About ebooks

Ebooks - some authors hate them. Baroness P.D. James, president of the Society of Authors, finds ebooks ‘unattractive’. Many authors and readers much prefer the look, feel and even smell of a physical book. Some technophobes just hate them on principal whilst others, particularly those of us somewhat longer in the tooth can find the whole subject rather intimidating.

JK Rowling refused to let any of her work be offered in this format until April 2011, in spite of clamouring from fans. But if you knew where to look on line, all seven of her books could be found quite easily, available as electronic downloads - and all free. The reality is that her fans wanted her books in electronic form, and made it happen unofficially where no official option was available. I had a quick look at one of the pirate versions, and the quality of the scanning was quite poor. No-one really gained. Readers got a poor quality product; the author was left appearing to be like King Canute trying to hold back the waves.

However I’ve just finished looking through the ‘beta testing’ version of her ‘Pottermore’ site (August 2011). Wow! Perhaps she had this in mind all along. The site gives a lot more free information to fans (including the opportunity to be ‘given’ a bespoke wand and sorted into a house (Ravenclaw, yay!), based on profiling tests. It is exactly what she promised, a chance for her to give back.

As a musician, I felt proud that it was musicians who started charity events such as Band Aid whilst the politicians just talked. As an author, I’m also pleased that this new site not only gives back so much to readers, but also allows a direct connection to be made. Publishers have only themselves to blame if they now start finding themselves left out of the loop. It was entirely self-inflicted.

We don’t all need to take things to such a level, probably can’t afford to anyway! But we can all at the very least set up a web site to give readers more background information on our subject, with a low pressure option to buy more if they want to. Think of it as a market stall where we can display all our wares and offer free samples. And we can also let our readers sign up for advance warning of free books, discount offers and general updates.

Ebooks also let us quickly and conveniently access a lot of old books. As well as the many out of copyright books free to download from Amazon, Project Gutenberg and other sites offer oodles of the little beasties, - all free and ripe for the plucking. I've stuffed my Kindle with all sorts of books that I've always wanted to read, as well as many I have never heard of before but which had fascinating titles. Some have led me on to yet more books and authors. It was by downloading a range of works by A.A. Milne that I discovered his wide output - including war poetry.

A translation of a Roman book has given me a cracking idea for a possible novel. I'll probably never get round to it, but you never know! And I love being able to carry a library with me at all times, to dip into and browse when the mood takes me or at any suitable opportunity. It's also easy enough to search through them. How often have you thought of a quote, or details from a book, but can’t remember just which book it was in? I can look though my entire collection instantly, try that in a library!

So, big deal. Some love them, others don't. What opportunities are there for you, apart from the general ones outlined above? Huge ones - it has never been easier to write your own book, and to distribute it directly to the market. The new author-controlled websites allow a direct link between writer and reader.

This page is an extract from my free ebook 'Creating ebooks'. To get a free copy, just click on the book cover (top right of the site). I'll keep adding to this guide as my own experience unfolds. Do please check for updated versions, I'll add new links and share what works, and what does not, as I find out! I’ve used links quite extensively because of the changeable nature of this format (one reason I love it so much!). Whenever you click through to them, you’ll get the latest version.