kwiesner: Sure. I've prepared a short intro. 

Jerri: Great Karen! I was hoping you would. Folks, this is a moderated chat. Post ? if you would like to ask a questions and ! if you want to make a comment, and I'll let you know when to send. 

kwiesner: Thanks, everyone, for joining me tonight. I'm the author of ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING The Definitive Guide (THe Most COmprehensive Reference to Non-Subsidy E-Publishing, which is in its 2nd edition with Avid Press, LLC http://www.avidpress.com/wiesner.htm . I also do a monthly column at Inkspot titled Electronic Publishing Q&A. (Link no longer available) I've had 6 electronic novels published, a novella, and have sold 3 more novels, a children's story and another non-fiction. My area of expertise is royalty-paying, non-subsidy e-publishing, as well as author opportunites and promotion in the medium. For more info about my work after the chat, visit my website at http://karenwiesner.hypermart.net . I await your questions and comments. : ) 

barefoot: ? 

Jerri: Wow! You're a busy person Karen. Go ahead, Barefoot! 

barefoot: what is the biggest difference you have found between electronic publishing and a hard bound book publishing situation 

kwiesner: I assume you mean just print bound, not specifically "hard bound"??? 

barefoot: correct 

kwiesner: The biggest difference...well, the writer has so much more control! 

barefoot: ? 

kwiesner: I don't have to worry about writing based on a trend, word length, etc. There are no taboo topics in e-publishing. Anything goes. That's nice. We get to tell our stories the way they need to be told. 

Jerri: Another questions Barefoot? 

barefoot: no - Karen already answered it 

kyle: ? 

Jerri: Karen, let me ask you, what are some of the changes that have taken place in the epublishing industry in the last year? 

kwiesner: First, e-publishers have been cropping up left and right. Many of them are non-subsidy publishers too. In the first edition of the Guide, there were 60 e-publishers. In the 2nd, 130. More than doubled and that keeps rising. 2nd, more e-publishers are looking into print on demand format, in addition to offering e-books. 3rd, we're getting respect from so many areas that refused to even consider the idea of e-publishing in the past. E-books are being reviewed by some of the biggest print magazines in the industry. Things are looking very good for the future. : ) 

Jerri: Kyle, would you like to ask your question? 

kyle: Which, in your opinion makes more money for the writer, ebooks or print? 

kwiesner: Right now--hands down, print. It's an established medium, people are comfortable with it and some are unwilling to accept change. However, the potential for money lies with e-books. They're cheaper, quality and you can buy them 24 hours a day if you have internet access. 

kyle: ? 

kwiesner: Royalties are also so much higher that authors are actually getting a great deal if they decide to go with a non-subsidy epublisher. 

Jerri: Go ahead Kyle. 

kyle: Do you think the quality of wriitng found in ebooks is comparable to that in print? 

barefoot: ? 

kwiesner: Oh, definitely. I really do. I've read tons of e-books and I love the diversity. You actually get a story unlike what's in vogue in NY. I've actually only read one or two e-books I *didn't* like. In case you're wondering, e-books are edited. 

kyle: ! 

kwiesner: The editing process with e-publishing is exactly the same as with traditional publishing. 

Jerri: Barefoot, your turn 

barefoot: what does "non-subsidy" mean? 

kwiesner: Sorry. Non-subsidy basically means that the author doesn't pay a dime at any time to have their book published. 

barefoot: ? 

kwiesner: A subsidy publisher will ask you to pay some, most or all of the costs for producing, distributing *and* marketing your book. 

Jerri: Kyle, you had a comment? 

kyle: I have published an ebook but wasn;t thrilled with the quality of the editing and was wondering if that was the norm or just the particular publisher I went with 

kwiesner: Was it published by a non-subsidy e-publisher, kyle? 

kyle: yes 

kwiesner: Hmm, well, it could just be a fluke or you could ask for another editior. I suggest you talk to some of the other authors 

kyle: thanks 

kwiesner: with this publisher and find out what they though of the editing. If they weren't thrilled either, you might want to move your book to another publisher. You need to feel comfortable with it. 

