Saturday, March 19, 2011

Ebooks etc

What a pain in the arse. I can't publish for Ipad because I don't have an ISBN for The Parasite and I can't publish for Nook because I need an American bank account. However, I'm betting all this is going to get easier.

17 comments:

The Kat said...

I imagine so, its relatively early days. I can't see silly obstructions to trade like these lasting much longer.

I had something similar recently wanted to join an affiliate scheme for a chain of hotels but need to be registered as a non resident alien in America?!?

Blue Tyson said...

Lulu says they do ibookstore, but you will have to redo it as an epub if the former is actually correct.

http://www.lulu.com/publish/ebooks/

loggerag2002 said...

Neal, just PDF them, and sell them on your site as a download, then all the people with Ipads, smartphones, computers....., etc can just read them. Have a paypal or instant "donate" or "pay" button, and just sell them through the website. Once they make enough money from those downloads, then get the ISBN and go to Amazon. I enjoy your books on Kindle app for ipad, iphone and computer.

Cheryl said...

Can I help? I have a publishing company with ISBNs and a US bank account. Email me.

Neal Asher said...

I hope so Kat.

I look at that site, Blue Tyson, and have to keep wondering what the angle is there. How do they make money? Free ISBN offered but what's that 50% of DRM.

loggerag2002, I wouldn't get the distribution.

I would, Cheryl, if I knew your email.

Neal Asher said...

Ah yes, I see - you have to buy 'distribution packages' on lulu.

Fergal Breen said...

I can convert free to any format you want.
I think self publish on-site with pay pal?

After all you are more famous than xy publisher...

Fergal Breen said...

No offence to Cheryl or any particular publishers. Plus I'm certain many others could convert for you too, so it's probably more distribution you seek?

Neal Asher said...

It's not about format,Fergal. I just want to be able to load to the main sites like Amazon and Apple. And yes, for distribution.

Sean O'Hara said...

If you publish on Smashwords, they'll provide you with ISBNs for your books (free with them listed as publisher, or with you listed for a fee ($10 IIRC)). You can even have them distribute the files to the iBookstore and Kobo Store, though the process is pretty slow.

Andrew said...

I think Gary Gibson experimented with a friends novel on smashwords.

I bought it as an ePub and read it on a Sony ereader.

loggerag2002 said...

Well, whatever format you choose, papyrus, telegram, stone tablet, word, pdf, ibook, ebook, kindle book, .....


I'll read them. Hell Ive even read a novel one page at a time, as the author wrote them and emailed them out. Talk about building suspense.

Kirby Uber said...

possibly off topic a bit, but i recently got a HTC thunderbolt, and loaded up the kindle app, curious, as i am a kindle owner.

apparently one has access to all of ones purchases on the software version that one has on the hardware device.

so should i be out and about, and want to dip into a bit of reading, i can do so on my phone.

and with bookmarks, come up right to where i was on the kindle hardware device. kinda slick.

and re-reading parasite on the kindle was a blast. 8)

Anonymous said...

Not sure the inability to publish for iPad is necessarily a problem. Everybody I know who owns one has the Kindle app installed.

robann said...

Neal - Citibank have multiple currency bank accounts. I opened one up in the UK for when I worked in the US for a while. They *should* be able to set one up so that you can have dollar deposits from the US wired there. Their customer services can probably help if you explain the situation.

Your nearest branch is probably Canary Wharf though ;-)

Unknown said...

This might be of some interest: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/20/ebook-sales-in-the-us-double-year-on-year-paper-books-suffer-do/

Neal Asher said...

I think I'll be buying some ISBNs, Sean, and going my own way on this.

robann, I tried citibank once, then phoned for some advice about something. I cancelled my account shortly after spending half an hour trying to understand the guy.

Iscin, that is interesting. I'll probably just carry on with novellas and see how that plays out.