Category — Apple iPad

Most people I know who have an iPhone and love ebooks, use the Kindle app. They don’t shop from Apple’s iBookstore.

There are several reason for this:

1. If you buy a book in the iBookstore, you have to read it on your iPad or iPhone or iTouch — and only there. With Amazon, you can read your ebook on your home computer, work computer, iPhone, Android, Blackberry — oh, and on that device known as a Kindle. Apple says it is working on an app that will allow people to read their ebooks on their computers, but no word on when it will be available.
2. The book selection of the iBookstore is pathetic. It’s been more than six months since the iBookstore went live and the selection doesn’t even come close to Amazon.
3. The home page of the iBookstore promotes only the bestsellers. With Amazon, the selection on the home page is customized (for better or worse) based on your prior purchases and reading habits. But this gives Amazon a bit of personality — or a reflection of your personality. The iBookstore is, by comparison, bland and uninviting.
4. There is no community. Amazon hosts hundreds of reader forums. Some of them — particularly the Kindle forums — are extremely active. These people are voracious readers and they love to share thoughts on the books they’re reading. But Apple doesn’t really understand communities.

As a publisher, I have additional problems with the iBookstore:

1. Support is almost nonexistent. If you email Amazon for support, you’ll get a reply within a day or two. With Apple, a reply takes, on average, 2 to three weeks. I’m not kidding. I had a technical issue with The Tourist Trail two months ago. The book was taken offline by Apple and as of today it is still not live.
2. The iBookstore interface is difficult to use. With Amazon, uploading a book is painless and fast. You can manage pricing, meta data, and book descriptions with ease. But with the iBookstore, the interface is an awful experience. It’s ironic in a way because Apple prides itself on usability. But if you’re a publisher, you get to see a side of Apple that most people don’t see. And it’s not all that user friendly.
3. As a publisher, I can’t send you a link to books on Apple’s iBookstore. Unlike Amazon, the Apple bookstore is separate from the Internet, so I have to tell people to go to the iBookstore and search for it. With Amazon, I can send links, short links, even sample chapters to people.

Why am I unloading on Apple like this?

Partly because I’d like to see the iBookstore succeed. I’d like to see a healthy marketplace for ebooks. I don’t want to see Amazon be the only game in town.

But I’m also unloading on Apple because the company now appears to be playing hardball with Amazon. You can read the details here.

People are speculating that Apple is going to require Amazon to remove its links to the Amazon store from within the Kindle app (or share 30% of all revenue). Given the slim profit margins of publishing, I can’t imagine Amazon sharing 30% with Apple. So we could have an interesting standoff in the months ahead. And I can see Amazon aligning itself more closely with Google’s Android platform as a result.

Apple makes the case that it should receive a cut from commerce that originates from within its platform. The logic makes perfect sense, though the 30% cut makes less sense, particularly if the vendor in question offers its own ecommerce platform — and this platform is far superior.

The fallout is already evident here and here.

It’s hard for me to understand why Apple would want to push vendors to work more closely with Google and invest more heavily on web-based apps, bypassing the App Store entirely. But, until things change, this is exactly what is happening.

To be an indie author is to be (at varying times) an editor, a designer, a production manager, and a publicist.

It’s not easy being an expert at so many things. So I devote a fair amount of my time learning from the experts. Fortunately, many of them publish blogs.

And by experts I’m not just referring to other indie authors, but also to industry consultants, agents, and eBook production geeks.

Here are the blogs that I follow:

Publishing industry Insights

• The Shatzkin Files: Mike Shatzkin is an industry consultant and provides an insider’s view of an industry in chaos. One recent post provide excellent details on author royalties on eBooks vs. trade books.
• Self-publishing 2.0 by Foner Books Another long-time publishing expert opines on the future of the industry. About four posts a month and I am sure to read every one.
• Kindle Nation by Stephen Windwalker: Steve publishes a weekly newsletter on the state of the Kindle market. He covers eBook pricing trends, movers and shakers — pretty much everything Kindle related. He also publishes newsletters that can help authors (like me) promote their works.
• The Book Deal: Alan Rinzler is a longtime industry expert and this post of his is particularly inspiring.

India author blogs

• A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing by Joe Konrath: Joe is one of the success stories of the self-publishing movement. He announced this week that he’s sold more than 100,000 eBooks since he transitioned from print publishing to electronic.
• Indie Reader by Zoe Winters: Zoe doesn’t share the granular. But what I like best about her blog is the

Self-publication production blogs

• Pigs, Gourds, and Wikis by Liz Castro: Liz is author of ePub to the Point — a book I recommend highly. Her blog is important for keeping up on the latest ePub developments.
• Threepress Consulting: This blog is not for the tech-averse, but it’s definitely worth reading if you’re planning to get knee-deep in ePub. These folks do this for a living.

Agent blogs (Just because you may not have an agent, doesn’t mean you can’t learn from them)

• Pub Rants: Kristin provides nuggets of wisdom about query letters, publishing houses, and the industry in general.
• Nathan Bradford’s blog: Nathan is not just an agent but also a writer. His passion for publishing is reason enough to follow his blog.

I’d be curious to know what blogs are missing from this list. If you have anything to add, please contact me.

