Selling eBooks in PDF Format

[Steve Jordan]

I've recently been experimenting with producing my novels in tagged PDF format, and selling them over the internet. I've found Acrobat Reader works great on my PPC with tagged PDFs. Adobe recently fixed some bugs which made scrolling difficult, and now I can read like the blazes with it. I personally think the other e-book formats overdo when it comes to security, and I don't prefer to use them.

I'm still trying to work out the best combination of pricing and securing the Acrobat e-books, to minimize undesired file swapping and maximize profit. My thinking is, a low enough price will allow anyone to purchase the e-books, and minimize the desire to take free copies from friends, newsgroups, etc. Then a simple DRM of including the buyer's name and CC# in the doc properties will discourage anonymous file swapping.

Any thoughts out there?

[surur]

I may be atypical, but I do not care about price or format that much (within reason of course),although I think the Adobe Reader is clunky, and would prefer a dedicated reader like eReader.

What I really care about is reading a book I would like, from an author with a reputation. The unfortunate thing is I would pay more for a well known author with a reputation than some-one who I've never heard off.

The only solution I see for a new author to break into the market is to have first chapters available to read for free, and to have the book promoted on websites and blogs by people with a reputation themselves, like at pda247.com

So in short, if I haven't heard from you I wont buy your books (unless they are very very cheap) unless I know they will appeal to me, either by reading a few chapters or by having some-one with credibility recommend it.

Surur

[Steve Jordan]

Thanks for the response. You're right, the unfamiliarity issue is key with a lot of people. Because of that, I was considering offering one of my novels free on my site, and offering the first chapter of a book isn't a bad idea either.

Regarding price: My production cost would (obviously) be low, and bandwidth the only distribution issue. So I'm looking at book costs in the neighborhood of $1-2 USD. I'd consider that a reasonable cost, especially for a no-name writer like myself... what do you think?

[surur]

I suggest a higher price, like $5-10, unless your writing is very short, else people will think your price reflects the quality of your work.

I cant emphasize enough the importance of recommendations however, as, even if it was free, people will of course have to make an investment in time in reading a book they might not like. Even something as simple as the Amazon "If you liked these books you will like this book too" would be very significant.

Surur

[dMores]

yes, i agree with sursur.

better make it around 5 bucks, and let readers get an impression of what they're buying by making the first chapter available for free.
doesn't have to be a PDF download, an HTML page is enough.

[Jorgen]

My two EU-cents: $5 is too high for several reasons:

1. you are not what I would call a well-known author,
2. you compete with Fictionwise's multiformat with more format choices,
and perhaps most importantly:
3. as argued in http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/05/business/ptend06.php, it is important to generate a buzz so "everybody" talks about you - so, I believe more in your first idea: sell them very cheaply. You are already limited in terms of advertising: few people will find your site (even after adversiting it here at PPCthoughts as you do now [and also did a couple a years ago]) so you have to get the books out by selling them so cheap that people feel that they must buy the books.

Jorgen

[juni]

I wouldn't want to install any more programs to read ebooks. I already have Microsoft Reader and eReader and if a book doesn't work in either of them I wouldn't buy it.

[dMores]

[...] it is important to generate a buzz so "everybody" talks about you [...]
well one thing you'd have to do first is create a nice signature, because i looked for your site, and overlooked the "www" button under your post.
then i'd strongly suggest you get a dedicated domain like www.stevejordan.com

[uwaku]

I agree with posting a few chapters of your work for free to help create "buzz", and I disagree with Jorgen that $5 is too high because "you are not what I would call a well-known author". If you published in paperback, your book would go for $6.95 or more, so who cares if you're not well known. Kelley Armstrong was not well known, but now has five best-sellers, and STILL publishes short stories and serials, as well as first chapters, on her website. She actually puts them there in multiple formats.

As for me, I don't buy ebooks, ever. I buy real books for my collections, and download ebooks for fun. With so many (good and bad) ebooks available for free, why should I pay? I can always trade my real books at used bookstores, but ebooks don't work like that.

[Jorgen]

If you published in paperback, your book would go for $6.95 or more,

Yes, and then as an ebook, it should go for much less if it wants to sell. The main problem is that Steve's website will not be seen by many people unless LOTS of people talks about his books, thus generating interest for his creations. I think it will be difficult to generate enough "buzz" even if the books are sold cheaply.

Posting a couple of chapters is not something that creates any kind of "buzz" - it is just a necessity.

I also think that Steve should consider a couple more ebook formats and worry less about copying and more about (not) being talked about. Steve, didn't we discuss this a couple of years ago; I remember your web-site from then.

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

Wow, Jorgen, I'm surprised anyone remembered. But then, I guess if anyone would...

Yes, I did mention this a while ago. I haven't since then, because I have been exploring print publishers. But as I've been having no success (and no, not because they are reading and rejecting them, but because they do not even want to see them), that I was looking back into self-publishing electronically.

After all the comments, it's hard to say what sounds best... clearly I can't do something that will satisfy everyone (though it seems I'd satisfy the most people by just giving up right now-- oh, my, did that sound bitter? :boohoo: ), but it's difficult to figure out the best route at this point. The e-book market, as someone else already pointed out, is such a mess right now. I agree, and it's hard to justify attempting to enter a market that you have so little appreciation for or confidence about. Still, I had to solicit others' opinions.

