The Future of Books

Think print books are dying?  Think again... 

• According to the Pew Research Center, in 2017, 65% of Americans reported reading a printed book, compared to only 28% who read an e-book.

• Sales of e-readers declined by more than 40% between 2011 and 2016, according to consumer research group Euromonitor International. 

Despite these facts...what we also know is that more and more e-books are being made available every day. As early as 2010, Amazon announced that it sold 105 e-books for every 100 print books—and e-book sales keep expanding. 

Digital delivery will become even more common as tablet manufacturers add more functionality—including the current emergence of e-books as “apps.” Apps are feature-rich, custom-developed, device-specific software applications that add to the utility of devices like the iPhone, iPad, tablets, and smartphones.

As more and more developers create these apps, it transforms reading into a multi-media event that takes full advantage of digital platforms. Readers get to experience audio, video, animation, and 3D, along with content and clip-sharing through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. E-books are here to stay, and self-publishers should consider adding e-book formatting as a way to market their books.

Whether your content goes to print or you choose to produce an e-book, manuscript and content preparation are still required for both. As you move toward publication, consider adding e-book formatting to market your book. Bundling an e-book with a printed book can potentially increase sales by offering the book for various e-readers and tablets, online e-tailers, or your own website. 

Nonfiction books containing valuable content can be consolidated from an author’s blogs, articles, and research and made available quickly—formatted as a book. E-books can also be downloaded as lead-ins to other paid services, conferences, or author events. And they are the perfect format for teachers or specialists who want to get information to readers as quickly as possible.

E-book Basics

An e-book is a digital file. Many people work with a variety of digital files every day at work. Word-processed documents, spreadsheets, emails, PDFs and web pages are all examples of digital files. We manipulate these files with software programs (e.g. Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat) through our operating systems (also software) installed on our computers (hardware). E-books are digital files saved in specialized formats, run by software installed on a compatible hardware device (e-reader, tablet, or smartphone). 

All the popular e-reader devices like Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle come with their own proprietary operating systems. Some of these devices allow users to install additional software, some are tightly controlled about what other software can be installed and some do not allow any new software to be added at all. But the most common application software (apps) for reading e-book files are web browsers and PDF readers, which are available on most devices. 

E-books, like computer systems before them, are fighting through format battles that are being waged by the big e-reader manufacturers. The open formats EPUB and XHTML are readable on the majority of software platforms and devices. At this writing, experts agree that by focusing on ePub and Mobipocket formats your book will be accessible on most major leading e-reading devices: iPad, Kindle, Nook and Kobo, and smartphones Droid, iPhone, and Blackberry. 

There’s no need to convert your book to all the formats, as ePub and Mobipocket will cover most text-heavy books, as well as more complicated design elements and graphic images. Self-publishers should be aware that each different format of an electronic publication that is published and made separately available should be given a separate ISBN. ISBNs are optional for Kindle e-books as Amazon.com assigns an ASIN number to them for internal tracking. 

The simplest book—a straight prose—is the best candidate for e-book release, as it poses no challenge for e-book conversion. Illustrated books, or books where layout matters, can present a conversion challenge because elements may be difficult to align aesthetically. Either skip converting the complex projects for now, or plan to invest more effort and money into the formatting and conversion process to get it right. 

Evaluate whether your readership is likely to purchase an e-book, a print book, or both. The conversion of a final manuscript to an e-book is mostly an automated process, whereas formatting the manuscript file takes more time and effort because it must be done correctly for each native e-book format. 

Another idea for digital delivery is to simply create a pdf from your manuscript plus book cover and email it as a lead-in to your events and appearances – or send relevant chapters as a teaser…Or you could use part of your book as a FREEBIE to get people to opt-in to your email list.

E-book Formats

Most of the e-books published today are made up of text, with no photos or images. These are the best candidates for what is called a “flowing” or “dynamic” layout. This makes it easy to read on any device, and readers can adjust size and style because there is no “set” design with these standard e-books.

There are other books that require more precision in layouts because they have more design elements, photos or illustrations that need to align with text content. There are called “fixed” layout e-books. Books like children’s books, art and photo books, and certain technical books that rely on charts and graphs to illustrate important points in the accompanying text are the best candidates. However, most conversion services do not advise using a fixed layout when the book is more than 100 pages, as the file is too big for most publishing sites’ upload size limits. It can also be quite expensive. 

Even prestigious commercial publishers like HarperCollins have been caught releasing poorly formatted e-books. Zelda: A Biographyby Nancy Milford, reportedly had “so many misspellings, with “sections poorly differentiated from the rest of the text,” that the reviewer suggests, “Save yourself a headache and get the printed copy.”

As e-books evolve and more apps are developed, the technology and layouts are bound to change and improve. For now, buyers beware: make sure you’re working with an experienced e-book company before you spend money with them. The most basic service for creating a simple black-and-white e-book will start at $200. You will still have to figure distribution costs. Most online e-book distributors will take a percentage of each sale. 

In a recent poll of successful self-publishers, 90% produced printed books, 84% produced e-books — and over 78% of them produced both printed and e-books.

Multiplying Sales

Some publishers question whether e-books are cannibalizing their print book sales, or adding to those sales. In the past, lower cost formats such as paperbacks were time-released after the hardcovers had been made available so they actually opened new markets. 

These days, self-publishers are pairing print books with e-books to add to their sales because statistics show that the majority of readers who buy e-books that they like will also buy the print version. 

Pricing your e-book should be done carefully. Anecdotal evidence shows that consumers expect e-books to be cheaper than printed books. Most Kindle books sell between ninety-nine cents and 9.99— price points that are strongly advocated by Amazon. 

Research price points online to find the sweet spot for your title, and be sure to link your e-book to your print book. Many authors choose to go straight to e-books and bypass print and mainstream channels altogether. Some self-publishers might be better off publishing their work as an e-book to gauge sales before going to print. 

The best approach? Consider your ideal readers — and start there. 

If you’re not sure if your book is a good idea, or you don’t have a clear plan, download my FREE GUIDE. 

If you want guidance and help creating a plan, schedule a FREE DISCOVERY CALL with me to see how I can help. 

Plan for Success!

Lindsay