K K Rush on changes in ebook publishing that are important to you, yes you

[Andre Jute]

Matt Posner sent this to my other group, Indie Authors International:

Kristine Kathryn Rusch on changes in the publishing industry. http://kriswrites.com/2013/05/15/the-...

[J.D.]

Excellent article, Andre, and very good news, indeed. Thanks so much for linking to it!

[Andre Jute]

Matt Posner spotted it. I was just copying it here.

[Katie]

I really must get onto Createspace. I keep saying that, but then I look and think, no, too hard.

[Andre Jute]

Surely you of all people can set up a page grid, Katie, and pour some type into it? It's not all that difficult, and I've published samples here on ROBUST and on my blog, for instance at http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/ar... Or you could get a copy of my book GRIDS the Structure of Graphic Design from the library. In addition, you must extend the cover, which you already have, around the spine and onto the back cover, and allow for bleed all round. That's it, and Bob's yer auntie.

[Katie]

Actually, Bob's my brother-in-law.

I know I can do it, but it's just one of those jobs which, like formatting a book for Amazon or Smashwords, requires me to sit down and DO it and I'm so good at putting off new 'experiences'. When I get this next batch of illustrations out of the way, I will seriously look at it...before I panic again.

[Matt]

I was recently informed by my Indian publisher Vitasta that they were dropping my series after book 3. I had sort of been expecting that, and that relationship has been rocky anyway, but it occurred to me that I may as well use CreateSpace -- which I dropped for School of the Ages because book formatting is such a struggle and I can't afford to pay someone -- but which has worked very well for Jess and me with Teen Guide to Sex and Relationships which has now sold in India and several other countries. I may not get a lot of sales for CreateSpace editions, but I will know what the sales are and get paid rapidly. Andre, I will look at that page of yours.

[Andre Jute]

The two books that CoolMain has in Createspace, IDITAROD and the LARSSON book, will never pay for the work that went into them. We made them because librarians or readers requested print versions. However, if Rush is right, physical book sales through Createspace might get a boost. Note that I don't say "Take off."

My time and Mick's time are very expensive. An ebook recovers formatting costs in a few hundred copies, probably under a thousand, unless something has gone wrong, like Apple's recent insistence on the NCX index including a link to every single page break (aaargh!) which took us a week to get to grips with and will require more time to fix up the makeshift we're currently allowing D2D to make for us to save our own time. Current thinking is that we'll to bite the bullet, do it ourselves to be certain of doing it right, and do it for every book. It will push break-even, even of ebooks, up to perhaps 2000 copies. (Bill, the financial partner, has some numbers, but he's gone fishing. These numbers are close enough.)

D2D also offers to use the PDF to make a Createspace book, but they admit freely it won't be pretty, at present anyway. That just isn't good enough. A book should be at least not offensive in any aesthetic sense, and preferably beautiful to look at and handle.

I'm thinking of selling a set of templates that people can pour books into for Createspace, but the problem is that my templates were made for QuarkXPress, a piece of software that probably costs roundabout two grand by the time you have it installed with all the necessary extras, and debugged; it also requires graphic design knowledge and skills at an elevated level. It would be a lot of work to recycle my templates into some simpler shell, of which MSWord is the obvious candidate.

I used to give away a generic set of templates (for all kinds of publications, not just books) but that was with a forty dollar book that was commissioned by a consortium of publishers around the world, and the floppy disc (!) on which those templates were supplied in 1992 or 1996 or whenever the book was published -- too hurried to look it up -- is now an obsolete medium. In any event, those templates too presumed prior installation of QuarkXPress, and several other expensive professional programs like Adobe's Illustrator.

A "template", for those of you new to graphic design terminology, is a form or a shape that repeats, which automatically formats text for you, so that you don't have to do it manually for every page. A template saves enormous amounts of time and guarantees uniformity. Making templates is exceedingly skilled work though, requiring intimate knowledge of all the reprographics trades.

[Andre Jute]

Matt wrote: "I was recently informed by my Indian publisher Vitasta that they were dropping my series after book 3. I had sort of been expecting that, and that relationship has been rocky anyway, but it occurre..."

I was approached by an Indian publisher a couple of weeks ago for one of my books and said "No, thanks." I just can't be bothered with the hassle.

But that they've gone to three volumes from your series is encouraging, Matt. I anyway way thought that some of your themes, taken in admittedly at a quick glance through the other books in the series than the one for which I gave you a jacket blurb, would be dicey for a publisher to handle in India. On the other hand, what do I know; I haven't been in India in 30 years, and that your and Jess's sex ed book sells there is a contra-indication; maybe their attitudes have moved on.

[K.A.]

I like Create Space. I sell enough books, face-to-face and online, to make it worth the extra money and effort to have paperbacks.

[Andre Jute]

Good for you, Kat. (Raises brandy with lots of ginger ale to make a refreshing summer aperitif.) I still like the feel of a proper book in my hands.

[K.A.]

I'm doing a book signing in Ashtabula in August. I won't have the new book cover for Swallow the Moon. However, I'm only taking 3 dozen or so copies.

I like selling paperbacks face to face.