Editor’s Note: This is my first post on this, my amateurish blog site, and my copy editor is not available. In the movie, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” my favorite line was “Everything will be alright in the end and if it isn’t alright then it is not the end.” This blog page will be alright in the end.
Statistics say that the average self-published author will sell 150 books with many of them going to friends and relatives. That is a staggering bit of news for any aspiring author. Publishers charges and cost per book make profit impossible, and besides, who wants to spend all that time writing a book when only relatives and friends will buy it.
So, this is interesting. EBooks are crushing paperback and hardcover in percentage of sales growth. The market dollar size is still larger for mass-market paperback books but eBooks are catching up fast.
Some good news is that after they publish your paperback, most publishers will produce an eBook at no, or at a small handling charge because the production files already exist. (If they don’t you need a new publisher) The pdf files are the same as for the print copy. Amazon has a lending library program that allows readers to read eBooks for free. The author agrees to this. And why would an Author agree to this? Because his or her book is not selling anyway and this is a way to get readership. I have four books published over the past three years. The one I consider my best is hovering at 7,500,000 on Amazon sellers list but hope burns eternal, and I expect high readership in the Amazon library.
What about you? Have you tried it?
Ned Lord