What of eBook sales? According to Jim McClellan (2004), “Open eBook Forum (OeBF) estimated overall sales for year (of eBooks) at around $10m.” This is a small but growing percentage of total market. “In third quarter of 2003, e-book sales were up 37% over same quarter in 2002, according to a new sales report from Open eBook Forum (OeBF)…In that quarter, 2,159 new titles were published by 30 largest publishing houses, and sales added up to $2,591,465. It was good enough to spur sales of millionth e-book for year by September.” (Fluckinger, 2003). Because eBook publishers incur less expense (no printing, distribution costs) royalty payments to authors is usually 40% of wholesale price versus 15% of traditional publishing. Readers also benefit from reduced production costs, saving 30%-40% per title. Therefore, previously unknown authors are more likely to be noticed.

Regardless of which path you travel, ultimately quality will count. The competition is staggering and it will take exhaustive self promotion to draw readers, but if it isn’t well written, no amount of marketing fluff will capture their attention for long. If you offer a quality product and meet or exceed your reader’s expectation, word of mouth could set you apart from pack.

Resources

Curtis, R. (1995). How to be Your Own Literary Agent. Houghton Mifflin Company, NY.

Fluckinger, D. (2003). E-book sales hit million mark for 2003. Retrieved March 10, 2004 from PDFzone.com

There is also a stigma attached to vanity and subsidy publishers, because they are not discriminate in works they publish. There are also many disreputable firms who “engage in a wide range of unethical or fraudulent practices, including grossly overcharging for their services, reneging on contract obligations, producing shoddy books, failing to print number of books contracted for, and even providing kickbacks to agents that refer manuscripts to them.” (Writers Beware, 2004)

Many authors are opting to epublish in order to avoid expensive printing, distribution and storage costs. Epublishers may offer royalty payments up to 40% of sales price and do not require up front fees. However, be wary of hidden charges like formatting charges, cover art or editing fees. Never conduct business with an agent or publisher who requires you purchase services as a condition of representation.

Resources

Writers Beware, http://www.sfwa.org/beware/agents.html Unknown Author (2004) Writers Beware. Retrieved March 12, 2004 from www.SFWA.org