The Downside to Easy E-Book Publishing: Spam Books

June 30th, 2011 Publishing by Malcolm Fraser with 2 Comments

Recently, the Reuters website ran a story highlighting the problem of thousands of “spam books” clogging Amazon’s Kindle store.

The same unscrupulous spammers that threaten to fill your email inbox every day with offers to buy cheap medication or amazing opportunities to cash in on someone else’s inheritance are now targeting e-books. They take public domain, or very cheap, content – which is usually some form of advertising disguised as a real book – and then simply upload it as a new title on sale at $0.99. By saturating the market, they increase their chances of finding people who will buy at least one of these spam books. Even if they only trick a small percentage of the millions of e-book customers, that still nets them a big profit.

The Downside to Easy E-book Publishing: Spam Books

There are now thousands of these “spooks” (spam + book = spook!) overwhelming the market, as spammers rush to join the new gold rush. Many of them openly promise to teach others how to make fast money by producing more “spooks.”

Part of the problem, ironically, lies in the fact that e-book publishing is just too easy. All you need is some text, a cover image of some kind, a few minutes, and you can “publish” an e-book. It will look terrible, it will be full of typos and formatting errors, and it will probably be quickly buried in the avalanche of other e-books published in the same way. But it’s in the on-line retailer’s interest to have a huge catalog of e-books, especially since they take 30% or more of each sale. So of course they try to make the idea of personal digital publishing as accessible and appealing as possible.

Where does that leave genuine authors with real books to publish? The Reuters article quoted one company as saying this: “Obvious signs of spam include poorly designed covers, the lack of an author’s name on the cover and bad formatting.” Unfortunately, this description could apply to many new authors’ first attempts at e-book publishing.

Avoid Publishing a “Spook”

Here are five simple tips to help your book avoid becoming a needle in a haystack of “spooks.”

1. It’s been said many times before, but the importance of a high-quality, professional cover design can’t be emphasized enough. Don’t settle for anything less. Readers do judge books by their cover.

2. Make sure your book has been properly formatted and typeset before it’s converted into an e-book. This makes a much bigger difference than most people think. Despite having “reflowable text,” e-books can accommodate a wide variety of sophisticated typesetting features to enhance the reading experience – but only professionally produced books will take advantage of this.

3. Don’t skimp on editing. A book – whether in electronic or printed form – is only as good as the content. An editor with experience in your book’s specific genre can work wonders to improve the overall quality, maximize your credibility, and generate positive word-of-mouth.

4. Don’t go cheap. The idea of free and easy “publishing” with a single on-line retailer might sound appealing, but you get exactly what you pay for. If you want to do it right, it’s well worth paying for professional e-book publishing. You will normally save a lot of time, reach a wider audience, and have the benefit of expert support.

5. Be sure to have a print edition. Special “e-book only” offers can work well for authors who are already established or have already built a platform, but not so much if you’re new and unknown. If you know how cheap and easy it is to publish an e-book, then so will most of your potential readers. They’re looking for something that tells them to take your book seriously. Most spammers and “spooks” won’t have a print edition, so it gives your book an instant credibility boost.

Conclusion

The flourishing e-book market is a great opportunity for all authors, new and experienced alike. However, as with anything new, there are those who will find a way to exploit it. Beware, but don’t be discouraged. Actually, it’s an even bigger opportunity for authors who invest the time and effort into quality that will stand out from the crowd.

Malcolm Fraser

Malcolm Fraser is the Executive Officer at WinePress Publishing, and serves as the assistant to the Executive Publisher. He helps to oversee and coordinate all of WinePress’ different departments, handles customer service issues, contract development, and also contributes to programming and designing websites and author blogs.

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