Ebooks such as kindle and ePUB are becoming more popular as the trends of readers have changed. Electronic reading devices have made a big revolution in the publication market.
Your publication partner is one of the most important aspects of your business, especially for individual authors and small publication houses. From editing, cover designing, print, and distribution, you may need extra help. The same strategy applies to ebook publication businesses.
From an ebook publication point of view, it is extremely important for book publishers and individual authors to choose a well-established and highly designated ebook conversion company in order to avoid future problems in their ebook publication and distribution. It is quite risky to outsource the ebook conversion work to vendors outside the USA, as this can impose a privacy issue in your publishing business.
Genuine testimonials are one of the most important things that an author or publisher can look into before outsourcing their ebook conversion service to any offshore ebook conversion company. Testimonials bring trust and knowledge to how the performance, as well as the service of any one company, is.
eBook Conversion Company – Factors to consider
Following are some things you should ask & keep in mind when selecting your ebook conversion vendor.
The physical address of the company
If the website does not have a street address for the business, it means that the company is NOT based in the USA. If the company has just the PO box address, it is better to call and find out more about the company to make sure the company is incorporated in the USA. Ask for a w-9 form if you are not sure about the company.
Phone number
With USA phone numbers available with services like Skype, MagicJack, etc., it can be misleading in assuming that business is based in the USA.
Customer service hours
Ask the vendor about their phone customer support hours. Most USA-based businesses will provide customer service over the phone and email. Vendors out of the USA will have only email support or will call you back after you leave a voicemail with a very bad connection. Ask the customer support from which country he is based in. You can use trick questions like how is the weather there, what is your federal tax number etc.
Preferred vendor for any retailer/publisher
Ask the vendor if they are preferred for Amazon, Apple, or Barnes & Noble. Do any big USA-based publishers use them as a vendor?
Testimonials from past clients
Ask the vendor for testimonials of their past clients whose books are already listed for sale on Kindle & other readers.
Samples of testimonial
Many times companies write fake testimonials. To ensure that the testimonial is genuine, ask to see few pages of the converted book for the publisher who gave testimonials.
eReaders to Test the eBook
Many vendors don’t have all the readers like iPad, Kindle Fire, Nook Color, and others. They only test free software which cannot display how you will see the file on those readers.
Better Business Bureau (BBB) Accreditation
If the business is BBB accredited, then you are assured that they meet the 16 grading elements and are a business to trust.
How many years in business
It is very important to find out how many years the business has been operating. This will help you to weed out night operators or businesses without the necessary expertise to convert the file as per the guidelines. Bad files can result in the rejection of your book.
Beware of Free ISBN or cheap ISBN.
May publishers sell ISBN or give free ISBN. In that case, the company becomes your legal publisher and they have all rights to your book as well. Check with your lawyer or vendor to find out who sells the book. Get something in writing to avoid any legal issues in the future.
Retaining the formatting within your file
Many companies strip formatting, images, tables, etc. to reduce the cost of conversion. A good conversion company will try to retain as much as possible to keep the same format of the file.
Some publishers/authors have horror stories from using a vendor out of the USA. One author found him the book was changed and published by the conversion company as their own content. Some vendors outside the USA charge a very small amount for conversion to lure the authors/publishers who are looking for the cheapest service. Revenue for such vendors may include translating your book into other languages and selling it as their own.
We hope that this article helps you to understand all ebook conversion services CANNOT be compared only on price. You get what you pay for.
Feel free to contact Supremus Group at
Bob@eBookconversion.com if you have any questions.