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E-Book Publishing for SPAWN Members
April, 2000

Instructions.

In February, 2000, my column in SPAWNews discussed the value of e-books and the public's growing awareness of downloadable e-books. Then on March 14, 2000, Stephen King released a novel exclusively as an e-book. King's e-book was a first by a hugely successful author. We also have the example of a SPAWN favorite, prolific author Dan Poynter, who has released his most recent book as an e-book.

It's clear that e-books provide an entirely new distribution system for our published work, and e-books allow nearly instant gratification for our reading public.

After researching existing e-book sites, we have noted that most e-book sites are still surprisingly low-tech, and the sites do not make purchasing easy. As a Web architect and e-commerce specialist with five years of experience, I have developed our list of the essential elements for Web sites. It is vital that a site visitor should be able to browse a site easily, then purchase quickly and read his downloaded book immediately.

Our new SPAWN E-Book Publishing is the culmination of our research and our experience in e-commerce. For all small publishers and self-publishers, SPAWN happily announces a special service for your books in print and your out-of-print backlist. (We are not accepting unpublished books at this time.)

Each participating self-publisher receives a three-page Web site within the high-traffic SPAWN Web site. Each self-publisher's Web site will include:

• conversion of your book from Word or PageMaker files to e-book format
• one front page with up to 700 words and two scanned photos or graphics (author photo and cover), plus author contact information
• one excerpt page containing up to 1,000 words from your book
• one purchase page containing a link to the listing on Amazon.com for your printed book, and an order button for the e-book
• automatic credit card processing using the CogniText credit card merchant account
• 50% royalty for you on every sale of your e-book
• After we build your mini site on the SPAWN site, book buyers will be able to find, purchase, and download your book 24 hours per day!
• SPAWN members: only $249 setup and $15 per month.
• Non-members: only $299 setup (includes one year membership in SPAWN) and $15 per month.
• 20% of the setup fee goes directly to SPAWN.

Turn your book into an e-book. Join the e-publishing revolution today. Sign up now by filling out the online form.

~ Virginia Lawrence, Ph.D., SPAWN's Webmaster, is an Information Architect who publishes both in print and online. Contact her at virginia@spawn.org or visit her Web site at http://www.cognitext.com