Digital democracy: How to hack it as an e-book writer

John Dale reveals how journalists can take a leaf out of EL Leonard's book and make it as an e-book author

When I walked to the train station last week, I pricked up my ears for the sound of locking handcuffs, clanking chains and accompanying sighs, whimpers and moans. I was passing the most alarming suburban semi in my neighbourhood.

I’ve no idea whether I’ve sat next to Erika Leonard (better known as EL James) in the Brentford Tandoori or at the bar in the Brewery Tap. All I do know is that she has provoked some wild fantasies, which I am now attempting to fulfil.

They have nothing to do with the content of her erotic blockbusters – Fifty Shades of Grey etc. – and everything to do with, (if I may get so personal) her bottom line.

It was through self-publishing that Leonard kicked off before selling zillions and becoming more than just a Brentford mum of two. And for humbler hacks, she is wish-fulfilment made heaving flesh.

When I packed it in as a magazine editor 18 months ago, people asked me if I was going to write a book. About what? Another Memoir Of The Unknown Hack? Boring. I’d better things to do.

Anyway I had got that book thing out of my system twice, in 1976 and 1986, and recalled it with mixed feelings. Agents! Publishers! Foreign rights! Serialisations! I’d take a rain check, thank you.

Then, on 28 January this year, I had an idea. For a book!

At that point I should have popped round to EL James and asked for a good thrashing.

Instead I put together the first chapter and a synopsis and took it to an agent. He called me 15 minutes after receiving it. Even as he spoke, a lightbulb switched on in my head and I thought: ‘Yes, I can see why you’re hesitating… and that gives me another idea.’

Three years earlier, I’d bought a Kindle e-reader and started carrying around a library of books, newspapers and magazines in my inside pocket. I went on about it so much that people thought I was on the Amazon payroll.

I’d also noticed that it offered new opportunities.

As the agent explained his doubts, I decided there and then that I would work for the one publisher who’d never say no to me. Myself.

So when the call ended I started on what we like to call ‘a journey’.

I got to work on stage one, writing the book.

At the same time I began to read up about stage two, self-publishing, not to be confused with that old racket, ‘vanity publishing’.

It broke into two parts: e-books and PODs.

E-books are books published electronically to be read on screen on the Kindle, iPad, the Nook and mobile phones.

PODs are actual books, pages wrapped inside a jacket, but are Print On Demand. Single copies are printed individually as they are ordered over the internet, and delivered so fast that most purchasers don’t realise they do not come from stock. You may have some on your shelf right now without knowing it.

PODs are produced through Amazon’s CreateSpace or its rival, Lightning Source, on their own UK printing presses.

With both e-books and PODs, there are virtually no upfront costs.

With e-books, you get up to 70 per cent of the sales price. With PODs the percentage is less, but still more than you’d probably receive from a conventional publisher.

As for content, they don’t really concern themselves. They reason that if it’s rubbish, it will sit quietly in their computer and then get wiped. If it sells, they will take their cut.

So this meant that I could tap away at my keyboard, assured that my work would be published one way or other, whether by public demand or not.

So I tap-tapped away and after 18 weeks, I had a 90,000 word manuscript entitled 24 Hours in Journalism. One Day. One Million Stories.

Progress!

But with autonomy comes self-reliance. I had no book editor to fall back on. I used journalist friends but that was not the same.

So I Googled ‘proof-reader’ and chose someone almost at random. Her fee was £550 and over the next three weeks she fed back corrections and amendments.

She was entirely competent but I did wonder how she could do it at £6 per thousand words. I now think she should have charged more and been much tougher. Anyway, that became irrelevant because I decided to do a rewrite.

At the same time I needed a book jacket. All the websites said this was incredibly important. I wanted it to look newsy and Shutterstock offered 25 photos for £139. Deal!

I hired an old art colleague, Stuart Bartlett, to do the design.

At the same time I contacted a company which converted manuscripts into formats for e-books, at £160, and PODs, at £125.

You can do this yourself but it’s not easy. One computer is called ‘the meatgrinder’, because it mangles and maims text. I entrusted it to a third party.

The e-book conversion took place and at the end of July, my text was published, first on Kindle and then on Apple’s iBooks.

Further progress.

I offered it at an introductory price of £2.99 per download, of which I would usually receive £2.