader - this is the state of the art reader from Palm Digital Media. This is the reader that will read all Palm format DRM ebooks, but it also reads the PalmDOC format. Elegant interface. 15 day trial for full features but still functions in a Lite version for free. Works on Windows and Mac computers and both Palm and Pocket PC PDA's. Even the Lite version is very nice.

Weasel Reader - free, full featured and open source. Reads PalmDOC and zTXT which has more compression. Nice reader. Only works on Palm.

TiBR - Freeware and Shareware versions. Free version reads only PalmDOC. Very easy to use. Pay version supports zTXT, PalmDOC and TXT. Handheld only.

iSilo - Versions for Palm, Pocket PC, Windows Computers. Shareware. Reads iSilo format, PalmDOC and TXT.

MakeDocJ - Also includes seprate Java program ReadDocJ which is a reader that will run on just about any computer. More about this under compilers.


Compilers:


Compilers are programs that convert either TXT files or HTML files or some other file format into PalmDOC format.

MakeDocJ - TXT to PalmDOC converter. Supports predefined bookmarks. Runs on any computer.

Twister - online application converts TXT or HTML files into PalmDOC.

PorDible - Mac OS X only. TXT and RTF conversion to PalmDOC drag and drop.

If you are giving ebooks away on your own site or selling them through EbookAd.com PalmDOC is an important format to offer your works in. Fortunately it is both easy and free to do so.

Do You Need An Author Web Site?

Electronic Book Web : Do You Need An Author Web Site? gives some pretty good reasons why an author needs an author web site. I think it is good to remember that your name as an author is your "brand".

EbookAd.com

Another self publishing option is with EbookAd.com. As of this writing EbookAd only published ebooks, no POD. However they do handle a lot of different ebook formats many are for handheld devices. You retain full copyright to your work. There is no cost to listing your book.

You get 65% on each of your books sold. You can get an additional 10% if they buy the ebook through your affiliate link.

Like Lulu it all appears to be very straight forward. I have not ordered or published through EbookAd. With ebooks only it should all be fairly automated.

I really like the idea of an affiliate program. I also like the many many ebook formats they offer: hiebook, Adobe PDF, Microsoft Reader, Palm Doc, MobiPocket and Rocketbook. You get to choose which ones you want to convert to.

Here is my thought: there is no reason you cannot publish at both EbookAd.com and Lulu.com simultaniously. Offer Lulu to print book lovers and PDF, and also offer all the handheld formats from EbookAd, for those that use handheld hardware. It seems to me there is no reason why you cannot offer both from your own author's website and give the reader whatever format they want.

Lulu.com

Lulu.com is a place where authors, artists and musicians can self-publish and sell their digital products and get paid in the process. This is not vanity or subsidy publishing but true self publishing as Lulu takes no money up front.

Lulu allows you to sell your book as a print on demand (POD) book and/or an ebook in PDF format. They tell you how much the book costs and any price you set over cost you get 80% of and 20% goes to Lulu. It's that simple. There are no hidden costs or fees and you still have the copyright to your own work. You also are left with the job of promoting yourself and your books but that is not much different than other small royalty paying publishers. They do have a fee service for getting an ISBN but it is fairly modest. They take care of fullfillment, collecting money, shipping books, customer access to downloads, customer service and more. This frees you up to write some more.

I have not published with Lulu but I have ordered both ebooks, POD books and music and I have been pleased. A couple of my POD book orders were messed up but an email to Lulu customer service got things taken care of very quickly and professionally. Lulu offers authors extensive help files, tutorials and help forums to help you with formating your manuscript for publication.

I really like the them offering both ebook and POD formats this is an important option. I do wish they had more ebook formats. PDF is sort of the defacto standard on a desktop computer but it has weaknesses on a handheld as it tends to be bulky and take a long time to upload to a handheld. It would be nice to see some handheld freindly formats added as options.

I did notice one thing missing: an affiliate program. Having a Lulu affiliate program would encourage people like me who have not published anything at Lulu to put up links on our websites to Lulu products.

There are a lot of good thing going on there so you really need to check them out. My advice is, avoid subsidy and vanity publishers like the plague - especially when you have services like Lulu there with no out of pocket costs.

What do you read eBooks on?

Before I continue talking about ebook readers and formats and their use in self-publishing and distribution, I would like to take a little look at what kind of devices people read ebooks on.

Most people are going to read ebooks on 3 devices: Desktop computer, laptop computer and PDA (handheld). The first two are nearly the same and have many of the same limitations.

Personally, my interest in ebooks got rekindled only when I bought a Palm PDA. I quickly discovered that the Palm with a high res., backlit color screen made a great ebook reader. In fact it is what I use 98% of the time. It's great to be able to read in bed with no lights on, the backlit screen works perfectly. The main books that I read on my desktop computer are generally reference works (it's great having a search function on a book) and technical books related to Internet skills. I have never read an ebook on my laptop, however I do keep a couple of ebook reader programs installed and if i ever had to go on an extended trip I would load both it and the PDA up just in case.

What makes this discussion important is that a lot of people are like me, they only read their fiction ebooks on a handheld. This means that the format(s) you offer your ebooks in need to take PDA's into consideration.

