E-Books?

**Modern Day Myth** · July 23rd, 2012, 06:06 PM

Does anyone here publish sci-fi e-books?

Are they profitable?

Anyone care to share their experience with e-books?

**tmso** · July 23rd, 2012, 06:21 PM

Hello MDM,

I moved your thread to the Writing forum because I think you'll get more feedback here.

Hugh Howey published sci-fi e-books and has done quite well. He also did/does POD.

**Modern Day Myth** · July 23rd, 2012, 06:36 PM

Thank you.

**Triceratops** · July 23rd, 2012, 07:43 PM

I have one out by a small publisher, Engage Books, and it's doing fairly well. I'm not self e-published, though.

chris

**Modern Day Myth** · July 23rd, 2012, 08:16 PM

Thank you, Chris.

**Edward M. Grant** · July 23rd, 2012, 09:13 PM

I have a few short stories I put up after the pro magazines rejected them; I wouldn't say they're profitable (except in the literal sense of, on average, making more than I spent), but it's better than leaving them on my hard drive.

Novels seem to sell much better, if they're any good.

**Modern Day Myth** · July 23rd, 2012, 10:02 PM

Thank you. I have not decided yet to do short stories or a novel. However, they will be part of a series.

**Laer Carroll** · July 23rd, 2012, 11:22 PM

I've self-published three novels and a short story which is an origin story for the novels. They are all part of a series.

They are all available as ebooks on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. One novel is available on Amazon's CreateSpace as a print-on-demand book. I've also put the other two novels on CreateSpace, and just received a proof copy of each which I'm going over.

I just finished a fourth novel which I'm converting to Amazon and B&N eformats and into POD format. It will go up within the next two weeks. And just started a fifth novel.

Don't expect any sudden super-success. Most successful careers build slowly. Even writer's whose works seem to burst upon the market place with great sales have usually been working for a long time.

**tmso** · July 23rd, 2012, 11:40 PM

Originally Posted by Laer Carroll

Even writer's whose works seem to burst upon the market place with great sales have usually been working for a long time.

Quite right, Laer. Hugh Howey had, I think, six or seven books out before his Wool series took off.

**Modern Day Myth** · July 24th, 2012, 05:51 AM

Originally Posted by Laer Carroll

I've self-published three novels and a short story which is an origin story for the novels. They are all part of a series.

They are all available as ebooks on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. One novel is available on Amazon's CreateSpace as a print-on-demand book. I've also put the other two novels on CreateSpace, and just received a proof copy of each which I'm going over.

I just finished a fourth novel which I'm converting to Amazon and B&N eformats and into POD format. It will go up within the next two weeks. And just started a fifth novel.

Don't expect any sudden super-success. Most successful careers build slowly. Even writer's whose works seem to burst upon the market place with great sales have usually been working for a long time.

Great advice!

Thank you!

**ian_sales** · July 24th, 2012, 06:43 AM

I have two books currently available on Kindle. I've not put them on Smashwords yet.

Adrift on the Sea of Rains, published under my own name, is a literary hard sf novella and has been getting lots of positive reviews (17, at the last count). I created my own small press to publish it, and it's available in limited edition hardback, paperback, epub and mobi. Since its launch in April it's sold almost 200 copies in all four formats, but I've yet to break even on it. It's the first book of a quartet, and I'm hoping that when I published the second book, The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself, in late September, I'll get an uptick in sales of the first.

Also, as a sort of experiment, I've published a pseudonymous space opera, the first in a series of short novels about the crew of a space freighter. Unlike the other book, it has no ISBN and is available only on the Kindle. It hasn't sold well at all, but perhaps that'll change as more books in the series become available...

**Modern Day Myth** · July 24th, 2012, 06:59 AM

Thanks for the 411.

**kmtolan** · July 24th, 2012, 08:44 AM

Been with an epub for five years across five SF books. Not quitting my day job, but love the ride.

As Laer points out, you're not going to get fabulously anything for awhile if you're like most writers. Most epubs won't offer advances. Pick an epub that's been out there a few years and perhaps has EPIC winners and runner-ups in its ranks. Even though Fictionwise is nearly defunct, it still has a good list of ebook publishers you can start with. Make sure you cross-check with the usual resources (Water Cooler and Preditors & Editors). The e-pub should print digital as well, since you'll need paper copies for conventions.

Once you're published, join EPIC. That's the only major writers guild I'm aware of that supports e-book authors. They hold the annual EPIC E-book Awards (formally EPPIE).

Kerry

**Modern Day Myth** · July 24th, 2012, 09:01 AM

Thank you for the insight, Kerry.

**Window Bar** · July 24th, 2012, 11:09 AM

Hi Modern--

About two years ago I put a young adult fantasy novel up as a free read on my website, then I uploaded to both Smashwords (covering Barnes&Noble, Apple, Sony, Diesel, Kobo, Baker-Taylor) and Amazon. I've also done some free hand-outs through all of these vendors, which have netted me about 30,000 downloads and a few reviews. Add the piracy sites (at least the ones I've uncovered), and it amounts to about 40,000 downloads--but only 500 have been paid.

The process has been fun; brisk sales would have been more fun. Nonetheless, there have been some extremely gratifying moments. In May, there were sales in four different countries. I've found the book quoted in on many sites, even a blog in Indonesia; and it was selected to be part of an e-Library for a school district in Scotland.

Lessons: 1) It's a great way to get your work out into the world without serving a long apprenticeship. 2) Ignore comment #1, because self-publishing is just another way of serving that apprenticeship.

And yes, I need to get more books out. I write every day, but I'm slo-o-o-ow.

--WB