Little White Bakkie

South African books and literature

for sale in the United States
TODAY

Dear colleagues in publishing

BOOK SA is pleased to announce the launch of Little White Bakkie (LWB), our new e-book
store powered by Scribd.com and backed by the expertise of Electric Book Works.

LWB clears the path to one of the Holy Grails of SA publishing: direct distribution and sales
to the United States book market.

It's simple and there are no strings attached. Come join us as e-book pioneers on the
African - and American - continents!

~~~

How it works: taking the pain out of e-books

Scribd.com, established in March 2007, is a document sharing service that is to books what
YouTube is to videos. Just as YouTube will convert any video file into a "universal file" - one
that can be viewed on any platform, from laptops to iPhones - so Scribd will make any
document file (.doc, .pdf, etc.) universally readable.

• What this means: upload a PDF to Scribd, and seconds later Scribd creates an e-
book for you. It's that simple: no extra process required!

A few weeks ago, Scribd launched an online store for users' docs and e-books that is
already buzzing with activity (http://www.scribd.com/store). There's only one catch: to
make a sale, both the buyer and seller must be US-based.

That's where LWB steps in. Through my US connections, we've created a Scribd store that
can handle file uploads from Africa. We've tested it and it works: any file in the LWB Scribd
store can be purchased by anyone in the USA.

• What this means: if you send LWB a PDF of one of your titles, it will be available
for sale in the USA within minutes.

Let's dip a toe in!

The advantages of Scribd

• Powerful search optimization: once a book is uploaded and tagged, search

engines like Google quickly index it with a premium ranking because of Scribd's high
web credibility.

• Built-in social media: uploaded files - or, in the case of Scribd Store e-books,
their previews only - are instantly shareable via Facebook and Twitter. What's more,
they're embeddable on any website, including your homepage, the author's
homepage, and BOOK SA pages.

• As easy as Facebook: Scribd is astonishingly easy to use, making the creation and
sale of e-books from your current backlist a cinch.

Document security: Covering publishers' e-book concerns

E-books are safe on Scribd, which uses the latest document security technology from
Adobe. Scribd offers several levels of access, from full DRM (the purchaser downloads a
single file which can't be copied or shared) to DRM-free (the purchaser downloads a file
which can be shared any number of times).

• LWB's default security setting will be full DRM: Purchasers will receive a single
file that can't be shared in any way. This setting can be changed on request from
the publisher at any time.
• Read about Scribd's different document security options here

Getting started: LWB e-book specs and sales structure

In the world of e-books, it's best to keep things simple (one reason why Scribd is so
welcome). LWB's set-up is simplicity itself:

• World and electronic rights only: LWB will only sell books for which the publisher
has both world and electronic rights. (See FAQ, below.)

• Revenue breakdown: 20% of revenue from sales accrues to Scribd (mandatory);

20% to LWB; and 60% to the publisher.

• PDF-ready: to create an e-book through Scribd, all that's required is the PDF from
the book's "master set" print file. Just email it through.
◦ Please supply low-res files.
◦ It's recommended that the book's cover image be incorporated into the file
as the first page (a simple tweak via Adobe Acrobat Pro); otherwise, the
book will be sold without a cover image.
◦ Send your PDFs to lwb@book.co.za.

• Non-exclusive: Any books for sale on LWB can also be placed on any other e-
books platform. If another platform requires exclusivity, LWB will remove your
books from its store.
 ◦ Note: this doesn't include Scribd.com. If you sell your books in LWB's Scribd
store, you won't be able to sell them in another Scribd store.

• No risk, instant "on and off": Every action on the LWB Scribd store is "reversible"
and "re-doable". E-books can be removed upon instruction, and e-book files can be
replaced/updated with a simple upload.

• E-book Pricing: the trend in the US e-book marketplace is to price e-books at

$9.99. LWB recommends this price for standard novels and works of non-fiction;
ultimately, however, the price is set at the publisher's discretion.

• Reports and payment: LWB will supply sales reports on a quarterly basis - or
more frequently upon request (within reason) - and will also remit payment in rands
to publishers on a quarterly basis.
◦ LWB will remit payment when sales for a given title exceed $100, and
thereafter in increments of $100. Exchange rates at the time of remittance
apply.

• Cost: For members of BOOK SA, there is no cost to use the LWB service. For non-
members, LWB is also currently free, but priority will be given to BOOK SA
members.
◦ Should LWB require administrative support beyond current levels, a small
monthly fee may be payable.

• Future-proof: Scribd continually improves its e-book service, keeping up with the
latest web trends, and has plans to roll out its Scribd Store service internationally
(though not before 2011, in most estimates). When that happens, your LWB titles
will be positioned highly advantageously in the world e-book marketplace.

• Microsites: It's strongly recommended that SA authors whose books will be sold
via LWB also have BOOK SA microsites. (We'll make provision for this, if necessary,
outside our normal microsite hosting guidelines.)

• Terms: Sending LWB a file for upload to its store acknowledges acceptance of these
terms, which may change from time to time, but not without prior consultation.

Consulting and premium e-book services from Electric Book Works

LWB is backed by the e-book expertise of Electric Book Works (EBW), which helped us
create our Scribd e-book sales model. Recognising that the world of e-books remains largely
unexplored in South Africa, we've partnered with EBW to bring SA publishers cutting-edge
e-book consulting - a resource that guarantees peace of mind.

• E-book consulting: While any PDF will work on LWB's online store, EBW can refine
or improve your PDF ebooks. Contact info@electricbookworks.com or visit
electricbookworks.com for more information.

