When I first started PublishandSell Enterprises, only a small proportion of authors were familiar with the ebook phenomenon. If an author asked about ebook publishing it was usually as an afterthought, and I would hold onto any immediate answer to that question. I would usually pause, ask some follow-up questions, and get a better feel for the book and the author alike. The ebook revolution, after all, was relatively new and certainly not for everyone.

Wow. What a difference a couple of years makes. Today’s ebook revolution is a national dialog, and now makes its way into almost all of my author consultations. And if an author doesn’t bring it up I most certainly will, because any doubts we once had regarding the permanence of this reading paradigm shift have quickly evaporated. Ebooks and ebook readers (in the form of ebook reader devices, software or web-based readers) are here to stay.

A new study by Gartner confirms this, as highlighted at ComputerWorld:

Sales of ebook readers around the world are set to exceed 6.6 million before the end of this year, with the market-leading Kindle from Amazon, as well as Sony’s offering and the Nook from Barnes and Noble currently accounting for the lion’s share. A study by the research firm Gartner has highlighted the rapid growth of the ebook reading market in recent years and reports that overall sales are close to doubling this year from 3.6 million in 2009. . . The popularity of ebook reading and e-ink technology looks set to continue well into 2011, when Gartner expects to see worldwide sales top 11 million units.

You can’t argue with the facts. Ebooks, whether we like them or not, are shaking the foundation of the publishing industry, and as an author you shouldn’t ignore how this change affects you and your future. And believe me, it does affect you.

The question, therefore, is no longer “Should I publish my book as an ebook?” No, it’s “How can I successfully publish into an ebook?” There’s obviously more than one answer to that particular question as well, but at least it gets us past the preliminaries and allows us to discuss the more important issues such as your book’s genre, your audience, your marketing plans, and your content. The ebook and ereader market–as any new, fast-growing environment–can be complex and dynamic, but don’t let yourself be intimidated by this situation. In fact, I urge you to embrace it. There’s money in ebooks, as some of my previous posts have alluded to.

If you do your research and think strategically about your ebook approach you’ll be able to  come up with a successful plan to implement. You may even find, as is happening with about half of my authors, that your ebook publishing plan becomes your primary publishing effort. Print, as much as we love it, has its downsides in terms of costs, efficiencies, layout, formatting, and speed to publication.

Five years ago I would never have thought I’d be uttering that last sentence (five years ago I was working at Lulu and living and breathing the POD world), but the facts don’t lie. Sure, there may be a few exceptions and some reasons why ebook publishing may not be right for you, but those issues are becoming less relevant with each passing year.

Who would have guessed that our world would have changed so quickly? The great thing is that at this point it doesn’t matter if you’ve been paying attention or not. Start paying attention now–you’ll be glad you did.

Are you ready to take the ebook leap? Feel free to comment here or join the discussion on Facebook. And until next time, keep publishing!

Henry Hutton

PublishandSell.com
hhutton@publishandsell.com
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