Ebooks

Articles specific to writing and publishing ebooks.

How I Sold 10,000 Copies of My Self-Published Book

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Jill and I were sitting around talking about friends and people we knew. I was trying to explain how the system of personality types we were studying was actually complex enough to explain all the differences we were observing in our friends.

At one point Jill said to me, “How are people like me—new to this system—supposed to learn all this? You’ve been talking about astrology, endocrine glands, mythology… I can’t even keep track of it!” She looked exasperated.

“Well, just ask me if you have a question. How about that?” I said.

“That’s no way to learn something this complicated. Isn’t there anything written down?”

We looked at each other.

“Why don’t you write it down, Joel, you know all this stuff. That way it would be available for anyone who comes along later, and it would be better than having to find someone to ask every time you had a question.”

I had to admit Jill was right. It had just never occurred to anyone to write it all down. It was a study that hundreds of people were involved in, and which grew and changed, like a living teaching, over many years. 

A Book is Born

Soon I was deep into the book that would become Body Types. What had started out as a little project to write down a few things about types had morphed into a full-scale manuscript that would take me over a year to put together.

Eventually I formed a publishing company—Globe Press Books—and published Body Types in both hardcover and softcover. I had an advantage at the beginning because I was a member of the group that had been developing this Body Type information, and I knew they would buy the book when it came out.

Here are the first two keys to selling your self-published book, and this is exactly what I did with Body Types:

First, identify a market for the book that you can easily advertise to. In my case, this was the group that we belonged to. I had membership lists with mailing addresses on them.

Second, make that market an offer they cannot refuse. I mailed to every address I could get, offering a special discount to people who ordered before the books were printed.

The great thing about this was that I collected enough money to pay for the initial print run of 2,500 books. I sold hundreds of copies in advance.

Since I had been in publishing, and had a graphic design studio at the time, I knew how to hire an editor, and how to create a book that looked as professional as any other book on the market. There was no indication that the book was self-published because of the strong prejudice against self-published books at the time.

Third, get professionals to edit and design your book so you can compete toe-to-toe with any other book on your shelf.

Find a Spot on the Shelf

Next we went after book reviews. This was crucial, since we couldn’t afford to advertise.

Fourth, we mounted a large book review campaign. We mailed to several hundred media outlets, gathering numerous reviews.

We then used the positive reviews to leverage ourselves in the larger network interested in spirituality and eastern teachings. We identified this as our natural market.

Fifth, we generated press releases using the reviews and used them to establish an identity in our niche.

But What’s it All About?

Keep in mind that the biggest stumbling block we had with this book—and it was our only book for a couple of years—was that it was about a subject that no one had ever heard of. This is a daunting challenge that we addressed by taking our message to educational centers.

Sixth, we obtained teaching assignments at large alternative centers like the New York Open Center and the Omega Institute. Catalog mailings listing course descriptions and the title of the book multiplied our outreach through large scale network effects.

This all helped with the specialty bookstores that we needed to make the book a success. In our niche, these are “new age” or “human potential” specialty retailers.

Seventh, we personally sold each specialty retailer we could identify, by mail and by phone, to convince them they had to have this book, the only one on its subject.

Back to Press

It took less than a year to sell the initial print run. We now had an account at Baker & Taylor, and a lot of people knew who we were. Because the book was unique, it established a place on the shelf of many bookstores. This is publishing gold. It means that, even though they may have only 1 or 2 copies on the shelf, when those copies sell, the bookstore reorders the book because they know there will be continuing demand.

We went back to press, concentrating on the $9.95 trade paperback (hey, this was the 1980s). Eventually sales, never that robust, slowed down. But they never stopped.

Eighth, we listened to our market. Readers only wanted the softcover so we abandoned the hardcovers, which had been a difficult sale anyway.

Eventually I started working on a new edition to incorporate the new research I had been doing, to add illustrations and a new forword by Stanley Krippner, Ph.D. We put a new cover on the book, and issued the second edition with another print run of 2,500 softcovers. Since I now had a publishing company I had national distribution, and the book spread even farther.

The Ripples Widen As They Spread

I was invited to be a presenter at the First International Enneagram Conference at Stanford, and continued to give workshops after we moved to California. A couple of years later we went back to press for another 2,500 books.

Ninth, we continued to leverage into bigger networks. Each one helped amplify our message, and bring new readers to the idea of body types.

Body Types stayed in print continuously for 16 years. I didn’t want to keep printing the book, and had handed over the distribution to another publisher, since I had closed our company. Eventually I let it go out of print.

Perhaps 10,000 books in 16 years doesn’t sound like many to you, but it was profitable from publication date. Now, thanks to print on demand and digital printing, Body Types is back on the market with a new cover, happily sitting on Amazon for people to rediscover.

Takeaway: Think about what you know that others might find interesting. Know your niche and how to market to people with similar interests. Create a quality product. Take one step at a time and build credibility, leveraging into larger and larger networks. Take the long view, seeding success tomorrow by your actions today.

 

This is a cross-posting from Joel Friedlander‘s The Book Designer site.

For Authors: Hard Way to Get Kindle Readers

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This post, from switch11, originally appeared on the Kindle Review – Kindle 2 Review, Books site on 8/19/09.

We’ll call this the ‘Own Your Niche’ strategy. Joshua Talent at Kindle Formatting has already demonstrated it. However, it’s Aileen Harkwood’s Kindling Romance that really shows how powerful it is, and that authors can do this.

Picking the Right Niche

This is pretty simple – pick the niche that your book or kindle related product is in.

Take Kindling Romance – the author writes romance novels so she picked ‘romance ebooks and kindle romance’.

