E-book Opportunities For Established/Published Authors, Agents, Marketers and Publishers

This e-book revolution not only benefits first time authors, but authors who are already in print, publishers and agents too. Or even a marketer who has hired a ghost writer.

POPULAR AUTHORS who have a name for themselves can produce their own works and use their loyal fan base and websites to market their e-books along with such tools as social media and webinars. In this way they can make far more money than they would through publisher royalties because they know their readers are clamouring for their books. Add your own print on demand copies and you cover both traditional and digital worlds. Cory Doctorow, a science fiction writer and New York Times bestseller, is one such author who has capitalised on this phenomenon as I’ll expand upon later in the coming weeks. Popular authors can also make great use of the marketing techniques I will be talking about to promote the e-book version of their books produced by their publisher.

An ESTABLISHED AUTHOR who has penned a novel in an unrelated genre to that in which they have been published, can also avoid jumping publisher hurdles by publishing their work as an e-book. You’re a thriller author but you’ve penned a children’s story about bunnies? No need for that work to ever go unseen. AGENTS can use the facilities of e-book publishing sites to promote the work of their clients, who retain the digital rights to their out of print books.

Even MARKETERS who have a ghost writer to pen their idea can use a site like Smashwords to convert their pfd/word document into every single format imaginable so they can cover all e-book bases and distribute to online e-book stores.

Finally, PUBLISHERS, though they appear yet to do so, can also capitalise greatly on the e-book revolution. A publisher working through online bookstores can receive up to 85% of the net sales price of their authors’ e-books, and a wider distribution than just their personal site. Currently publishers receive only about 40-50% of the price of a traditionally printed book or even only 20% if books are returned from stores. But digitally these ‘middle man’ costs barely exist. Many are reacting just as the music industry did all those years ago, not looking for ways to embrace and use the technology of the day to generate as many, if not MORE sales than before. Far more beneficial is to work IN the internet machine rather than against it.

Publishers also need to consider that the internet is a fantastic place for them to test the demand for a new author’s novel before committing to a physical print run. Not sure whether a vampire novel set on a spaceship containing aliens with 9 tentacles would work? There has never been an easier time to test the demand for a more...interesting work. In fact, several of the marketing strategies can be applied by publishers to increase interest, launch books and create strong communities around their authors with barely an advertisement in sight.

Did I not promise this blog had something for every angle?

TOMORROW: I address concerns with the e-book platform.