How to Get Your e-Book Published: An Insider's Guide to the World of Electronic Publishing [Paperback]

Richard Curtis (Author), William Thomas Quick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2001

Electronic book publishing is booming, a trend that fascinates and frightens most writers. Richard Curtis, author, agent, e-rights guru and e-publisher, both allays writers' fears and gives them the guidance they need to conquer this exciting new marketplace. They'll find information on: The basics of how an e-book works; E-book security methods; Ethics and copyright issues; E-readers, such as handheld computers and Rocket Books; Print-on-demand books; Agents, marketing and promotion; Curtis also explores the process of e-publication, helping readers decide if they should seek an e-publisher or e-publish their own work. This book is the most authoritative, step-by-step guide of any book in the marketplace - packed with the information any writer can use to navigate the dark waters of this mysterious new technology.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Internet and the World Wide Web gave birth to digital publishing as we know it today an industry still in its "drooling infancy," according to Curtis and Quick. In a witty, chummy sometimes corny style, Curtis, a literary agent turned online publisher, and Quick, a self-described computer geek and science fiction author, deliver an impressively thorough and up-to-date operations manual for writers who want to navigate the world of electronic publishing. Writers who shrink from anything remotely technological will be pleased to find that they can follow a discussion of the ins and outs of the various HTML editors, for example, distilled into clear, relevant and practical explanations. But the best feature of this book is that it explores thoroughly issues that are larger than the dauntingly large technological ones. Curtis and Quick expound upon the developing area of digital rights management that writers who e-publish will have to contend with. How do authors protect their copyright when the ability to make an infinite number of copies or, worse, to change the original composition is only a mouse-click away? Much about digital publishing is yet to be resolved, but Curtis and Quick present an articulate, reasoned contribution to the revolution. Writer's Digest Book Club main selection. (Feb.)Forecast: The book's gung-ho tone may seem misplaced in light of the folding of iPublish and other major e-publishers. But the tactic of going with smaller e-houses or self-publishing, both covered here, will appeal to many aspiring authors.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Richard Curtis is the owner of Richard Curtis Associates, Inc., a leading New York literary agency. He is the author of a number of books on writing and publishing. In 1998 he formed E-Rights/E-Reads, Ltd., an online publisher, retailer and electronic rights clearing house. Curtis is a recogrized e-publishing expert, author's rights advocate and speaker at seminars and conferences nationwide. He lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 278 pages
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582970955
• ISBN-13: 978-1582970950
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,312,299 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Skim it or skip it, January 3, 2006

By 

Anthony D Ravenscroft (Santa Fe, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Get Your E-Book Published: An Insider's Guide to the World of Electronic Publishing (Hardcover)

This book is meant to be a tool. As such, I'm grading it harshly -- if you find it at the library, by all means read it, but if you feel compelled to buy it, I hope that you don't pay more than a dollar or two.

My copy was sitting on my shelf for more than two years before I got around to reading it, because I quickly found all the info I needed on the Internet, back around 2001, & I bookmarked many of the sites I found to keep myself updated.

I'm an editor & a writer, so I fault this book on a few technical levels that might never occur to most readers. The first thing that leapt at me is that it's an awkward combination of "type in this incredibly long URL" clashing with "there's this new invention called the Internet."

Though first published in 2002, it feels like a collection of disjoint articles from maybe 1999 with post-hoc connectivity. The e-book phenomenon is a fast-changing fragment of two fast-changing industries, publishing & e-commerce. Given those factors alone, half the advice you give on something like e-publishing will be aging badly in a year.

And let's look at what businesspeople call "proof of concept." Richard Curtis appears to have all of three titles listed on Amazon.com -- NONE of them available as an e-book. As a reviewer, that makes me question whether making an e-book is as easy (or profitable) as the authors claim. If Curtis can't get an e-book onto Amazon.com between 2002 & (to be fair) late 2005, what hope does anyone else have? He's not only a proven how-to author, but a respected literary agent.

