Self Publishing Made Cheap

When I was a kid in the sixties, we bought records that played our favorite bands, new technology then had us listening to those bands on eight track tapes and cassettes. In the twenty-first century our music comes on a CD, but even that is now losing ground to music being downloaded from the internet on to Ipods and MP3s.

The internet allows us now to download e-books that can be read on our computers or printed out. The popular Kindle, Ipad and the copy cats are changing the way people buy and read books. It’s just in its infancy but I have no doubt that the e-book will someday in the future replace the paper book. Newspapers are going online and you see magazines setting up their online sites. You will pay to read the news online someday and your favorite photo magazines will follow. It’s cost effective.

This makes sense to me as I self published my own book ”Tiny Landscapes” and bought 2,000 copies for $12,000.00, and in the last year I’ve created four e-books that cost me nothing to produce the product. The Tiny Landscapes book cost to package and ship which is passed on to the customer, and the e-books are sent to the customer via internet costing me and the customer nothing for delivery, and they can get it instantly.

Like record stores that have gone under we’ll eventually see the end of the local Barnes and Noble and Borders. Amazon is on the leading edge of the transformation to e-books and it’s getting bigger each day. This won’t happen over night but it will happen. School text books that cost a fortune at the college level will go to the e-book and someday when every kid has a laptop, public schools will have text books downloaded to the kids computers.

As businesses are always looking for ways to cut cost, e-books would be a huge savings for publishers printing books. Now if everyone can produce an e-book without any cost, will this hurt the publishers, as you don’t need the publishers money to produce your book. Authors can self publish their own e-books and submit them to the online sites.

I sell my “Tiny Landscapes” book through Amazon who has to warehouse all these books and the cost of all the people to run the warehouses, which is a huge cost to the company. Just think how much they will save when all books are e-books. They just need hardrives to store all the e-books, which will save tons of money on warehouses, labor, and shipping.

E-books in how-to nature photography are becoming more popular, photogs like well known bird photographer Arthur Morris has some e-books. William Neil, writer for "Outdoor Photgrapher" just released some e-books. Another birder Alan Murphy has a new e-book, David DuChemin has e-books on composition. More and more pro's I talk to are getting their e-books together. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in time.

I think it's great because many of these great photographers that can teach us things will have a way to produce information without mortgaging their homes.

Mike, I first noticed the rapid spread of nature bird photo e-books by the numerous shooting friends of Artie Morris down in Florida, offering site guides to every nook and cranny of Florida. Because of the abundance of birds and species year-round in these Florida hot spots visited by photographers globally, these are probably all successful books. In fact, I sense that e-books and workshops have become the primary product offering and source of profits for many nature photographers, with sales of published images or print sales becoming secondary.

I think you're spot on here. Waiting for the e-books to spruce up their graphics before I really urge people to go this route. That said, it's not far off.
I think one of the big markets is going to be e-field guides. Imagine going into the field with an e-book that contains a "Field Guide to Everything in North America." Such a confection would be almost unlimited in its ability to show diagnostic details. Imagine using a well-illustrated dichotomous key to sort out what kind of Mushroom you were looking at.
One of the skills natphots are going to need to develop, if they want to feed into such efforts, is knowing what part of a critter or plant needs to be in focus. Ipecac is told from Bowman's Root by the bracts. Several dragonflies are separated by the shape of the terminal appendages--a macro feature. While the artist will want to focus on the eyes--always the eyes--the illustrator is going to need to focus on the other end. Certainly, they don't need to be mutually exclusive, but once you get your impact image, go for a couple of diagnostic shots.
Just thinking out loud here.

I do believe ebooks are going to gain in popularity, as long as they constitute a savings for the consumer. It really makes no sense to pay the same amount for an ebook as one does for a bound book say $15 or more. People still love taking books with them, setting on the porch on a plane or in the park and reading. People aren't going to buy something that they can only read at their computer. In order to do this with an ebook you need the reader some as high as $300. This is what is keeping ebooks from taking off. Most people aren't going to buy a $200-300 reader for an ebook when they can buy a bound book for $20-30.

