ePubDirect is built on a passion for books and technology. Here you can find simple tips, updates and discussion on all things related to digital distribution and eBooks. Each team at ePubDirect contributes regularly to the blog as well as industry experts covering a wide range of topics from IT, industry trends, sales information and marketing advice and more.
There has never been a better time in history to start a business. Never. For the first time ever a business can have very low start-up costs, almost instant customers, revenue and significant growth potential. The perfect storm created by technology,…
1. Your eBook is the wrong place Publishers know that in the physical world, the placement of your book in the bookstore has a huge effect on sales. Reps are constantly visiting stores stocktaking and ensuring shelf compliancy. Categorising your book…
1. Cost containment Publishers are struggling to keep pace with escalating digital costs. Cost containment while growing sales is usually the number 1 consideration for publishers looking to engage in distribution. Rapid, constant change is rocking…
At ePubDirect we are continuously working to improve our eBook Distribution Service to meet the needs of Publishers. eBook Insights, our custom-built analytics package, automates and simplifies our publishers clients' ability to analyse and benchmark…
1. You don’t have a strategy Let’s start with the obvious one. So, what were your eBook sales last month? Which markets are you performing best in? How are $ sales doing against £ sales? How did you do against target? All too often,…
After receiving a frank enquiry at the recent London Book Fair (“How is eBook conversion so expensive when you are just pressing a button?”), this blog offers a quick explanation of what you get for your money when you choose to invest in…
Growing and opitmising your eBooks and improving sales volumes may seem like a somewhat daunting task. Having written a number of posts on everything from improving metadata, emerging trends, trade shows, guerrilla marketing, pricing and markets…
In accounting, sales are generally tracked every month. However, in the big picture you are interested in how 12 months add up to produce annual sales. YTD describes the return so far this year. Providing current YTD results, as well as YTD results for…
We are delighted to announce that The Random House Group, one of the largest general book publishing companies in Europe, has chosen ePubDirect as their partner for Digital Asset Distribution. ePubdirect will manage distribution of eBook assets and provide…
On a daily basis ePubDirect deals with publishers in a continuous struggle to gain more supply chain visibility, meet escalating customer demands and control costs. Furthering this complex supply chain ecosystem is the fact that emerging economies are…
XML: A Brief Introduction XML is a markup language, and it plays a key role in eBook production and distribution processes. XML (Extensible Markup Language) undeniably appears horrific to the non-IT developer when viewed for the first time in the cold…
What every publisher needs to consider before selling eBooks in a Global Market Place. eBooks offer publishers the opportunity to reach new markets and generate sales in countries that would not be accessible to physical books. However, though the physical…
Irish Revenue has taken the view that the traditional ‘book’ is fundamentally different to an ‘eBook’. This can be quite confusing for Irish Publishers as they have to factor in two different prices before putting the book/eBook…
From car sales to fast food we live in a world full of upselling. Whether our purchase takes place online or face to face there is always that small something extra that can be added to a sale. Before McDonald’s staff uttered the words “Do…
It’s not just about reach anymore. That might seem a bold statement but we supply more than 1,000 retailers and 25,000 libraries across the globe on behalf of our publisher clients and our experience has shown that visibility on eBook performance…
When selling a product two things that must be got right before you even start is ‘Have you set the right selling price?’ and ‘What is your target profit margin?’. Sales are the key to the success of any business. The…
Content is King In 1996 Bill Gates told us that Content is King. And as the cost of producing and sharing content reduces, content marketing is becoming increasing prevalent. "Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet,…
The winter holiday season is the most significant sales period for publishers of print and digital books. In the months and weeks prior to Christmas publishers were implementing marketing campaigns and pricing strategies with many publishers launching…
As publishers move away from the traditional B2B model and look to communicate directly with consumers, integrated marketing has become a buzz word in the industry once again. This approach is more than just the combination of offline marketing with social…
The issue of when to use a separate ISBN for eBook files continues to be an area of confusion for many publishers. Here are the simple facts about eBook ISBNs: The best practice within the industry is to provide a separate ISBN for each file type However:…
While some outlets requirements are lower than others, using the highest requirement sets can improve customer satisfaction, reduce errors and ensure your title gets to market more rapidly. Here are some of the tips from our support team regarding retailer…
Genre based marketing of books is a well-established strategy. Genre is basically just a tag that tells retailers how you want your title to be sold, where it should be positioned. Genre tags for eBooks work in exactly the same way, selecting the tag…
Guerrilla Marketing is a low cost, high impact, advertising strategy that hinges on meeting your customers in a place they wouldn’t expect you to be and delivering a surprising and delightful experience. Guerrilla marketing campaigns and events…
What can publishers can learn from a viral marketing phenomenon? Gangnam Style is a worldwide phenomenon and has been performed on TV shows such as The X Factor, by sports teams and school teams. I have no doubt the wedding dance video is on its way.…
Here is a comparison of eBook File Formats extracted from an article by John Martellaro of The Mac Observer and condensed here with his permission. eBook File Formats: Mobipocket - Now, just MOBI (and occasionally PRC). This is the original format used…
Some 700 people attended this year’s Futurebook conference in London on Monday. The dull, wet weather, train delays and early start was not enough to dampen my enthusiasm as we arrived at the QEII conference centre, overlooking Westminster Abbey.…
Get your titles to market faster with FTP uploading When you have multiple titles to upload, it makes sense to upload them all together rather than individually. ePubDirect uses smart, secure, proprietary technology to bulk upload your titles by FTP,…
What is ePub 3.0? The ePub 3.0 standard is the current revision of the ePub standard approved by the IDPF in October 2011 . Based on HTML 5 and CSS3 , It allows for much greater degree of flexibility when it comes to the design and layout of complex books.…
Process based efficiency has become popular in publish and digital publishing circles. Agile has become something of a buzzword. But whether you adopt the principles of Agile, Lean or Scrum to your eBook production process, you will receive similar benefits.…
Engaging your Readers/Audience is about getting these 3 things right: Finding the conversation Listening to the conversation Participating in the conversation Social media is an effective tool to engage your target audience, create awareness and ultimately,…
With the explosion of tablet computers and other robust mobile devices on the market such as the iPad, Barnes and Noble Nook and Amazon Kindle Fire, the demand for high quality graphical content is higher than ever, especially for Children’s books.…
With the range of devices currently on offer in the eBook space, it is important to be aware of the technologies behind the devices, and how they impact the display of your titles. The two main screen technologies used are E-Ink, and LCD. E-Ink is a thin…
In 2010 Random House CEO Markus Dohle said that publishing had “to change from a B2B to B2C over the coming years". A revolutionary statement at the time, publishers are now immersed in this change and looking increasingly at Direct to Consumer…
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is one the biggest talking points in the eBook industry at the moment. As far as I can make out, there isn’t a publishing conference across the globe that doesn’t take DRM on in some way or another as it is…
Following The Bookseller’s Children’s Book Conference in September 2012, I wrote about the growth in the Children’s eBook market and the importance of new devices. The market for tablet devices and colour eReaders has really taken off…
Conversions With just over 50 days to the winter holiday period, many publishers are reportedly preparing for an e-Christmas. With last years eBooks sales reported 117% higher than the previous year and the release of a next generation in eReading technology…
BISAC and BIC codes, developed in 1995 and 1998 respectively are by no means new philosophies but one of the most important things to consider when publishing your eBook is choosing your categories wisely. The subject classification selected for…
A-Z of eBook Sales In this blog series will feature a wide range of issues that impact your eBook Sales from the much debated social media plans to the lamented retailer requirements. Featuring guest posts and posts from the IT, Conversions, Outputs and…
It is 8.30pm on Friday evening and I have just dropped my case in the hallway, having returned from Frankfurt. I’m wreaked, but still feeling the rush of the book fair and I have to sit down and share the experience with you, which may make me a…
Effective sales reporting is a crucial function of any effective sales and marketing department. I have been spending a lot of time in our ‘Daily Sales Flash Report’ function lately which allows me monitor sales on a daily basis. This reporting…
With the explosion of tablet computers and other robust mobile devices on the market such as the iPad, Barnes and Noble Nook and Amazon Kindle Fire, the demand for high quality graphical content is higher than ever, especially for Children’s books.…
As reported by Irish Times journalist Karlin Lillington, Leading Digital Change (LDC) brought to the forefront the need for publishers to view eBooks not as an additional extra or bolt on product but as a strategy for sustainability. The rise in eBook…
We have been looking at daily sales data for a while now and interestingly, in terms of sheer volume of sales, Thursday is consistently the best-selling day. This seems kind of odd as the other days of the week vary, with the weekends in particular being…
For many publishers, setting prices, keywords and descriptions for eBooks can be a bit of a guessing game. Many publishers to do a certain amount of testing with new eBook releases, especially if the title is previously unproven in print. Experimentation…
Harper Collins Restructures Sales Force to Focus on Digital and Analytics I noticed this article this morning and thought it worth highlighting as it really fits in with what we have been working on with publishers recently. As publishing becomes an increasingly…
Some of the team enjoying a healthy Metadata debate on a Monday! Oooh the excitement!
On our metadata sheet we allow you to specify if you would like your titles to be available for our extensive list of library outlets to purchase. This allows your eBooks to be included in 25,000 libraries worldwide across both the private and academic…
DRM or Digital Rights Management refers to the use of technical software to prevent unauthorised distribution of digital media. It is used directly as a deterrent for eBook piracy. Misappropriation of copyright material is illegal and it’s obviously…
We had a brief interruption to our 30 Days of Metadata series as we were in New York attending Book Expo America last week. Interestingly metadata was heavily featured at the conference with best practice being discussed, pondered and questioned. So let’s…
Several of the requirements in our metadata sheet are fairly self explanatory but it is worth noting that we require the information to be submitted to us in a specific way. In this post we will cover – City and Country of Publication and Language fields.…
The description metadata is one of the most important selling tools you have to sell your title. This is likely to be what leads the purchase decision for a consumer. This is the information that appears next to a title, often referred to as a blurb or…
There may be parts of your eBook that will only work in printed form, for example a colouring page within a children’s book or exercise sheet in an academic title. It is possible to allow printing of your eBook. This is linked to the DRM settings of…
Reviews are an extremely important way to market your eBook, whether the review has been generated from advanced publicity or is has been gained from the original print title it is important to include this as an endorsement of your digital product. The…
This is the section of the metadata sheet where you will enter the details of whoever has contributed to the title. This covers any authors, illustrators, editors, translator or other contributors. There are fields to accept first name, middle name and…
Publication Date The publication date we request on the metadata sheet refers to the first publication date of the title in hardback or paperback. This date must correspond to the parent ISBN of the title. If you are releasing this title straight to eBook…
We are excited to welcome Patrick Crowley who has recently joined our ever expanding team. Patrick takes on the role of Digital Content Marketing Manager. Patrick has seven years Marketing experience in the publishing industry and recently completed…
We are now offering you huge savings on the cost of your conversions on our already low prices of £0.24 per page for simple conversions and £0.45 for medium complexity *. From now until the end of June we are offering superb discounts on your conversions…
The Use of Keywords In Your Metadata One of the best ways to make your eBook more discoverable is by making effective use of your keywords. If you don’t have the right keywords then you are limiting the amount of potential buyers for your eBook. Researching…
This data is used to show the territories in which you have the right to sell your title. This data will ensure your title is only available to be sold in the area that you have the rights to sell it, the retailer is bound by the information supplied…
As part of our metadata sheet, when uploading your book to ePubDirect we ask you to indicate YES or NO in the Conversions column to indicate if you would like your book file converted to ePub and Mobi format. If you wish to avail of our conversion services,…
Love this infographic by Weldon Owen on how a book is born, Via Media Bistro Publishing house Weldon Owen created an infographic called “How a Book is Born,” tracing the path of a book from idea to final product. We’ve embedded the whole…
BISAC and BIC codes, developed in 1995 and 1998 respectively are by no means new philosophies but how these subject classifications are used online is worth noting. BISAC codes are used by most USA and Canadian retailers and are required for classification…
Series information can be added to your metadata to help accurately display your eBook title on retail outlets. This will list your books as part of the correct series and will encourage link sales between the titles in the series. The series can be identified…
Audience Codes are used to target your title to the type of reader of your book, this helps the retail outlet further categorise your title and display it to the most appropriate shopper. We use the ONIX code list to provide retailers with this information.…
In our metadata sheet we currently require publishers to supply us with three currencies for each title; US Dollars, UK Sterling and Euro. All prices you specify are ex VAT/Sales tax. In many cases the retail outlet will take US Dollar price as the base…
In all at the moment page numbers are pretty irrelevant in the eBook space, if an eReader displays a page number at all it is usually only relevant to the printed edition of the title. This has its own problems if browsing in larger or smaller text the…
The Edition metadata allows you to flag your title with certain specific credentials. If your title is enhanced with video or audio, is an abridged version of the original, a multi or bilingual version or a revised edition, this is where you will enter…
Alongside other metadata, your Imprint is a way to dictate to the retailers where to list your book for sale and how to categorise that title. The average reader is more concerned with reading a book rather than deliberating over who published it so take…
Today’s subject may appear self explanatory and to many it will be but as we’ve had a few questions about it I feel it’s worth covering. The majority of our retailers ask for the title and subtitle of an eBook to be split out in the metadata sheet,…
Metadata – love it or hate it its becoming a necessary way to distinguish your title from the hundreds of thousands of eBooks listed on many online retailers, metadata can be looked at as many things, eBook SEO, a sales reporting tool but more and more…
We're delighted to be shortlisted for tonight's Ulster Bank Business Achiever's Awards in the Best Business Start Up Category at Dublin's Mansion House. We were fortunate to win the regional award for Munster in this category back in February and tonight…
Here at ePubDirect we’ve always been strong believers in the value of comprehensive metadata and we’ve seen how important Metadata, the data about books, is in driving eBook sales. Without metadata a title can be neither found by people who want to…
Recent research by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project that looked a the public’s general reading habits has shown up some stats in favour of eBooks. 2,986 Americans aged 16 and older were surveyed between November and December…
I was delighted to receive an email from Nic Read, the man behind the Endworlds titles today. We were thrilled to help Nic realise his vision of enhanced eBooks and making them available to the world some months ago. However, the real work has been done…
ePubDirect are very excited to be attending the London Book Fair this year again. We were first time exhibitors at the fair in 2011 and we were blown away but the sheer size and number of delegates. The fair was a great launch pad into the UK market for…
In the way back from the IPG Conference now and my mind is buzzing- possibly partly due to the pints last night- but mostly due to the positivity felt from those attending the conference. This is the first year ePubDirect has exhibited at this conference…
An exciting, VC-funded eBook company based in Cork seeks an experienced Publishing Marketer to help build and secure the future growth of this rapidly scaling business. ePub Direct is already one of Europe’s leading eBook companies, operating in a market…
Love this, via www.getelastic.com: Today’s infographic Friday looks at the shift from hardcopy to digital textbooks. While it’s too early to say if Apple’s iAuthor application is going to catch on with educators, the wheels are already in motion.…
An exciting, VC-funded eBook company based in Cork seeks an experienced Chief Operating Officer to help build and secure the future growth of this rapidly scaling business. ePub Direct is already one of Europe’s leading eBook companies, operating in…
We were thrilled and honoured to win Emerging Company of the Year at Friday (3rd Feb) night's Cork Chamber of Commerce annual dinner and awards ceremony. To even be shortlisted for such a prestigious award was surprise in itself but to win rounds up what…
We were delighted to win Best Business Start up Award at the Ulster Bank Business Achievers Awards yesterday. Another great recognition for both the company and our team.
We were delighted to hear of clients, Mercier Press' recent eBook sales spike over the festive period: Mercier Press saw ebook sales jump 152% in December 2011 with a very significant sales spike on 25th and 26th. This can primarily be explained…
Job Description Job Title: Key Account Executive - eBook Distribution Services Location: NSC Campus, Mahon, Cork Company Description: Established in 2009, ePub Direct provides comprehensive digital publishing services to publishers, enabling them to get…
ePub Direct, a Cork based leading provider of digital publishing services, today announced it has secured €1.3 million of new equity funding to support the future growth and development of the company. The investment is being led by The Ulster Bank…
We were delighted to win the High Potential Start-Up Award at last week's it@cork Awards and even more thrilled with the glowing review - via www.itcork.ie. The winner of the High Potential Start-up Award was ePubDirect. Michael Fitzgerald, Managing…
We were absolutely thrilled to win the High Potential Start Up award at last night's it@Cork Leaders Awards. We were among good company in our category and it was a real surprise to win. Brilliant night all round in the Maryborough House Hotel. Also a…
We're excited to be a finalist in tonight's it@Cork Leadership Awards. We are nomintated in the High Potential Start-Up Category. Win or loose, the night in Maryborough House is sure to be a good one. The full list of finalists are below. Wish us luck!…
Interesting report from the Re-Thinking Libraries event in London earlier this month in today's Guardian. Allen Weiner's, Gartner's research vice president in the US, boyhood library in north-east Philadelphia was a place to read books and to meet up,…
Loving this infographic by Retail Me Not. Via Venture Beat - Read the original article "Print Is Dying eReaders Start Slaughtering Print Book Sales."
We were delighted to discover this week that we've been shortlisted for best Technology Software Start-Up at the Irish Software Association's Software Industry Awards 2011. We won't find out our fate until the 11th November but to just be shortlisted…
The first day at Frankfurt was an interesting one. As first-timers, a couple of things struck us as the day progressed. Some of these may be obvious to you fair veterans out there, but for us newbies they are worth mentioning. Firstly, the fair is exceptionally…
We are very excited to be attending our first Frankfurt Book Fair this week. By now the team will be in Germany setting up the stand, or most likely still looking for the stand! We are situated in Hall 8 at stand D937 stop by if you'd like to discuss…
We were thrilled with our recent win of Best Export Business at the South Cork Enterprise Board Awards, Sponsored by AIB. Gareth Cuddy Pictured below with Sean O'Sullivan, CEO South Cork Enterprise Board and John O'Doherty AIB.