eBook Architects - Customer Service You Can Count On

Any author who has dealt with "author services" in an effort to self-publish their work is well aware how many companies are out there, competing for our limited and hard earned dollars. Many of those companies are best described as "wolves" looking to prey on unsuspecting authors.

Others are reputable and provide excellent service and a reasonable price. One such company is eBook Architects.

I have reviewed them in the past and posted a positive review.

Recently I needed to have two of my files sent to me again, and to my horror, I found a misspelling on the title page of one of my books. It was my last name no less.

I e-mailed the good folks at eBook Architects and asked for the files and how much it would cost to have the misspelling corrected.

Not only did they resend the files I requested at no charge, the made the correction in spelling at no charge and sent me the corrected file.

Keep in mind, I offered to pay for the correction as I considered it my fault.

If I wasn't already a loyal customer when I need to pay for a book to be converted to Kindle and ePub files, I am now.

eBook Architects could have charged me or taken their own sweet time in getting the files and the corrected file to me. I received the files within two days of my request. In this day and age, when getting the run around is the norm, it is nice to get that kind of service.

eBook Architects is Now Part of Firebrand Technologies

I use eBook Architects for the conversion process of my books to Kindle and ePub formats. I have never had a problem with the finished product and the good people at eBook Architects are easy to deal with, are priced fairly (in my opinion) and actually deliver the work on schedule. In an age where craftsmanship and work are often shoddy, eBook Architects actually stands behind its work with a guarantee based on a quality control inspection.

I have done my own conversions, used CreateSpace to do Kindle conversions, but have settled on eBook Architects as the company to use for future conversions based on my past experiences.

Founded by entrepreneur Joshua Tallent in 2009 and located in Austin, Texas, the company has grown in size and the services it offers. 

I recently received an update about the company. eBook Architects has been acquired by Firebrand Technologies. A quick check of the eBook Architects website and one will note there are no changes to the site other than the addition of the Firebrand Technologies logo.

Joshua is still the head of  the company. It is my hope with new capital available eBook Architects will continue to grow and thrive and serve self-publishing authors for many years to come.

Self-Publishing Blog Summary: Kindle Select Publishing, eBook Design Concerns, Subject Headings and More...

Experts in website design and SEO say it is not a good idea to provide ways for visitors to leave your blog or website. They might not come back. It's a chance I'll take.

Since I spend way too much time surfing the net trying to learn more about self-publishing and the skills needed to market my books, I can at least justify the time spent by sharing some of the better, or at least more interesting to me, blog posts I come across.

Just please visit The Self-Publisher's Notebook again!

From Amazon
Amazon Publishing Introduces Kindle Serials—Great Stories, One Episode at a Time
I don't write fiction but I always pay attention to anything Amazon announces about Kindle books. For fiction authors, this is worth checking out.

From Self-Publishing 2.0
Risks and Rewards of Kindle Select Publishing

Morris Rosenthal must love statistics and math. He is always looking at one statistical model of data or another and sharing his results with the readers of his self-publishing blog. Morris always has a unique way of looking at things as well. This post is a good one for self-publishing authors with books available as Kindle editions.

From The Skilled Workman
Your Book Better Not Look Like a Poorly Designed Website

Good advice on selecting an ebook conversion company. As always, I want to recommend the company I use, eBook Architects.

From Marketing Christian Books
Did You Forget the Subject Headings?

There are so many details you have to pay attention to as an author who self-publishes. Let's face it, we are the entire publishing company AND the author. This blog post brings up some good points about little details that many authors forget that could pay off in the area of book marketing.

From The Social Media Examiner
5 Ways to Go From Blogger to Published Book Author

I actually did this. On another of my blogs I realized I had about 30 different posts on a single topic. These posts had generated a fair amount of traffic according to Google so it seemed like a good idea to edit them all into a book on the topic. It has just been released for sale so it is hard to tell how this experiment in "blog to book" will go. But, for those who blog, particularly non-fiction, this might be of interest.

From The Savvy Book Marketer

The Biggest Mistakes Self-Publishers Make - Part One

This is the post that got my attention. Regular readers of my blog will know I mention on a regular basis that self-publishing is a business. This post tackles the issue of authors not taking the time to learn about the publishing and self-publishing industries from a business perspective.

