Review
of
E-Book Publishing Essentials
Toolkit by Carol Koenig
by L P King
This Review may be freely copied provided that a link is given back to us at http://www.1stmist.com and that L P King is acknowledged as the Author and that a link be provided to http://www.digiknowhow.com.
With the arrival of the electronic age Writers have been presented with a greater degree of choice when it comes to developing their brilliant careers. Tremendous advances have been made in a very short time and it is no wonder that some Writers feel a little overwhelmed and out of their depth. That's why it is important when one is starting out that one gathers all the information available and processes that information very carefully before proceeding.
Changes and restraints in the print publishing world have literally opened up a Pandora's Box when it comes to self-publishing. In the eBook Publishing Essentials Toolkit, Carol Koenig seeks to inform the rookies in the industry struggling to take those first tentative steps along the road to becoming a published Author. Whilst she doesn't dwell on the negatives of traditional print publishing, you still get the feeling that the electronic media is a sort of creative release that addresses the shortcomings of a bygone era, and which represents tremendous future potential.
It is a concise, well-structured and well-written exposé of all aspects of e-publishing beginning with the definition of a book and a brief overview of the history of print. To begin a self-publishing initiative takes a lot of education, planning and follow-through and Carol aims to address each aspect of the journey in a way that can be understood in lay terms, but which is not overly simplistic. The benefits of e-books in terms of cost, accuracy and convenience, speed of delivery, rights management and earning potential are all discussed.
I found the discussion on the need for standards interesting. I had to agree that it is wrong to give credence to a few pages of piffle and call it an e-book and charge an industry-standard price for it. I totally agree that consumers are not going to be satisfied with inferior quality and that we must respect their needs and their intelligence.
The Author goes on to discuss the pitfalls of POD and legal and copyright issues receive due attention, as does an overview of e-book compilers. Different compilers and formats are discussed and this is very important because beginning e-publishers are not always as tech-savvy as some might think. It is all a learning process and it is important to learn as much as one can and to shop around for the best programs. One issue that requires particular attention is software and hardware compatibility and this e-book handles this question adequately enough for someone to go away and actually liaise with product sellers. Again, it is all a matter of continually gathering information and I think we should look at this work in terms of its adequacy in starting people off in the publishing process.
To this end the Author has taken great pains not to neglect the obvious and her hints on starting out as a writer may seem extraneous to some but I believe they are necessary because so often conceptions of Writers and the writing process bear little relevance to reality. Some Writers do need to be told what is and isn't good practice. Some Writers do need to be reminded of the need for careful planning and marketing.
Other useful information can be found in the resources section with many links readers can follow up as required. I found the section on multimedia in e-books very helpful and this is an area that a lot of similar books tend to ignore. Add to this the material on ISBN's, barcodes, rights, royalties, finding a legitimate e-publisher and hints on marketing and promotion and the importance of having a website and you pretty much have all you need.
Overall, the treatment of the subject-matter is concise and the areas for discussion are very well-chosen. I was afraid the Reader might get bogged down in technicalities but this did not happen as the Author managed to stay on a carefully plotted track throughout the book. The sign of a good educator is whether the lessons being taught can be relayed in a way that encourages further study and analysis and I feel this has been accomplished in this work. With the electronic publishing industry being so dynamic I feel that is probably all one can hope for and if the basic lessons can be learned then the journey can begin.