Ebooks are currently published in one of two file types. Amazon.com uses the MOBI format for their Kindle books. Barnes & Noble uses the EPUB format for Nook books. The EPUB format is also used by Apple, Google's iriver Story HD (What a ridiculous name!), Sony, and some other e-readers. Additional ebook file types have been used in the past, but they're now functionally obsolete.

Does this sound familiar? Do you remember the VHS and Betamax format war? Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD? In each instance, only one format survived.

For reasons large and small, after lengthy deliberation I've decided to henceforth offer my books in Kindle (MOBI) format only, with Amazon.com as my exclusive retailer. Why, you might ask, would I deliberately forgo book sales by other retailers? There are numerous considerations.

Here's why my books will no longer be available from Barnes & Noble:

It's no secret that Amazon.com has the biggest market share of ebooks. They sell more ebooks than hardbound books and paperbacks combined. Until now, I've published my books in both Kindle and Nook versions. Amazon.com sells thirty times as many of my books as Barnes & Noble, and that doesn't include Amazon.com's European sales.

Brief descriptions of all my books are placed in the "back pages" of each of them. These summaries—called blurbs in the publishing industry—are a gentle, unobtrusive form of advertising. The concept is: If you like the book you've just read, you'll want to learn about other books by the same author and perhaps buy some of them.

To make it easy for readers to obtain more information—and also receive a several-chapter free sample—the title of each book listed in my blurbs is a hyperlink. Click on it, and you're taken immediately to the book's catalog page.

Understandably, Barnes & Noble doesn't want a hyperlink contained in a Nook book to take readers to an Amazon.com catalog page. But, it's impractical to publish books in a different version for each retailer, unless that retailer's volume warrants the time and expense to do so.

Just because I'll be offering books in MOBI format only doesn't mean that people with Nook devices cannot read them. Anyone can quickly and easily convert a MOBI format book to an EPUB format using one of many free programs available online. My program of choice is calibre, which can be downloaded at:

http://calibre-ebook.com 

It's not necessary to convert books to the EPUB format, unless you want to read them on a Nook. People with personal computers, Macs, iPads, iPhones, smart phones, and many other devices can read MOBI format books on them by using a free, easy to use app from Amazon.com, such as Kindle for PC—which can be downloaded here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/kindle/pc/download 

Free apps for reading EPUB books on PCs and other devices are available from Barnes & Noble, Adobe, and others. But compared to the Kindle apps—which work flawlessly—the others are crude and cumbersome. They distort cover artwork, books are more complicated to install, and the apps have other annoying features.

Why my books will not be available from the Apple iBookstore:

Apple has a well-deserved reputation for beautifully designed electronics, such as the iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers. The company has an extremely loyal following, which has enabled them, over the years, to ignore competition and sell their products at a high premium.

But Apple also has another reputation. Whether you're their customer or vendor, you do things their way—or not at all. As stated in the vernacular, "It's our way … or the highway!"

When I inquired about selling my books in the Apple store I was referred to an outside distributor. The distributor's requirements were stringent. The company sent me numerous multi-page contracts to fill out and sign. As an attorney, I recognized them as being contracts of adhesion, for they had many provisions which were unreasonable and, in my opinion, unconscionable. When I commented on the unacceptability of the contracts, the distributor said it wasn't his company's fault, his company was forced to follow Apple's mandates.

So much for Apple. I concluded I don't need them. 

Why my books will not be available at the Google ebookstore: 

Years ago I was one of the first to try Google's search engine, having read about it in a newsmagazine when the service was brand-new. It was the best search engine then, it's the best search engine now, and I refuse to have Yahoo or Bing on my computer—I'm that loyal.

But whenever Google strays from that area of expertise, their products and services usually fall short of expectations.

I firmly believe Google is the first instance of a corporation with a terminal case of ADHD. It's as if Google's programmers rush to release a flawed beta version of something, go on vacation, and never come back. The result? Just google "Discontinued Google products and services" to learn about their many failures.

