Better newsbizmodels

eBooks and News

Put your content to work for youDan Pacheco, Founder of BookBrewer.com

My background

•15 years, including AOL, Washingtonpost.com.

• Previous recipient of $837K Knight News Challenge grant.

• Bakersfield Californian: user contributed content, social networks, new products.

• Founder of FeedBrewer, Inc.

I’m a so-called “entrepreneurial journalist,” and now just an entrepreneur.

eBook publishing and distribution.

BookBrewer

Docs, blogs, photos Devices, apps & stores

BookBrewer

http://vimeo.com/19581325

Video: Create an eBook:

Why eBooks?

Source: International Digital Publishing Forum and Association of American Publishers.

300%

$6 Billion

Seen This Before?

eBooks are like Web pages in mid-90s.

Beyond “maybe” to “must do”

• EBooks are a paid content model that’s working today, and can work for you.

• Stop the theoretical discussions about how you may be able to raise money and start doing it with eBooks.

• People are buying digital content as eBooks that they can get elsewhere for free. Why?

• Convenience

• Familiarity

• No internet connection required.

• Personalizable content

4 ways to make eBooks

Distribution?

Full File?

Direct to Retailers

Do it Yourself

Cost Per Title

Self-Serve Service

Conversion Shop

Free Y N

Free Y Y

$20 - $30 Y Yes for some, no for others

$200 - $1,000

Y Yes

Royalty

50-70%

50-100%

N

50-100%

Ways to Do it Yourself

• Some desktop publishing software claims to export ePub files. Results are often buggy.

• Or, save chapters as XHTML, organize into folder, add other index files and zip. HUGE PAIN.

• Make sure it passes ePubCheck, or it will crash eReaders and retailers will reject it.

http://www.rainwater-soft.com/epubchecker/

Services: the easy way

Level of Service

Price

$300

$149

Free, buggy.

Free.No tools.85% royalty.

$20-$85Includes eBook distribution and Print on Demand 95% royalties.

Print only

Application to news orgs

News orgs have content that could be repackaged and sold as eBooks, including:

Multi-part series

Celebrity interviews

Collections of columns from your own celebs

Do you have evergreen content that could be making money right now?

Restaurant reviews

Movie reviews

And even book reviews (ironically)!

Do this, not that …

Do’s Don’ts

Start with raw data: text and photos.

Avoid starting from PDFs or anything with rich layout.

Curate a collection of 5-10 similar stories.

Don’t cram together 100 unrelated stories.

Market your eBook on your Web site and in social media.

Don’t expect a service or retailer to market for you.

Retail Channels / Devices

Retailer-aligned Devices Amazon Kindle B&N Nook Apple’s iBooks (iTunes, iOS) Kobo (Borders)

Apps for iOS, Android All of the above, plus … Stanza, eReader, Aldiko

Non-retailer aligned Sony Reader

Amazon & Apple

Kindle and iPad are the two big gorillas, but iPad (and apps) gaining ground fast.

Satisfaction ratings

Other devices are hurting

Device owners read news

Android Tablets

Cheaper, more plentiful, more open – and thus poised to take over.

Motorola Xoom Samsung GalaxyTab

Defense Standard Magazine

Defense Standard

Example of a magazine that publishes its best stories as an eBook.

Goal: Make content available for soldiers on the go.

Evergreen Content

Mark Scott Nash wrote hiking guides for the Boulder Daily Camera for years.

Asked Daily Camera to publish a book. They finally said he could do it himself.

I can now carry 30 hikes in my pocket (iPhone). I can search then and add notes.

Example: ProPublica

ProPublica is now publishing stories as Amazon Singles“In the old world of print publishing, narratives longer than about 10,000 words (a long magazine piece) and shorter than about 30,000 words (a relatively short book) were difficult to publish at all. This is another one of those “rules” that digital technology seems to be repealing, and, as frequent publishers of compelling long-form content, we think that’s a step forward.” – Richard Tofel

Oddly, Amazon is forcing them to sell it for free because of free price on the Web.

What topics sell?

What we’ve noticed after 4 months …

“How To” content with a niche focus.

Personal stories by people who overcame major crises in health, life, business.

Well-written novels.

And yes, sex. (In the book industry, it’s called “erotica.”)

And don’t forget print!

New advances in Variable Digital Web Presses allow you to make a book available for Print on Demand.

Setup as low as $60, with each copy available for $6 each.

They’re printed and FedExed within 36 hours of each new order.

On the Horizon

“Enhanced eBooks” promise to provide multimedia experience.

Embed videos, audio and even PDFs right into ePub files.

The tradeoff: only Apple iBooks supports these. They require a “vanilla” version for every title.

They’re still hard to create (but services will making it easier).

eBook publishing made easy

dan@bookbrewer.com

http:/bookbrewer.com

Thank You!