What is it about these eBooks - Guest Post - Brian Drake

Brian Drake is the author of Reaper’s Dozen—12 Tales of Crime and Suspense, which is available at Amazon.Com for the low price of $1.99.  He has been a writer of mystery and crime fiction since his first publication at age 25, and discusses important contributions to the hard-boiled canon at his BLOG

And so over to Brian:

When Gary Dobbs announced that he wanted to have a debate both for and against ebooks, I had to chime in with what I’ve experienced after “publishing” a couple of ebooks with Amazon.Com and Smashwords.Com.

I was not prepared for how much uncertainty surrounds the entire e-publishing process.  I have a fair amount of confidence in my work, and luckily have a great friend in Rebecca Forster, herself a successful author (in both print and electronic formats--check out Hostile Witness for a really hot read), who will peek at my pages from time to time, but for my two ebooks I could not afford a freelance editor and had to look elsewhere for feedback.  You must be careful when you ask somebody to read your manuscript.  Can you trust your poker buddies?  Or your English major girlfriend who doesn’t like action thrillers or crime stories whose best comment is that you spelled all of the big words right?  They often leave you with more doubts than anything else.

At the start, this doesn’t make self-publishing in the electronic format seem very positive, but I did the best I could, took a deep breath, and dived in.  Then something odd happens.  I checked Amazon and saw that people were buying the book (people I didn’t know!)  Strangers emailed to say they couldn’t put the book down.  Blog reviews appeared and were more than kind (and, yes, I gave them review copies free of charge--more on this in a moment).

Secondly, I found some of the “start-up” costs unexpected.  When I did the short story collection Reaper’s Dozen, my friend Rebecca Forster designed the cover, and did a super job, and did that job free of charge.  With Justified Sins I wanted to do something different, and asked an artist friend to draw a cover to my specifications.  That cover cost me $150, which I really didn’t have, and if I’d had a little more to spend I would have insisted the gun be drawn to resemble what the character actually uses in the book.  I mean, seriously, how big does it have to be?

Other than those two observations, it’s hard to see a downside to the “ebook revolution” (if that’s indeed what it is) currently taking place.  The future is rosy as long as readers can find the best “indie” writers in the barrel.  How might they do that?  You need to get out and promote your work.  Forget telling friends, family, and colleagues.  In my case, most of them don’t even know what a real book is let along an electronic book.  Instead send queries to bloggers who are friendly to “indies” (there are a ton!) and offer to send them a free copy in return for a review, or ask if they’ll let you do a guest post where you can mention your book.  Of course, if they do a review, you run the risk of somebody not liking your book, but any publicity is good publicity.

Here are some other pros and cons of electronic self-publishing I lined up for your consideration:

1.  Pro:  You’re in charge of your own destiny.  If you can make a name for yourself, you may do quite well.

2.  Con: You could sink in a sea of a gazillion other “real authors” and indies and go nowhere fast so get out and promote.

3.  Pro: You can be on the vanguard of new technology.

4.  Con:  You can’t hold a physical book in your hand (if you like that sort of thing).

5.  Pro:  With an ebook, you’re never abandoned for dead at the library or used book store.

6.  Con:  You won’t be one of those authors whose work is hunted for at used bookstores by rabid fans.

7.  Pro:  The network of indie authors and bloggers friendly to indies is quite extensive and supportive.

8.  Con:  The “real authors” who have been traditionally published--some of your heroes, perhaps--won’t let you into their “club” because they say that ebooks suck harder than a guitar amplifier that doesn’t go to eleven.

9.  Pro:  If the “real authors” are such sourpusses I don’t want to be in their club anyway. 

The best approach you as a writer can take if you’re going to do an ebook, for now, as long as paper books and electronic books exist, is to use the platform to build an audience that will show a traditional publisher that not only are you a good writer, but a savvy marketer who can reach an audience that will pay for a real physical book.

And that’s the biggest “pro” of all.

Give ‘em hell.

Brian Drake is the author of Justified Sins and Reaper’s Dozen, both available at the Amazon Kindle Store.  He has been a writer of mystery and crime fiction since his first publication at age 25, and discusses important contributions to the hard-boiled canon at his blog, “Brian Drake Explains It All”.  In his spare time, Brian, a California native, can be found racing through the back canyon roads of the Central Valley in a bright red hot rod. Someday he may get a dog.

What is it about these eBooks - Future Waves

In the future we’ll all be carrying little electronic devices that offers us complete entertainment centres – audio, video, books, games all on the one device. But wait a minute that’s no futuristic prediction, that is the here and now. Take the humble iPod, in technology terms it’s getting a bit long in the tooth. But it can carry hundreds of albums as well as movies upon its miniscule hard drive; miniscule in physical terms at least since my own iPod which I’ve owned for several years boasts a 30GB hard drive. Basically this device makes my life easier, more convenient – I do a lot of driving and always listen to music or an audio book while doing so. There are only so many CD’s you can jam into a glove compartment and the cases always crack, the discs themselves get scratched. But with my iPod I no longer have to carry CD’s and yet have several hundred albums with me at all times. A little cheap device sends the signal through the car sound system and I can groove whenever the urge takes me.