From The Savvy Book Marketer

The Biggest Mistakes Self-Publishers Make - Part Two

This post tackles the issue of having a marketing plan. Most self-published authors don't and the results are a lack of sales.

Kindle Books and the QED Logo - Making Sure Your Self-published Kindle Book is Quaity

Self-publishing has come a long way in a short time. One of the ways self-publishing authors can overcome the stigma of self-publishing is to offer the best possible quality books.

Professional editing of our work is just one way we as authors can make sure the book we launch into the market is the best quality possible. You can read countless "how to" guides about selling lots of books.  The steps always seem to include at least the following:

• write a great book
• hire a professional editor
• use a professional interior designer
• hire a professional cover designer

I want to add a fifth step. Make sure the company who does your Kindle and ePub conversions provides a Quality Excellence Design guarantee.

This logo, which you as the author will be entitled to use on your cover, book product details and in promoting your book, is proof that your Kindle and ePub files have passed a 13-point quality inspection test. 

Your book may not be well written, but it will work as it should with no problems on any ebook reading device. 

There will be no fears of the dreaded one-star reviews on Amazon due to the quality of production of your ebook. There are no guarantees about the quality of your writing.

The QED Seal is the result of the efforts of the Publishing Innovation Awards. Below is the list of the 13-points the book must pass in order to receive the QED seal (taken from the PIA website).

Having had some issues with the conversion process with a couple of my Kindle books, I am now a fan of this process. My future Kindle and Nook books will all go through this and I hope to be able to integrate the seal into my cover artwork somehow so knowledgeable readers on Amazon and Barnes and Noble will have more confidence in the quality of my ebooks before purchasing.

The company I use for my conversions is ebook Architects. Christi Pinheiro, who used to run the Self-publishing Maven blog was kind enough to provide a very positive recommendation to use this company and I have not regretted it once.

It costs money to self-publish. For authors who are struggling or self-publishing as a second job, the funds needed to pay for services to improve their book can be hard to come by. Remember, self-publishing is a business. The hardest book to a reader is the first one. If they like (love) the book, they will purchase more of your books. Quality sells itself.

Not All eBook Conversion Companies Are Equal

When I self-published my first book using the print-on-demand (POD) business model advocated by Aaron Shepard and Morris Rosenthal, I had never even heard of ebooks as we now know them. I was excited just to have a book in print and to have someone actually buy a copy from Amazon!

Now, 65% of my book sales come from Kindle books. Needless to say, having as many of my titles available in the Kindle format as possible is important to me from a business perspective for a variety of reasons.

I have used iPages to do some of my own conversions. I was able to live with the ePub versions produced this way for the Nook, which I have negligible sales in anyway, but it took far too much work to produce something I could live with in Kindle format. And these books were short and had no graphics or photographs to deal with. 

I have paid CreateSpace to convert some books. These conversions looked great and work great. So long as they are used only on a Kindle and not another device utilizing a Kindle app to read the book. There have been a few problems with several of my titles done by CreateSpace in this area. To CreateSpace's credit, they reconverted all the titles at no charge. Still, it caused some ill will, not between CreateSpace and me, but with some of my readers, who probably will never purchase another one of my books. Bad business no matter how you look at it.

Then there is my experience with eBook Architects. I have nothing but good things to say about these folks from Austin, Texas. They cost more than CreateSpace and some other companies I have investigated. To be honest, it is not a good selling point when I call to ask questions and the person on the other end of the phone cannot speak English or Spanish well enough for me to communicate (I live in Texas so my Spanish is, out of necessity, passable).

But, their turnaround time is excellent, they do immaculate work, and most importantly to me, an outside part verifies the quality of their work on every ebook reading device. You book comes with a seal of quality when they complete the job and you are allowed to use this seal in your marketing for the book.

Finally, every Kindle conversion eBook Architects does comes with an ePub version for the Nook as well. You essentially pay for two conversions for the price of one. Of course, you can hardly expect CreateSpace to hand you a conversion for their competition!

