Talk from Karen Tripp (O’Reilly Media).
You’ve created your ebook files – now what? With all of the sales channels now available for ebooks, figuring out how to distribute your files to the various retailers can be daunting. There are steps you can take to make sure that your file preparation and delivery go smoothly. As the Digital Distribution Manager at O’Reilly Media, I will discuss the practices in place at O’Reilly and how the process has evolved to allow O’Reilly to deliver hundreds of ebooks per year to over 30 retail channels. From file and metadata preparation to negotiating file delivery with the likes of Amazon and iBooks, you’ll learn how to streamline your ebook distribution process.
There are a lot of formats out there from HTML to XHTML via the now getting more and more popular ePub. Don’t underestimate the use of mobi, which is only used by Amazon for its eBooks, however, they are more eBooks being sold on Amazon than physical
Use ONIX as a standard for metadata of your publications. O’Reilly publishes so many titles that it made sense to automate it. Don’t leave the language or default currency out of the ONIX file. Think global right away. Despite ONIX is pretty global, a lot of metadata may be requested from the different publishers, some distributors still need CSV. It does not jeopardize the future of ONIX, it just means it’s not the silver bullet yet.
Pricing is another challenge by itself. Some distribution channels don’t like free. The idea is not to promote free content, but you may want to have a free companion as art of your distribution strategy.
Covers should not ignored. Make sure you have the proper resolution. A fuzzy shot of the cover will be a sales stopper.
Ingram CoreSource
O’Reilly uses CoreSource as a platform for helping them distribute their eBooks. CoreSource is a platform handled by Ingram (Ingram Content Group, Inc.). It simplifies the logistics of your eBooks to your retailers & channels. Karen is speaking greatly about this tool…
Thinking of channels, you need to determine which channels are good for you. You may need to think twice: if you publish religious books, you will not want to push it on O’Reilly’s distribution platform, Safari.
You can also sell direct. O’Reilly started this way, however be ready to handle customer support.