Don't worry, though... I think I've gotten enough responses to my queries, that you won't have to worry about any further "advertisement" from me, and I formally apologize if these posts came off like "viral ads" to you guys. Won't happen again.

[Jorgen]

Steve, nobody wants you to give up. This is a very interesting discussion about which strategy to apply: getting a publisher means that the publisher somehow generates visibility: their well-known web-site, advertisements and whatever other promotion they start. Not having a publisher means that you have to generate the publicity yourself using a web-site few people will find.

Even if the question arose: I see no problem in indirectly advertising here by asking relevant questions. On the contrary: you should follow dmores advice about adding your URL as a signature to your posts.

I don't agree that the ebook market is a mess. In fact I recently stopped blogging about ebooks because they are not novelties anymore and I see no reason to discuss which ebook reader is best - I know what I like and I know that other people like other readers. And that is how things should be.

Best of luck with selling your books. Let us know what you decide.

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

then i'd strongly suggest you get a dedicated domain like www.stevejordan.com

A shame stevejordan.com is being "squatted" on...

[Steve Jordan]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, and I'm glad the posts didn't come off inappropriately. Anyway, I've got a lot to think about in the print and e-book areas, including a few questions I asked elsewhere in the forums (thanks again, Jorgen), so I'll keep at it and see where it goes.

For the record, my website is included in my messages in the "www" icon below, and it's in the profile, so I didn't think it was needed in the sig, myself. I'll consider changing that.

[surur]

I did not know you had a website until it came up. I visited your site, and some of the books look like they would appeal to me.

I suggest a sig such as

Visit my site for Amazing scifi ebooks

or something less cheesy :)

Surur

[Steve Jordan]

No, no, I like it... :wink:

[Steve Jordan]

Hokay... swinging this conversation back to PDF formats for a bit...

I don't know, maybe I'm dim, but I don't get why so few people seem to like PDFs on PPCs, or e-books in PDF format. To me, it seems like a natural:

1. PDFs are already a pretty universal format, readers and files spanning computer types and OSs without conversion concerns;
2. Adobe reader is FREE;
3. PDFs have DRM security. A PDF file can be digitally set not to print, nor to be copied or altered, or to be opened only by a password holder... or to do anything at all, with no restrictions;
4. Tagged PDFs allow text to be resized to reflow on the screen... you can read it at any size you like;
5. and PDFs can be made easily on most computers with MS Word, a fairly widely-used document program, and many other word processing programs, without even purchasing the full version of Adobe Acrobat.

Okay, I did have a problem with PDF scrolling a while back (hit the down button on the bottom of a page, and it would jump back to the top of that same page... mondo annoying), but Adobe apparently fixed that glitch, and now PDFs progress properly on my PDA. (Say that 3 times fast. Oh, wait.. it's pretty easy, isn't it?)

And no, I don't believe PDFs can set bookmarks. (Okay, hold on... I'm gonna check that right now........................................................... ................................................................................................
......................................................................................................
...........................
Okay, NO, you can't create a bookmark at the spot you left off.) HOWEVER, if I close Reader, then open it later, the document automatically opens up where I left off, WITHOUT having to manually set anything. Huh? Pretty slick, huh? Huh?

All this adds up to a pretty good e-book format to me. So, why does it seem to me that PDFs get no respect in the e-book industry? It can't be the overriding market share of the other formats... none of them seem to have an overriding market share. And I read more gripes about the DRMs of eReader, MS Reader, etc, than I read raves about how well they work.

What am I missing here?

[Jorgen]

Apart from the academic community where having accurate page numbers is a must, PDF is a printer output format, not an ebook format. However, Adobe has added reflow to compensate for this, so at least on PDAs this argument doesn't hold any more. If it opens where I leave off, that is enough bookmark for me. Adobes reader on PCs is ridiculously big and ridiculously slow but since the Foxit PDF reader came out, this problem is solved.

The real argument: In the 80ies, blod was shed in discussions about which programming editor to use. Today it seems to be ebook readers (and which digital camera make to buy). I have tried most of them (including Adobe) and have my favourites. Other people like other readers (heaven knows why! :)). The moral: the wise thing to do is to make several formats.

Jorgen

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Well, some suggested improvements:

1. Make it smaller - with plugins and resource files Adobe Reader clocks in at 7.22MB. Mobipocket comes in it at 1.4MB and MS Reader at about 1+ MB. I know that the plugins can be safely deleted, but that still means an install size of 4.3MB.

2. Multiple Bookmarks as already noted. This is really useful for more technical books where you need to mark info, or particular passages.

3. User annotations, drawings & notes - for the same reason as above.

4. Dictionary lookup.

5. VGA support (please?). A hack is available, but it makes the menu too small.

6. Categories, or some way to file away your e-books within the reader itself. I'm currently carrying about 100+ e-books in various formats, and it would be nice to be able to arrange them the way I want. Look at Mobipocket Reader 5.0 beta as an example of doing this right.

7. User defined fonts, font size and colors (and for backgrounds too).

[ChristopherTD]

As others have noted the Adobe PDF reader on the PPC is a big install, and really doesn't work very well on a small screen.

For me MS Reader and eReader are much better suited to reading novels, and most people who read ebooks will have one (or both) of them installed already. The process of converting a word document to .LIT or .PDB is very simple with free tools.

