Selling Books for Ebook Readers

 With the introduction of the Apple iPad, competition among ebook reading devices is heating up.

When the Kindle ebook reader was first introduced in late 2007, it was priced at $399, but by 2009 the price had fallen to $259. In June of 2010, Amazon dropped the price of the Kindle ebook reader to $189, and they have started selling Kindles at Target stores across the U.S. The Kindle (shown to the left) holds about 1,500 ebooks and the screen measures 6 inches diagonally.

The new third-generation Kindle appeared in late August of 2010, along with a Kindle Wi-Fi version that has no 3G (cell phone network) access and sells for just $139.

The larger Kindle DX model holds 3,500 ebooks and the screen measures 9.7 inches diagonally. The newest version of the DX was released in July and the price dropped from $489 to $379.

If you don't have a Kindle, you can still enjoy Kindle books on your computer, iPhone or Blackberry. Just download the free Kindle reader application.

Barnes & Noble's Nook ereader starts at $149 and the new NookColor is $249.

Sony developed one of the first electronic books in the early 1990's. The current Sony Reader device comes in three different models and the prices were lowered in early July. The wi-fi enabled Daily Edition dropped from $349 to $299, the Touch Edition dropped from $199 to $169, and the Pocket Edition went from $169 to $149.

On the Borders website, there's an interesting chart comparing the features of several ebook readers.

What does all this competition this mean for publishers? As ebook readers become more affordable, sales of the devices should increase, which will broaden the market for ebooks.

According to the Association of American Publishers, ebook sales for April of 2010 were $27.4 million, an increase of 127.4 percent from last year. With the rapid growth of ebook sales, it's clear that publishers can't afford to be left behind as consumer reading habits change. So, how do you make your book available for these ebook readers?

You can create your own Kindle files, following Amazon's instructions, but your file will only be in Kindle format. Amazon is now offering a 70% royalty option to authors on Kindle books - see this page for details on how to qualify.

To learn how to distribute your ebook through the Barnes & Noble online bookstore, send an email to [email protected].

One of the easiest ways to make your book available for multiple ebook readers is to publish through Smashwords, which makes ebooks available in several formats, including those compatible with iPad, Nook, and Sony Reader. (Soon they will also offer distribution in Kindle format through Amazon.) You'll need to format your text according to the Smashwords Style Guide. See this article for more information about how Smashwords works.

Another option is to hire someone to do the ebook conversion for you. Joshua Tallent at ebook Architects has been converting and formatting ebooks since 2002 and he can handle a variety of formats including Kindle/Mobipocket, ePub, eReader, LIT, and Smashwords. You can buy his Kindle Formatting: The Complete Guide or hire him to handle the formatting for you.

See these articles for more information:

Adventures with Smashwords - Signing Up as a Small Publisher by James Byrd

Adventures with Smashwords - Publishing an E-Book by James Byrd

Adventures in Smashwords - Getting Premium Distribution by James Byrd

E-readers and Tablets Could Become This Decade's MP3 Players, Says BCG Survey

Book Sales Statistics

Comments

[Heather Wardell]

I've got three books available with Smashwords now and have been very impressed with them overall.

The one area that isn't so great is speed in getting books out to the other sites. I'm not sure whether the sites (Amazon, B&N, etc.) are the bottleneck or whether Smashwords is, but it took ages (like, 2 months) and I eventually posted to Amazon myself to speed things up.

However, Smashwords does a great job with making books available in a variety of formats, which I appreciate. I didn't have any trouble meeting their style requirements either.

[Dana Lynn Smith]

Heather thank you so much for sharing your experience with Smashwords!

[James Byrd]

Thanks again for the links, Dana Lynn. The Smashwords team has done a "smashing" job of helping authors deal with the confusing world of digital publishing.

I agree with Heather that it can take a while for your book to get into premium distribution, but I doubt Smashwords is the bottleneck. Also, Smashwords is not yet distributing to Amazon (they need to upgrade their "Meatgrinder" formatting process to meet Amazon specifications), so going directly through the Amazon Digital Text Platform will definitely get you there faster.

[Dana Lynn Smith]

Wow, I've had to update this article twice as the prices continue to fall on e-readers. I think it will definitely boost sales of the devices.

[Heather Wardell]

Good point, James. I have opted out of Smashwords' Amazon distribution and made my two books available there myself in days.

[Kirstin Hofkens]

If you are a children's books author and want to publish your book in an interactive way with voice over, different languages, recording of Mom and Dads voice and many more features, please get in contact with us: [email protected]

More info here: www.mobilechildrensbooks.com

[j guevara]

If you don't live in the States or have a USA bank account you can't publish on amazon Kindle. And they don't tell you that until AFTER you've jumped through all the hoops to set it up.
Try getting a USA bank account if you're not there. Fat chance.

Smash may be slow, but it's the only way to go.

Scribd is the same as Amazon. You can pub on Scribd, but you can't sell it there. Nice guys. Still, if someone wants to buy your novel, you can provide the Smash link. So, maybe they are nice guys, after all.

[desgreene]

The hurdle of getting a work published in ebook format has been made quite simple by Smashwords - however the problem of marketing the ebook is still not resolved.

That is the holy grail of all epublishers!

[Sarah Ettritch]

You no longer need a US bank account to publish to the Kindle through Amazon's DTP platform. They removed that requirement earlier this year.

I agree that Smashwords is a great place for eBooks.

[Dana Lynn Smith]

Thanks for the update Sarah - that information will be helpful to authors outside the U.S.

I am a fan of Smashwords for making your ebook available for multiple ebook readers, but as of today it looks like they still aren't able to distribute to Kindle. My advice is to publish for Kindle first, then use Smashwords to make your book available for the other major ebook readers like iPad, Nook, Sony and Kobo.

By the way, I am working on my first Kindle book right now - hope to publish this week!

[kindle 3g wireless reading device lover]

Thanks for sharing the smashwords software. A Customer of mine was interested in publishing an ebook for Kindle but got stuck in the format. I will inform him about your website.

[Dana Lynn Smith]

Thanks for sharing!