As for co-author William Quick, who's held up throughout the text as an example of a published author whose out-of-print titles benefit so richly from the "e-book revolution," I find seven other books on Amazon.com, only two of which are available as an e-book. (Apparently, Mr Curtis has not had much luck at getting the e-book rights for his writing partner, which does damage a few of his claims.) One title (in either available e-book format) has an Amazon sales ranking of about 3,641,200, which means "has sold a copy in the last three years." The other fares somewhat better, at about #1,412,000 in Microsoft format, or "one or two a year" (but the Adobe format crawls in at #3,441,000).

The only reason I give this book a solid solitary star is because it's well-written, the research is credible, & it's not outright misleading. Simply, the authors took on a light-speed topic & covered it methodically for the horse-&-buggy crowd -- the very people who probably wouldn't read such a book in the first place.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Quantity vs Quality, January 30, 2003

By 

A. J. Vasaris (Akron, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Get Your e-Book Published: An Insider's Guide to the World of Electronic Publishing (Paperback)

A good all around beginner's guide, touching an about every subject from the Internet to HTML, from copyrights to vanity publishing. That's why there are 49 chapters with some only 2 pages long. But there are many references to additional information when something peaks your interest and you want to learn more.

If you are at all knowledgeable about on-line communications, websites, HTML and domain names it will be very rudimentary. But if you use it as a reference book, using the index and then looking up the URLs and book references cited, it's a good guide.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Elementary, My Dear Watson!, May 10, 2005

By 

Kelly Garbato "www.easyvegan.info" (Kearney, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Get Your e-Book Published: An Insider's Guide to the World of Electronic Publishing (Paperback)

In the last several months, I have borrowed and read just about every book on traditional, print, and self-publishing that I could find at my local library. Being a self-published author and freelance writer (read: starving artist), I prefer to check out a book for free before actually shelling out money for it. As of yet, I STILL haven't found a publishing book that's actually worth purchasing. Not only are most poorly written and out-of-date, but none of those carried by my library focused on ePublishing, my main area of interest.

Needless to say, I was ecstatic to find one (one!) ePublishing book on my library's shelves after months of looking. After reading "How to Get Your eBook Published," my elation turned to disappointment. While the authors' writing is more mature and organized than many of their peer's, the content in "How to Get Your eBook Published" leaves much to be desired.

Curtis and Quick's main error is in trying to cover EVERY aspect of ePublishing, from the basics of the Internet to promoting eBooks. The book's text runs about 260 pages, and the content is divided into 49 (yes, you heard me right - FORTY-NINE!) chapters. Consequently, each topic garners between two to six pages of coverage. Although the authors do manage to broach a number of subjects, each is discussed only superficially. Those with any modicum of experience in publishing, promotions, marketing, or the Internet will find the material rudimentary. Only those who are complete newbies to the `Net and/or publishing will find this book even remotely helpful.

For those who expect more in-depth information, the authors point you towards other resources that you can consult. Many of these are books, which I find somewhat insulting. Why purchase a book that 1) doesn't give you any helpful information, even though it promises you it will; and instead 2) tells you to buy a number of OTHER books? You may as well just browse through Amazon and consult the reader reviews (for free!) to find relevant resources - no need to pay for this service! Also, Curtis and Quick include a number of URLs, but most are just different pages on the same web site! In fact, they lift entire articles off of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers' web site, rather than summarizing the info in their own words (or, God forbid, doing additional research and including facts and opinions from a number of sources!).

Finally, the authors waste so many pages explaining what the Internet is, how it was developed, how to go about getting Internet service and a web site, etc., that they devote very little space to actual ePublishing. For example, in regards to promoting your eBook, they suggest setting up a web site and then making liberal use of email signatures in newsgroups. Period. No, really, that's it! That's the extent of their wisdom, I swear!

You'd be much better off buying Marilyn & Tom Ross's "Complete Guide to Self-Publishing" and/or "Jump Start Your Book Sales." Even though neither concerns self-publishing specifically, many of the strategies are applicable to ePublishers in addition to "regular" print publishers. Their writing style can be extremely grating, but at least you get your money's worth with the Ross's.

"How to Get Your eBook Published" is elementary, my dear readers, elementary. The only way you'll benefit from this book is if you think that pressing "Tab" on your keyboard will magically produce a nice refreshing beverage, a la Homer Simpson. In other words, this book will prove helpful only if you have absolutely no Internet experience whatsoever. A definite pass for anyone who has had Internet access for more than a week.