Some of the DRM options in Adobe PDF are more flexible in theory, but their eBook activation is incredibly restrictive and I personally would never buy a DRM PDF eBook. The eReader and MS Reader DRM solutions are mildly unpleasant but generally don't get in the way of reading your books.

[dMores]

A shame stevejordan.com is being "squatted" on...
well then use a little immagination and try others :)

ok, i did it for you :D

not available: stevejordan.com, stevejordan.net, stevejordan.info, stevejordan.biz, stevejordan.us

you could use stevejordan.org, or apply for the new stevejordan.mobile TLDs :)

but just because it's hijacked, you could try and reason with the hijackers.
http://www.domainsource.com/contacts.asp?domain=stevejordan.com

fill out the form and see what happens!

- - - - - - - - - - -

back on PDF-topic: why do you limit yourself and your readers to one platform? from what i can extract from the replies, a lot of people are hesitant to purchase PDF ebooks.
so why don't you just make your books available in other formats as well?
the WordRMR plugin is free, so you can supply .LIT ebooks.
get mobipocket office companion or the mobipocket publisher, whatever it's called, and allow .PRC downloads.

get palm ebook studio and satisfy the palm platform and palmreader, excuse me, eReader users.

since you're your own boss, you can give anyone anything he wishes for.
despite of what you think of DRM solutions for other ebook formats, you need to make sure the format is the least of a reader's problems.
give 'em what they want. they might just buy it because the book is available in their "favorite" reader format.

[Steve Jordan]

Okay, good responses, these. I didn't realize Adobe Reader had VGA issues. I'm not sure the file size issue is so bad, with on-board memory and storage increasing so fast on PDAs, but then, if you have more than just a few books, it'll add up. I was kind of hoping to simplify matters by choosing one overriding format... but it's pretty obvious that there just isn't one. I suppose I would have to pick 2-4 formats, to make the most people happy.

I can't say I'm thrilled with eReader's demand of 15% royalties on every book you sell in their format, though. I mean, it may be no big deal to a buyer, but to me, I'd have to increase my cost to compensate for the loss of money through royalties (which brings us back to the cost discussion).

And if I printed books, I wouldn't pay royalties to the guys who sold me the printing press or the paper. If I buy eReader's conversion software, that should be the end of it. Does giving eReader royalties sound a bit extreme to anyone else but me? (Yeah, Jorgen, I mentioned this elsewhere, too.)

[Steve Jordan]

fill out the form and see what happens!

Filled it out. We'll see.

[Jorgen]

I didn't know eReader wants 15%. That is ridiculous! I assume that MobiPocket will do the same.

Then make the books in standard Palm doc format and either forget about writing the credit card number or insert it in the text. It is not secure as your readers can convert it back to text and remove the CC number - but the readers that takes the trouble to learn how to do that, can probably remove the number from a PDF without too much trouble too.

Standard Palm Doc format can be read on nearly any PDA, even Sharps, Psions ... The disadvantage is that there is no bold, italic etc.

Or sell them in my favourite format: iSilo. This allows insertion of graphics, bold, italic and whatnot.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

Steve, I can see that eReader Studio indeed demands 15%. Does the 15% apply if you use MakeBook (the one I used to use) to make your books?

Jorgen

[dMores]

you know what? i wouldn't worry about DRM if i were in your position.
i mean, DRM complicated matters (royalties, conversion program costs etc.). And if i were a writer and would see my books end up on various IRC channels and newsgroups, i'd probably be proud that people think my work is worth sharing.

of course, that can't continue forever, but once my books traded often enough, i'd notice the demand for my ebooks going up, which means i could charge more for a book, and invest in security i.e. DRM.

or just adapt the price for every format.
5.00 bucks for secure PDF
6.50 for secure .PDB
you know what i mean? if a user wants a certain format, he's going to have to pay the royalties as well.

that sounds kind of rip-off-ish, but if i had the choice between buying a 5 dollar pdf and a 6.50 dollar .PDB, i'd take my chances with PDF.

i once heard of a rumor that microsoft is popular as it is today BECAUSE of illegal copies of windows95. not sure if that's an urban legend, but it does make some sense. if people copy your books, all you get is more readers. won't make your wallet grow fatter, but one could consider it "marketing".

anyways ... i wish you good luck with being a writer. i'll check out your sample chapters when the current crunch-time is over :)

[Jorgen]

Mobileread has very apropos a take on the "universally disliked" Adobe reader http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=4684.

Jorgen

[rhmorrison]

Regarding price: My production cost would (obviously) be low, and bandwidth the only distribution issue. So I'm looking at book costs in the neighborhood of $1-2 USD. I'd consider that a reasonable cost, especially for a no-name writer like myself... what do you think?
I generally spend between $5 to $9 on the paperbacks that I buy (and I buy a lot of them) and I then have a physical object that costs time and money to produce. My wife published her first book of poems many years ago and we did it on our own so I know about publishing costs!

IMHO an eBook should be between $1.00 and $4.00 depending on length and quality. I think $2.50 would be a good price. I would NEVER buy an eBook for $10, a REFERENCE eBook certainly but NOT a NOVEL. The difference being that for a REFERENCE work (or maybe even the BIBLE) you want to be able to search for certain things. A novel you normally just want to read.