Jerri: Barefoot, you had another question? 

barefoot: question answered - thanks, Karen is reading my mind!! :-) 

kwiesner: LOL! 

barefoot: ? 

Jerri: Well, I have a question, Karen. What does it take for an author to make an ebook successful? 

kwiesner: Aggressive, all out promotion. 

frenchfoodADM: ? 

Jerri: Barefoot? 

kwiesner: And the thing is, with e-books you need to try everything. On-line, off-line. You really have to get your name out there wherever you possibly can. 

barefoot: what is the best way to pick a good e-book publisher? My guess is to check with other authors?? 

kwiesner: That's a good start, barefoot. 

frenchfoodADM: What sort of promotion seems to work best for you? 

kwiesner: Also, listen to what other people are talking about when it comes to e-publishing? Does one or two of the e-publishers come up whenever e-publishing is talked about? Also, the Guide will help. (shameless promotion!) ; ) 

Jerri: ROFL! The guide IS an excellent resource. 

kwiesner: First, let me say that promotion isn't a one-shot thing. You have to create a web with your promotion. Thanks, Jerri. On-line, get your name and web site URL, etc. on any website for writers. 

barefoot: ! 

kwiesner: Off-line, co-op ads in trade magazines are very popular and effective. Live chats are also great. : ) 

Jerri: Anne does that answer your question? 

frenchfoodADM: yes, great ideas 

Jerri: Barefoot, you had a comment? 

barefoot: guess I need to get my fingers flying and write an article to sell so I can buy your guide!! 

frenchfoodADM: I'm too busy to do an ebook though-it's on my list 

kwiesner: LOL! I hope you get paid more than $10-15. : ) 

barefoot: hehe ayuh 

kwiesner: Sounds like me, Anne. Too much on that list! 

Jerri: Well, Karen, how does an e-author's promotion differ from a p-authors promo? 

kwiesner: A print published author's promotion is mostly built-in. Everyone knows the big publishers. They don't need to promote anymore. Authors get built in sales from this. An e-author doesn't have that luxury at all. An e-author has to have a web site. Absolutely has to. It's the biggest means of promotion an author has. 

barefoot: ? 

Jerri: Barefoot? 

barefoot: is there a limit to the size (ie word count) of an e-book? 

kwiesner: Never. Another great thing. Whatever word count your book ends up with is fine. 

barefoot: way kewl 

Jamie: ! 

Jerri: Yes, Jamie? 

Jamie: Another dif in e-book promotion is there's a lot of education involved on how to read the books, which you don't have in print. 

kwiesner: Is this Jamie Engle? 

Heather2: ? 

Jamie: For word count, the publisher might put limits on it, but usually higher than a print pub's. Yes, it's me :) 

barefoot: ? 

kwiesner: Hi Jamie. Yes, good points. And Jamie would know--she spends tons of time educating the public on e-publishing. 

Jerri: Heather, you can go ahead 

Heather2: Because it is e-publishing, would you say that limits the genre/subject to things widely searched for on the net? 

kwiesner: I'm sorry, could you be more specific, Heather? Do you mean nonfiction? 

Heather2: For instance, would a how to book have more chance at success than a novel. 

kwiesner: Yes, nonfiction does extremely well in e-publishing. Very good point. 

Heather2: :-) 

kwiesner: Each fiction genre has a smaller niche than nonfiction. ga 

Jerri: Barefoot? 

barefoot: do people usually read the ebook online using a special program or print it out to read? Can you print one out that you have purchased? (snuck in two questions hehe) 

kwiesner: Dedicated devices, like the Rocket e-reader, are very popular. Special programs like Adobe Acrobat and using your browser are also extremely popular. HTML is personally my favorite. But I do admit I print out a lot of the e-books I buy because it's easier to just pick up a couple pages 

Heather2: ? 

kwiesner: whenever I have a free minute, rather than load my computer. 

