When I wrote my novel, I visualized a paperback on the shelves of the local bookstore. I wrote, re-wrote, edited, revised, polished, and tweaked. Then I sent the manuscript to publishers so one could buy it and distribute it to the readers who eagerly awaited this special story.
Then the real world intervened. Oh, I was lucky. I started getting "good" rejections. You know the ones: "This is a well-written story, but there is too much emphasis on the heroine's illness and disability and not enough romance." Or the ever popular: "Sorry, this manuscript does not meet our publishing needs at this time. Best of luck in placing this work elsewhere."
The mysterious "elsewhere" proved so elusive that I decided the story was unpublishable. I had ignored the manuscript for over two years when Cindi Myers emailed me about a new electronic publisher. Awe-Struck E-Books was seeking manuscripts featuring disabled characters, the very thing the print publishers had rejected.
The editor, Kathryn Struck, acknowledged my query letter (via email) the same day I sent it. Within a few days, she asked for the complete manuscript, and within a few weeks, she offered me a contract. The revisions Kathryn requested strengthened the story, especially the character of the hero. She asked me to add a prologue describing the heroine experiencing the stroke. I had originally written this scene at the beginning of the story but had deleted it after receiving repeated negative feedback from print publishers. Including the time I spent on revisions, the entire process from query to publication took only fifteen weeks.
Although I am new to the world of electronic publishing, I've had a crash course in the industry, just as a newly published print author gets a crash course in the world of traditional publishing. Managers in the fast food business know that the best person to teach the new guy how to make a hamburger is the gal who just learned yesterday. She still has to think about each step and takes longer to finish the job, while the person who has been making burgers for years moves so fast and operates from habit so much that the new employee is lost. So as the nearly-new gal in e-publishing, I'll share with you what I've learned.
THE BIG QUESTION: IS AN E-BOOK A REAL BOOK?
The dictionary includes several definitions of the word "book." If the word "book" means sheets of paper bound in a volume with a cover, an e-book is not a book. But if a "book" is the words, thoughts, ideas, and emotions expressed on those sheets of paper, an e-book is as much a real book as any other.
Since the industry is so new, differences of opinion exist within the industry on whether e-publishing is simply a new binding (paperback, hardback, leather, or electronic binding) or a completely new medium. There is also the question of exactly what is "legitimate" e-publishing. Generally, material placed on a website for anyone to read is not considered e-publishing. But even if the work is sold, there is a wide variation in how the work is selected and edited.
JUST AS IN PRINT PUBLISHING, SELF-PUBLISHING AND VANITY PUBLISHING OCCUR IN E-PUBLISHING.
This material is not screened or edited; anyone who has the money to produce the work himself or to pay a subsidy publisher can put his writing on the web for sale. At the other end of the spectrum, print publishers are also e-publishing some of the same books they offer in print. These manuscripts have gone through the rigorous selection and editing process of a print book.
E-PUBLISHERS WHO ARE "HOUSE" PUBLISHERS OPERATE EXACTLY LIKE A PRINT PUBLISHING HOUSE EXCEPT THEY OFFER E-BOOKS EXCLUSIVELY.
Many e-publishers are "coop" publishers. They offer a basic set of services--editing, a basic cover (possibly text only), one or more formats, marketing--but the author can purchase additional services if she chooses. For example, my publisher provides a text cover only, so I did the artwork for my cover. I also paid a nominal fee to a third party to have the manuscript converted to the Rocket format so the book can be sold on other websites as a RocketEdition(tm). My publishers offers e-books in html, text, and Palm Pilot format on their website.
The variety of formats has been one of the problems of the industry. E-books have been published in PDF (for the Acrobat Reader), Word, text, and formats for several special readers. A team of academics and industry professionals, with major input from Microsoft, recently developed OEB (Open E-Book) Initiative as a standard of the industry. Although OEB is not proprietary, Microsoft is developing technology to support and promote e-publishing. The company is taking significant action to enhance the reputation of the e-book industry, evidenced by the announcement that Microsoft will give $100,000 in awards to e-books at the Frankfurt Book Fair next year.
IT'S EASY TO SEE WHY MICROSOFT WOULD PROMOTE E-PUBLISHING, BUT WHY WOULD A READER CHOOSE AN E-BOOK OVER A PRINT BOOK?
Disabled people find e-books a blessing. The blind have computers that read to them, and those with limited vision can adjust the font size and color on an electronic device. Individuals with limited use of their limbs can operate a computer through a number of adaptive devices.
Teenagers and children who spend so much time on television, movies, and video games often associate books with school rather than with entertainment. We can wring our hands and wish they would spend less time on electronic devices and more time in the library, but our wishing won't make it happen. However, if children and young adults see e-books as a form of entertainment, they will be more apt to read. Color pictures, animation, and music can be added to e-books for nominal cost. Debbie Gafford has an interactive children's e-book to be released soon, offering an adventure to young readers. E-books can introduce a whole generation of non-readers to the joys of reading.
FOR ALL OF US, E-BOOKS ARE INEXPENSIVE, CONVENIENT, AND ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY.
Instead of carrying a suitcase filled with books on vacation, I can now carry ten books in the palm of my hand in my RocketeBook(tm). Business-people can have a novel stored in their Personal Digital Assistant so they can check their email, update their calendar, and read a few chapters on their lunch hour.
