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Malcolm
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PostSubject: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptyWed Dec 17, 2008 2:07 pm

Everyone but me may already know about these publishers, but this blog here has a list of e-publishers: http://www.ebookguru.org/index.php/2008/12/ebook-publishers-from-around-the-web-week-3/#comment-18

Malcolm
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptyWed Dec 17, 2008 4:24 pm

Quite a list.

But I'm not sure I understand searching for an epublisher? What do they offer when publishing electronic work is free and can be done by anybody?
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Trevas W
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PostSubject: Re: lins question   List of e-publishers EmptyWed Dec 17, 2008 7:59 pm

I didn't realize these forums allowed public posts. I posted an answer to lin's question on the comments of the link that Malcom posted.

Cheers,
Trevas Walker
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thehairymob
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PostSubject: Re: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptyThu Dec 18, 2008 8:28 am

thank you Malcolm
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptyThu Dec 18, 2008 4:37 pm

Your response, Trevas, doesn't really answer much about a publisher, just having the book on inline book stores. There are lots of sites where you can list books for sale.

Being on amazon MIGHT be worth it, but I wonder. It's not like people run to amazon to browse for books they never heard of.

Meanwhile, instead of waiting months screwing around with publishers, you could have an ebook out like, tomorrow with no contract, no percentage due to anybody, not dealing with editors.

And, as you say, promote it.

I'm not saying that going to an epublisher is a bad idea, and it certainly depends to some extent on the book, but I don't see why bother to do it instead of just selling the thing.
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Trevas W
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PostSubject: In Response to Lin   List of e-publishers EmptyThu Dec 18, 2008 8:09 pm

You can market anything yourself if you want to, but then you go right back to - how do you promote it?

Although your own knowledge may be different, most people do not have a an understanding of what it takes to market anything online. It is a complex topic and, in the case of books of any type, a highly competive market.

In the case of non-fiction works:

To do well with a book that you promote yourself you will need a good knowledge of web design, copy writing, SEO, email marketing, and it doesn't hurt to have strategic partnerships with big name marketers.

The alternative is to use paid advertisements. In which case you need an expert knowledge of how to proper keyword research, and manage a big ad campaign; otherwise the costs of that campaign will cost you much more than the commisions would have on one of the affiliate networks.

In the case of fiction:

Self publishing is an option. To do well you will need to offer both paperback and eBook editions. Again you need specific marketing knowledge, and unless you have previous work in traditional publishing markets you will have trouble selling it anyway.

It won't do you any good just to have a book to sell you have to convince people to spend the money to buy it, and you need to drive traffic to the site that sells it.

If you look at the the recent review I posted on our site for Keith Latch's latest book, he has the right idea. He publishes his books through champagneebooks.com.

For the first three months this publisher sells the books from their site alone, and then distributes it the larger ebook sites (mobipocket, fictionwise, etc).

If you look at the current Alexa rankings for a site like mobipocket.com - they recieve about 37,000 unique visitors per week, and fictionwise gets about the same. In other words suddenly your fiction ebook is potentially placed in front of 74,000 people each week (and that's not accounting for the other sites that champagne distributes through).

There is no way to get that kind of exposure when you're marketing an eBook yourself. Adwords costs for that kind of traffic would equate to about $30,000 or more (per week), and gaining that type of traffic yourself is almost out of the question.
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptyThu Dec 18, 2008 10:55 pm

Yep

How do you promote anything, no matter who publishes it.

The numbers there are misleading. It's not like a mall where a thousand people walk by your store every day.

You could sit on amazon where MILLIONS of people come and NONE of them would ever see you book.

It just doesn't really work like that.

You end up having to drive people to your purchase point anyway.
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Trevas W
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PostSubject: An Example   List of e-publishers EmptyFri Dec 19, 2008 7:54 am

No Amazon is different - I wouldn't use Amazon to sell an eBook. Possibly I may offer it in Kindle format, but I wouldn't use Amazon as a selling point unless I had the means to drive traffic to them. That particular site is way to big to help you get noticed just by listing a book.

Let's use an example to clarify what I mean instead. Since I spoke of champagneebooks I will use them as an example. Of course quality does factor into this equation, a good book will do much better than a poorly written one.

1. Published on Champagne - This isn't really a large site, but they've been around for a while. So they likely have a mailing list of 10k + previous customers, and they likely get 200 visitors a week (they also own some genre specific sites as well). So you publish your book:

Champagne sends out an email to their 10,000 customers stating that they just published a new title, and to order it now at a discounted price.

The average response rate for an email marketing campaign to customers who have bought from you before is 4 - 5% (that is the number of people who click the link to see the book). Assuming 5% we then have 500 people click the link and view the book.

Conversion rates for previous customers also tend to be around 4%. So 4% of those 500 people buy the book - you've just sold your first 20 copies.

Being published on Champagne means your book will be exposed to 200 people per week. Conversion rates for general traffic are around 2%, so of the 200 people each week that visits the site, you make an additional 4 sales per week just by being listed on the frontpage of their site.

In the first three months before they distribute the book to the larger sites. You make an additional 50 sales.

