The ebook factory

Strategies, ideas and operational instructions for creating income streams through writing and publishing an ebook

Stefano Calicchio

• Publisher: Stefano Calicchio
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9791220241939
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

How do you turn the idea of an ebook into a source of income? How can you successfully enter the ebook market? What are the strategies followed by authors who are able to earn steady income from digital publishing? This guide is designed to offer strategies, ideas and operational instructions for those who want to write and publish a successful ebook but don't know where to start. In it, you will discover how you can create income through your digital publications. But joining the ranks of authors who can boast their own publication in the ebook market also offers exciting new career prospects.
In this practical handbook, you will discover how to generate a steady income stream by writing ebooks. The reader is taken by the hand and led through an informative journey that provides an overview of the industry. From ebook design to market research, from publication and distribution to marketing strategies. All in simple, essential and direct language. Stop wasting time trying to work out which strategies really work and discover now how to make the most of your time and experience with a guide that works.

Chapter 1: How ebook annuities work

Ebook, this unknown

The field of ebooks is a discipline that has recently seen a lot of attention from the main players in the publishing market. The reason is quite simple if we consider that this innovative tool allows an empowerment of the whole cultural system in which we are immersed. Electronic books are not replacing traditional books, but promise to have a major impact on the future of publishing. For many readers, it is now a simple and effective way of accessing important information, and for writers, a good opportunity for visibility and income.

The reason for this is quite simple to explain: the adoption of ebooks is a winning approach within a supply chain that has reached its natural saturation with paper. The consequences and positive repercussions of the introduction of electronic books in the publishing sector are therefore considerable, even if we consider several points of view.

• For authors, ebooks allow them to enter unexplored market niches with a renewed freshness. It also opens up many new opportunities to meet their readers, which previously could only be mediated through a traditional publishing house. It is therefore not surprising that both first-time and established authors are showing considerable interest in the new instrument. This tool is also being used by many professionals to promote their business and improve their branding.
• For readers, ebooks promise a renewed freedom to read (e.g. on multiple devices) and a greater purchasing power for the same amount of money, since many ebooks are on the market at lower prices than paper editions. The reading experience also allows an enriched fruition of the text, both in terms of formatting and in terms of multimedia of the reference formats (capabilities in many ways unexplored so far by digital publishing). Finally, there is a great advantage in terms of space and physical weight of books, since the number of books that can be consulted from an electronic device is only influenced by the size of the device's memory. It is therefore possible to have a huge library of hundreds of books at hand at all times, all ready to be used by the same digital reader.
• For distributors and potential publishers, ebooks offer the opening of a new market to be explored, considerable advantages in the management of editions, in the updatability of contents and, last but not least, in their distribution capacity. The ebook should also allow a considerable enrichment of publishing catalogues, as several fixed costs that previously limited the number of unpublished works are no longer present.

Much more could be said about how and why digital books represent the innovation that the publishing market has been waiting for for a long time, just as there are many academic and journalistic references and studies that highlight interesting trends in this regard. One example, by no means exhaustive, is the study reported by the Wall Street Journal (see the sitography for the link) in which it is noted that the number of books read by those who own an ebook reader has drastically increased compared to readers of the traditional paper format.

Although this guide will focus on the considerable opportunities that have opened up for the ebook author and the best strategies for turning a digital book into an income stream, understanding the importance of this innovative tool within the current publishing environment is crucial.

How to generate an income stream by writing ebooks

At this point, many people will be wondering about the earning potential of writing and publishing ebooks. The key question in this respect is: how do you generate income by writing ebooks? Generally speaking, we should consider that publishing ebooks facilitates the whole publishing process that normally characterises the traditional model.

Publishing a book through a traditional publishing contract can be very complicated and may involve going through multiple filters at the same time. It is also very time-consuming (and in the case of authors who choose to bear most of the publishing costs, also very expensive). Please note, the above assumptions are not necessarily related to the quality of the content: there are many excellent books which for various reasons do not make it to traditional bookstores, and the opposite phenomenon can occur.

All these considerations fall by the wayside with digital publishing, because the procedure followed to reach the final publication can be streamlined considerably if there is no simultaneous print and digital publishing. In addition, many distributors also allow for print-on-demand options. More importantly, this process allows authors to approach the publishing market with more focused publishing interventions that are more closely tailored to the real needs of readers. In a nutshell, ebooks fit perfectly into the long tail theory of the market with which Chris Anderson has well represented the digital content distribution revolution.

This does not mean that publishing an ebook is extremely easy to succeed. The above picture also highlights another element that is often overlooked by those who promise easy money through ebook publishing. Indeed, the new possibilities offered to authors with the advent of ebooks require commitment and research work and market positioning that was previously left to the publisher.

Generating income in the field of ebooks is possible and even feasible, but it is important to emphasise that interesting results can only be obtained through the establishment of a conversation with one's reading public, which cannot therefore be exhausted in the sporadic publication of a book. On the contrary, the relationship with one's readers must be continuously cultivated and must have a stable and lasting character.

Writing ebooks and publishing them online is in some respects similar to investing in land or real estate. The owner of a property also has to be careful in its administration. He or she will have to follow the property's progress, its ordinary and extraordinary maintenance and anticipate the tenant's needs or possible inconveniences in order to minimise any extraordinary costs if he or she wants to make a good profit. Income is certainly not automatic or guaranteed by divine will, and the same can be said for those working in the field of ebo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• THE EBOOK FACTORY
• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: How ebook annuities work
• Ebook, this unknown
• How to generate an income stream by writing ebooks
• Factors involved in creating an ebook income
• Chapter 2: How to write your own ebook
• Designing the ebook
• The worldwide ebook market: characteristics and main players
• How to market your ebook
• Case History: Google's tools for niche selection
• Tips for creating the ebook
• Enhancing the basic idea
• Chapter 3: How to distribute and promote your ebook
• How to find out the ideal distribution channels for an ebook
• How to promote your ebook
• The editorial marketing plan
• How to understand if your marketing activity works
• What nobody tells you about ebooks
• Conclusions