That might mean that it will mean offering your ebook in several formats, becaus ethose that are good on a desktop might not be very good on a PDA.

I think we need to do some research on who reads ebooks on what device. What do you read ebooks on? Don't be shy you can post annonymously so shout out. :)

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Convert to palm

Twister

Twister: "Twister is a conversion tool to convert web pages, and text files into Palm DOC format."

So I am pretty sure they will work in the TiBR Reader for the Palm.

ADDED: Palm Reader (eReader) will also read DOC files so there really is no need for TiBR Reader on that score.

The Rbmake Project

The Rbmake Project: "Rbmake is a 'book maker' for the Rocket eBook."

Rocket ebook is pretty well a dead end since they are not making it anymore. But since I dug this up I figured I would include it for completeness. I have no idea how it works.

Digital Rights The Revolution of the Arts

Digital Rights The Revolution of the Arts: "The news is often flooded with stories and legal battles regarding copyright infringement, digital theft, and the avid prosecution of those whose sole crime has been to trade music files over the Internet. But how do these things apply to writers?"

Good editorial by Stephanee Killen. Thanks to Stephen Fraser for pointing this editorial out to me.

Making PDF Files on a Mac

Here is a handy bonus for those, like me, who have an Apple Macintosh computer running OS X: You can easily convert documnets to Adobe PDF format for free. Simply, go to File >> Print >> Print as PDF on the menu and OS X will save the output as a PDF file. Simple eh?

Now these are not the PDF files with the embedded hypertext links, but they are formated just like a paper document so it is just fine for most ebooks and other documents.

yBook eBook Reader and Compiler

While I am not a fan of DRM with ebooks, some people want it and I can even see a few instances where it could be effective. The trouble is that most software used to make DRM (aka copy-protection, encryption) ebooks is very expensive.

Well fear not! yBook Reader and yBookmaker are a free ebook reader and compiler respectively. You can even copy protect your ebook and decide if you will allow printing of hard copies. If you need to DRM your ebook, game rules or magazine then this could save you a lot of money.

I see several downsides: the software only really works on Windows computers. This leaves Mac users out in the cold; also, you cannot upload the reader to a handheld (PDA) the software is limited to desktop or laptop computers. However with that said it is still worth looking at if you are self publishing and need a DRM compiler.

Source: Shortbow

ADDED: I see a lot of ebook compilers that produce an .EXE format. I strongly recommend this yBook over those if you feel you need a Windows only format. Most of the .EXE ebook compilers cost money to buy. With the yBook you can produce your ebooks for free and offer Windows users a reader that has access to over 10,000 public domain free ebooks too.

Making a Book Cover

Part of the job here is to lead you to good resources needed in the publication of your book. Making a Cover by author C. D. Moulton is a good resource. Short, illustraited and to the point it will show you how to make a decent book cover. I have read it and if you are like me and cannot draw, this is a good guide.

Glossary of ePublishing Terms

I'll add more on to this as time goes on:

DRM - "Digital Rights Management" or to put it another way, copy protection.

eBook - an electronic book, in some sort of digital format that you can download. Some ebooks are DRM'ed and some are not.

POD - see Print On Demand.

Print on Demand - book is kept in digital format until it is ordered, then it is downloaded to a machine that prints and then binds the book, one copy at a time to order. These are usually trade paperback sized books.

ebook format - one of a number of formats which require proprietary software to read. PDF seems to be the most popular and requires Adobe Reader software to read.

Ebook Challenges Faced by End Users

There are some significant challenges presented by ebooks to every potential reader. These are obstacles that must be overcome before the reader (customer) can begin reading an ebook. These are all important considerations if you are going to self-publish.

With a dead tree book, the reader needs to know how to read and to have possession of the book by either buying it or even borrowing it.

With an ebook there are more obstacles:

1. Reader Hardware - What are they going to read it on: PDA, desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet PC, dedicated ebook reader. Does the reader even know they have all these choices?

2. Reader Software - here we have a nearly bewildering array of proprietary formats. Some are free, some cost, some only work on PC's and not Mac's. PDF is the most ubiquitous but it may not be the best choice for reading on a PDA.

3. DRM - Digital Rights management, this basically means encryption of your ebook so that it is copy protected so that you cannot email it to your friends or print it out. I think people worry about copy protection that might force them to use only one device or that they have to keep track of a software code for each book. I think they also worry about loosing their library if they have a hard drive crash. Not all ebooks have DRM so it is something to look at to see if it really is needed.

4. Purchase - ebooks are bought and paid for online. That usually means a credit card. That presents a barrier to teens who are logical early adopters of ebook technology. Also there is a learning curve to ordering online for Internet newbies. Security and the feeling of security is also an issue.

5. Price - Considering the costs already born by the buyer just to have the computer and maybe a mobile reading device for ebooks, it seems like you should be able to save some significant money on the ebook version of of a novel.

The question is, what can you do to smooth the way for the reader to buy your book? What can you do to allay their fears and resistance? Is the way the big publishing houses are doing things, like DRM and price, things we want to copy or avoid as self-publishers? Are these considerations different for an established author as opposed to an unknown author? And are the different for a fiction ebook or a non-fiction ebook?