Now MP3’s don’t exactly equal CD’s in terms of sound quality but the electronic format has overtaken the CD in terms of popularity.

Why?

The answer is simple – convenience!

Go into any electrical store and most of the HI-FI systems now come with a dock for the iPod or at the very least a socket for the output lead from your MP3 player. Indeed many high-end sound systems no longer include a CD player at all. And only a few short years ago I would have laughed at anyone who said MP3’S would replace CD’s, but now I wouldn’t put money on CD’s even being here in five years time.

But where does this relate to books?

Books and music are entirely different mediums – and that may very well be true, but there is one common factor between them – they are each designed to entertain and inform. In the future it’s going to be all about getting that entertainment into the hands of the people.

And those hands are going to be full of the latest electronic mass media devices.

Click to buy my current eBook

Let’s ignore the electronic possibilities for non-fiction books and they are many, and for the purpose of this article we’ll look at popular fiction. The most popular form of consuming such fiction has long been the paperback and yet for most people this is already a disposable medium – the book is read and then given away or even binned. Of course many people, myself included, never part with books and build up quite a formidable collection but the fact is many people do not. For these people, those that consume books rapidly and then move on, the electronic format is particularly appealing.

"Try jamming a dozen books into a glove-compartment!"

So is that it? Is the ability to carry around several hundred books in one slim device enough to challenge the standing of the mass-market paperback?

There’s so much more to eBooks than that – dedicated eReaders often use technology called eInk and the display provided by this is amazing and looks just like paper. There is no sun glare on the screen – in fact, it does to some extent, feel like reading a traditional book. And once you’ve read a few books on your eReader and forgotten that electronic gadget in your hand you’ll soon lose yourself in the story and the delivery medium will become irrelevant.

 "The true soul of a book resides in the words and not in the medium by which it is presented!"

Younger readers, the Harry Potter/Twilight generation that have been brought up with smart phones and iPods will have no trouble using eReaders. Indeed the fact that eBooks are out there and able to be consumed on their favourite gadgets may encourage new and lifelong reading habits. Imagine the possibilities – it’s 2020 and you’re a twelve year old kid who has just been blown away by the new 3D, SMELLOVISION, Realsound movie version of  Sherlock Holmes and now you are curious to discover the ancient texts that spawned the character. With one click of the jogwheel on your thingie and the book is there for you to read on the screen. And magazines, newspapers, even the users daily appointments will all be delivered in the same way.

"When paperbacks started to gain popularity critics claimed, they were not real books and would not last."

As a writer I hope my books come out in the traditional paper method for many years to come (there's a kudos in seeing them lined up on the shelf)  but, ultimately eBooks are the future, and so I don’t shy away from the medium – I run towards it.

For I have seen the future and it's electronic.

What is it about these eBooks? - Guest Post - Matthew Mayo

Amazon have scored huge successes with The Kindle

This weekend  The Archive will be trying to offer both sides of the coin regarding the eBook revolution and we'll have several guests posts looking at the format. Whilst it is all too easy to get excited about the new medium and find yourself dragged along in the excitement (and the Archive is most definitely guilty of this) there are some very real issues surrounding this new technology that I haven't covered on the Archive.

Until now.....

And so with the first of our guests posts we hand the reins of the Archive over to western author, Matthew P Mayo:

Okay, I just sniffed a May, 1963 first Dell printing of Pay-Off in Blood: A New Mike Shayne Mystery. I'm ready.... 

Most folks will agree that e-books are here to stay. But any time new technology threatens to "revolutionize" an industry, the Internet and all manner of media outlets bubble with cheerleading about it, mostly because it's new and shiny. I like a bit of excitement as much as the next fella, but without balance, the ra-ra-ra-ing becomes annoying and of little practical use. 

So, despite the fact that my own books are available as e-books, and it is a kick to see them in said new format, I do have a few reservations and concerns about e-books. Here's a quick list: piracy; the glut of poorly edited self-published titles; the fate of bookstores; the high price of e-reader devices; no single platform/format; the fact that by now, Kindles really should offer color; and the fact that I can't press a four-leaf clover between the pages of an e-book. I could go on and on about how e-books are not books, never will be, there's little purpose to that....

My guess is that most of my concerns will be addressed over the next few weeks/months/years as this new technology rolls forward. I truly enjoy how real books smell, feel, weigh, how they look on the shelf, how they have spines and back covers to read and admire, etc. Sadly, the tactile experience with an e-book isn't the same as with a real book. But the good news is that it is a different experience, no better or worse--just different. 

E-books are another conveyance, a new way of getting information to readers. A pretty nifty one, to be sure, but different than traditional books. Will e-books one day have that soul an old paperback exudes? I don't know. But I do know that e-books will, by default, have a place in my life, along with book-books. 

It's an exciting time to be involved in publishing--scary, too, especially if one is solely reliant on one's income as a writer, as I am--but whining and gnashing my teeth won't alter the direction it's headed. So I'm jumping in the pool and learning a few new strokes and kicks. So far, so good.

These are a few of my thoughts on the matter. Your mileage may vary.