Here’s Part One, in case you missed it.
What’s Your Goal?
The first question you need to ask before you think about self-publishing a book is why you’re doing it. Are you doing this on a one-time basis? Are you producing a coffee table book? Are you publishing a book for a niche market or otherwise limited distribution?
Questions like these will help you decide whether to pursue ebook publishing as opposed to print publishing. Clearly, a coffee table book full of art photography wouldn’t provide the same reader/viewer experience as an ebook full of photos. An ebook just isn’t the best way to display National Geographic-quality photos, even though such photos could be digitized and made into an ebook. Especially if you go direct with Apple, a company with multimedia baked into its mission. Choosing a format depends on several factors, including the following:
- Is the book primarily visual? (High-quality photography books and illustrations with captions would seem better suited to the print medium.)
- Does the book have illustrations or photos that accompany substantial amounts of text? (At this stage, comic books are being released in ebook format.)
- What market do you want to reach? (Print books are anything but dead. Many readers, young and old, prefer them to ebooks.)
- Do you want to do book signings? (Call me out-fashioned, but if there’s a way to sign an ebook, it’s still not as special as actually signing/inscribing a print book.)
- Are you releasing the print book as an extra special edition or in large print for those who prefer that format?
These are just a few factors to consider when deciding on the formats in which to release your book.
Read the rest of the excerpt here.
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