a single source, nothing corroborates it · contested
Decide which formats ship on day one
Justin Jackson exports every ebook format before launch so no buyer is turned away by a file type, while Nathan Barry and his co-author shipped one and were never asked for another. The extra formats cost a day of conversion work and the cost of skipping them is invisible, which is why two people doing the same job landed in different places.
Where this splits
Jackson builds every file format before the launch; Barry sold direct in one format and reports that not a single customer requested the others.
1 claims against 1
Justin Jackson
Export every ebook format before you launch
- 01Ship every ebook format at once: write and format in one tool, export the PDF and ePub from it, then convert that ePub to MOBI in Calibre because Kindle files need to stay under 10 MB.
Ship one format, nobody asks for the others
Sell direct from your own site when layout matters, and do not build formats until customers ask for them.
What it returned
- 50
Amazon's KindleGen produced a 50 MB file from Justin's book Jolt while Calibre produced a well-formatted 6 MB one; he wrote Jolt in Reedsy and an earlier book in Pressbooks.
Neither author shipped ePub or Kindle versions and not one customer requested them
Sources
- Publish your ebook as PDF, MOBI, and ePub all at the same timeJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Self-publishing steps: · undated
- How Nathan Barry and Sacha Greif Sold $39k Worth of eBooksNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Picking The Right Software · 2012-10-03 · dissenting
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in product
- Give away a tool that pulls its own audience7 unconnected
- Take many small shots instead of one big bet6 unconnected · contested
- Get it into real hands, or shape it first6 unconnected · contested
- Cap the hours and let the ceiling design the business6 unconnected · contested
- Set the bar for writing code deliberately high6 unconnected
- Buy nothing until there is revenue6 unconnected