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How to Distribute an E-Book

As reported by the Association of American Publishers, the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry, e-book sales for the month of January 2011 alone topped out at $69.9 million; this is compared to $32.4 million in January 2010. For writers who choose to go the rout of self-publishing, e-books offer an excellent opportunity to get their work out on the market without a lot of up-front cost, and they are cheap to produce.

Instructions

  1. Distribute through Amazon

    • 1

      Download and install the MobiPocket eBook Creator from the mobipocket.com website.

    • 2

      Convert the eBook to .mobi format using the MobiPocket e-book creator program. Refer to the software's help files for assistance on completing the conversion process.

    • 3

      Go to kdp.amazon.com and sign up for an Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) account. It's free.

    • 4

      Log in to your KDP account. Click "Add a New Title."

    • 5

      Fill out the questionnaire and follow the prompts to enter your e-book details such as e-book title, author, description and language. Upload your e-book cover image and the e-book main file in .mobi format. Set the e-book's distribution settings and pricing. Amazon takes a percentage of the money earned from every sale of your e-book. E-book publishers may choose between Amazon's 35 percent royalty option in which the publisher earns 35 percent of the original list price for every individual e-book sale, or the 70 percent royalty option in which the publisher earns 70 percent of the sale price (minus the cost of delivery) for every individual e-book sale.

    Distribute through Google Editions

    • 6

      Go to books.google.com/partner/login and sign up for a Google Book Partners account. It's free. Log in to your Google Book Partners account.

    • 7

      Upload your e-book cover image and a .pdf formatted copy of your e-book main file to the Google Partners program. Once the title has been uploaded you have the opportunity to edit the e-book details. However, the e-book does not go live immediately. It may take a few days for Google to process your file and make a sample copy of it live on Google Book Partners. You'll need to wait.

    • 8

      Log in to your Google Book Partners account after a sample of your e-book has been made live on Google Book Partners. In the "Account" information section of the website, add your bank account details to your payment information. This information is needed for Google to make direct deposit payments from your e-book sales. Be prepared for Google to contact you for your tax ID information (EIN or social security number) as well. Payments made to you by Google are reported to the IRS.

    • 9

      Go to the "Google Edition" section of the Google Partners website. Select "Needs Action." Follow the instructions to update your e-book settings to enable the sale of the full version of your e-book through Google Editions. Publishers receive 63 percent royalties from the sale of each individual e-book.

Book Publishing

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