Google recently made major revisions to their Gmail program's webpage. The new version is considerably more cluttered and difficult to use than the previous one, which was terrible. In fact, I wouldn't have Gmail on my computer at all but for the fact I need it as backup for the contact list on my Droid cell phone, which has Google's Android operating system.

Oh, yes. There's a minor but very annoying flaw in the way my phone displays "favorites" contacts. Though it's possible to sort and display regular contacts by the last name, "favorites"—which take the place of a speed dial—sort by the first name and display by the last name. This makes the "favorites" feature unwieldy when it contains more than just a few entries.

I've reported the defect to Google, Motorola, and Verizon Wireless. It still hasn't been fixed, despite several OTA upgrades to the Android system. Aarrgh!

 Would you believe … Google is pressing me to replace Internet Explorer with their web browser, Chrome. Fuhgeddaboudit! I'm not going to join the Church of Google, either.

I just told you all that so you'll understand: I consider myself to be computer literate, but I wasn't able to maneuver through the gauntlet of requirements for publishing in the Google eBook program, despite several tries. Perhaps some day Google will make it easy to publish ebooks on their website, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Why I won't have Smashwords publish my books:

Smashwords produces and distributes ebooks in MOBI, EPUB, and a number of functionally obsolete formats. Books must be submitted to them in Microsoft Word format, which they then convert to the various ebook formats on a machine they call "The Meatgrinder." 

When building an ebook, things don't always come out the way you want on the first try. This is because of the reflowable text, and because one doesn't have complete control of type sizes, fonts, and styles. To create a perfect ebook the original Microsoft Word document sometimes needs to be converted a dozen times or more, revising and fine-tuning the original each time.

I do not trust others to convert my manuscripts to a datafile when it's my reputation that's on the line—especially in "Wham, bam, thank you Ma'am" fashion using something dubbed a "Meatgrinder." Each of my books is professionally prepared, from the cover to the final page. I insist of supplying books to a distributor in the final format, such as MOBI—not as a manuscript that needs to be converted by someone operating a "Meatgrinder" in the back room.

Here are some important reasons why I've decided to publish my books with Amazon.com exclusively:

AMAZON.COM's KDP Select program—introduced in December 2011—allows owners of Kindle devices to borrow any book that's enrolled in the program. I can't think of a better way to introduce readers to my work than to give them the opportunity to read a book at no cost! Thus, I've enrolled all my titles into the KDP Select program. 

Publishers in the KDP Select program can also offer their books free on Amazon.com up to five days every three months. The free books are not restricted to Kindle devices, but can be viewed on a PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, smart phone, and more. 

In January 2012 I offered each of my books free for the full five days allowed, and I'm more than pleased with the response. I hope the readers enjoy them, they'll submit customer reviews to Amazon.com, and they'll want to read more of my books. 

There are yet other reasons why I prefer working with Amazon.com:

On occasion I need to contact someone regarding a production or policy matter. I always receive a prompt reply from an Amazon.com representative—usually within a matter of hours, seldom more than a day later. I've yet to receive an answer to an Email sent to Barnes & Noble. I wonder if they're as remiss on follow-through with their customers as they are with their authors and publishers.

And then there are petty annoyances—the bane of curmudgeons like me—which I don't encounter with Amazon.com.

Here's an example: I keep an icon on my computer desktop that instantly accesses my Amazon.com "bookshelf," where I can view sales reports and other information with one click of my mouse. With B&N, I also had a desktop icon. But most of the time I needed to click on REFRESH before their web page displayed on my monitor—an annoying program glitch. Then, each and every time I had to waste time entering my email address and a password to reach the same information I can obtain from Amazon.com with just one mouseclick.

It's great working with Amazon.com—a company that does things right! I can't wait to learn about their next revolutionary innovation in the publishing industry.