As far as formats are concerned I use the built-in Microsoft Reader exclusively and have been very happy with it (although I have only a couple of purchased books - most are public domain classics). The clear type looks good even on my ancient hp Jornada 568 @ 240 x 320 and the software is easy to use and allows adding notes, drawings, etc. It is also very easy to create .lit files with FREE TOOLS.

On another topic - on your web site you mentioned the difficulty in finding a publisher. I read somewhere that Stephen King (long after he was famous) submitted one of his new book manuscripts to several publishers under a pseudonym and it was turned down by ALL of them! Of course he then submitted it with his real name and it was published and became very quickly #1 on the book list as most of his books do.

I read almost exclusively Science Fiction and a quick look at your offerings has peaked my interest. If you release them in .lit format at a resonable price then I am sure that I would purchase many of them.

GOOD LUCK with your efforts as an author!

P.S. - There is also a thing called Books on Demand (http://www.bod.de/) (at least here in Europe). Basically the book is stored in electronic format and there are special publishing machines that at the press of a button create a book in a couple of minutes. This is cost effective for a large bookstore because they only need to stock high volume bestsellers and other books with low volume they print as requested. This allows them to offer a huge selection of books that would be impossible if they had to have them on the shelves. A friend of my wife is an author (mostly television scripts and mystery novels) and he has published his last two books using this method.

[dMores]

P.S. - There is also a thing called Books on Demand (http://www.bod.de/) (at least here in Europe). Basically the book is stored in electronic format and there are special publishing machines that at the press of a button create a book in a couple of minutes. This is cost effective for a large bookstore because they only need to stock high volume bestsellers and other books with low volume they print as requested.
that would allow you to team up with fictionwise, since they only take authors that publish at least 10 printed versions of their book.
however, you'd sell your books through fictionwise exclusively, meaning you can't sell them on your private website.
bigger audience, but less side-jobs. dunno which one is preferred!

[Steve Jordan]

On another topic - on your web site you mentioned the difficulty in finding a publisher. I read somewhere that Stephen King (long after he was famous) submitted one of his new book manuscripts to several publishers under a pseudonym and it was turned down by ALL of them! Of course he then submitted it with his real name and it was published and became very quickly #1 on the book list as most of his books do.

I'd heard another similar story: An author, testing the publishing industry in general, sent out copies of an award-winning novel in his name. It was turned down by every publisher, including the one who published it. No one noticed it was an established work.

And of course, many of us have heard about "vanity" press companies accepting copies of already-printed books, 1 chapter repeated 10 times, eight sentences repeated for 80 pages, etc, then proclaiming it the greatest novel since sliced bread, and asking for those checks so they can "begin printing right away, and make you a star."

Doesn't say much for the print industry, does it?

A few years ago, a novel entitled "The Plutonium Blonde" was published on the web chapter by chapter for free, and received so much attention and praise that a print publisher picked it up (I have a copy, and it's a great read).

I am beginning to think that advance readings, whether it is a chapter, or an entire book, may make more sense to get some buzz for a new author than almost any other method. (It also has the advantage of allowing me to present the work online in HTML, and letting the reader convert it to whatever format they want.)

[Steve Jordan]

fill out the form and see what happens!

Filled it out. We'll see.

And the response (drum roll please):

Hello Steve,

STEVEJORDAN.COM is for sale. STEVEJORDAN.COM is a very high traffic name and gets approximately 5,150,000 results at search engines such as google.com. Steve is the 74th most popular first name in the United States and Jordan is the 110th most popular last name. There are thousands of successful people with this name, such as writers, athletes, doctors and lawyers - only one can own STEVEJORDAN.COM. This makes this domain name valuable. In fact should you ever desire to sell it on the open market you would probably realize a good profit.

Our asking price for STEVEJORDAN.COM is $1,800 (plus transaction fees). If you are interested, we will mail you an invoice with the simple instructions on how to legally acquire this name.


Sincerely,

Bill McLaughlin
Domain Source, Inc.

[rhmorrison]

Our asking price for STEVEJORDAN.COM is $1,800 (plus transaction fees). If you are interested, we will mail you an invoice with the simple instructions on how to legally acquire this name.
I think it would be cheaper for him to have his name legally changed!

I personally would never do business with anyone that only buys domain names, or copyrights names, or registers patents for the sole purpose of waiting to pump someone for money.

The day after Lady Diana died someone tried to obtain a copyright for Lady Di perfume. Companies try to obtain domains (such as ibm.com, microsoft.com, etc - assuming they were available) for the sole purpose of robbing the organization that should have the name of significant funds.
Get a 'real' job - earn a living! :soapbox:

[Steve Jordan]

For the record, I've already replied to the email:

"Sorry. I make it a point never to deal with extortionists."

[Jorgen]

Agree. Add instead something to your name, eg. stevejordanbooks.com or make up something completely different; Stith's web-site is for example called www.neverend.com.

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

That works... although picking something from one of nine very different novels might take me a bit of time!

I think for now, I'll use my existing site. Based on the comments so far, I think it will be most effective to start by picking a novel, and make it available for free, in its entirety, online. (You can do that when you have nine of them!)

Then make each novel available for sale one by one and, like Stihl and other authors have done on their sites, make the first 1-2 chapters of the other novels available to read online, depending on the novel.

I still have to decide which formats to code the books into for sale. Then arrange promotion, which is really the hard part about all this, isn't it?

