- print books
- ebooks
- audiobooks
So, as an author which formats should you choose for your book?
Well, that really depends on your audience.
Print books
When I started out, I only did ebooks for Kindle. The reason being was that it was easy to do, and the the idea that I could write a book for print seemed crazy. Fast forward a few years, and I realise now that that was a big mistake because it severely limited who was able to buy my books.
So why did I stick to ebooks? Because the idea of publishing a print book was scary, but what scared me then, is what I do now, format manuscripts so that they can be published in print and ebook format!
Until recently, if you wanted to publish a print book, you had to go to createspace, and for ebooks you had to go to kdp (Kindle Direct Publishing). Now everything is under the one site, so kdp lets you publish both your print and ebook in the same place. ANd the best bit is that Amazon have made it really easy to do so.
So, regardless of what type of book you intend to publish, I would say always have a print version of your book.
Now some books, like my notebooks should only ever be published in print format and whilst you can get digital notebooks, you need specific formating to create them (again not difficult) and certain apps to read them, but Kindle isn’t one of them!
eBooks
eBooks are the easiest books to publish. They don’t require as much in the way of formating, for example Kindle books don’t need page numbers or headers and footers, and they can be uploaded on to Amazon in minutes and go live in a few hours.
However, not all books are suitable for ebooks. Some books, like journals, workbooks, textbooks and reference books just don’t work well as ebooks. Whereas there are other books that could be published as ebooks but aren’t as popular in that format, for example recipe books.
The main advantage that you have with ebooks is that you can link to external content, so in a print book, you can tell people that you have a website, in an ebook, you can include the link and offer an incentive to get them visiting it.
Audio books
I’m a visual learner, so I prefer to consume my books visually, but there is a massive market out there for people who want to listen to books, podcasts etc. They can listen in the car or whilst running and can still get on with their lives.
Amazon have a publishing arm for audio books called ACX (Audiobook Creation Xchange). You can upload your book in audio format to ACX and they will distribute it to Audible, Amazon and iTunes. However, preparing an audiobook is more complex, and takes more time, which is why they are also more expensive, but where you have a book that is suitable for this format, then don’t be afraid to give it a go.
Amazon have set out their specifications for audiobooks here. These specifications make use of best practice and will help guide you to creating audio books that get good reviews and will sell more copies.
Finally, when you write your book, think in terms of how your audience would like to access it. You can deliver your book in all 3 formats if you’d like to, or just as one. However, if you’re going to do an ebook, then I’d suggest doing a print version as well. This is something that I can help with and it will only take a few hours to do so. Check out my print book templates and if you’d like my help formatting your book, then let’s talk.
You may go on an do an audiobook later, as it takes more time, or you may want to publish them all at once. The choice is yours. However, like most things, when you’ve done it once, the next time will be easier!