I’ve blogged and tweeted about author J.A. Konrath before, and I often consider him to be a litmus test for how traditionally published authors are adjusting to this new world of publishing–especially when it comes to the ebook revolution. Konrath was one of the first to highlight how his ebook sales were surpassing his print sales, but even more importantly he discussed the inverse revenue model that is so attractive and unique to ebooks– i.e. that by lowering the price of your ebook you can actually make more money overall.

His latest project, Draculas, serves as another case study for how “going direct” into the retail channel–and thereby bypassing the publisher–can provide several advantages to the independent author. As he says, he could have sold this project to a publisher–but he chose not to.  Here’s why:

Time to Market: There were marketing and financial benefits to having “Draculas” out around the time of Halloween, but they’d only finished writing the novel in September. A publisher could never hit that three week release deadline. By publishing it directly into the Amazon Kindle he could make it happen–and obviously with time to spare since it’s out already.

Attractive Pricing: As I noted earlier Konrath knows the benefits of aggressive ebook pricing, and he wanted his ebook to be priced at a low $2.99 right out of the gate. Publishers just won’t do that for new ebook releases–that’s not in their marketing DNA. However, this new publishing route allowed him to set his ebook price however he wanted, and thereby better serve the reading audience he already understands so well.

Preferred Digital Rights Management (DRM): Most publishers won’t take any chances when it comes to ebook piracy, and as a result their authors never have a choice but to have their ebooks copy protected. Konrath, on the other hand, recognized that his arrangement with Amazon would only serve the Kindle audience which, although still the largest ebook readership, leaves out many other growing ebook formats. He wanted to allow people to buy his ebook through Amazon and yet also be able to read it on these other platforms (such as the Nook, Sony, Kobo and iPad readers and software). Amazon allowed him to bypass copy-protection. Even more surprising, he set up a webpage to instruct his readers about how to convert the Kindle version to their preferred media type. Imagine a traditional publisher allowing that! You know as well as I do that it ain’t gonna happen.

Return on Investment: Yes, he and his co-authors had to pay for some publishing services that many self-publishers typically pay for, namely cover art and ebook formatting. All of the authors pitched in and edited each others work–so they saved some money there. After absorbing these upfront costs they’re still in a position to get a good return on this project–even at the lower $2.99 price point.

Those four factors are the real winners that jump out to me, but he talks about several other advantages in his Huff Post article. Sure, he had some clout with Amazon that many self-publishing authors won’t have, but the key components of his direct publishing approach still apply to aspiring and independent authors. The bottom line is that the publishing world is presenting new opportunities for us all, and you can either sit on the sidelines and watch or you can take action yourself. Free ebook publishing sites are out there waiting for you, and all you have to do is log on and start learning. From my early days at Lulu to this exciting period of ebooks, I’ve seen thousands of authors take their destiny into their own hands. Some show more success than others, but none have regrets about taking the action they did.

What are you waiting for?  Jump on in! The water’s cold, but it’s getting warmer all the time.

Good luck, and till next time–keep publishing!

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