eBooks are starting to take the book world by storm. If you would like to get in on this exciting adventure, please let Midpoint know. Following are our eBook Submission Guidelines. You can print them from this page or download a PDF of our requirements.
For more information you can contact Gail or Ruth or email john[at]midpointtrade[dot]com.
eBook Submission Guidelines
You will need to:
Assign a new ISBN to the eBook and
upload that information to the Midpoint site.
eBooks currently have a different
pricing structure than regular books. The current trend is $4.99 for a PB book
and $9.99 HC. However, the final decision is up to you.
In addition, we need three different documents:
[It is important
that the pages of the eBook line up like a print book – even pages on the left.]
1. a PDF – compatible with Acrobat 5.0/6.0 that includes
the cover image first, followed by the interior of the eBook itself.
OR*
2. a PDF – compatible with Acrobat 5.0/6.0 that includes
the cover image first, followed by one blank page then the interior of the
eBook itself
[*Whichever of these combos will have the pages of the eBook line up
like a print book – even pages on the left.]
3. a PDF – compatible with Acrobat 5.0/6.0 that
only includes the interior of the eBook itself (no cover image included)
4. a JPG of the Cover Image (at least 300 dpi, 510 x
680 pixel)
You can submit this information by email or on a CD.Also, if you are converting your titles to
other formats - like Mobi pocket or ePub - we can use those as well.
Your
PDF’s need to be formatted with these requirements:
In the “Document Properties,”
describe the title as the title of the book. “Document Properties” title is
different from the “File Name” title, even though the “file name” should also
contain the title of the book.
A “Table
of Contents” needs to be applied to every PDF.
The page
numbers of the PDF should match the page numbers for the book. (ie: the cover
image should have a page number of “C” rather than “1.” Intro material can be
labeled as pages “i, ii, iii, iv, etc”)
Make sure to EMBED all fonts.
All
security setting should be OFF. Do not send files that require a password.
Set the “Subset
Embedded Fonts when Percent of Characters if Less Than” to 100%
You
files should be less than 10MB in size.
The
resolution minimum of the files should be no less than 150dpi.
All
images must be single layer graphics
Recommendations from eBooks
vendors:
You are
encouraged to include hyperlinks to the chapters/sections from the table of
contents.
Electronic
bookmarks are helpful.
If you would like a copy of these requirements you can get the PDF here.
One of the buzz words I keep hearing is
“repurposing content”. One of the best ways to do this with books is in
eBook and eAudio. eBook is simply that, an electronic copy of your
book. Many times it is as simple as submitting a PDF to the vendor in
order to have them publish the content electronically.
While the profit margin for eBook is still small, they cost nothing
to produce and are another way for people to find your titles. By
participating in eBook repurposing, titles are more searchable and more
user friendly.
Where do you read an eBook? That’s the great thing. You can read an
eBook everywhere. From your computer at your desk, your laptop, your
book device - like Sony Reader or Kindle, and even from your cell
phone. The portability and flexibility of the technology means that
your eBook will travel with people much like a paper book would.
And, here’s another bonus. While I haven’t seen any hard and fast
statistics, the general concensus among publishers is that eBooks
INCREASE paper copy sales! Not decrease, but increase. When a person
falls in love with a book in digital format, they seem to be more
likely to purchase the paper copy down the road. Also, if this is the
first thing they have read by you and they like it, readers are likely
to search for more titles from an author they met in eBook. How
exciting would it be to have someone read your eBook and next time they
go to a bookstore, they pick up something else by you?! That would be
pretty cool!
So, spend some time getting to know this new technology. If your
book is in PDF then your book can be an eBook! Increase your exposure,
your portability, and your reach into new technologies by participating
in eBook.
On Innovation 5/23/08
People, they cry, ‘why would we
want digital text? Why not just have the book!?!’ And to answer is simple:
because you can. I’ve used the Sony Reader,
not as an end-all be-all platform for all reading, but as a convenience and as
a departure from traditional books. When I first moved the New York City, I worked at Bauman Rare Books,
where books held prices with six figures and most were older than the
collective ages of those who worked in the store. I am a bibliophile. I love
books. I have studied their innards, and I have taken this pleasure, this
enjoyment, and I taught the subject, so I could continue passing along the
knowledge and contentment obtained from book reading to others. My books are
littered with handwritten scribbles in the margins piecing together plot
points, developing thematic ideas, elucidating possible philosophical
conundrums, painting psychological portraits of characters, but not all books
require such dissection.
There are many texts, read for
pleasure or information, that do not require diligent note taking. Why can
these books not take the form of a digital text? Do consumers line the shelves
of their homes with beach books and romance novels? Or do we save printed
matter for that which truly matters, for that which concern, care, and emotion
came forth from the reader due to the text itself? In a market where publicity
means sales and endorsements dominate decision making, where does the
individual fit in? When do people develop a taste for reading rather than just
having? Reading
is a personal, solitary endeavor wherein an individual seeks to expand thoughts
and ideas and experiences through the written word. Discussed communally,
reading brings like minds together and oppositional minds free to disagree
without the terror of losing lives or reputations, but who is it to say that
reading should only reside on the page? Emerson writes that ‘a foolish
consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.’ Breaking from tradition has defined
every era of human history. Revolutions come from new thought and departure
from old ways and dated thinking. That which is ephemeral, keep to the digital,
leave space on the shelves for that which matters to the psyche and to the
heart.
On eBooks 6/3/2008
The rise of the eBook comes at a pivotal moment in Western
culture. As the trend is towards the digital in terms of other artistic
expressions such as music and photography, why would it be that the written
word be left alone? Digital text is rampant, and, as many others exhibit the
tendency to acquire knowledge and gather information through the internet, whether
it be reading the newspaper online, checking out blogs that pertain to one’s
own personal interests, reading an interesting wikipedia article about a
historic event or an obscure artist, digital text dominates daily life.
Bringing the digital to the tangible is an arduous process requiring
innovations in technology and in thinking.
Two emerged—Amazon Kindle
and Sony Reader—as prototypes. I wear
glasses primarily because, in my early adolescence, I developed an interest in
web design. This hobby turned into an obsession; with few lights to guide me,
besides the glow of the computer monitor, I spent late nights writing code and
altering pictures. By my junior year of high school, discovered when I almost
failed the eye exam for my driver’s license, I needed glasses and still do
today. Low outside light with a direct flood of it pouring into one’s eyes from
only a foot away causes damage to the ocular system, but the new digital text
readers have thought about this issue and altered the concept substantially. I
will never boast perfection of anything created by man, and both of these platforms
have faults and flaws, but eInk technology and a screen with little to no glare
is something even Apple should envy. Both devices are in available for retail
sale, and recently the Kindle has reduced
its price from $399 to $359 while the Reader
retails for $299.99.
