The ePublishing models in vogue in the industry range from commercial ePublishing to print-on-demand and subsidy ePublishers, no-fee distributors and self publishers.
Various ePublishing Models in India
Commercial ePublishers
Commercial ePublishers have a close resemblance with their print cousins. They usually undertake to print those books, which has good content and quality and therefore ability to generate more revenue. The ePublishers own website serves to showcase the product and they even sale through third party websites such as Amazon.com. The editorial and technical work carried out is similar to that of traditional publishers. At present, there are not many exclusive ePublishers, with much of the work done as collateral to traditional publishing. However, the royalty paid is much higher in the range of 40-70 percent.
Subsidy ePublishers
Subsidy ePublishers accept almost all manuscripts and publishes them on a “as is” basis. They in turn charge a flat fee although the royalty paid is at par with that paid by commercial ePublishers. Every add-on service provided on the manuscripts need to be separately paid for, whether it be formatting the text or adding images to it. The content is most likely to be sold through third party online stores and the cost of selling is passed on to the author.
Print-on-Demand Model
The print-on-demand (POD) model draws both from print and electronic publishing. The content which is held by the publisher in digital form is printed in hard copy format only on receipt of orders and for a flat fee. Examples of POD publishers in the Indian market are Pothi, Cinnamon Teal.
No-fee Distributors
No-fee distributors are similar to Subsidy ePublishers in that they accept and print manuscripts on a “as is” basis. However, they differ from the latter on various grounds. The No-fee publishers offer no add-on service and neither do they charge a fee. Remuneration is in the form of a portion of the royalty received by the author. Effectively, this model simply provides the author with the facility of an online store.
Self Publishing
At all times, an author may decide to self publish his books. Self publishing as a model will require the author to carry out end to end activities including marketing all by himself, which can be expensive but offers better control. If however, the output is to be marketed in the form of CDs, the distribution costs can be high apart from necessitating the author to register as a retailer with accompanying licenses.
To download the complete report on “ePublishing & eBooks – An Indian Perspective”, please visit: http://www.india-reports.com/summary/Publish.aspx
