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This is a follow-up to our January and February series on self publishing, and What are eBooks good for? Chris Van Buren and Jeff Cogswell With e-publishing, you don't have to grovel to the print publishing establishment to get your work noticed. The internet and e-book technology gives you the power of independence-the power to create your own e-books and sell them online. The only people you answer to are the readers themselves, your customers. And you won't be alone out there. Plenty of online services, agents, discussion groups, and information resources can help you along the way. Indeed, many people have decided to make a business of helping other people start and run their e-publishing businesses. This book will lead you to all these resources and more. ___ Here are some other things that make e-publishing an attractive alternative to traditional print publishing: The freedom to do your own thing your own way. You don't have to adhere to the standards of the print publishing world. There's plenty of room online to try new things. The ability to start small and grow. You don't have to start by opening a publishing company online with dozens of books. In fact, you can start as an author, writing for other epublishing companies. You can choose to do certain aspects of the publishing process and hire out the rest. If you decide that e-publishing is for you, you can slowly take over more of the process. Ease of entry. You don't need a huge investment or lots of books. All you need is the desire, the infirmation in this book, and perhaps a Web site to accompany your efforts online. No printing bills, no shipping, no storage. Selling e-books is a matter of transferring electronic files over the Internet. The economics of e-publishing are much different from those of print publishing. Easy access to online booksellers and distributors. Small e-publishers can get their books into the major online booksellers, such as Amazon.com and Borders. You don't have to be a member of a secret society to enter the market. Better author royalties, friendlier contracts. Generally, e-book publishers offer authors more favorable royalties than the ones print book publishers offer. The benefits that the publishers enjoy with e-book publishing are shared with the author. More control over how your work is published. As an author, you can often participate in the editing, layout, and cover design of your book. Some publishers even let you set the price of your work. The ability to work from just about anywhere. Most of the process of creating and publishing e-books is done online, over the Internet. As long as you have a decent internet connection, you can work from just about anywhere. This was excerpted, with permission, from Poor Richard's Creating E-Books by Chris Van Buren and Jeff Cogswell -- an Editor's Choice in the Design Bookshelf for February 2002. The information in this book never goes out of date. ___ Anyone who dreams of getting their ideas into print should get this book. It walks you through all the issues, tips and tricks surrounding the electronic publishing world and shares real-life success stories from those who are doing it. You'll walk through the stages of planning and creating your e-book, getting it published, as well as the business issues surrounding the e-publishers world. There's even a companion Web site associated with this book with links from the book, sample chapters, reviewers' comments, and additional Internet communication and ebusiness resources. Be sure to see our eBook References and Resources page! . <- Back

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