Elbrus My Waterloo in Paperback – Poll

[reblogged from 2012]

I have had quite a few people telling me that they don’t have a Kindle, or don’t “do ebooks” or some such, and a bright and shining moment in that dialog is that I quickly imagine that I’d be able to sell a handful of paper editions of “Elbrus My Waterloo”. Sadly the discussion quickly devolves into being asked to email them a copy. I myself have never asked an author friend for a free copy of their ebooks, so I really don’t understand that. As well, the Kindle version is only $2.99 and I did put up the alternate e-reader instructions last week, if the sole excuse was “can’t afford a Kindle“.

Kindle ebook Elbrus My Waterloo

In the interest of pleasing those who seriously do object to reading anything but paper, I looked up some details on publishing “Elbrus My Waterloo” as a paper edition on a print as needed basis, which is the only economically feasible option for small self-publishers like myself. Amazon has a relationship with a paper printer which allows you to reformat your Kindle ebook according to print standards. That alone is a rather burdensome process, as the Kindle format just tosses text at a page. It’s up to your Kindle to format the font and text sizes according to user preferences. About the most complicated thing you have to do is set the chapter breaks and headings, edit the table of contents, and decide on page breaks before and after images, if any.

Paper print formatting requires that you set your document sizes according to the type of book you have decided on, the proper page size, the proper fonts, images formatted a specific size, and then when it’s perfect, export as a print-ready embedded font, embedded image file. I looked into what “Elbrus My Waterloo” would become as a print book, and how much it would cost to print and sell through the program, and came up with three options.

Paper Publishing Option for Elbrus My Waterloo

1) As-Is – re-crop the current images, export to the book template as a 6 x 9 paperback with black and white photos for $9.99
2) Color – re-crop the current images, export to the book template as a 8 x 10 paperback with color photos for $12.99
3) Color – as above with the addition of three times as many images for $19.99

Please take a minute to vote on my poll. It would take several hours of labor to do the reformatting and I’d like to know if there’s a market or not before I proceed. Your input is extremely welcome and much needed.

Would you buy a paper edition of "Elbrus, My Waterloo" if it were available?

• 8 x 10 Paperback with color photos for $12.99 (67%, 2 Votes)
• 8 x 10 Paperback enhanced with additional color photos for $19.99 (33%, 1 Votes)
• 6 x 9 Paperback with black and white photos for $9.99 (0%, 0 Votes)
• Not interested at any price or photo option (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 3

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Thanks!