You mentioned David DuChemin and his line of ebooks on vision in photography. I have purchased 2 so far for the simple fact that at $5 each they constitute a good value for the money spent.

I just wish the savings and benefits that ebooks present to the authors, publishers, distributors were passed on to the consumer but most seem to be priced the same as bound books which to me really makes no sense and is the reason my collection of ebooks is not growing.

Hey Brad, as with all technology like VCRs, cell phones, SLR digital cameras, etc. the e-book readers will drop in price so everybody will own one.

There is a cost savings with the e-books, as amazon is selling books that are selling in the $25.00 list price for $9.99. The ones that are not selling this cheap are the independent authors online selling mostly how-to info.

I know that when I buy an e-book that it cost the author nothing to produce the product, but I'm willing to pay the price based on the information that he or she is offering. If it's some well known photographer and they don't have this information in a traditional book format, I'm still willing to pay the extra if its going to help me. I bought John Shaw's e-book on CS3 and paid more then I would have for a book on the same subject by another author at the book store, but I wanted it from John Shaw and was willing to pay the extra coming from him.

I teach a one day macro workshop that goes for $49, and people tell me that I should charge more. But when I put that same information that I teach in my one day workshop into Macro Workshop E-book for $29, people say wow that's a lot of money for an e-book. It's the same information at $20 less. We compare the price to a traditional book and say it's not worth the price, but it's was a great price at $49, for the same info at the workshop. The e-book is a much better deal as you always have the information there to refer back to, but once they leave my workshop, they forget most of what I talked about.

I believe you will see a drop in independents prices as more photogs like DuChemin selling at the lower prices. It's just like McDonalds coming out with the dollar menu, every fast food had to do a dollar menu to compete, or like Little Caesars selling five dollar pizza, now others have five dollar pizzas.

Thanks for commenting Jeff and John.

Mike, brilliant visionary thinking as usual. I wonder if you could elaborate on your statement, "once they leave my workshop, they forget most of what I talked about "? Do you see a role for technology in addressing this common human nature phenomenon of retention, or more specifically, the inability to retain more than 10-15% of new information at a time? I've noticed that this is common to almost all people, young and old; brain overload tends to set in and everything you thought you learned gradually and somewhat too quickly leaks away.

There seems to be no shortage of teachers and information out there these days. The problem is with retention of the information. I am still under the impression that the fastest and best way to learn something is to have someone show you how to do it in person, one on one. But, even in these ideal teaching situations when you think you have grasped the subject, after a fair amount of time, its gone. Of course that's what books, DVDs, and the internet are good for; to reference back to. But if that's what it all comes down to eventually, then do we still need the teacher too? Maybe instead of taking classes, studying or reading a book from cover to cover, we just need to carry the internet around with us on an iPad. I'm sort of serious here.

Hey Richard, I took a workshop from a photoshop guru (I even forgot his name) last fall and learned a heck of a lot of interesting things that he was showing us, and when I got home and tried some of these tricks, do you think I could remember how he did any of them, heck no. I even wrote some of them down, and still couldn't figure out what was going on As you said it's an overload of information on your brain.

Yes I have a solution to this problem, buy the e-book, that way you can take on as much as your brain can handle at one time. This guy had one, but I thought, oh I'll remember all this.

I'm assuming people take a workshop from a photographer because they admire their style and would like to learn what the instructor knows. It amazes me how people think nothing of paying big bucks for a photographers knowledge at a workshop, week-end workshop can run as high as $1,000 dollars plus expenses, but if that same photographer sold his knowledge in an e-book for say $50, people would be think that's to much.

You're buying their knowledge, if it's worth big bucks in the workshop why is it worth so much less in the e-book or even a traditional book.

There are a lot of great photographers out there that can't afford to publish a book or can't find a publisher willing to invest in a how-to book, so you would never be able to get this information from these photographers. But with e-books everybody can publish ther own book, and they are starting too.

You're right that with the technology we will be able to carry that e-book right in the field with us to refer back if we have a question. You will have the book right on your phone.

I'm excited about the e-books because more and more photographers will be publishing their knowledge because of the ease and no cost of producing these books.