CreateSpace does reasonable work at a very reasonable price if your book has no bells or whistles and it not too long. Until they get the bugs worked out, just beware there could be a few problems with some Kindle apps.

You won't have any problems with eBook Architects and they stand behind their work.

Regardless, you will need an ebook version of your book to go with the POD version. With more and more people using Kindles and Nooks to read, if you want your book to have as wide an audience as possible, you need to have both types of versions available.

Do you homework before you select a conversion service. I would start with the two I just wrote about with a nod towards eBook Architects.

The Law of Supply and Demand and the Increase in Popularity of the Kindle

I began offering Kindle versions of some of my books when CreateSpace initially offered their Kindle Conversion service for the low price of $69. This service is for books already published using CreateSpace so my lone book with Lightning Source had to be converted by another service. I choose to use eBook Architects for that project and while it cost more, the results were excellent and I received a file for the Nook as part of the purchase.

Kindle sales have grown to the point that I sell more Kindle books per month than POD and the revenue is starting to add up. Despite my fears, and the fears of some authors, offering both POD and Kindle versions does not seem to have hurt sales of the more profitable print versions.

So, as I prepare for the three peak months of the year for sales, I have been considering which of my  unconverted back list  titles are worth the investment of converting to Kindle. Since I have sold a grand total of one book for the BN Nook, the cost of having a title converted to a Nook friendly format is just not worth the investment at the moment.

Why not just have all of the titles done by CreateSpace? Well, it would seem there is a catch now. The conversion is just $69 IF you don't have charts, photographs, graphics, etc. Most of my books do and this dramatically increases the cost.

I have been shopping around looking for a balance between quality, cost and time required to do the conversion. CreateSpace is still the best bet for me. I have been happy with the results thus far and the price is still the best. Working with the customer service people and the actual teams that do the conversion work has become easier now that phone service is readily available.

What I have noticed in prices and waiting periods for work to be done seems to indicate the future in self-publishing is in ebooks if not the Kindle. The law of supply and demand says if demand outstrips supply, price goes up. This certainly seems to be the case with Kindle conversion services. The reputable companies that have positive references have all increased their prices and the time required to perform the conversions.

This would indicate more and more books are being converted to Kindle editions and the demands placed on the reputable companies for their services are driving prices and conversion times upward. If this trend continues there are some important implications for self-publishing authors.

First, as more books are offered in the Kindle format, the competition for Kindle sales will increase. For me, this means I need to convert my books to Kindle as soon as possible so I can promote my books and build their sales rankings at Amazon. As new books entire the market, the new books have to compete with mine for sales ranking position, not the other way around.

Print-on-demand will become the second option in printing, although it will remain to be more profitable until the Kindle pricing structure offered by Amazon changes. I doubt off-set printing will be used by self-publishing authors in the future.

Last, the low entry costs of publishing books in the Kindle format will increase as the demand for conversion services increases. The only way around this cost increase is to learn to do the conversion yourself. After several attempts, I have given up and will simply pay for the service. My time is too valuable to me.

Who knows what self-publishing ebooks will be like in just one calendar year from now. As much as I love paper books, I have not purchased one in nearly a year. I carry around about 100+ Kindle books in my small Kindle device.

Now if I can just figure out how to project material from my Kindle in my classroom for my students, that will be something.

eBook Architects Kindle Conversion Review

eBook Architects just finished converting the files for my book Game Strategy and Tactics for Basketball. The results were outstanding! Not only did eBook Architects create files for a Kindle conversion but for ePub as well. All of this was done for one price. 

eBook Architects does have a bit of a backlog and my title was placed in line to be converted. I was provided with a date by which the title would be converted and ready. To the company's credit, they delivered the files on the exact date promised.

The price for the conversion service is $200. For the quality of work done for not one but two conversions, this is, I believe, an excellent price. 

I have used CreateSpace's Kindle conversion service and while I was happy with the work CreateSpace did, CreateSpace will only convert titles that have already been published as a POD title by CreateSpace. eBook Architects will convert any files the author owns the publishing rights to. This means titles published by Lightning Source or other POD printers.

