Comments on: Are eBook Authors Unwittingly Losing Sales?

By: Stumbling Over Chaos :: Left behind linkity

Stumbling Over Chaos :: Left behind linkity — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:50:26 +0000

[...] An American Editor wonders if ebook authors are losing sales because readers seem to quickly forget …. (I must admit that his idea of including a header with title and author throughout the ebook to help readers remember would really annoy me – I hate it when pdfs are formatted like that.) [...]

By: lynnlovesediting

lynnlovesediting — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:50:36 +0000

Reblogged this on LynnLovesEditing and commented: This is a great post for ebook authors and those who are self-publishing! Who doesn't want to be remembered for their work?

By: Vicki

Vicki — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:53:55 +0000

Goodness, I am anything but Kindle-centric – why else would I have multiple ereader apps? (Nor do I own a Kindle.) That was just an example and as I said, I need to do more research. The sample of The Dragon’s Path I checked on my Nook app does not have the book title in the header. It does, however, have the chapter name, but that’s the same for all Nook books. Can you please post a photo of your Nook showing the header? From the middle of the book if possible. Thanks.

P.S. My books are available in 10 e-stores.

By: marie

marie — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:18:30 +0000

Then prepare the book to maximize chances in and out of Amazon or sell only via those who will show running header.

By: americaneditor

americaneditor — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:09:15 +0000

You cannot, as an ebook author, be Kindle centric. Worldwide, there are more non-Kindlers than Kindlers. If you sell outside of the Amazon eco system, then you should prepare your ebooks to maximize your chances. If Amazon ignores or strips out such metadata, that is no excuse for not including it in ePub.

By: Vicki

Vicki — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:21:04 +0000

Ah, but the Kindle version of that book doesn’t have that header.

I do know that Kindle publishing process does strip out a lot of metadata. That said, I am going to research it some more.

By: americaneditor

americaneditor — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:57:47 +0000

I think the way to do it is to include the information in the metadata. The problem with the way you suggest is that it may “float”, appearing in the middle of 1 page, near the bottom of the next page, etc. It also seems to me that if something like Smashword’s “meat grinder” conversion process doesn’t allow for running heads, that authors should start bombarding Mark Coker (CEO of Smashwords and a very accessible person) with a demand that it be fixed to include a running head.

By: americaneditor

americaneditor — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:54:27 +0000

I have never used (other than for a quick try) a Kindle or any of the apps designed to allow reading on one’s computer. As I noted in my reply to Catherine, at least on my 3 ePub devices (the Sony 950, Sony 505, and the Nook Tablet) some books have running heads and some don’t. I noticed this morning, for example, that my daily New York Times, which I read on the Nook Tablet, has running heads. And the book I am currently reading on the Nook Tablet displays a running head at the beginning of each chapter, although not on every page. But even that is enough to remind me that I am reading Daniel Abraham’s The Dragon’s Path.

By: americaneditor

americaneditor — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:49:32 +0000

I use a Sony 950, a Sony 505, and a Nook Tablet. My experience one each has been that some books have the running heads and some don’t, which makes me think it is not device dependent but how the ePub files are created.

By: marie

marie — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:21:50 +0000

If the eReaders have no running header, then the author should make it part of the book’s text/content at the top in smaller letters and with an underline under it to set it apart. Or this will still not show once the book format is converted to ebook format?