Publishing electronically is a quick and effective way of getting your fiction and nonfiction books out to your ideal audience with minimal cost. These days, many people read books on their smartphones, tablets and ereaders such as the Kindle. If you’ve only published electronically so far, did you know that printing hard copies of your books can also make sense? Here are 5 reasons why you should print hard copies of your eBooks too:
1. People Still Like Reading Printed Books
It’s no secret that ereaders are convenient ways to read and store all kinds of written publications. For example, you can have a whole library’s worth of reading material on your device, with each title accessible to you in seconds. But some people prefer the ‘old-fashioned’ way of reading, especially books. The last thing you want to do is alienate some of your target audience because you choose to stick with eBook versions only.
Printing companies, such as dox.zoo or doxdirect.com, or a print on demand option, such as Amazon KDP, are good places to start if you want to publish a few paperbacks, or even hardbacks. An alternative is to speak with a copier sales firm and buy or rent the equipment you need to publish books on paper yourself – the epitome of independent publishing!
2. You Establish Legitimacy
Let’s face it: anyone can self publish an eBook these days. Amazon, for example, makes it straightforward to get your publication online and available to its audience of Kindle users and book enthusiasts. However, if you one day dream of seeing your books among the world’s top-rated authors in book shops, following a more traditional publishing model, you need to consider publishing your books physically, and ‘wide‘. Doing so may establish even more legitimacy with your readers.
3. You Create More Ways to Promote Your Books
When you only publish eBooks, you risk limiting yourself to online marketing methods. After all, your target audience uses the Internet, and your eBooks will get consumed via electronic means. However, the great thing about publishing your books offline is you have additional ways to promote your titles. Paperback and hardback books offer promotion opportunities in places like bookstores, industry gatherings, themed events, local book clubs, and more.
What’s more, physical books stand a better chance of being reviewed by critics and enthusiasts that publish articles in local and national newspapers and magazines. The additional publicity surrounding your hard copies will help boost sales of your eBook titles too.
4. Some Readers May Not Have Internet Access
It’s a well-known fact that you can’t read or download eBooks without having a valid Internet connection. Unfortunately, some people cannot get online, perhaps due to living in a rural area with little to no Internet connectivity, and there are some people who choose not to have constant access to the Internet (not many, probably, but they do exist!).
Of course, they will undoubtedly have access to their local libraries and bookstores, so if you publish physical copies of your book, they wouldn’t miss out on your latest titles (and you wouldn’t miss out on potential sales).
5. Your eBook Platform Might Delete Your Titles
Lastly, you need to consider that some eBook platforms may decide to delete your publications from their libraries. Or you might encounter technical/other issues pre- or post-upload. Some delete (or refuse to publish altogether) if they feel your content goes against their publishing guidelines. Others may cease their service permanently with little or no notice. There are no guarantees with digital platforms you don’t own or control.
If you’ve found ‘5 Reasons Why You Should Print Hard Copies of Your eBooks’ helpful, click the links to read these related posts:
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