Lately I’ve received a number of questions from fellow writers about the self-publishing process.

While I don’t consider myself an expert, I’m happy to share the ups and downs of my journey. Just keep in mind that the list below is already a few steps too long given recent changes in the industry.

Here is a high-level view of the production process and software used (I used a Mac throughout):

1. Wrote and edited the book in Microsoft Word
2. Designed the print version of the book in Adobe InDesign CS5*
3. Designed the cover of the book in Adobe Illustrator CS5
4. Exported the book as an ePub file
5. Exported the cover as a JPG file, sized so it would display well in ereaders
6. Modified the ePub file using the free software product Sigil
7. Converted the ePub file to Mobi using Calibre, another free software product**
8. Uploaded the Mobi file to the Amazon Kindle store

* I always intended to produce both an ebook and print book. This decision drove me to splurge on Adobe InDesign and Illustrator. I used InDesign for the body of the book, but I could have gotten by perfectly well with plain ol’ Microsoft Word — or, better yet, Apple Pages (which now supports ePub export). But I also wanted a nice-looking cover, which is where Illustrator fits in. Illustrator is an excellent tool for manipulating type and images.

My general advice for writers is to avoid the Adobe Creative Suite. These tools are not cheap and the learning curve can be steep. Though I’ve used Adobe software for years, I’m not thrilled with this latest version of the software suite (perhaps a topic for a future post).

If all you intend to produce is an ebook, you should skip Adobe altogether. In fact, you could get by using all free software.

That said,  I’m very intrigued by Pages‘ support for ePub export.

** I exported an ePub file and then converted to Mobi. I did this because I intended to upload the book to the Apple iBookstore, which only supports ePub. When I began working with the Kindle store, it did not support ePub files, but now it does. So you could skip the entire Mobi file creation stage.

PS: If you would like more details about my production journey — and the many potholes along the way — let me know via the contact form. I’m happy to share more.

So I read via Foner Books that Publisher’s Weekly wants to charge $149 for us self-published writers to get a read. Not a review, mind you, just a read. If we’re lucky we’ll get a review.

I’ve already ranted about how PW just doesn’t “get” us self-publishers. But now, sadly, PW wants to make a few quick bucks off of us as well. Through its actions, PW is  treating self-published writers as second class citizens.

Will Publisher’s Weekly charge Seth Godin $149 for his next book?

That’s right, Seth Godin is now joining the ranks of us indie writers.

I read via Mike Shatzkin that Seth Godin is giving up on publishers altogether. This is huge news for publishers because he’s the type of writer they covet — someone who cranks out books with regularity and cultivates a large audience of eager readers. This development has to make publishers more than a little nervous, and it should. Publishers can and do add massive value to an author’s work, but their perceived value has been slipping, and, to some extent, with good cause. As Mike noted, for years publishers have filtered out writers who didn’t have a “platform.” In other words, they only wanted to publish writers who already had built-in audiences. But any author who has built up an audience knows he or she can now publish directly to that audience, and this is where publishers are in trouble. While I understand why publishers want authors with platforms, the irony is that it is the publishers themselves who suddenly lack “platforms.”  I don’t think readers think “I’m in the mood for a new Knopf novel.”

Readers are loyal to authors, not imprints.

And with digital delivery, authors can connect with readers in an instant.

I read in the Wall Street Journal that 40% of owners of ereaders read a lot more than they did before owning an ereader. And Forrester Research estimates that by the end of September roughly 11 million Americans will own at lease one ereader. Not surprisingly, Amazon says the Kindle 3, now shipping, is its fastest-selling Kindle yet.

Now, this is very good news for us self-publishers. Most of my books are selling via Kindle.

J.A. Konrath, who has a number of books on both the Kindle and iPad, says that Kindle books are outselling iPad books by a ratio of 60:1. I’m seeing a ratio of 80:1. For me, the reason is simple: Amazon makes it easy to get discovered by readers. The iBookstore does not.

So that’s it for now. The latest news in another crazy week in self-publishing.

The Tourist Trail is available on the Kindle, on the iPad, and, at last, in paperback (from Amazon and from me).

Now the hard work begins.

I don’t mean to trivialize the writing of this book. Four years went into it and countless drafts.

But for the self-published, self-promotion is a steep uphill climb.

It’s challenging enough for writers with actual publishing houses behind them to get attention from reviewers and bloggers. In a sense, I’m competing with all of them — from the latest releases from Jennifer Weiner and Carl Hiaasen to the girl with the tattoo trilogy. We’re all competing for attention.

I’ve spent the past few days emailing book bloggers, reviewers, editors, even Oprah. Yes, I realize sending an email to Oprah is akin to playing the lottery.

But if you don’t play you can’t win.

Most book reviewers won’t even look at self-published works. That’s okay. My strategy isn’t fully dependent on reviewers.

Fortunately, there are numerous web sites and blogs devoted to the causes I write about in the novel: animal rights, conservation, anti-whaling, penguin research.

Yesterday I sent emails to 18 people. I got a few very nice replies that I will follow up with review copies.

Before long I will be on a first name basis at the Post Office.

I know there is an audience for this book, a potentially large audience.

And I’m beginning to find them. Or, to put it more optimistically, they’re beginning to find me.