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With the rise in different eBook readers, the choices of
selecting one, instead of making life easier for publishers and authors, it has
them scratching their heads, wondering what platform they should go with.
Does it have to be a choice?
Apple’s iPad captured 22% of the eBook market within days of its release and authors were eager to get their books published onto the iBookstore. But while the iPad is all well and good, the fact is Amazon with its Kindle Reader has had three years to iron out the kinks of eBook publication that Apple and Barnes & Noble are just discovering. But the iPad has one important advantage over the Kindle—sheer number of eyeballs—the iBookstore is available on 3 million (and growing) iPads combined with all iPhones running the new iOS4, to a combined total of 40 million people across the world. That is not a small number. And if you factor in the fact that Barnes & Noble has started on its own eBookstore platform, that could well bring in the total readership to 100 million people.
The Back-story
When the first eBook reader was developed in 1999, it was a decade too early because there was a clear disconnect between buying and reading books on the device. Amazon made everything simpler by tying the platform into a cellular network where it was not just possible but easy, to buy eBooks and once readers started buying, the rest is history.
Amazon also incorporated a smart move with their Kindle iPhone application which essentially brought Kindle features onto an iPhone turning a phone into an eBook reader. The importance of this move cannot be underlined enough. Similar Kindle apps are now available for the iPad, Blackberry, Mac, PC and Android phones.
While initially, the players in the ebook game, focused on bestselling novels or books from established larger publication houses, there has been a steady shift to incorporate self-publication tools directly for authors. But you still need to jump through a few hoops before you can be listed on their online bookstore platforms. The first hoop is getting the format down—Amazon created its own while Apple went with the ePUB standard format—but for unsuspecting authors, it’s all the same and none of it involves using their fancy PDFs. So what now?
The market now lies open for publishing service providers like CreateSpace, Lulu and smashwords.com although the latter has one important piece of leverage over the other two. It provides an easy platform to publish your book in all major formats to be used in the iPhone, iPod Touch, Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, IRex or Nook along with common PC formats.
When publishing eBooks, there are three essential things to remember: make your job easier, especially if you’re self-publishing …try to increase the number of platform you’re on, which will exponentially increase your readership, spreading from word of mouth and a friend telling another friend, ratings on different platforms, etc. Whatever you do, make sure that your book is out there and easy to find and buy.
So at the end of the day, it doesn’t really hinge on what platform you choose, because you can go ahead and pick ‘em all because it’s going to help sell copies, and isn’t that what you need to do anyway? Don’t get hung up—make your life easier—the increased competition between platforms has already paved the way for you.
All that’s really left now, is for you to write.
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