Observations On Using CreateSpace's New Kindle Conversion Service

After the success, well, my terms of success, of my first Kindle book, I have decided to have several more of my books converted to Kindle using CreateSpace's very economical $69 conversion service. In the process I have learned several things that might be of interest to others interested in this service.

First of all, I could not find a link anywhere on the CreateSpace website to purchase the service. In fact, there is only one location on the entire site where you can find anything about the Kindle conversion service. It is located in the Services section on the Design, Editing and Marketing page. This link will only take you to a page describing the service and other marketing information to entice you to use the service.

I simply could not recall how I managed to get my first book converted. I e-mailed my customer rep and low and behold, the answer was revealed. Why CreateSpace does not provide this information on its site page about the Kindle conversion service, I do not know, but here is the answer on how to purchase the service.  You have to e-mail your customer service rep and the rep will manually add the conversion service to your shopping cart for the title you want converted. You may then purchase the service.

I also learned that any title published using another POD service (LSI) or a traditional off-set press is not eligible for the CreateSpace conversion service. So, my one other title that is published using LSI as the POD printer is being converted by eBook Architects.

My first experience with the CreateSpace Kindle Conversion was not without its problems, as noted in an earlier post, but CreateSpace did a wonderful job of rectifying the situation and the finished eBook was well done and had the desired bells and whistles.

Given the cost of paying for Kindle conversions by other companies, why does CreateSpace charge such a low price? $69 is basically giving their service away when comparing what other reputable companies charge for the same level of conversion. Christy Pinheiro who hosts the blog Publishing Maven, commented elsewhere on this blog the pricing of the service might be part of a marketing strategy on the part of Amazon/CreateSpace to draw authors away from LSI since Lightning does not offer a Kindle conversion service, making CreateSpace a more desirable, or perhaps more honestly, a necessary choice since CreateSpace will only provide the service for books published through CreateSpace's POD service.

eBook versus Print-on-demand - which is the future for self-publishing?

When I entered the field of self-publishing several years ago, I did so in large part because of the opportunity print-on-demand publishing allowed to self-publish without tying up large, to me at least, sums of money. POD, the internet and Amazon.com allowed a self-publishing author access to millions of potential customers. Technology allowed me, and countless other authors, to enter the business of self-publishing not out of vanity, but as an actual business enterprise.

I had a lot to learn, and enjoyed doing so. It was a change of pace for me after 20+ years of being a teacher and basketball coach and hopefully it will help pay for college for youngest daughter! It certainly has progressed beyond being a hobby in the spouse's eyes though it never was in mine.

Now the eBook revolution has arrived and it appears to be gathering momentum. I have one title available as a Kindle book, another two in line to be converted (one by CreateSpace and another by eBook Architects). My current project will be released in both a POD paperback version and a Kindle version at roughly the same time. I even have a project that will be so short in book form I might simply release it as a Kindle book and an ePub version only and spare myself the time, effort and expense, albeit minimal, of producing a POD version.

Given the direction of the self-publishing industry, it makes sense, when possible to produce both a POD and an eBook version of all of my new titles. Time will tell which form will come to dominate or will both the POD and eBook co-exist for some time, greatly reducing off-set publishing as the most common means of book production.

My self-appointed learning tasks to move forward in the self-publishing industry is the mastery of first InDesign so I can produce high quality interiors for my books myself (I am enrolled in a class to learn InDesign starting this March when the basketball season is over). Once that task is completed, the next hurdle I have placed in my way is to learn as much about the rapidly developing eBook industry as possible. Who knows, perhaps there might be a book in the offing as a result!

To not move forward with eBooks I have realized, with the prompting of several others in the self-publishing field, is foolish and will cost me both sales and profits as time passes by. It will require more time and investment on my part, but then any profitable business requires both and this, after all, a business. It has been reported in numerous media outlets Amazon now sells more Kindle books than hardcovers.

My venture into Kindle books so far has been slow by the standards of some successful authors. Having stated that, I have sold more copies of my Kindle version of The Game of Basketball than I have print copies.  The POD version has been available since last March and the Kindle version has only been available since mid-November. Granted, I make significantly less per sale because of the low introductory price I set for the title, but all of those sales were sales I would not have realized otherwise.