6 Questions to Ask When Selecting an E-Publishing Services Provider

Today, e-books are becoming a prominent choice of readers across the world. It comes with a lot of facility including an easy access, hassle-free storage, and convenience of reading. All this becomes possible thanks to a revolution in the domain of information technology. Publishing houses have accepted this new technology to hunt the new-generation readers. It is equally beneficial for publishers to offer e-books instead of paper books.

A direct approach, faster transmission, and lesser prices are some of the key advantages for authors as well. But, before you go with e-publishing services, it is important to know some facts about your privileges and benefits. Here are some points you should ask when selecting an experienced service provider.

1. What Are The Terms Of The Contract?

The professional e-publishing companies would like to make an agreement before putting their efforts. They would like to ensure that you don’t change your mind after everything is prepared and covers are printed. At the same time, they assure that the client wouldn’t try to withdraw and take their e-book somewhere else. The scenario of market can change in the case of e-books and it is always preferable to make a short-term contract instead of long ones. Authors prefer taking 1-2 years of contraction while agreeing on the terms of e-publishing services.

2. What about Price Control?

Few e-publishing companies like to enjoy the control over pricing. They don’t allow you to price e-book below a certain amount. But standard practice is that an author enjoys complete control over the price of an e-book. Many e-retailers make it mandatory to keep pricing of e-books same across the market.

3. Is There Any Upfront Fee?

The structure of fees or charges should be cleared upfront and transparency should be maintained. The well-known e-publishing houses like iBookstore or Noble’s Nook Press provide their services for free, but they take their cut of your selling price. Usually, 60-70% is what you gain from the listed price of your e-book.

4. How Can You Clarify Royalty Structure?

It is the most important factor of this entire process. Royalty structure should be clarified earlier before entering an agreement. When you pay nothing upfront for preparing your e-books, the service provider would want a cut from your sales. They share nearly 10-30% profit on sales depending on your situation. Imagine the scenario in which your e-book is priced at 99 cents and 25% is fixed transaction charge (some publisher do), then more cuts are attracted even though you are listed in 70-80% royalty rate. You should clarify all such doubts before starting off.

5. Is There Any Hidden Fee Or Charge?

Formatting or conversion of lengthy books may incur more than standard rates. Also, an inconvenient file format or extra work for creating image, table or chart etc. would certainly enhance the preparation cost of an e-book. Hence, it is advisable to ask about such hidden expenses and try to select services where e-publisher is very particular about the cost beforehand.

6. Which File Format Is Acceptable?

Usually, an e-publisher accepts Microsoft Word or any other text file. But, directly publishing in that format would make your e-book a waste for the readers. E-publishing service provider follows many guidelines. They preview the programs and formats of the content before making it live. EPUB is the standard file format used by e-publishing companies to publish your e-book. Every file format is easy to convert to EPUB except PDF. Hence, you may need to pay extra sometimes.

For efficient e-publishing services, you can contact Infognana. We offer comprehensive and customized solutions in this field.