I've learned a lot about blogging and social networking from the e-books I've bought from some of the big bloggers online that have made a name for themselve in the blogging world. These same guys may have never been able to score a book deal or been able to afford to self pubilsh a traditional book, but the e-book allows us to get that information.

You're right about e-books, Mike. Readers will become as widespread as iPods or laptops. College students wont need to spend hundreds of dollars on bound books books every semester, only to sell them at a big discount a few months later. Students will grow up taking ebook readers as a given part of life, just as they do now with computers and mobile devices.

Regarding books versus workshops - traditional education uses both. Students have both books and instructors. You should be selling your ebooks as a package deal to the people who pay for your hands on workshops - one transaction, two sales. You increase the price of your underpriced $49 workshop, lower the price of your overpriced $29 ebook, and sell them together for $79.

Hey Buck, thanks for comment, my question is why is the information in the workshop worth paying more then 49.00, but the same information worth less then 29.00 as an e-book?

Hi Mike,

In my mind the answer is quite simple. A well conducted workshop from a good teacher is worth more in the minds of students than a e-book for the same reason registering for a course taught by a renowned professor at Stanford University is a lot more expensive than purchasing the course text book authored by the same professor. Being taught a course by a teacher who is right there allows for interaction and that is something a book can never provide.

Having said that, I still think offering e-books is a great idea because they can be used by both your workstop students (as reference material), as well as by others who may not be able to attend one of your workshops.

Hey Anil, I agree most feel the personal touch of being there with someone they respect as a photographer seems to hold more value, regardless that the information is the same in both formats (Workshop or e-books).

I started doing my Macro Workshop e-book for those that wouldn't or couldn't travel to Michigan for a one day macro workshop. The e-book has accomplished that and have sold to photogs all over the world.

Like I mentioned before we will be able to buy information from a lot of great photographers that wouldn't have done a traditional book, but now with the technology they will be able to produce a book without the high cost of printing. In the book world the cost of each book is not the problem, it the high volume you have to order to get that low price. High volume would not be a problem if you could get into the book chains, but that's a tough nut to crack.

I invested the money in my book knowing I would be able to sell lots of them at my 25 art shows a year, plus some online sales, amazon, and through my workshops, but without a place to sell I would never have taken this financial risk.

E-books take all the risk away.

Thanks for comment anil

I was on another website talking about this subject of the future of e-books and a lady from Indiana who teaches in a urban, lower socio-economic school population is about to go digital. The school system has purchased netbooks and an internet account for every student. They will have Wifi 24-7 and the netbooks will be used both in school and at home. All textbooks will be accessible in digital format. Teaching this way will be mandatory for all teachers, and they have begun the professional development for this transition.

I see one problem with doing a coffee table style e-book of photographs. Most photographers have websites with their images already online, so who would want to buy an e-book of images to view on their kindle or computer when you can just go to that photographers website and view all his or her images for free.

What do you think about that?

I can't believe anyone would pay for a coffee table ebook. The premise alone sounds ridiculous. But I admit, I am looking at it from a photographers point of view.

Text is one thing, you are basically selling information, as with any type of book. All though in electronic form it's access is restricted to those devices which will display it. As I mentioned previously I believe this is the main issue with widespread growth of ebooks. Will prices of readers come down? Maybe, but not necessarily. As we have seen on the computer front there are minimum prices that manufacturers will not go below. Technology changes and hopefully improves and with these advancements the newer devices maintain current pricing. More bells and whistles does not equate to lower prices, this is how manufactures keep prices up. Never the less, technology will march on and be a bigger and bigger part of our lives.

Images displayed in electronic (digital) format are only as good as the quality of the device on which they are displayed. As of today's technology, the digital format does not begin to approach the quality of a printed image.

For many people the quality does not matter. It's importance is far more an issue for the photographer than the consumer. People will buy pictures because they think they're cool, or pretty or they love sunsets. They don't examine them for detail in the shadows or for correct color balance. They look at it, they like it, if they want it and the price is right they buy it. So I suppose there could be a market for pictures in digital form for a device setting on ones coffee table. Heck people put pictures on their cell phones and think they're great. Who knows, crazier things have happened.

