When traditional publishing was the only game in town, you had to work with a publisher or pay a vanity press to become a published author. Nowadays it’s easier to self-publish digital versions of your book.
Going Digital
- Under the digital banner are:
- e-books
- print on demand paperbacks, and
- audio books
As an indie author you have the option of choosing which digital version you produce. Some authors only publish e-books, but as we’re dealing with travel guides your readers are just as likely to purchase a paperback version if it’s available.
Audio Books
For the purposes of this article I’m not going to cover audio books as they require a completely different skill set and expertise than an e-book and paperback. I wouldn’t mind listening to a travel narrative or travel memoir on audio, but I wouldn’t want to digest a travel guide this way.
A cursory search on Amazon’s Audible site shows some authors are publishing audio versions of their travel guides, but Audible specifically recommends against recording a travel guide audiobook. That’s not to say you can’t explore this route, but as audio books require a higher investment than e-books and print, you need to evaluate the cost of creating your book against the sales potential.
Here’s three decisions concerning your book format strategy:
- Simple Option: Only publish your travel guide as an e-book.
- Intermediate Option: Publish your travel guide as an e-book first, and release a paperback version at a later date
- Advanced Option: Publish your travel guide e-book and paperback at the same time
You’ll notice I haven’t included a strategy to only publish a paperback. Creating an e-book is more straightforward than creating a print version, and if you’re creating the cover art and internal content for a print version, it’s a complete waste of effort not to release an e-book version as well.
Simple format strategy
- Only publish your travel guide as an e-book
This is also the quickest path to becoming a published author. By publishing in one format you simplify your book formatting, cover design, and book distribution decisions. There are also plenty of free tools available to help you achieve your publishing goals.
Intermediate format strategy
Publish your travel guide as an e-book first.- Release a POD paperback version at a later date
If you’re a newbie author, releasing an e-book at the same time as a paperback could overwhelm you because of the technical requirements of creating different versions of your file and cover art. Plus, in addition to choosing which e-book retailers and aggregators you’re going to sell through, now you have to decide which print partner to an distribute through.
Staggering your format releases will allow you to focus on producing and releasing an e-book and get your feet wet by trying different promotional and marketing activities. There will undoubtedly be changes you want to make to your travel guide’s content (maybe a few typos made it into the final edit, or you’ve had a change of heart around the structure or organization about the content) – so during this initial release period you can continue to edit and refine your e-book content.
When your e-book has settled comfortably into it’s final version, you can switch your full attention to the activities related to creating a paperback version of your travel guide.
One of the benefits of a staggered release is you can use the paperback release as an opportunity to cross-promote your e-book (more about this promotional strategy in Book 4). This approach extends the life-cycle of your content.
Marketing for marketing’s sake can feel forced, but when you release a new book version, it’s an excuse for a fanfare and some e-book promotional pricing or incentives to attract reader’s attention.
Advanced format strategy
Release an e-book and POD paperback at the same time
If you do have the time, skills, budget to create and publish an e-book and paperback concurrently, my book is an invaluable tool for understanding and mastering the steps involved to navigate this dual path.
If you thrive at multi-tasking, you’ll find it enjoyable to work on your paperback while the related elements of your e-book are fresh in your mind.
Your readers benefit from a concurrent release of both versions, because it gives them a choice of formats (and a choice of price-pints) to purchase on launch day, so there’s less chance of losing book sales because your travel guide isn’t available in their preferred format, or within their budget.
So, are you going to focus on creating an e-book, or do you want the challenge and benefit of creating a paperback version too?
For our niche, travel guides, there is definitely a market for printed versions. But it’s by no means mandatory. Look at your own buying patterns and ask your friends or social networks what formats they purchase their travel guides in. I’m a huge e-book purchaser, but when it comes to travel guides, I buy a combination of e-book and paperback. If there’s no print version available, I’ll settle for the e-book.
If the thought of creating a paperback is getting in your way of becoming a published author, then take a stepped approach and focus on your e-book before trying to master your print version, or just forego it altogether.
Need to choose what format your #selfpublished travel guide should be in? Here's three different plans for #ebooks and #paperbacks. Click To Tweet
Read more articles in my How to Write a Travel Guide Series
I’m putting the finishing touches on my How to Write and Self-Publish a Travel Guide Series, which details a step by step approach for writing and producing your own travel guide. It’s part of a four-part series aimed at helping travel bloggers achieve passive income based on their passions and existing content.
