Editor’s Note: Here is the first article by a new TeleRead contributor, author Steve Jordan. You can find his bio here. I met Steve at the TOC Conference and after I heard his story, over lunch, I badgered him into writing it up for us. Hopefully it will be the first contribution of many to come:
I know, I know, the title sounds like a 1965-era deodorant commercial. But in point of fact, Rita Toews, the founder of Read an E-Book Week, has done a great service to everyone who hopes to see the market for e-books grow and prosper, and I am honored to report that I am one of the many recipients of that service.
First, a little background: I registered www.SteveJordanBooks.com in 2005 and began self-selling my novels in e-book form, after I was unable to convince a publisher to even bother to look at my work, much less judge them publishable. I got off to an okay start, but after a year sales at the SJB were beginning to flatten, and I knew I’d need to increase my presence in the marketplace to keep sales strong.
Enter Rita Toews. She got in touch with me, having heard about me through my regular contributions on the MobileRead web site. Initially she asked for advice on how to promote REBW, and was looking for some pointers on web design as well. As web development happens to be my “day job,” I was happy to oblige. One thing led to another, and I found myself offering my services as a web producer to redo the REBW site, which was pretty simple and not too friendly to all web browsers.
I was under a tight deadline, as it turned out… REBW07 was just around the corner when I started, and there was no time for bells and whistles. Nonetheless, we got a new site up in time for REBW07 that was an improvement over the past site, including being much more browser-friendly, and I further contributed with some new text for the site. The new and improved REBW site (there’s that 1965 vibe again) began to get notice from some new partners and promoters, and this notice spread to me, as an author and supporter of the site.
Exposure to REBW added a new feather to my authoring cap: I was now an active promoter of all things e-book, not just my own novels, and part of the effort to reach out to major corporations and the web world. I received a great deal of compliments from e-book readers and supporters, who mentioned me to others. I saw a marked increase in March sales in the first year, and such a spike in sales for REBW08 to pay for my yearly expenses five times over! My success allowed me to expand on the SJB, finish another novel, and keep the interest rolling.
In 2007, I found myself casting about for a new full-time position (those pesky “day jobs”!). The web market can be tough in the Washington DC area, as there are a lot of corporations, non-profit agencies, and even a few government jobs… and a lot of people vying for positions in their web departments. I was often up against dozens, scores, even hundreds of prospective webmasters, fighting for the same jobs.
But I had a nicely-diverse portfolio of sites to show off, including the REBW site. It never hurts your chances when you can tell a prospective employer that your work has been noticed by the likes of Sony, Adobe, E Ink (which, okay, may need a bit of explanation), and publishers and authors with international exposure! Long story short (too late), my portfolio got me in the door as a temp-to-hire, and I was offered the full-time position almost immediately.
Last year’s REBW success has led to companies like Sony, E Ink, Smashwords, Lexcycle and others offering to more actively promote the cause and the site. Some of those companies did not respond until they saw the ’09 site, based on a design template Rita found, and which I was able to flesh out to be more flexible for our use (as well as 508-compliant and fully browser-compatible). The redesigned REBW09 site shortly received a Substance Books award for website quality, which is already getting back to me as website producer. And the increased interest in REBW enabled me to attend the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing conference in NYC this year, to help promote REBW and get a little more exposure for myself. 2009 has barely started, and it’s already a banner year!
So, all of this is earning publicity points for SteveJordanBooks.com, which continues to bring me new customers and more sales… not to mention enough good will towards my work to discourage those who might try to take advantage of me by pirating my work. It’s always nice to be liked, but especially when you’re a merchant just getting started in a relatively new field.
Just a few weeks shy of Read an E-Book Week 09, I have a new novel about to be released, a site redesign in the works, a comfortable “day job” that affords me the ability to keep plugging away at the SJB, and renewed interest from customers worldwide. I have never felt so welcomed by those I’ve met and dealt with, and can’t imagine things being any better! And I can attribute a great deal of that success to my involvement with Rita and Read an E-Book Week… a cause that benefits us all, but which has especially benefited me.
Editor’s Afterword: To make it easy for contributors I am happy to do the grunt work. Steve sent me the article and I formatted it, inserted the links and pictures and posted it. I will be more than happy to do this for anyone who would like to contribute an article in the future. Just contact me at the address in the side bar.