Something to think about comparing a coffee table ebook to the photographers current website. Why do people buy coffee table books now (in print form) when they can see all the pictures on the photographers website? There is a definitive answer in that question somewhere. If the same can be applied to an ebook, they will sell just as good.

just an info, because it fits the subject.

NPNer Joel Truckenbrod - a very talented landscape photographer - published coffee table e-books and has them ready for free download on his website. check them out.
www.joeltruckenbrod.com
it's a bit more than just view the images on a website, not only because there are images, you may not see on the wqebsites.
I think they are beautiful and elegant. can you make money with them - I don't think so. can it replace the haptic and visual experience of thumbing through a real coffee table book - I don't think so.
but I also don't think, that is what he had in mind.

georg

Thanks Georg for letting us know about Joel's e-book.

One problem I see with e-books, is many people place some value on getting a authors signiture on their book, how are they going to have an e-book signed

Mike,

On the question of why workshop worth more than 49 and e-book less than 29, I think Anil hit it. Personal one-on-one is very important to some.

I guess I'm a Luddite. As a consumer I'm not a fan of e-books. Scrolling will not replace turning a page. E-books are not tangible. I like dogears, and highlights and notes in the margins. I like a well worn friend that never needs electricity. I like to be able to flick my eyes quickly back and forth to either re-read something or refer from text to illustration without having to scroll or search. Even a flip of a page is easier than infernal scrolling. That said, I do have some e-books (gasp!) because they are convenient to take travelling without the weight. Compare taking half a dozen books to taking essentially nothing once the books are on the laptop. I always have a laptop with me for downloading images so it's not like I have to buy or take extra hardware. Well, I'm not a Luddite I guess after all. I do love technology and digital has brought me huge enjoyment and flexibility I did not have with film. One day I may even offer an e-book for sale myself! (gasp again) I just wanted to weigh in on the intangibles of "feel" and emotion...holding a book, the smell, the weight, the memories of various inkspots and coffee stains. Curling up anywhere with a "real" book, indepdendent of having the batteries charged...in bed, around a campfire...sigh... just a hopeless old coot I guess. I wonder if there are others with these sentiments and if that proves any obstacle to e-books. Anybody have any experience or input on this angle?
Interesting topic and information. Be well all. John

As far as someone's willingness to pay a certain price for an e-book or workshop - I think perceived cost affects how people view it. They know that you're having to take a day of your time to teach a workshop - so they perceive that as costing you something to produce. With an e-book you just need to send them a link, or email or whatever(they may not consider the time spent creating it) - so they only perceive that as taking 5 minutes of your time(or it might even be automated so that you need take no time) - so they would view it as not costing you much at all.

So I think it is a combination of percieved value to them plus perceived cost for you to produce that helps someone decide whether they think the value is worth the cost.

As far as e-books I don't think they'll replace regular books any time soon. To many of us love books. In a generation or two kids might grow up without much exposure to traditional books, and maybe then they won't develop the same love... but until then I think we'll still have books.

That being said I do really like the convenience of David duChemin's $5 e-books. I think people who may never have considered buying e-books will - based on price and convenience(you get them immediately). As people become more impatient and more focused on immediate results, e-books will be become more important.

Something to consider here. With all the savings to the company/creator of the books with no need for storage, and such. There also will be no need for a lot of the jobs people have too!
I also see the possible conservation pros and cons from such a transition. Do you think the savings on paper outway the increase in electricity/energy used while everyone that would have read a bound book is now reading on thier computer? Also, how many people would end up printing the e-books on thier own printers at home?

Chris

The internet promised the free exchange of great amounts of information. It has not delivered. What it has delivered is a mess of rights management issues and an endless stream of babble (so called user content) from Twits and Flickrs and Faceboors.