When I'm fabulously wealthy, I'd love to have a huge library filled with first editions and leather bound volumes. But until I can afford the room and the books, I can fill my laptop with hundreds of books and my desktop computer with a library of thousands. The cost of e-books is generally much less than print editions because e-books can be produced one at a time. No trees are killed to produce hundreds or thousands of copies that will eventually be stripped and destroyed.
READERS HAVE VALID REASONS FOR CHOOSING E-BOOKS, BUT WHY WOULD A WRITER CHOOSE TO BE E-PUBLISHED RATHER THAN PRINT PUBLISHED?
The two aren't mutually exclusive, and probably most e-authors would also like to be published in print. However, many writers find, as I did, that print publishers reject their stories for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the writing or the story telling. The subject matter is controversial; the setting is in an "unacceptable" time or place; the characters are the wrong age, occupation, whatever; or the story doesn't easily fit into a specific sub-genre. Because print publishing is so expensive and requires a significant investment, print publishers hesitate to buy a manuscript from a new writer if it doesn't fit their "tried and true" formula. While this makes sense from a business perspective, it keeps many excellent writers from being published and deprives readers of choices.
The lead time to produce a print book is much greater that of an e-book. In addition, e-publishers usually communicate via email. The speed and efficiency of the entire process is demonstrated by my story--six months from query to publication compared to up to three years in print publishing. As the volume of submissions increases, the response time of e-publishers will probably slow because of the added workload. But the process will always be much faster, simply because there is less work and fewer people involved in the production.
E-PUBLISHING IS LESS EXPENSIVE THAN PRINT PUBLISHING.
The production cost is much lower, and there are no costs associated with printing, warehousing, shipping, and all the other costs of selling print books. Not only do e-books cost the consumer less, but also the author makes higher royalties. Royalties typically range from 25% to 70%, usually around 35% to 50%. Of course, there are both advantages and disadvantages to every situation. Although the royalties are higher for e-books, the distribution is smaller, so the net income is likely to be less than for a print published book.
A significant disadvantage is, to paraphrase Rodney Dangerfield, that e-publishers and e-authors "don't get no respect." RWA and other professional organizations do not yet recognize e-published authors as published. I can't join PAN, because to RWA, I'm not published. This creates an interesting situation where e-authors whose books have been professionally edited can enter the Golden Heart in competition with a first-time writer. I don't think this is likely to happen because none of the e-authors I know will submit to Golden Heart or anywhere else as an unpublished writer. Yet, RWA considers us unpublished.
A common criticism of e-authors goes something like this: "They're not really published--they're only e-published. Most of them couldn't sell in print so they had to resort to e-publishing." In some ways, this is a valid criticism. My novel certainly didn't sell to the print publishers. However, I received "good rejections" from the very beginning. Almost every rejection letter included positive comments about the writing, but each one also included the negative comments about the proportion of romance to the story of the heroine's medical and physical challenges.
MANY E-BOOKS ARE DIFFERENT IN SOME WAY. SOME READERS WON'T LIKE THEM; SOME WILL.
But isn't that the case with every book, print or e, new author or not? I recently read two reviews of a new release by one of our most successful SARA members. One reviewer gave the book 5 stars and called it a "must-read;" the second said it was one of the worst books the reviewer had ever read, and she wouldn't recommend it to anybody. Same book, totally opposite reactions. Some of the classics were rejected more times than most of us can imagine. So just because print publishers rejected a manuscript that is later sold as an e-book doesn't mean it wasn't a good book. It just means "the manuscript didn't meet their publishing needs at that time."
THERE MAY BE MORE RISK OF SCAMS IN E-PUBLISHING, SIMPLY BECAUSE IT'S EASY FOR ANYONE TO PUT UP A WEBSITE AND CALL THEMSELVES A PUBLISHER.
A writer should check out any publisher before she submits and get professional or knowledgeable advice before signing any contract. The Association of Electronic Publishers (AEP) is a professional e-publishing trade association with standards of conduct and a grievance procedure. Publishers must meet certain standards before acceptance. While not being a member of AEP does not mean the publisher is not ethical and qualified, AEP membership is one indication that the publisher is a legitimate e-publisher.
HOW ARE PRINT PUBLISHING AND LEGITIMATE E-PUBLISHING THE SAME?
Many people may be surprised to know that there is a high rejection rate among e-publishers. I read recently that AEP member publishers accept about 10% of the submissions they receive. Because e-publishers are often more open to material that is not acceptable to traditional print publishers, many people are surprised to learn that 90% of all submissions are rejected. Whether print or electronic, the best publishers publish only the best work.
IS E-PUBLISHING FOR YOU?
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Does your book fall outside the parameters of the romance genre or does it cross genres?
- Do you have a niche market that isn't addressed by print publishers?
- Do you have a pioneer spirit and like to be involved in new frontiers?
- Do you have the confidence to deal with the lack of respect, the exclusion from PAN, the critics who say, "oh she's not really published; she's just e-published."
If you can answer "yes" to the above questions, you may be a good candidate for e-publishing. Query the appropriate publishers, and soon you too may enter the world of electronic publishing. Join other e-authors, SARA members Delores Fossen, Herb and Billie Houston (writing as Barri Bryan), Betty Kasischke, and Debbie Gafford, who are REAL authors writing REAL books!
Lillie Ammann has been writing since 1994. She has been a member of RWA and SARA and has served on the SARA board, including one year as president. Stroke Of Luck is her first romance novel. Her non-fiction book, Look Beyond Tomorrow: The Carola Spencer Story, is print published.
©1998, San Antonio Romance Authors, all rights reserved. Articles may not be reprinted without permission.
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