Heather2: How does print on demand work? 

kwiesner: You've got a lot of options with how to read an e-book-- I wanted to add. 

Jerri: Karen, did you see Heather's question? 

kwiesner: Print on demand is actually what traditional publishing started out being. A book is printed when it's ordered 

Heather2: ! 

kwiesner: At the EPIC conference I recently attended, one of the e-publishers told me that they bought a machine that you load the book file into, then it prints the pages, prints the cover, then binds it--all on the same machine and within 5 minutes. Sounded very neat. 

Heather2: So that could "revolutionize" e-publishing by drawing in folks like me who won't want to read online or take the time to print. 

kwiesner: Oh, she also said you can print them in any size. 

barefoot: ! 

Jamie: ? 

kwiesner: Yes, I think that would be a huge incentive. 

Jerri: barefoot? 

barefoot: that sounds like a marvelous machine!!!! 

kwiesner: I heard of one site that will offer the visitor any option of how they'd like their book--e-book on disk, download, print. 

kyle: ? 

Jerri: Jamie? 

Jamie: Which pub was it? 

kwiesner: I wish I could remember. LightningSource? I really can't remember, but I was talking to Sally Walker from The Fiction Works. OR was that what you meant? 

Jerri: Kyle? 

kyle: Sorry if you covered this already--I got booted. How widespread is print on demand? 

kwiesner: Many, many of the e-publishers I've talked to are at least in the discussion stage of offering POD to their customers (and authors!) I would say that of the 130 publishers listed in the Guide, almost half of them were thinking about it, many actively pursuing it. 

barefoot: ? 

Jerri: Karen, what professional organizations for e-authors are you involved in? 

kwiesner: EPIC. I'm in other groups, and some support e-publishing to varying degress. I meant degrees. : ) 

Jerri: Barefoot? 

barefoot: any downsides to ebooks that you have experienced? 

kwiesner: The only downside is that so many people don't know about it, or they're just begining to know, so if an e-author does a booksigning...it can be a little embarrassing because you rarely sell any books. 

barefoot: ??? 

kwiesner: The money is sometimes a downside, but that's changing rapidly, at least for me, because I've got so many books out there in a variety of genres. Other than that, e-publishing is the single best thing that has ever happened to my career. ga 

Jerri: barefoot? 

barefoot: how do you "sign" an ebook that is online??? :-) 

kwiesner: LOL! 

Jerri: LOL! I knew that was coming. =) 

barefoot: hehehehe couldn't resist... 

kwiesner: I've never gone with a publisher who only offers downloads. 

barefoot: good point 

kwiesner: I'd have to assume that they *don't* do booksignings, and if they did, they would make their own disk copies to sell. 

Jamie: ! 

Jerri: yes, Jamie? 

Jamie: Actually, they're experimenting with electronic signatures for downloads. 

kwiesner: Neat! 

Jamie: The booksignings are done in chats like this. If the customer orderes withing so many hours, they received an electronically signed version. 

kwiesner: Names, Jamie. Do you know a publisher doing this? 

Jamie Encrypted signature of course. It's not a publisher... 

barefoot: ? 

Jamie: It's Glassbook 

kwiesner: Ahh. OK. Thanks for sharing. : ) 

Jerri: I've also heard that Authors will print their covers, sign them, and fax them to those who request a copy. Or sign the lables of their diskettes. 

kwiesner: I sign the "J-cards" of my disks and CDs. 

Jerri: barefoot? 

barefoot: do any writers publish their own ebooks successfully? (and make money on them?) 

kwiesner: Definitely. Anyone hear of MJ Rose? 

barefoot: yes 

kwiesner: She originally published LIP SERVICE as an e-book, on her own. 

barefoot: ? 

kwiesner: THen she got so many requests for print versions, she decided to self-publish it. SHe was an aggressive promoter and her story is total success. Self-publishing is a very popular thing to do these days. I think there's money into it. OK, this time I'm really finished. ; ) 

kyle: ? 

