eBook Publishing Money Questions
Q: Does Minnesota eBooks take a cut of my sales?
Q: Are bulk discounts available for large volume publishers?
Q: How much should I sell my book for?
Q: Can I get demographic and other information about who is buying my books?
Q: Should I offer a free sample?
Questions about converting and publishing your eBook with Minnesota eBooks
eBook Publishing General Questions
Q: How do you determine what constitutes a “page”?
Q: Can you convert my printed book to an ebook?
Q: How long does your ebook conversion and publishing process take?
Q: How long will it take until my book appears in the Apple Store and others?
Q: Can Minnesota eBooks put photos in my ebooks?
Q: Can Minnesota eBooks put videos and sound files in my ebooks?
Q: Can Minnesota eBooks help me promote my ebook?
Q: Can I publish my ebook elsewhere?
Q: What are all the places that Minnesota eBooks will distribute my eBook?
Q: Can I put ads in my ebook?
Q: Does Minnesota eBooks proofread our submissions?
Q: Do I need a cover?
Q: What’s the cost difference between eBook and print book publishing?
Q: Do you include indexes in the eBook editions?
eBook Publishing Technical Questions
Q: What kind of files can I upload?
Q: Is there a file size limit?
Q: What is DRM, and why do I need it?
Q: How do I publish my ebook to the Apple Store or Amazon.com?
Q: Can I publish my book to other eReaders?
Q: Where else can I sell my ebook?
eBook Publishing Legal Questions
Q: Does Minnesota eBooks , Apple or Amazon have any rights to my book or ebook?
Q: How do you determine what constitutes a “page”?
A: A “page” is based on the a standard word processing document of 12 point Times New Roman type on 14 point leading (also known as “single line spacing” or “single spaced”) with .5 inch margins.
Q: Can you convert my printed book to an eBook?
A: Yes. Minnesota eBooks can convert your printed book to eBook electronic format. See details on our convert print books to ebooks page.
Q: What kind of files can I upload?
A: Minnesota eBooks can convert PDF, DOC, TXT files to the Apple iPad epub format and the Amazon Kindle mobi format. You may also upload Quark Xpress, Adobe InDesign and iWork Pages documents–these formats must be in a .zip file, however, as they can get quite large.
Q: Is there a file size limit?
A: You can upload files up to 400MB in size via the form in our store. However, if you have files larger than that you should call us at (651) 204-3753 for an alternate method to send them to us.
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Q: How long does your ebook conversion and publishing process take?
A: Minnesota eBooks takes up to five business days to convert your book to epub format. When we’re finished we’ll send you an e-mail with the links to your ebooks. You can then download them. Please note, however, that some books may take longer if they are graphics-heavy or have special layout requirements. Textbooks, instructional manuals and how-to guides sometimes have these needs. We’ll e-mail you before we start production to let you know if there will be any extra time allotted.
Q: Can Minnesota eBooks put photos in my ebooks?
A: Yes. You can put photos in your ebook.
Q: Can Minnesota eBooks put videos and sound files in my ebooks?
A: Minnesota eBooks can place videos in your ebooks, but it requires some special attention. We’ve done it for clients who required sounds for instructional and teaching purposes, and we can do it for you. Please call (651) 204-3753 or e-mail us for more details, cost and time estimates.
Q: Can Minnesota eBooks help me promote my ebook?
A: Yes. If you would like to use Minnesota eBooks’s social, traditional and new media expertise to promote your ebook, we’d be happy to help. Please call us at (651) 204-3753 for more information. Remember that our Full Service eBook and Print book package contains marketing services as well.
Q: Can I publish my ebook elsewhere?
A: Yes. You are completely in control of where and when you publish your eBooks. Your file formats are compatible with other readers such as the Barnes & Noble Nook.
Q: Does Minnesota eBooks , Apple or Amazon have any rights to my book or ebook?
A: No. Minnesota eBooks makes no claim to copyright, intellectual property or other ownership to your book, manuscript or ebook. Any content that you submit to Minnesota eBooks for conversion remains 100% yours both in terms of ownership and liability. We only require your permission to distribute your work to our partners.
Q: What are all the places that Minnesota eBooks will distribute my eBook?