[disconnected]

I read somewhere that the biggest problem for all but the most successful authors is not that their work might be stolen, but that it will be ignored. I think giving away the first book free is a good idea; if people like it they'll probably be willing to pay a reasonable price for subsequent books.

As far as formats go, I personally try to buy almost everything in ereader format. The DRM is much less annoying than any other format I've tried. Actually, are you sure that PPCs can even handle PDF files with DRM?

[Steve Jordan]

As I said before, the limit to the DRM I was planning on was to embed the buyer's name and CC# in the document's Properties data... no actual password to open it or anything. I read those on my PPC now, and they work fine.

Just for the record, I'll try more stringent DRMs, and see what happens (I'll get back to you on that later).

[surur]

I would not release a whole book for free, but rather the first chapter only of all 9, plus a link to buy the rest of the book.

I find it quite daunting to read a whole book which I may or may not like, but I may easily be intrigued enough by a first chapter to buy the whole book. Your "conversion rate" for an incomplete product will be much higher than for a giving away a whole book and expecting then to buy the next. There's an anology between this and freeware/donation ware/crippleware/shareware.

You will catch much more fish that way with a hook. You could have the first chapter in HTML on your web page, or text, or lit or PRC.

If you are talking about marketing, its may be wise to look at all the meaner, underhanded aspects of it too, as these practices tend to work, at least in the short term ;)

Surur

[Steve Jordan]

Hmm... the idea behind the 1 free book would be to generate a good pre-sale buzz, and (hopefully!) get some positive comments about my writing ability. I could always release it a chapter a week/month, etc, to create return traffic...?

Disc (can I call you "Disc"?), I experimented with PDFs this morning. You can set security settings to require a password to open. You can also set it to open without a password, but to lock out any combination of copying, printing, accessibility, etc with a private password that the author would keep. You can put a security #, such as a CC#, within the keywords box of the Document Properties data, to minimize sharing with untrusted individuals (because it could not be hidden or removed).

I would probably set all to open without a password, lock copying only, and if security is a concern, put the CC# (or some other private #, like bank account or SSN) in keywords. That way a reader need take no action to open or read a book, but are simply discouraged from sharing outside of their trusted circle.

By the way, Surur... could you be a little more specific about the "meaner, underhanded aspects" of marketing? Surely you're not suggesting I spam?

[Steve Jordan]

Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, I'd like you all to know that I've been evaluating the various eBook readers discussed in this thread, to see how they stack up for a producer (myself). After all, I wouldn't want you to think I was being too myopic about my eBook choices or opinions. :wink:

And I have to admit, there are clearly some performance plusses for just about all of the readers over Adobe Reader. In fact, generally my book files are about half the size in readers other than Adobe, which I think is pretty significant. They open much faster. And I can attach a cover to the first page of the eBook, something I was looking forward to doing... the same covers look bad in Adobe's reader.

I can't respond at this time to DRM issues in the readers, but then, I've come to the conclusion that minimal DRM will be preferable for me when I try to sell (at least at first).

So right now, I'm looking at converting my novels to .htm, .lit, .pdb and (probably still) .pdf. I'm still working out the best way to get them to .prc, which will either be from .htm or .rtf files. Which was exactly what I was hoping to avoid in the first place... so many formats! Ach! und Himmel!!

[Jorgen]

Since you have to pay 15% for eReader format (unless makedoc is free) and have to buy the professional version of Overdrives program to make .LIT, stick to the simple Palm Doc PDB format: it can be read on nearly any PDA (including many Sharps, Psions and whatnots etc) and it can be read in eReader and MobiPocket.

Palm Doc format is made from pure text files. If you want a version with bold, italics, nice chapter headings etc, make an iSilo version (free as far as I can see). But it is not strictly necessary as iSilo can of course also read Palm PDB.

Net result: Palm Doc, HTML and PDF format will suffice.

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

I'd like to maintain some text formatting, so I don't want a .txt to .pdb converter. I'm looking at Wordsmith (.rtf to .pdb converter) as a replacement to eBook Studio... any others out there like it, converting either from html or rtf to pdb?

Microsoft has a free download that turns .doc files to .lit, so that's easy enough to do... I'll probably use that format.

[Jorgen]

The free version of the .LIT plugin is as I indicated above only for personal and non-commercial use, something I found out only a few days ago.

PDB is not a single format, but is an extention used for most Palm datafiles (PRC can be either an executable or a data file).

If you want formatted books, your options are something like (all incompatible):

MobiPocket and eReader: commercial so you have to pay.
Plucker (there is now a Pocket-PC version but I have forgotten its name) and iSilo: free (I think).

Since not everybody may be pleased to download iSilo or Plucker and to get the Sharp and Psion owners as well, I would add standard Palm Doc. The text looks good in eReaders PC reader.

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

The free version of the .LIT plugin is as I indicated above only for personal and non-commercial use, something I found out only a few days ago.

Microsoft's WordRMR has no use restrictions on it... I've just looked through the fine print, and the FAQ page, and all it does is excempt Microsoft from any liabilities.

http://www.microsoft.com/reader/info/support/faq/rmr.asp

[Jorgen]

I had for years thought the same, namely that the free version was free because it was less powerful and because MS wanted many ebooks on the market since they didn't cover the big Palm platform. However, I doublechecked it earlier this week. At the bottom of this page http://www.microsoft.com/reader/developers/downloads/rmr.asp, you will find "Terms of use", leading to this http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.mspx. This says among other things:
PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE LIMITATION.

