You’ve probably considered writing an e-book, and maybe even wrote one yourself. Perhaps you’ve even considered the potential for Amazon’s Kindle to be a vehicle to publish your e-book. Maybe you’ve even wondered if the trend of self-publishing will continue to grow and what the future of e-books holds.
Whatever your reasons for considering or actually writing an e-book, this post is for you. We’re going to explore the ins and outs of publishing an e-book to help guide you along the way.
The Growth Of E-Book Publishing
To start off, e-book publishing is a very different beast to physical book publishing. You’re not actually printing a set number of copies of your book, you’re essentially printing as many copies as someone is willing to pay for. That can mean any number from a few copies to hundreds or even thousands. Oftentimes, the more expensive the copy, the more copies you’ll get. Meaningful numbers like 500 or 1000 are fairly common.
This could be a gold mine for writers who want to break into the industry. Instead of spending years in school and then having to scramble for money to fund your first publication, you can now publish a book and become officially credentialed as a writer with a single click. Or, at the very least, cut out the middleman and save yourself a great deal of money.
The Changing Trends In Publishing
The line between a physical book and an e-book continues to blur. For decades, books have either been entirely physical or purely digital. However, with the rise of e-readers, tablets, and smartphones, the lines between the two blur further. Meaning, you can now publish an e-book and make it available for anyone to read, anywhere, anytime. The days of chaining yourself to a print-on-demand machine are largely gone.
This has major implications for writers and publishers. For one thing, it means traditional print-on-demand machines aren’t essential to publishing anymore. In past years, most writers and publishers would have needed high-quality print-on-demand machines in order to publish their books. These days, anyone with a decent computer or smartphone can do it. Even better, they can do it themselves or, at the very least, get someone to help them. Self-publishing has become so popular, there are even dedicated platforms like Smashwords that make it easy for anyone to publish a book – even those without any previous publishing experience. With so many digital tools available, the barrier to entry is incredibly low. So low, in fact, that it’s practically non-existent.
E-books Are The Future
E-books aren’t going anywhere. In fact, the opposite is true. The future of books is now. Which, for most of us, means that e-books are the future of publishing. Or, at the very least, a very viable option for anyone who wants to try it. Meaning, if you’re a writer who wants to publish a book, the easiest and probably the best route to go is e-book publishing. Why? For one thing, e-books are incredibly cheap to produce and, at the same time, fairly easy to do. Meaning, even small publishing houses can take advantage of this and get started on their own.
The trend of self-publishing continues to grow, as does the variety of e-books available. To name just a few: