The Ebook Crew Debuts as Social Network for Online Self Publishers

Added: (Wed Sep 01 2010)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Granada, Spain, September 2, 2010--The Ebook Crew (http://ebookcrew.ning.com), a new social networking site for aspiring and actual ebook self publishers has just joined the galaxy of thematic social networks.

“Indie authors publishing their own books in digital formats have become such a fast-growing phenomenon over the past couple of years that they deserve a social network all their own,” says Michael Booth, the Spanish-based expatriate journalist and editor who created The Ebook Crew. “Not only that,” he adds, “but developments in the field of electronic publishing are evolving at such a furious pace—new e-readers with new features, new publishing services, new marketing strategies, new options of all sorts—that it’s difficult for authors to keep abreast of it all. This band of sisters and brothers with their heads full of words need a little help from their friends. That’s what The Ebook Crew is about.”

According to Booth, many authors with manuscripts half forgotten in drawers aren’t even aware that the recent combination of digital publishing technology and entrepreneurial initiatives by companies like Amazon, Smashwords, Sony, Apple and others have made it possible for them to publish their books themselves, for free. And it’s not nearly as complicated as it looks.

It was Amazon.com which started the ball rolling in 2007 with the introduction of the Kindle reader and their Digital Text Platform (DTP). It was this online publishing service which first permitted writers to simply edit and upload their manuscripts, which would then be formatted and offered for sale in the Kindle online store.

The DTP service is still the largest, but there are also newer ones which are making positive impressions among self publishing writers, companies like Smashwords, Lulu and Myebook. All of these online publishing services follow similar business models. Authors pay nothing until their books begin to sell, and then the distribution of royalties (up to 85% for the author) makes traditional book royalties deals (8-15%) look skimpy by comparison. This factor has even enticed some established writers and small publishing companies to publish their work as ebooks. And the trend is growing.
The objective of The Ebook Crew social networking project, according to Booth, is simply “to bring together a lot of interesting people with a common interest in writing books and publishing them, and see what happens.”

(Keywords: ebook publishing, self publishing, ebooks, The Ebook Crew, indie authors, e-readers, electronic publishing)