  Romance/Love
This week: Edited by: darkin
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Welcome to the Romance/Love Newsletter. My name is darkin and I'll be your editor this week. So sit back, relax and enjoy the ride
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Amazon's Price: $ 9.99
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E-Publishing, the Way of the Future?
Recently, my alter ego had a romance/erotica story accepted by an ePublisher. After doing a happy dance, I did the first thing any writer should do: I read the contract thoroughly!  But before I even sent my submission off, I did my homework on just what an ePublisher is and what I could expect from one.
Once a fledging industry, many ePublishers are now showing a profit each month. Low overhead and the ability to house many titles for sale gives them an edge over traditional book publishers. But there are things every writer should know before submitting their work.
What to Look For in an ePublisher
 Fees: Reputable ePublishers do not charge fees. If they charge you a fee or expect you to buy copies of your eBook as a condition of being published they are a vanity publisher.
Contracts: Any publisher, print or electronic, should have a contract for each and every sale. This contract should spell out what the author, and publisher, expects from the relationship. Not having a contract is a big red flag to not submit to that ePublisher!!
Website: Is their web site professional? Is the text well-written without errors or typos? Can you go from page to page without problems? Check out their bookstore. Is it easy to find excerpts of their books for sale and the author's bio? A good ePublisher will have an easy to use web site, since it is their bread and butter.
Years in Business: Are they a new ePublisher, or have they been around a while? While being new isn't a complete negative, be sure the ePublisher you go with actually has eBooks for sale.
Print on Demand: Do they offer POD for their eBooks. If so, is it on all books or just the ones over a certain word count. Most ePublishers offer POD on their longer eBooks, usually on ones with a 40K and higher word count.
Quality: If you plan on writing a longer eBook, purchase a few of the ePublisher's print books. Check the quality of the book, along with the quality of the books they are accepting. Do the same with their eBooks. You will have a better idea of whether you want your work to be displayed there too.
Royalties: Since ePublishers have a lower overhead they tend to offer higher royalties. The range can be anywhere from 20% - 50%, depending on the eBook's sale point. Most offer a higher percentage for eBooks sold on their own web site, with lower percentages for ones sold on a third-party site and even lower for print versions. But the percentages are still higher than a print publisher.
Marketing: How they market their own web site will tell you a lot about their professionalism. Do they have their books on eBook re-seller sites like Fictionwise? You want an ePublisher who is using more than just their web site to sell their eBooks.
Accessible: Can you ask, and get an answer, to your questions? Do you get an answer in a timely fashion? An ePublisher who doesn't respond to potential authors will probably not be very responsive after the sale. You want an ePublisher that has a helpful, friendly staff, and also has useful information on their web site.
Pricing: Check out a few ePublisher's bookstores. How much are they charging for the different length eBooks? Is the cost of the ePublisher you want to go with higher, lower, or about the same. One of the biggest complaints with readers of eBooks is they are too costly. So you need to pick an ePublisher who prices their books reasonably without under costing them.
Now that we've seen what to look for, let's talk for a moment about the pros and cons of ePublishing. We'll start with the cons.
Cons of ePublishing
Audience: Even though eBook popularity is growing
| According to The International Digital Publishing Forum, sales of eBooks in 2002 were about 5.8 million compared to sales in 2007 of 31.8 million. |
Sales: As a new author just starting out, your sales will be small. This would be the same with a print publisher. With the exception of the "break-away" book, most new authors don't make much money. Of course, if you are willing to market and promote your book, you can bring in more sales, which would mean more money.
Reviews and Publicity: As an eBook author your masterpiece won't be in a regular bookstore like a print author's book. It will be listed on your publisher's web site, and most likely a few others they have contracted with to show their releases. Reviewers will need to be contacted, most often by the author, to try to get the story reviewed on their web sites.
Marketing and Promotion: With ePublishing, the author is responsible for probably 90% of all marketing and promoting. But in most cases, new authors for print publishers have to do most of their marketing and promoting too.
Advances: Most ePublishers don't give advances to their writers. They usually don't have the budget to do it.
Pros of ePublishing
Higher Royalties: Most ePublishers offer 40% - 50% royalties per eBook sale. This is more than the standard 10% - 15% offered by most print publishers. Of course, you have to take the number of sales into account, but low sales are something even a print author must face.
Faster Turnaround: Where it can take a print publisher over a year to get a book out in print, an ePublisher can usually do it in a few months or less.
More Author Input: Many ePublishers give their authors more of a say in how their books are edited, and what their covers look like. The one I'm published through had a two page questionnaire for me to fill out. It asked everything, from what the character's looked like to how I'd like to see the cover. The artist nailed the cover based on my answers.
Wider Variety of Genres: Many ePublishers accept genres the print houses wouldn't look at. Offbeat books, as well as erotica and romance, can find a home with ePublishers. Even books that are out-of-print have a chance with an ePublisher.
Longer Shelf Life: A typical run for an ePublisher is two years, with many offering an monthly extension after that two years is up. That means your eBook is available for two years or more, which can be much longer than most print publishers.
ePublishing isn't right for every one, but for some authors it is the perfect venue for their work. If you have something that is just too quirky, or too racy, for the print publishers, give ePublishing a shot. You never know, you might be the next big seller!
As for my alter ego's eBook sale. I have been extremely happy with my experience with my ePublisher, so much so that I am in the process of writing a sequel to the story. It's been a wonderful ride, and one I hope to do again and again!
Thank you for taking the time to read. Happy Writing!
darkin
To find an ePublisher, check out these links:
http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/epublishers.html
http://www.sff.net/people/Lida.Quillen/epub.html
http://www.fictionfactor.com/epublishers.html
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Here are some items I found while traveling the highways and byways of Writing.Com!
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Thank you for allowing me into your e-mail boxes for this week's issue. I had a wonderful time writing this issue and would love to hear what you think about it. Here is some feedback I received from my last newsletter.
darkin
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Submitted By: Helen McNicol 
Submitted Comment:
A great newsletter, thanks. When reading your questions about other books, I was immediately reminded of characters I have 'fallen in love with'. Who could forget Diana Gabaldon's creation of Jamie, or Paullina Simon's Bronze Horseman's protagonist Alexander, American turned Russian communist. Strong characters, who have traits we don't always like, but we fall in love with them anyway! Mind you, I never understood Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights...I just wanted to bang their heads together!
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Submitted By: Lauriemariepea
Submitted Comment:
hi, demon squirrel--
thank you for your great romance checklist, which i think in a lot of ways works for any fiction writing.
first and foremost, aim for great writing, and then infuse your writing with insight into human nature. congratulations on an informative and useful newsletter--it rocks!
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Romance/Love: March 19, 2008 Issue [#2288]
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