Of course these numbers aren't accounting for traffic you drive to the site yourself, or traffic from review (people who read the book and recommend it) sites like my own. It also doesn't account for people like me who won't respond to the email, but I will buy the latest book from champagne when I visit their site because I know they publish quality works.

2. The book gets distributed to mobipocket and fictionwise (and a bunch of other sites that I won't account for here).

Site like mobipocket have mailing lists that include hundreds of thousands of previous customers. Each week they send out a mailer advertising the top sellers, the top rated books, and with a link to the "New this month section". There is also a link on all of the ebook sites to the "New eBooks" section.

Simply by having your book distributed to a site like mobipocket, you could expect another 100 sales (likely more) when the book is new, and you could expect the same from fictionwise.

At this point the quality factor comes into play. If people enjoy the book, it will get higher ratings on the big sites, and consistenly list in the top results for the books genre. It will also tend to be recommended more on other sites, and more people will find the book. The top rate books will sell thousands of copies in a year.

Since future sales depend so heavily on how good the book is, it is hard to gauge success. But simply by publishing your eBook instead of trying to sell it yourself, you suddenly have your work in the hands of 270 new readers. That is more than most people could manage by themselves, and it didn't cost anything to get started.

Cheers,
Trevas Walker
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptyFri Dec 19, 2008 9:07 am

Those conversion rates are from DMMA and apply to all the mail order catalogs and stuff out there. (And 5% is HUGE, by the way--few marketers acheive it)

As you point out, it's hard to track conversion, and response skew towards top sellers by established authors means that most books on the list will have very few takers.

you've just sold your first 20 copies.
you suddenly have your work in the hands of 270 new readers.
Are not statistically driven statements as they appear but, essentially, wishful thinking.



The advantages of having somebody do that kind of mass promo for you are, of course, immense, however.

But there are also disadvantages. Many of which lay in the area of pricing, profitablilty and exclusivity.

Once again, much of it depends on the book involved. And the writer. For instance, as you mention, there is the "quality factor".
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptyFri Dec 19, 2008 9:08 am

To do well you will need to offer both paperback and eBook editions.

That's a remarkable statement. What makes you think so?
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Dick Stodghill
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PostSubject: Re: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptyFri Dec 19, 2008 12:38 pm

I'm lost about this Champagne ebooks. Could you explain it?
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptyFri Dec 19, 2008 6:42 pm

http://www.champagnebooks.com/

There's the link. Doesn't say how many copies their best selling titles move.

This is, to me, a very typical modern small, web-based press. There are lots of them, all pretty much the same, at greater of lesser scale.

This one seems to have developed the "press as book club" concept more than many.

One of their paperbacks sells for $11, an ebook for $6.


Know what Shelagh should do? Start a press based on her own network of sites and forums. (Maybe that's what she's already doing, that sly lil vixen)
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Shelagh
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PostSubject: Re: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptySat Dec 20, 2008 3:32 am

Maybe we should get together and set it up.
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Trevas W
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PostSubject: Re: ePublishing   List of e-publishers EmptySat Dec 20, 2008 9:08 am

Those conversion rates are from DMMA and apply
to all the mail order catalogs and stuff out there. (And 5% is HUGE, by
the way--few marketers acheive it)


5% isn't huge in this case. If we were talking $50 information package type ebooks it would be. Most marketers never even come close to that number, and tend to hover around 1 - 2% with 3% conversions being considered good.

In this case though I was talking about a $7-$10 ebook that is marketed to people who have bought from you before. Once someone has bought something from you once, if they liked the product, they are much more likely to do so again. With products that generally cost less than $10, coversion will be higher.
Maybe we should get together and set it up.
I really think that someoneneeds to setup an eBook publishing site that puts the authors profits at the forefront. Something different than the average eBook publisher; more like a group effort: writers working with and for other writers to mutually promote everyones work.

There are too many talented authors that go unnoticed because of the current state of things in the publishing industry.
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptySat Dec 20, 2008 9:43 am

Maybe they get 5 percent conversion and multis, maybe they don't (no idea how $50 whatevers got in this...I'm talking about across the board). Are you privy to their sales figures? I'd be interested.


Shelagh... you already DID set it up, actually.
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Shelagh
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PostSubject: Re: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptySat Dec 20, 2008 10:36 am

I did?
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptySat Dec 20, 2008 11:07 am

You've got an account with LSI, right?
And a network, to say the least.

First book out.

All you have to do is repeat as neccesary.

Here, by the way, is a ning group set up as booksellers. (A little confusing since they have TWO ning sites that link back and forth, but you see the idea:

http://coldcoffee.ning.com/
http://ccbooks.ning.com/
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: List of e-publishers   List of e-publishers EmptySat Dec 20, 2008 11:08 am

I'm sort of half-kidding around about this, but the potential is definitely there.
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Trevas W
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PostSubject: Re: Last Response   List of e-publishers EmptyTue Dec 23, 2008 3:27 pm

Since you asked, I contacted them and did get some sales figures (with the promise of posting a feature article on our site).

I will be posting an article on after Christmas that features ChampagneBooks, and shares the results of my inquiry.

Just to let you know though, the sales figures were way higher than my fictional example.

Have a Merry Christmas
Trevas Walker
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