Unless otherwise specified, the Services are for your personal and non-commercial use. You may not modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information, software, products or services obtained from the Services.

You need one of these http://www.overdrive.com/readerworks/downloads/default.asp?Download=RWSTAN

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

.....................

(I meant to respond to this thread earlier, but it took me the last hour or so to clear my head of multiple thoughts of vicious, colorful and vaguely compelling acts of murder, violence, mayhem and suicide, in no particular order, but directed at a particular software company and its founder who shall remain soulless.)

So, like eReader, Microsoft wants to make sure I don't profit from the printing press and paper I buy from them. Which is actually NOT why I was so initially (forget it... no adjective is even close to how I felt). I was so (see previous note) because that information should have been in the product's fine print, for the love of Jesus Mary and Joseph!!

Is it too late to declare an official jihad against software and hardware companies who think they have a say in how you use software you buy from them? I.....

(The following 6 paragraphs of moral, ethical and legal rant have been deleted by the writer prior to posting. You're welcome.)

...HHAAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhh.................

So, okay, let me look at Overdrive now...

[Steve Jordan]

Jorgen,

You're right, Readerworks is a better choice for .lit books. I've tried Standard, and I'll upgrade to Pro to get the ability to create covers and other attributes to the docs. (I don't mind paying for software that does the job I want, as long as it's not exhorbitant or tied to ethically questionable fees and royalties, and $120 is reasonable IMO.)

Standard doesn't seem to work with .doc files as advertised, but since I can convert the .doc to .html in Word, then convert the html, that works easily enough. Maybe Pro will do better.

I'll spend the weekend locking down my .pdb conversion process.

[Jorgen]

So your next book will be titled something like: "The mystery of the gruesome death of Bill Gates"? Or "The Exorcism of Msoft"?

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

Go ahead and laugh, but I'll bet that if I sold that for $1, I'd never go hungry again!

[Steve Jordan]

Steve, I can see that eReader Studio indeed demands 15%. Does the 15% apply if you use MakeBook (the one I used to use) to make your books?

I don't know... I hadn't planned on learning PML, so I'd need a .doc or .html to PML converter to try it. How are you doing the conversion?

So far, I have had no luck doing formatted PDB conversion. I tried Makedoc, but my outputs can't be read by Mobi or eReader. But I know formatted PDB files can be made... I have a copy of Hitchhiker's Guide in pdb, and it's formatted. So I'm clearly not finding the right combination of software and steps to pull this one off yet.

I may have to shelve pdb conversion, while I get to work on marketing/promotion for awhile.

[Steve Jordan]

well one thing you'd have to do first is create a nice signature, because i looked for your site, and overlooked the "www" button under your post.

Funny... I just went into my user prefs, and there didn't seem to be a way to change my sig. No text window, no buttons. Has something in the prefs screen changed? Is it browser-specific? (If so: Shame! Shame!)

[Jorgen]

MakeBook is also for personal use only (according to a text in the download) - I posted this earlier in this or the "mess"-forum.

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

I also tried Plucker, but it seems to only work if you have a Palm to hotsync your files to. :(

Maybe I should consider offering HTML downloads, so people can convert to their preferred format. I'd hate for people to have to bother doing their own conversion, but if I can't match their format, maybe they should at least have the option.

[Jorgen]

Plucker ebooks on PPC: http://vade-mecum.sourceforge.net/

However, I am sure that iSilo is more widespread.

HTML with links to the .LIT plugin, Mobi, eReader, iSilo etc would be great!

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

Mixed success there: iSiloX creates formatted pdb files that only seem to read on iSilo reader, and iSilo reader doesn't read my other pdb files. But strictly speaking, it works. I was sure I had better success with another app, but I haven't figured out what it was yet (the problem with so many formats to keep track of!) Anyway, I'll work it out later.

Now I get to work on marketing. That'll be a hoot! ;)

[Jorgen]

iSilo, eReader and Mobi reads their own format and standard Palm Doc format (and none of them will read the other two formats). This is why I am a great fan of Palm Doc format.

MS Reader reads only its own.

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

Yeah, I see the real value in Palm Doc now. I'd much rather have a format that multiple readers can read, so that's now high on my list of formats to have.

Just an update: I've found Word Doc Converter does a great job of converting docs to unformatted pdb.

That means I can now do royalty-free eBooks formatted for MSReader, eReader, Mobi (reads unformatted pdb nicely), iSilo, and Adobe Acrobat, as well as HTML. In a pinch, I can blow off the iSilo- and eReader-specific pdb formats and let them use the unformatted pdb... leaving me with .htm, .lit, .pdb, and .pdf to produce. (I need html for some of the conversion steps anyway, so I might as well throw that in.)

For the record, if I wasn't using my PPC to keep track of these details, I'd never be able to do it!

That pretty much covers everybody, doesn't it? It's still a lot of formats, but when you think about it, creating eBooks in each of them isn't that much work (as long as you're not on a tight deadline, anyway). And the more formats, the more satisfied customers, theoretically. So it seems worth the trouble to create as many formats as you can reasonably manage.

[Steve Jordan]

Hmm... just tried going to the iSilo.com site (to provide a link for someone), and got a "connection refused" message. Same with iSiloX.com. I could have sworn I was just at both sites last week...

