Writing skills are among the most valuable talents one can possess in today’s era. Quality content has become the new way to distinguish oneself from the crowd and leave an impression on the reader. This impression can bring in new opportunities along with monetary benefits. But just unique content won’t make the deal. It needs to be packaged in the right format so that it can be consumed seamlessly. That is why choosing the best format to publish one’s content is often considered the make-or-break question.
The Case For Ebooks and Ebook Publishing
With the arrival of the digital age, various formats are available in which content can be published. One of the most popular of these formats is ebooks (there were 335.7 million sold last year!). Ebooks are the digital versions of books and are portable and lightweight. Their versatility and wide range of formatting options are the main reasons behind their success amongst writers and businesses looking to getting content published. Ebooks are read on all kinds of devices, and there are tons of ebook publishing services that offer all sorts of different genres to explore.
A significant highlight of ebooks is the ease of publishing them due to their digital nature. Gone are the days when it used to take weeks to publish books and even more for their sales to start coming in. One can now launch their ebooks on major digital ebook platforms and see it getting recognized instantly. But with so many different publishing companies to choose from, how can one ensure picking the right one? Here are some things to look for while browsing through all the ebook publishing services out there.
Pricing
This is easily one of the main priorities for anyone looking to getting their ebook published. All the available publishing companies aggressively price their services in a bid to attract more business than competitors. For the client, the cheapest option is always going to be the best one. But it is not always as simple as that. When some companies offer a lower price, that often comes bundled with trade-offs that the consumer may not appreciate. Therefore it is essential to understand the kind of privileges an ebook company can ask for in exchange for more discounted pricing.
Fortunately, prominent ebook publishing names like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, Apple Books, and Barnes & Noble Press offer free pricing to publishing ebooks. With most of the market share under these giants, they are good choices if pricing is the primary concern.
Royalties
After deciding on a specific ebook publishing service and publishing the ebook, the publishing company sends a particular part of the sales to the client and keeps the remaining for itself.
This author’s share is called royalty. It is a fixed share and is a common aspect that comes with partnering up with any publishing company. When deciding on going ahead with a particular ebook publishing service, this is crucial to keep in mind. It often becomes the cause of disputes between clients and publishing companies.
Major ebook publishing companies have a varying policy on royalty shares. While Apple Books has it fixed at 70%, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and Barnes & Noble Press have it different depending on the ebook pricing.
Perks and Incentives
While the essential services provided by most ebook publishing companies are mostly the same, most of these publishing services offer additional benefits as packages. Often these benefits become a significant incentive to go ahead with a particular ebook publisher. For example, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing offers the option to sell an ebook on its Kindle platform only exclusively. With this comes access to discount deals and unlimited access to their ebook library. On the other hand, Barnes and Noble Press offers clients to craft and manage the ad campaign for advertising their ebook.
As we saw, having so many details to look into and choosing from so many options can appear a bit daunting. It can lead one to believe that choosing the right ebook publishing service to publish your ebook is not straightforward. But it is worth it to weigh different ebook publishers against each other and settle on the one that suits your preference the most. Looking at the above aspects, a preferable ebook publishing service seems to be one that offers the most competitive pricing, the fairest royalty terms, and the most attractive incentives.
