Ebook publishing makes the publishing process a lot less shorter and easier than the usual means. In traditional publishing, if you have a polished complete manuscript, you may be ready to send it off to an agent in the hopes of getting it to a publisher. Then all you’d need to do is wait for that call that tells you you’ve just become the latest best-selling author. It sounds easy, but really, it isn’t.
Publishers select books on their commercial merit and that makes sense as they do want to make money off of the book. But the choosing process is subjective. In most cases, you have to get an agent to show interest in your book because most publishers don’t except unsolicited manuscripts. This process is not easy, and is fraught with rejection. In actuality, one-single person decides what the public gets to read, and if it has money-making qualities.
Because of the evolving ereader and ebook technology, authors now have the ability to upload their manuscripts to publishing sites like Amazon Digital Text Platform, Smashwords, Scribd, Lulu, and Sony’s Publisher Portal. Ebook publishing may eventually become a rival for traditional publishing models. Why? Because ebook creation is cheap. The biggest cost saver is the fact that there are zero distribution costs with ebooks. Additionally, the turn around time is faster as the authors can upload their work quickly, and the buyer can simply download it to their Amazon Kindle or other ebook reading device.
But while authors can bypass the frustration they usually experience in taking a traditional route, they face different setbacs when using ebook publishing platforms.
The truth is the author may not make any money off of their work. Although, they can say that they are a published novelist, the count of ebooks on the internet is high, and the book may not get the desired hits because of the lack of advertising. Most ebook authors sell their books for free or at low prices to entice the buyer, but the author may suffer financially from this habit, and not see any profit off the book.
On the flip-side, an author of an ebook determines the level of restrictions applied to the book. For example, the author can control how many times an ebook can be downloaded for a single purchase, and the amount of devices to which the ebook can be transferred.
With the Amazon Kindle at the helm, the popularity of ebook readers is growing and aspiring authors may turn to the ebook self-publishing platform. Although it does present another set of frustrations, authors may find that this new route is much better than the traditional publishing route.