[Jorgen]

Same here! Connection refused some 6 hours after your try. Strange.

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

Oop! They're back... never mind.

[Steve Jordan]

Here's an interesting item I just stumbled upon at Sci-Fi Wire:

"SF author John Scalzi told SCI FI Wire that he took an unconventional path to getting his novel, Agent to the Stars, in front of the public. Scalzi said he finished the 1997 novel in three months of weekends. Two years later, he put it on his Web site and asked people to pay him a dollar if they liked it. "And they did," Scalzi said in an interview. "Between 1999 and 2004, when I made it freeware, readers sent in $4,000. Most sent more than the suggested $1. One guy sent in $200, which prompted me to ask him if his finger slipped when he typed in the amount on PayPal (it hadn't)."

Do you think this worked because he was established? Would it be worth a new author using as a promotional tool to attract visitors? Any comments?

[Jorgen]

You were talking about giving a novel away. Charging a dollar sounds like a better idea and is still dirt cheap enough to generate interest.

Alternative: Blackmask http://www.blackmask.com started their commercial branch off at $0.99. They also sell books as shareware (two of his own novels plus some famous Russian ones).

Since your main objective is to become known, perhaps it was an idea to ask Blackmask if he would take one of your novels in either as shareware or commercial? Set the price to $2 and split the "loot" with him; or anywhere in between $1 and $2. Then make sure a fan writes a review at Blackmask and see how things go before selling the rest. You will get more visibility through Blackmask than through your site (how would you advertise that site anyway?) and he will probably anyway allow you to sell through your own site as well.

And best of all: you wouldn't have to worry about making the book in many formats.

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

You will get more visibility through Blackmask than through your site (how would you advertise that site anyway?) and he will probably anyway allow you to sell through your own site as well.

That's a major concern of mine, too: Getting people to my site. Word of mouth at other eBook and SF-related sites is one way for me to do it, and Blackmask would fit that bill (if they were willing, of course). I'm working on identifying others. I doubt banner ad advertising would work for me, especially due to cost (which I've always considered unduly inflated) and the tendency for people to block and/or ignore them.

I've also identified an eBook review service offered at www.ebook-reviews.net ($10 fee) that sounds reasonable. Hopefully a good review from a related site would help generate interest.

I am still planning to open a new domain, and I'm working up a site design now.

[Jorgen]

I can't see any way to advertise, except something along the lines of this:

There must be many authors in the same situation as you. A number of them could probably be found in blogs, places like the the reviewsite you mentioned etc. What is needed is a central place that sells ebooks for one or two dollars. Each author delivers a synopsis and/or a review to keep the workload down for the site-operator(s). The site should list the ebooks with a short description, write interesting things about the authors and the books, discuss books/publishing in general, have a selected collection of free classics from Project Gutenberg and whatnot, so readers keep coming back to read articles and buy new books. It would probably be best to put some restrictions on the contents so it doesn't drown in pornography (it should be a site you can read on your workplace!). Each author would have to pay a small fee for entering a new book and would receive part fo the revenue from sold books. When the site has enough hits it could earn money from advertisements and in time perhaps advertise itself on other sites like PPCthoughts. It should keep the ebook-sites (CE ebooks, MobileRead, TeleRead) informed about what goes on. Perhaps the site could do some print-on-demand work later.

The main purpose should be to make authors known, and at least the first book must therefore be sold as cheap as indicated. Later books can be sold at whatever price seems reasonable.

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

Hokay, so here's the plan at the moment:

I've purchased www.stevejordanbooks.com , and designed a site (it isn't live yet, but a customized "Please Stand By" page is there for anybody who stumbles on it before it's ready). I'm making arrangements to sell through Paypal now. The plan is to officially open October 1.

I'll start with an anthology of short stories either free or for $1USD, to be followed within 1-2 weeks by the first novel at (probably) $2. Then I will post a new novel every month (or sooner), each priced around $2. Each will be in multiple formats, still to be decided on... but at the moment I'm considering 6 formats: eReader, iSilo, Mobipocket, MS Reader, Adobe PDF, and unformatted PDB. (Which explains the 1 book per month timeline.)

I'll start contacting websites like Blackmask for cross-promotion once the site is live. I will also pursue book reviews for each book as I prepare them for sale. (If anyone on these forums knows of someone else I should contact, please let me know... you can send them to my e-mail ([email protected]) if you don't want to put them on this forum.)

All of this is still malleable, and I hope to keep it as flexible as possible, so we'll see how things develop over 1-2 years. If things look good, I may get in touch with a few publishers to see if enough positive web sales will translate to a print deal (where, I hate to say, is where the real money probably is).

[Jorgen]

Sounds good. I have started saving!

Jorgen

[PetiteFlower]

A book every month? How fast can you write???

[Steve Jordan]

Sorry, not nearly that fast!

I started writing around 1995, and at present I have 9 novels and an anthology of short stories that have never been sold. Ergo, the plan to offer them at the approximate rate of one per month. That'll depend on popularity, sales, my schedule, that kind of thing. If there's enough demand, I may offer them faster!

Add'l note: Don't get mad... but after doing the math and realizing that I would net less than $1 for every book sold at $2 (due to taxes and transaction costs), I am now looking at a cost of $2.50-3.00 per book. This is so I can net at least a buck per book (that's not too much profit, is it?). I will make my final decision by October 1.