Jerri: There was an awesome article in my newsletter last issue about MJ. Remind me, and I'll send you the link Barefoot. Kyle, go ahead/ 

kyle: I know when you publish an ebook you have to do a lot of promoting. Is that also true with print publishing? 

kwiesner: Not necessarily. As I said before, print authors have built in sales 

barefoot: ? 

kwiesner: because everyone knows who publishes their books. Even a poor selling traditional book probably sells more than a popular e-book...for now. That'll change in the future. 

Jerri: barefoot? 

barefoot: so a person could obtain some sort of software program that will "publish" an ebook and then promote it themselves? 

kwiesner: Sure. My Word program saves to HTML format. If I wanted to, I could sell my own e-book that way and promote it like crazy from a web site. 

barefoot: ? 

Jerri: barefoot? 

barefoot: what made you go with a publisher then? 

kwiesner: I knew nothing about e-publishing when I sent my first book to an e-publisher. I just saw it as my last chance because I'd gotten so many "great rejections" from print publishers who just wouldn't take a chance on a book that broke all the rules, even if it was a great book. 

barefoot: understood 

kwiesner: When I got the call 2 weeks later, I knew I better find out all I could about the medium. What I found both excited and scared me a little. Things have changed *a lot* in the industry since my first e-book came out in June 1998. 

Jerri: Karen, what are "average" sales on an e-book? 

barefoot: ? 

kyle: ? 

kwiesner: Let me first say that I doubt there are any 'average'. I think Jamie could answer this better than I could, since she kept the bestseller list for so long. Jamie? Or should I make a stab at guessing? 

Jamie: Take a stab :) 

kwiesner: OK, I'd say 100-200 copies within 2 years of being available. Mind you, that's just a rough guess. Anywhere in the ballpark, Jamie? 

Jamie: I think I'd cut that to a year or so 

kwiesner: I'm impressed. Thanks, Jamie. 

Jerri: Interesting! Barefoot, your turn. 

kwiesner: OH, I should add that I was talking about fiction. Nonfiction is probably twice that. 

barefoot: please elaborate on the excited and "scared" part........... and do you think libraries will start to acquire ebooks for people to read there? 

kwiesner: Scared because nobody knew anything about e-publishing, who was I going to sell my book to if no one knew what an e-book was? Scared because no one wanted to review e-books. 

barefoot: understood 

kwiesner: Excited because I could finally sell my genre-straddling, rule breaking books and maybe get some fans. 

Jerri: Kyle, your turn. 

kyle: Sorry again if you;ve covered this--have you self-published and if not, would you consider it now that you know more about ebooks? 

kwiesner: No, I have self-published any of my own work. Even though I think it's definitely a viable option for any author, I don't think I have the guts for it. 

kyle: ? 

kwiesner: It takes a very courageous author to do something like this. Besides, you have to be willing to spend most of your time promoting once you get the book out there. I'd rather have a publisher take care of all the details and do promotion when I can. 

Jerri: I think Karen meant she has NOT self-published any of her own work. Kyle, go ahead. 

barefoot: ? 

kwiesner: Oops. Yes, that's what I meant. LOL! 

kyle: Would you say it's considered more "prestigious" to go with an ebook publisher rather than self-publish? 

kwiesner: Not really. Not anymore. The world of publishing is changing so rapidly. I think self-publishing and e-publishing are both very vogue and will become more popular in the future. 

Jamie: ! 

kyle: ? 

Jerri: barefoot, your turn. 

barefoot: do you think libraries will start to acquire ebooks for people to read there? 

kwiesner: Forgot that one. Libraries are selectively trying to impliment e-books now. It'll be interesting to see what happens with that in 6 months. 

Heather2: ! 

Jerri: Jamie, you had a comment? 

