Leanpub

Leanpub is not as good as bandcamp is for music, but it is the closest I have yet to find.

What I like, is that it lets the purchaser set the price, and shows how much is going to the writer.

Leanpub pays 90% royalty to authors, less a 50 cent flat fee.

The writer retains the ownership of their work.

Where I disagree with Leanpub, is write the book with audience participation (that that would work for some books) and aim at a market.

Too many books are written for a market (that could be argued for music) or written to a formula. This is a recipe for at best mediocrity.

The best books, those that stand head-and-shoulders above the rest, is where the writer (or musician) writes what they want to write, and when the reader (or listener) reads (or hears) it brings it to life.

A book (or music) is not a product, though you could be forgiven for thinking music was from programmes like X-Factor or Has Britain (not) Got Talent, but then it helps to remember these programmes showcases neither music nor talent.

One of the problems with books (and music) is they have become a commodity peddled by big publishing companies.

If you are writing software books or computer books need fast turnaround, due to software and computers dating fast. This is not true for example for a novel, though if it was to tie in with something contemporary, then yes, cannot spend a lifetime writing it.

When Charles Dickens wrote, and this was also true of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and many other writers, they did not write what we now see as complete novels, these were serialised in monthly magazines.

Wilkie Collins wrote his novels in serial form.

In fact, it is misleading to think of the novel. The novel started life as a serial, which was then collected together in a book to form a novel.

If we look at what is seen as the golden age of science fiction, this was serialised in magazines.

Today, we have writers serialising their works through blogs, taking on board reader feedback on the way (and hopefully ignoring the trolls).

We have crowd sourcing being used to fund music, and Imogen Heap even using as input for her music as we see with HeapSongs. We have musicians using soundcloud for work in progress. Musicians will also use youtube or vimeo, which may then be collected into an album, developing traction for the album.

Alex Boye has used his videos to showcase, to raise money via kickstarter for an album.

Excellent talk by Peter Armstrong co-founder of Leanpub.

Rock and Roll is Dead and The 360 Deal are good examples of e-books published by Leanpub.

The 360 Deal is a work in progress. It was decided to get the book out early. It is then available, it also gives publicity and draws in other authors. New chapters are added as updates, in much the same way that software has updates.

Serial publishing is back. Serial publishing is story telling.

• E-book revolution: Breaking through in the digital age
• How safe are your e-books?
• The e-book debate
• Is your e-book reader reading what you read?
• Nothing is as good at being a book as a book is

Tags: books, e-books, publishing