A: Minnesota eBooks publishes your eBook to Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
A: Yes. Keep in mind that ads may affect the reader’s experience. If you want to advertise your brand or product, remember that there are really no page breaks in an ebook. One cannot put an ad at “page bottom” because they don’t really exist. Chapter ends, do however exist, and you might be able to place a graphic or, better yet, a text ad at the end of the chapter. Text is most likely better because some of its words might come up in searches of the book on the Kindle and iPad.
Q: Should I offer a free sample?
A: Yes. Free samples are a wonderful way to get readers involved with your work, and makes the buying decision much easier for them. Minnesota eBooks recommends putting the two first chapters online for free.
Q: What is DRM, and why do I need it?
A: DRM stands for “Digital Rights Management”, and it’s a software lock on your content. If you enable DRM protection on your ebook, no one will be able to duplicate your work, and they won’t be able to transfer it electronically to anyone else. If you do not enable DRM, people will be able to transfer your book electronically, and if you’re looking to profit from its distribution, you may be setting yourself up for profit losses.
Q: How do I publish my ebook to the Apple Store or Amazon.com?
A: In one of two ways: either have Minnesota eBooks publish your book to their account, or do it yourself.
If you have Minnesota eBooks do it, we’ll simply upload your ebook to our publisher account after we convert it. If you want to to do it, you’ll need to open both an iTunes and an Amazon.com account. Uploading is a relatively straightforward process, and once you have those accounts you can upload the files by yourself.
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Q: Does Minnesota eBooks take a cut of my sales?
A: No.
Take a look at our eBook pricing page</> to review our plans.
Q: Are bulk discounts available for large volume publishers?
A: Yes. Call us at (651) 204-3753 or e-mail us at info@MinnesotaeBooks.com to discuss rates and volumes.
Q: How much should I sell my book for?
A: It’s all up to you. Keep in mind that Apple and Amazon take 30% of all proceeds from the sale of your eBook. Also note that Apple prefers that all prices end in “.99”.
Historically, people expect most ebooks to cost $9.99, but recently Apple and Amazon and their partner publishers have begun charging $14.99 and up.
Q: Does Minnesota eBooks proofread our submissions?
A: No. Standard conversions do not include editing. Please make certain that your book is completely ready for publishing when you deliver it.
A: Yes. Minnesota eBooks can design one for you for a fee, but if you have designed one in Photoshop or another layout program, you should upload that with your book upload.
A: What’s the cost difference between eBook and print book publishing?
Take a quick look at a cost comparison between printing 100 copies of a print book, and creating an eBook. To be sure, you should do both to appeal to a broader market segment, but if you can only afford one method, eBook publishing is more economically rewarding.
Q: Do you include indexes in the eBook editions?
As a practice, we don’t include indexes in eBooks because they refer to word or phrase locations by page number, and page numbers don’t exist in the eBook editions. Also: indexes are superseded as a search device because every eReader has a search tool in it so readers can search for what they want when they want it.
Print Book
200 Page paperback with Full color cover, Black and white photos inside: $851.43
Minimum order: 100 copies
Shipping from the printer to you: $55.17 via UPS ground
Shipping to your customers: varied.
inventory costs: varied.
Shipping materials costs: varied.
Retail web store costs (you may need to build your own eStore): varied
Marketing costs: varied.
Your percentage of sales revenues: 100%
eBook
200 page book, full color cover, full color photos: $499
minimum order: 1
No shipping costs for shipment to you.
No shipping costs for shipment to your customers.
No inventory costs.
No shipping materials costs.
Retail web store costs: $0 (Apple, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others allow you to sell for free, and handle all the marketing for you.)
Marketing costs: $0
Your percentage of sales revenues: 70%
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Q: Can I get demographic and other information about who is buying my books?
A: No. Apple and Amazon do not release that information.
Q: How long will it take until my ebook appears in the Apple Store and others?
A: Usually within 72 hours from uploading if there are no issues. Apple reviews books for propriety and other qualifications, and that review can take up to two weeks from the date of submission. Some other stores because of huge spikes in use can take over a month to publish your book after we deliver it to them.
Q: Can I publish my book to other eReaders?
A: Yes. Other eReaders such as Sony Reader and dozens of others are compatible with the ePub and Mobi formats.
Q: Where else can I sell my ebook?
A: A Digital publication distributor like ClickBank.com is a good place to start.
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