Jamie: Two. For prestigious, it depends on which e-publisher you choose. A nonsubsidy epublisher is more elevated than a vanity epublisher, same as in print. For libraries, universities are the first ones to join, using a variety of methods. Different ones are trying devices and online digital libraries. Public libraries are doing the same types of test programs, but in smaller numbers. 

kwiesner: Thanks, Jamie. : ) 

Jerri: Kyle, your question? 

barefoot: wonderful info 

kyle: How do you promote your ebooks? 

kwiesner: Think we answered this before, but having a web page is essential. Live chats, on-line and off-line
interviews, 

kwiesner: reviews, co-op ads in on-line and trade magazines. Just actively getting your name out there everywhere. Hi Liz. Welcome. 

Jamie: ? 

Rusty: ? 

Jerri: Heather, you had a comment? 

Heather2: I just want you to know that I've had ebooks come up as an option to me time and again and always dismissed it ... now I'm really thinking this might be viable, and have several ideas popping. Thanks! 

kwiesner: No problem, Kyle. : ) Thanks for sharing, Heather. I'm happy to hear that. If you want to talk more privately about specific areas, please feel free to e-mail me. 

Heather2: will do! 

Jerri: Jamie? 

Jamie: Karen, don't you use excerpt diskettes too? If so, how effective do you find them to be? 

kwiesner: OH yes, these are really great promotional items. Sampler or excerpt diskettes basically contain about 3 chapters of your books and an order form. It's hard to get people to buy e-books because they're never sure if they're quality, if they'll like reading it on screen. But a sampler disk is free and it make entice someone who would have passed you by before. 

Jerri: Rusty, you had a question? 

Rusty: Do all e-books have to have an ISBN 

kwiesner: No, not all e-books do. But I'd say a vast majority of them do. 

barefoot: ? 

kwiesner: I can only think of one or two publishers off-hand who don't use them. 

Jerri: Barefoot? 

barefoot: where does one obtain an ISBN - should they decide to self publish? 

kwiesner: From R.R. Bowkers. They have a website. You buy a block of numbers. 

barefoot: ? 

Jerri: barefoot? 

barefoot: are the numbers very expensive? 

kwiesner: Expensive, but worth it considering that people will be able to buy your books from bookstores. Yes, I've heard very, very expensive. 

barefoot: ? 

Jerri: I've heard that ISBN numbers start at areound $195 for a block of ten, but that is changing as epublishing gets more popular. 

Jerri: barefoot? 

barefoot: like $100 or more like $1000 for a block of numbers? 

barefoot: asked and answered :-) 

Jamie: $250/10, I think. 

barefoot: great minds!!! 

kwiesner: I think they raised the price recently. 

Jerri: Thanks Jamie. I knew that it was changing, I just hadn't seen any updates lately. 

barefoot: ! 

Jerri: Anyone else? 

Jerri: barefoot? 

barefoot: great info you are sharing with us!!! it is really appreciated 

kwiesner: Thanks. : ) 

kyle: Thank you, Karen. Very helpful. 

kwiesner: Nice to have so many people who know so much. 

Jerri: Did everyone get their questions answered? 

barefoot: YES...................... thanks 

frenchfoodADM: Thank you Karen, very informative 

Jamie: Great job Karen! 

kwiesner: THanks, everyone. I had a great time. : ) 

Jerri: Karen was there anything else you wanted to add? 

Rusty: catch you again Karen and thank you 

frenchfoodADM: Congratulations on all your success pioneering into this new way of publishing, it's exciting 

kwiesner: Buy my book. No, seriously, just find out what you can and do what you feel comfortable with. Good luck to everyone! 

Jerri: LOL! Yes, do buy the book...it's the best $10-15 you'll spend. i'm about to order the CD for myself although I have the download. 

barefoot: ? 

Jerri: barefoot? 

barefoot: what is the difference between the CD and a download? 

kwiesner: CD is like the music CD's. Download is an attachment to an e-mail. 

End of transcript.