A friend and I have both been writing and we’re wondering about selling our writings as eBooks. Is there an easy on-line way to submit them for copyright protection? Also, assuming we actually do quality work that would interest a
publisher:
-would it be worth holding off the eBook & try to get published?
-should we go ahead with eBook marketing while also attempting to get published?
-would marketing the eBook lessen our chances to get published?
Thanks!
If you self publish through lulu.com or createspace.com (part of Amazon) that can help you land a regular publishing deal. Those 2 sites are cheap because you only pay for copies that are printed, they don’t force you to buy a certain number of books.
Regular publishers look for best sellers on those 2 sites to possibly sign a contract with.
Just Google “US Copyright application” for the only way to copyright your work. It was a $30 application fee last time I checked, so it isn’t too bad. It was not online the last time I did it, but you can download the forms. Of course, you have copyright protection already - it applies to everything as soon as you write it. Registering the copyright is still a good idea in terms of establishing that ownership.
It sounds to me like you don’t have any experience with the publishing industry. My recommendation is to find a club in your area for writers trying to get published. Pretty much any city of a decent size has something like that.
If you’re looking for ways to self publish, I recommend Lightning Source. They did an excellent job for several of my clients both in print on demand and eBook sales.
You’re much less likely to get the book published, but, OTOH, if you do get it published by a legitimate publisher, you are guaranteed to make money on it and it will be read by far more people (self-published books sell about 75 copies). (This assumes you don’t pay to get published; stay away from any publisher that asks for money, as well as PublishAmerica.)
It’s probably better to wait to hear from publisher’s first. If no one shows interest, you could then publish the ebook.
Somewhat. The publisher is not going to like the fact that the book has been freely available. But if you’re good enough, they’ll accept it. The problem is defining what is “good enough.”
There is an electronic procedure for registering copyright and the Copyright Office prefers that everybody use it.
Everything you write is automatically copyrighted as soon as it takes tangible form. All registration does is give you a better way to sue for damages. That’s why it’s funny to see how much weight people give to it. Let’s face it, nobody is going to steal your beginner, no-name work. Why would they?
You don’t give any hint about what kind of book you’re writing, just like every other person to start a thread on writing. That makes giving any kind of advice impossible, since each type of book is almost a separate field. However, in a vast generality, although you see articles about publishers going after self-published books, the fact that each time it happens makes the news should give you an idea about how rare that is. There are three types of book that have even the slightest chance. 1) A book on a very specific subject that has not been covered before; 2) A word of mouth bestseller; 3) a book in a series that later gets published so that the publisher picks up the first volume as well.
If you want to see your book in a bookstore ever, send it out to publishers first. If you don’t want the time and hassle of marketing and promoting even an e-book, send it out to e-book publishers first. But once you publish it yourself, the odds against it ever seeing another publication are enormous.
Also, the chances of you getting published by direct submission to a publisher these days is next to zero. If you really want to go down the traditional publishing route what you’ll need is an agent. So, once your book is complete you should start researching agents who represent other authors in your genre and who may be looking for new clients. I’m not sure of what resources are available in the US for researching this, but I’m sure they’re many and varied and others will be able to offer their assistance.
If you are interested in self-publishing your work as an ebook, I can recommend Smashwords.com, which has distribution deals with the major ebook suppliers (such as Sony, Amazon and, soon, Apple) and will allow you to publish and price your book as you see fit, with Smashwords only taking a cut on all sales made. Of course, you will have to do all your own marketing… I’ve published a short novella-ette (‘The Time Traveller, Smith’, if you’re interested) at Smashwords with a little success.
OB
This varies greatly by type of book. It’s not true even for different kinds of genre books (romance publishers often accept direct submissions, e.g.) and is pretty much meaningless once you start looking at fiction and children’s books and travel books and computer books and everything else. Virtually every section of the bookstore has its own culture and its own rules and expectations. So do small presses vs. large commercial presses, and e-book publishers vs. print publishers, and every other distinction.
That’s why I get so annoyed because people never ever do us the courtesy of giving even the most minimal information about their books. If two types of genre fiction don’t work the same how can any intelligent answer be given for “book” generic?