Electronic Publishing vs Traditional Publishing
You might wonder, then, if there’s anything left to be said. Actually, there are still many topics that can be written about.
We live in an ever-changing world. Technologies change almost daily. New ideas are developed and put forward constantly. Our perspective of our life and the world around us are in constant flux.
Now is the perfect time to write an e-book.
While the ideas that exist in your head may have been written about, they haven’t been written about with your unique perspective. You have a fresh view of your world.
An e-book is the perfect method for conveying your ideas.
As rapidly as our society changes, traditional publishing is not always the most effective method for communicating. Electronic publishing, on the other hand, offers a rapid way to present your ideas to a global market.
Instant publishing and the ability to re-write and change e-book text quickly, means that ideas can be adapted and modified quickly – much quicker than traditional publishing.
Publishing an e-book is completely different than print publishing. Here’s what you need to know about electronic publishing and how to get your ideas published and distributed in an electronic format.
In traditional publishing, there have been two ways to get your ideas in print:
* Submitting a book to a publisher
* Vanity publication
Submitting Your Book to a Publisher
The most traditional way of getting your book or manuscript published has always been to submit it to publishers. This is a time-consuming and tedious process of submission and rejection. You write to a publisher and wait for a response – most often a rejection. Then you move on to the next publisher.
Even if you only submit ideas – or proposals – the process of selling your idea to traditional publishers can take many months and even years.
Vanity Press
After hundreds of rejections from the publishers, it may seem like the only way to get your work published is to turn to one of the self-publishing houses, often referred to as a “vanity press” because they function strictly on your ego and desire to become published.
A vanity press will publish the work of any author – for a fee. Most publishers require minimum press runs of 500 or 1,000 copies. At a price of several dollars per copy, a minimum run could cost you several thousand dollars.
These costs only cover printing. Distribution, shipping, and marketing will set you back several thousands more.
And there’s no guarantee that you’ll ever sell one copy of your book.
Electronic Publishing Offers an Option
Electronic publishing can offer an alternative to these more traditional methods of publishing.
An e-book is a great way to promote your business, share your knowledge, or just get your ideas out into the hands of people to enjoy.
With just the computer in front of you and some basic software, you can publish your book almost as soon as you’ve finished writing. It’s fast and simple. All that’s left is to distribute your e-book.
Most authors have a website they use to promote their e-books, but even if you don’t have one, it’s not difficult to promote your e-book online. There are many e-book directories that allow you to upload your book. Online forums relating to your topic are a great place to promote it. You may even consider setting up an affiliate program and have other people sell your book for you.
These methods of promotion and marketing don’t always work well for a printed book, which is one more reason that electronic publishing may be a better option for you.
If you have something to say, then consider electronic publishing. Publishing an e-book yourself is usually faster and easier than waiting for someone else to make a decision to publish it.