(FYI: Would've responded sooner, but I was on vacation and essentially offline for the week.)

[Steve Jordan]

I have a special request:

I'd like to see if a Mobipocket file will be readable on anyone else's PPC besides mine, but I don't have a second PPC to test it on. If anyone with a Mobipocket reader can right-click on this link and download the PRC file:

www.stevejordanbooks.com/prelim/excerpts/onus.prc

(FYI, this is a sample of what will be on the site once it's live.)

I'm still double-checking MobiPocket's specs to see what selling rights I have, so I'm not sure if I will be including the PRC format on the site (I know unformatted PDB will work on Mobi, so I'll only include PRC if it is convenient).

[dMores]

steve, i tested it with mobipocket for symbian (p900), and it works beautifully.

first thing i noticed was, it's in my "ebooks" list, instead of the "eDocs" part of the program. which means you published it well. my PRC files converted with the office companion seem to remain in the "eDocs" list.

author, book title, everything is where it should be.

then SURPRISE ... a picture :)

i like your "please do not distribute" text.
nicely put.

one thing i#d like to see is the downloadable file being named properly.
as in
lastname, firstname - book title.prc
makes the library on the computer more organized.

i'll test the file on my girlfriend's MDA2 tonight.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Works on mine as well (Loox 720 with mobireader 4.9 beta). One thing though, the paragraph indents are inconsistent. Some are where they should be, but some of the others start halfway across the page.

[dMores]

yep. paragraph indents are different in the legal thingie (2-3 spaces), the rest of the book seems to have the same indent throughout (10-12 spaces).

i find the indentation to be a little awkward, especially when a paragraph consists of only a few words. i'd use just 2 or 3 spaces.

[Steve Jordan]

Thanks, all. I saw those inconsistent indents too, and I may simply remove them for double-spaced paragraphs. And I'll consider the naming convention, too.

[Jorgen]

Looks good on some older equipment as well: hp-568 and h1910 using MobiPocket version 4.6 build 406, except for the indentations.

Perhaps you sometimes indent with spaces and sometimes tab?

As far as I am concerned, name the books whichever way suits your purposes.

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

In one of those inevitable last minute snags one always seems to run into... I just realized that although I've set up some nice mobile pages to go with my full browser pages, I've no idea if a handheld can select a file and save it. My PPC will only click on a page or graphic link and display it. Is there a way for a PPC to do a "save target as"?

Postscript:
Okay, I guess I answered my own question with a bit more checking in the archives... a handheld's choices seem to be either to allow the browser to render the file as garbage text, then save the file from the browser's cache... or to get a program like ftxPBrowser, that will do "Save As..."

Or to go to a full computer browser.

I guess I'll just put each choice in.

[Jorgen]

Is the question: can I with Pocket-IE download a book directly on the PPC? Yes, I have many times downloaded a book from for example blackmask.com via IE using a wireless card.

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

Okay, once again, I'd like to thank everyone for the help and advice on the subject of this e-Book "experiment." FYI, my site is now online (a day early!)... www.stevejordanbooks.com ...and, in a few weeks, will be trying out its first paid e-Book. (I decided the short stories would be free after all, mostly for promotional purposes.)

Everyone cross your fingers!

[Jorgen]

Wow, that is a nice site! Thanks for the ebook!

Jorgen

UPDATE: and, yes, one acn download directly to the PPC using IE.

[Steve Jordan]

Thank you! (A little Photoshop skills never hurt!)

BTW (see icon), I loved Serenity!

[Steve Jordan]

I wanted to let anyone still following this thread to know first: The first e-book for sale, Robin, will go on sale on Oct 15 for $2.50 on www.SteveJordanBooks.com (http://www.stevejordanbooks.com).

I've had about 250 downloads of the free anthology series, The Onuissance Cells, so far... and for light word-of-mouth promotion only, that's not so bad! This will be the first test of for-sale material on the site, so I'm looking forward to see how well promotion and sales will go over the next month or so.

(Note: No, I will NOT be shilling like this again, I swear on my good brown coat! I just wanted everyone who helped and supported me on this thread to get the word. Again, THANKS, all!)

[Jorgen]

I look forward to reading one of your novels as I found The Onuissance Cells very interesting and a good read - and this though I hate short stories: it takes me a while to "get into" the story and by then it is finished. :(

Jorgen

[Steve Jordan]

Well, that's the only set of short stories I've done, so at least you won't have to worry about that anymore. Glad you liked the material, though!

(psst... PSST... hey, Moderator: While I'm thinking about it, does PPCT have a preferred way that I "shill" my own books on your forums? I put something in the Announcements and Submit News sections already. Can I also make mention of them in these forums? Just don't want to violate any rules about product advertising in inappropriate ways/places.)

Steve
www.SteveJordanBooks.com
Sci-Fi in a 21st century format. Wotta concept!

[Steven Cedrone]

(psst... PSST... hey, Moderator: While I'm thinking about it, does PPCT have a preferred way that I "shill" my own books on your forums? I put something in the Announcements and Submit News sections already. Can I also make mention of them in these forums? Just don't want to violate any rules about product advertising in inappropriate ways/places.)

Announcements and Submit News is the way to go! :way to go:

[Steve Jordan]

Cool beans! Thanks!


Steve
www.stevejordanbooks.com
Sci-Fi e-books in a 21st century format. Wotta concept!