I was recently listening to a radio program talking about content and the hypothesis was put forward that we have an ever increasing amount of knowledge available to us, but the amount of free knowledge of high quality is greatly decreasing as patents and copyrights and.... clamp down on what we can access. I have to agree. My degree was in a branch of Engineering and the ONLY place to find that content was in a library. Not just any library, but the library of an engineering college. Where do you find that content today? The SAME library. It is not available online. The library catalog is, but the real content is not. Likewise, in my career as a PeopleSoft professional, there is an absolute dearth of useful free content on the web. Its all locked in work-for-hire or copyrighted content with HUGE pricetags.

As we move toward an age where content is never published to paper, then the availability of really good quality free knowledge (aka Libraries) will shrink. Perhaps there is an electronic subscription platform developing for libraries to share electronic content forward to their users that I'm not aware of, but I hadn't really seen much yet.

I think the e-book has its place... Its a spec in a flash memory chip. Aside from that, there is nothing tangible.

Its seems people have lately been very excited by technological advances, forgetting about the other options previously available to them, and anxious for the next better thing. The transitions are laying waste to industries that have been built over literally millennia. They're putting people out of work and consolidating the ownership and availability of content and knowledge to a smaller and smaller pool. At the same time, we're seeing our creative content [ulr=http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=60297]commoditized[/url]. driving towards the lowest possible cost.

In case you can't tell, I'm not a fan of the e"book". Just as I'm not a fan of the E-print concept that many people are moving towards (aka big dedicated slideshow on the wall thingy). While I do buy some music online, I prefer to purchase a CD or Vinyl.

Well, if you read all the way down to here, congrats! Why aren't you out taking photographs (Why aren't I)!

I love books in paper form. Books and magazines. I buy them and strew them around the house and reader-room (you know, where water flows). I pick up a book read awhile, put it down and come back....no booting, no electric outlet needed. Magazines...I flip through them looking for what I might want to really read. This is fast. Then flip back and read the good stuff. Leave it right there. Come back later and maybe flip through it backwards instead of forwards to see if there was anything special I missed or want to read again. Very easy and very fast. And then I can actually SHARE whatever I have because I bought it and can do whatever I want with the hardcopy.

Naturally, I buy many photo magazines and how-to photo books, I read them probably 30 times and more. Magazines are saved and go to my two photo loving kids who then read them. Guess you could say the publishers are losing sales because of this. They don't complain because they know this is the nature of a hardcopy magazine or book. Many books are donated to libraries that loan them out for free or sell at book sales. Publishers have no problems with that either.

Now we get to the electronic age. How many of these e-books have a one computer or two rights limit? I really don't know. Can we read one and then simply email it to someone else who might be interested? After all, we have bought it just like a hardcopy. Would we delete it from our system after sending it to someone else like giving away the magazine or book? Would that be acceptable? Will software and operating systems evolve that do just that? If you send this kind of information to someone else it is automatically deleted from your system? It is a whole different ballgame!

How about internet e-frames? Seems to me that this is a real technology for photographers to pursue. Only now if the frames costs for large size high rez frames would come down. People could buy subscriptions to photographers e-frame sites and could have new images downloaded ever week or so with a certain number of images per week, etc. Or folks could buy an electronic image and have it sent to their own frame. Why not?

As to the comments on libraries...some libraries are going to close. Ours has had it's government funding slashed over 66%! And this is for a multi-county multi-library system. And now it is about to lose a major local funding source (the school system), too. This will cause the library to lose access to it's main series of databases crucial to its operation. Also, it will no longer be able to afford its high speed internet connection that powers over 30 computers used by the local public for free (these computers are always full of people). So, libraries may no longer be in existence in the next 100 years or less...so all the crucial data they hold will haver to go electronic. I hate that...but I don't ride a horse to work anymore either and I don't complain about that either.

And then we have the up and coming technology of OLED which gives you a screen on a piece of soft bendable plastic - like an electronic piece of paper. These are being tested now and I have seen a few applications already. They create the thing by using a printer to print the ink oleds on the plastic. Then another process is used to finish it up. This is cheap in relation to creating the computer screen you are using to read this. Just don't know where the computer is to drive these things!! So, once we have these cheap oled systems, I guess I will have those all over the house and in my reading-room! Don't know if they will be one use things or multi-use of combination of both.

I have gone on too long. Figure if you made it all the way down to my post, you might as well finish it!
Troup