~~~

Up, up and away

Thanks for this chance to present BOOK SA's Little White Bakkie e-book store to your
publishing team. We're tremendously excited by the possibilities - while also recognising the
value in taking "baby steps". We hope you'll take these steps with us: you can join LBW
with just a single title. We'll naturally welcome more!

Please get in touch with any comments, queries or suggestions.

Yours in e-books

Ben
--
Ben Williams
Publishing Editor, BOOK SA
editor@book.co.za
lwb@book.co.za
021 434 4333
083 684 1112

LWB/SCRIBD FAQ

What if electronic rights clauses aren't built into our contracts?

No problem. If the contract still specifies world rights, LWB can sell the book once the
publisher gets written agreement from the author to the the terms of an electronic rights
addendum. LWB has formulated an addendum and posted it to our website, where
publishers may copy and paste it into an email to authors. Once agreement is received by
return email, the author's book can be sold in the US via LWB. Here's the link to our
addendum:

• Publishing contract addendum: electronic rights

If the author wants to renegotiate digital rights at a later stage, LWB will remove the book
from its store during the negotiations.

For more detailed information and advice about electronic rights, LWB recommends Electric
Book Works' consulting services.

What about royalties from e-book sales?

These may differ from hard copy sales, depending on what the publishing contract
stipulates. If e-book sales aren't specifically mentioned in a contract's royalty structure,
LWB recommends that they be incorporated into the electronic rights addendum mentioned
above (we've supplied draft text for this - click the link to read it). Royalties from e-book
sales are generally either the same or slightly higher than those from hard copy sales.

What if the book's rights structure changes?

We'll remove it from the LWB store. Simple as that.

Where are the books uploaded?

From BOOK SA's offices in Cape Town. You send your PDF files to us, and we send them to
Scribd - there is no middleman.

What document security technology is used?

Security is provided by industry-standard Adobe DRM - the best in the business.

Can the e-books be purchased in South Africa, or anywhere outside the United
States?

For now, no. Scribd allows buying and selling only from within the USA. We're looking into a
workaround to make the e-books available both in the US and South Africa, but that
development is still to come.

What about ISBNs?

There are various options for e-books and ISBNs. The simplest of these is: for the LWB
store, either distribute with the e-book's "parent ISBN" (that is, the same one as carried by
the printed book), or with no ISBN at all (a common e-book practice). You can, of course,
always create a new ISBN for the Scribd e-dition of the book - and this can be added to the
book at any time before or after it goes on sale at LWB.