Our Services: eBooks

Program Defined

• Print-ready PDFs will be converted into .epub and other formats as requested and / or required in order to distribute the electronic file format to the leading e-content vendors.

• Any title in hardcover or paper where the Client has the contractual rights to the electronic format can be submitted

• Depending on the program and the partner, e-books can be sold either as full, individual copies or via a number of revenue share models (e.g., per page view) or both.

• Current partners: Amazon Kindle, Apple, Barnes & Noble, eBooks.com / EBL, Ebrary, Follett, Ingram Digital, Ingram myiLibrary, Kobo™ (both through www.kobobooks.com and through Borders) , OverDrive, ReadHowYouWant, and Sony Connect.

FAQ

1. What is the benefit of selling e-books now?
   By any measure, e-books have experienced phenomenal growth over the past year. Whereas one year ago one was hard pressed to find consumer awareness of the format, widespread use of the Kindle, Sony Reader, and any number of other digital reading devices is becoming commonplace. Each quarter, eBooks continue to experience phenomenal growth (See IDPF Industry Stats).

1. I’ve never sold digital copies of my books before. What do I need to know to begin?
   First and foremost, you must ensure that you own and control all rights necessary to sell, license, and otherwise distribute your book content in digital form (text and graphics). The exercising of such rights must not violate or infringe the rights of any third-party. Depending on the business model and sales channel set forth by the digital partner, you will want to thoroughly review your author agreements, specifically the grant, royalty and accounting, sub rights, and non-compete clauses. Where you do not have rights, you will need to consider amending your contracts with authors to incorporate these rights. Finally, you may want to consider updating your boilerplate terms to include the right to sell, license, and distribute your book content in digital form. 

   Logistically, you will be required to supply digital files of your book content, order ISBNs for the digital edition(s), establish a Digital List Price for the digital edition, and have a means of disseminating the PDF or EPUB file to the digital marketplace (in this case, Constellation).

   Each digital partner with which we work has variable metadata requirements (i.e., requisite fields that must be supplied). These include everything from Title, Author, Publisher, etc., to Territorial rights. (If you’re already selling to online retailers like Amazon, you’re familiar with this.)

1. What is the risk of digital piracy?
   Constellation makes every effort to protect the security of the text files it distributes as digital editions, and demands the same commitment to security from its digital retail partners. All of our partners encode the files they are authorized to sell with digital rights management software (DRM), and in some cases we have declined to work with prospective partners who have failed to demonstrate a high level of control over piracy on their site. Nevertheless, it is always possible for individual users to make unauthorized digital editions available for download, either by scanning a print edition or hacking an encrypted edition, and although books have historically been less susceptible to this form of piracy than music or video, the incidence of book piracy is increasing. Enforcement is an imperfect science, but Constellation is firmly committed to keeping content secure, and is actively exploring methods of monitoring and minimizing piracy.

1. To which e-Book partners will Constellation be distributing files?
   Constellation currently has finalized agreements with the following e-book vendors: 

   a. Leading consumer-facing e-Book retailers:
   - Amazon Kindle
   - Apple iBookstore
   - Barnes & Noble
   - eBooks.com
   - Ingram Digital
   - Kobo
   - Sony Connect

   b. e-Book wholesalers primarily serving the library market:
   - EBL (sales + electronic rights licensing models)
   - Ebrary (sales + electronic rights licensing models)
   - Follett
   - myiLibrary (sales + electronic rights licensing models)
   - OverDrive

   c. Specialized format providers
   - ReadHowYouWant

1. What happens if I already have a contract with one or more of these vendors?
   Subject to certain nuances individual to each digital service provider, you will be able to transition to Constellation’s agreement and service arrangements with that digital service provider.

1. How do I track sales?
   Depending on the e-Book partner, Constellation currently receives sales reporting on either a monthly or a quarterly basis. This reporting will be loaded into Constellation’s sales reporting systems upon receipt of the report and will be visible to you via your Client interface by the middle of the month following the month in which the sales were reported to us.

1. Do Kindle sales show up in Amazon POS?
   At this time Amazon does not incorporate sales of Kindle e-Books into its POS reporting.

1. How many e-Book ISBNs do I need?
   I’ve heard that I may need to assign one for each format on the market. The formal position of the International ISBN Agency is that each electronic format requires a separate ISBN, but this question is currently a matter of debate, and different publishers have adopted different stances on the issue and different practices. It is not, strictly speaking, necessary to assign a separate ISBN for each format being sold, and, for now, a number of the largest publishing houses do not do so. Note, however, that intermediaries may be assigning their own internal tracking numbers or even ISBNs from their own blocks in order to distinguish among the formats in the supply chain.

1. I’ve heard that some of the major e-Book partners will do conversions for me.
   Why might I want to take on these conversions myself?
   There are a number of reasons why a publisher would undertake its own conversion to .epub. The three most important are (1) the control that providing your own .epub file provides you over the look of the file (which is especially important when it comes to graphical elements like call-outs and sidebars and linking), (2) in many cases quicker availability of your title at the e-Book partners, and (3) ownership of the resulting file. To that last point, doing the .epub conversion for yourself results in a copy of that file that you can then send to future eContent partners; allowing an e-Book partner to do the conversion for you does not provide you with a copy. In addition, some e-Book partners may convert your file only to a dominant e-Book format and not all the formats they sell.

1. Can Constellation make PDFs from application files?
   Yes, for a fee, and provided all fonts and images are supplied.