E-book Evolution(2)

Risks and rewards

"The central role of a publisher is still to develop, promote and market the book with the author to give it a greater degree of visibility and exposure," said Jo Lusby, managing director of Penguin China.

"Unlike traditional bookstores, readers generally visit online bookstores already knowing what they want to buy. It is the work done to drive awareness and profile of the book outside of the online retailer that results in sales, not just the physical placement of that file on an e-book retail website," she added.

The barriers involved in traditional publishing are turning more authors to take the digital path, said publisher Harvey Thomlinson from Make-Do, a Hong Kong-based publishing house that specializes in translating Chinese contemporary literature into English.

"It can be particularly hard for a Chinese author to go out and publish his or her work in English. There is still the need for top-level editing and we can provide a higher bar, space and visibility to the authors and book," Thomlinson explained.

Despite being home to the world's largest online population, the risks financially and reputation-wise of launching a consumer platform remain high, claim publishers, with online players reluctant to take the plunge into e-publishing.

Publishers also agree that China's lack of regulations and relatively small readership for paid books are hindering e-publishing's growth.

But with digital technology bringing down the costs of publishing, Chinese start-ups also have the opportunity to enter the market as small publishers to serve niches and specialty areas often overlooked or considered not profitable by big publishers, said Chris Riley, co-founder of Moglue, a recently created platform offering publishers, authors, artists and storytellers a way to create interactive e-books and release them as applications for tablet devices.

"With e-commerce exploding in China, the e-book market is set to boom over the next two years," said Scarlet He, general manager of Apabi, a Chinese provider of digital publishing technology that works with libraries and publishing houses for the Chinese market.

Your guide to e-publishing

Step 1: Write your book - The most important selling point of an e-book remains a good, strong story or subject that appeals to readers. Good writers are usually prolific readers. Decide the genre and length of your book before embarking on it. Publishers expect to see similar categories to succeed in China to the ones that succeed in the West: crime thrillers, fantasy, science fiction, self-help, business and popular fiction. Kindle's bestselling books are short and easy-to-read.

Check the list of the top 10 titles and compare their content and appeal to your own book. When you're done with the writing, you'll need to proof-read your manuscript for mistakes. It's advisable to pay a professional for translation or to edit your work.

Forget the saying "don't judge a book by its cover," because your readers, especially those online, certainly will. First impressions last, so if you're design-savvy or know someone who is, experiment with different covers and show it to friends to gauge opinions.

Step 2: Upload - Experiment with e-book creating software and tools available online to create your own e-book. You can also find e-book HTML and PDF templates. An alternative to traditional copyright is Creative Commons. Most platforms like Amazon have easy-to-follow, step-by-step guides, such as kdp.amazon.com. Check out Moglue and Smashwords to distribute your e-book to the Apple iBookstore, Kobo, the Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble and the Diesel e-book store. Competition is fierce, so the idea is to keep your price as low as possible. Analyze the two royalty rates offered by Amazon to see which suits you best.

Step 3: Brand your book - Your book can be available for sale within 24 hours if all goes smoothly. Depending on your contact network and popularity of your website and blog, you can reach a wide audience at zero cost. Social networking is imperative, so start to promote your book on social networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook, combined with promotion in specialized ones such as Goodreads.com and Kindleboards.com. To capitalize on the Chinese market, turn to Sina Weibo, QQ, Youku and Renren. Word-of-mouth is naturally the most valuable form of promotion, but it will take time and a loyal base of readers.