The emergence of eBook has created a disruption in the publishing industry. With advantages, like targeted readership and an edge over the competition, publishing houses consider this as a valuable option.
Writers and publishing houses have platforms, like Amazon, Nook by Barnes and Noble and iBooks, to sell the digital versions of books. With multiple eBook platforms and multiple distribution platforms, the industry has seen substantial growth in the recent past.
Even after the efforts of creating, editing, formatting, publishing and later selling these eBooks, some businesses or writers fail to achieve better revenues.
12 Biggest Mistakes You Must Avoid While Creating an eBook:
1. You have not identified a target audience:
Seeing your eBooks listed on a prominent eBook distribution platform is great but competing and selling it is a different task. Defining the target audience helps in differentiating against the competition. It helps define what the digital publication is about and what readers can expect from it. Defining a target audience will help in selling the eBook.
2. eBook formatting is not on your priority list:
Two widely used formatting options are fixed (static) layout and reflowable (dynamic) layout. Fixed layout eBooks are a digital image of a printed book and a reflowable eBook will render according to the screen size of the device. Fixed layout is preferred for eBooks with images and complex designs whereas the latter is used for content with more text. Suitable layout heavily influences the overall reading experience.
3. Your eBooks lack visual appeal:
Digital publications are meant to be distributed or sold through digital channels. Buyers don’t get an opportunity to physically touch or feel the book. Author or publisher should utilize all possible opportunities to make the eBook aesthetically appealing and compelling enough, encouraging the buyer to make the purchase.
4. You have created eBooks that nobody wanted to pay for:
A plan to write or publish an eBook should be backed with strong research about the topic and potential buyers of the eBook. Author or publisher should only invest their time and money on content topics that have buyers. Internet today can provide unlimited information on any topic at the click of a button, free of cost. If there exists a sizeable opportunity to monetize; the publisher or author should create an eBook on the topic with valuable information.
5. You ignored the importance of editing:
An infinite number of poorly edited eBooks exist all over the internet. To offer valuable information as well as monetize the opportunity, a professional proofreading and editing mechanism should be in place.
6. You did not market your eBooks:
You should never release an eBook without a marketing plan in place. Buyers may only buy a digital publication that they notice or may have heard about. A basic marketing plan in action can help you in making all your eBooks visible amongst the clutter created by the competition and boost your sales.
7. You priced it wrong:
A price tag can affect your eBook sales. Higher pricing will instantly eliminate your eBook from a buyer’s shopping list. Before finalizing on a price tag, some research about the competition and their pricing strategy will help in pricing the eBook as per the market standards.
8. You forgot branding:
An eBook will be on a reader’s device for a long time and maybe read more than once. Branding efforts on an eBook can also assist you in your advertising and create awareness about your eBook for potential buyers enabling easier identification and recall during purchase situations.
9. You did not partner with a digital publishing platform:
Select a credible and performance oriented digital publishing platform which can take care of the entire editing, conversion, layout, formatting, and distribution process of your eBook. Digital publishing platforms offer the functionality to embed multimedia content resulting in an interactive experience which can give you an edge over the competition.
10. You thought as a writer but not as a business:
Creating a marketable eBook is always the end goal. A writer may dive deep into details increasing the page count of the eBook. Whereas from a business perspective a focused product addressing a problem is always better. Longer eBooks can be broken into parts and marketed separately.
11. You ignored Metadata:
Metadata helps a reseller sell or catalog an eBook. Search Engine Optimized content linked to the eBook boosts the digital search availability of your eBook. Ignoring metadata will result in loss of sales opportunities due to a failure of the buyer to locate your digital publication.
12. You forgot to take necessary precautions against piracy:
Piracy and duplication of content will result in revenue loss for writers and publishers. Digital publishing platforms offer DRM protection (Digital Rights Management) while creating an eBook. This protects copyrighted content in an encrypted state.
Conclusion:
This was a comprehensive list summarizing the key mistakes authors and publishers should avoid while creating an eBook. Publishing and distributing eBooks can be beneficial for both independent writers as well as businesses. Writers and Publishers should be agile enough to realize this opportunity which can generate more revenues and more web traffic along with numerous other benefits. Partnering with a performance-oriented digital publishing platform can make digital publishing and eBook creation journey smooth.
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