One thing to note is that you should own www.yourname.com – However, it has ZERO value until you’re a big author. So there’s no point in making it your main blog.

Things to take note of –

  1. By choosing ‘kindling romance’, it still shows up for ‘kindle romance’ on Google. In fact it shows up in the top 5 results. 
     
  2. Her own book is prominently advertised on the right. 
     
  3. The site’s general focus is ebooks from various companies, not just Amazon. 
     
  4. She blogs relatively often and provides good value (see section on value).
     
  5. Cater to authors and readers. More on this later, perhaps in another post.
     
  6. She started on July 11th, 2009. In approximately 1 month she’s #5 on google for kindle romance books.

The last one is crucially important. The two sites running ads are paying hard money and she gets traffic for free.

Things to avoid –

  1. If you must go with a free hosted solution like wordpress, at the minimum buy your own domain name so that all links are to your domain, and not to wordpress.
     
  2. If you can, host your own site and use your own domain. WordPress does not let you run ads, does not allow affiliate links except to Amazon, etc.
     
  3. Trademarks. Check with a lawyer.

Providing Value and Owning the Channel

At the moment, if you are an independent author, there is no one who has much incentive to promote you.

Readers might – however, the middlemen control everything.

How you change that is by providing value to people, and thus making them use your site (and you) as a resource. Let’s look at Kindling Romance –

  1. Daily features such as Bestsellers in Romance eBooks, New Releases, eBook Stats.
     
  2. A blog that provides updates on romance book deals and news.
     
  3. A blog that lets authors promote their books.  

Provide a ton of value so that users use you as the channel for books and ebooks in your niche.

Handling Competition – Authors


Read the rest of the post on Kindle Review – Kindle 2 Review, Books.

The Science of Editing

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This post, from Kim Wilkins, originally appeared on her Hexebart’s Well blog on 7/25/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission.

I’ve just finished my first edit of “Field of Clouds” and the whole process went really well. Now it’ll go off to my agent, who may have more to add, and then to my publishers, who will no doubt have much for me to fix.

For those of you embarking on a self-edit, the most important thing to remember is to be methodical and detached.

You can get swamped in an edit very easily. I always tell my students that it is like autopsying a puppy. If you can’t be methodical and detached, then more puppies may die. Rule number one is to have a printed copy of the MS, and go through it first with a pen, marking what’s wrong. Don’t try to fix it on the first pass, just make a note in the margin about what’s wrong. (Okay, if you know the perfect substitute word then put it in, but in general don’t fix, just mark). I do this, all the while imagining that I’m not the person who has to fix it. Makes it far less overwhelming (though a little more pathological).

Then take your MS back to your computer, and start at the beginning making the changes you’ve noted. Do the easy ones right away (e.g. typos, deletions, small rewrites) in order. The ones that are a bit harder or need a bit more thought, mark them with a note (I used the “review” menu in Word for Vista) and keep moving on. Once you get to the end of the MS, you can count up your notes. For this MS, I originally had 63. Then you can work on screen, methodically fixing them one at a time. They don’t have to be in order: fix the easy ones first so you get a sense of satisfaction, seeing the number grow smaller and smaller.

For those big structural issues, isolate the sections that need to be worked on. For example, in this MS I had a love affair that felt a bit rushed. I isolated the problem to a particular group of nine chapters, then just concentrated on reading through those, weaving in an extra line here and there, and then writing one extra scene.

What always surprises me about editing (pleasantly, as I’m usually daunted and avoidant about doing the work) is how little is actually needed to effect big changes. I had a huge motivation issue with one of my characters: she does something that seemed awkward and implausible. So, again, I isolated the group of chapters that were bothering me and made a note for every scene on “how is she feeling about her current situation?”. It took minutes to identify that her feelings were inconsistent, and minutes again to excise the internalisations that didn’t fit and replace them with ones that did.

It’s impossible to know if the MS is working now. Ideally I’d put it away for a few months and come back to a complete read-through, and I don’t have the luxury of that time. The next person who reads it will have to tell me if it’s okay. So this is a good stage to seek feedback from trusted writing buddies. Certainly, the next pass will involve finessing the expression a bit more.

Right, on to the changing of the notebooks. All of this paperwork and research is being filed, and my next story’s notebook is making its way onto my desk. Onwards.

 

Kim Wilkins is an author and teacher. You can learn more about her Queensland Writers Centre classes here, and purchase her books here.

Writer's Night Before Christmas

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‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through my draft
Were examples of my inattention to craft
My characters all hung about without care,
In hopes that a plot point soon would be there.

 
My family were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of red herrings danced in my head.
The dog on its blanket, and the cat in my lap
Had just settled themselves for a long winter’s nap.
 
When on my computer there showed a blue screen!
(And if you use a PC, then you know what that means.)
Away to the cell phone I flew like a flash;
I dialed tech support and broke out in a rash.
 
The sales pitch that played while on hold I waited
Ensured my tech guy would be roundly berated.
That is, if he ever should come on the line.
And for this, per minute, it’s one-ninety-nine!
 
“Good evening,” he said, in a Punjab accent,
“I am happy to help you, and my name is Kent.”
More rapid than the Concorde was his troubleshoot,
I was back up and running, after one last reboot!
 
"Now Gaiman! Now, Atwood! Now, Cheever and Austen!
Salinger! O’Connor! Shakespeare and Augusten (Burroughs)!
Don’t withhold your wisdom! Upon me, bestow it!
Inspire me! Show me how best not to blow it!"
 
To their books I turned for some worthy advice;
I was pumped to return to my work in a trice.
So across clacking keyboard my fingers they flew,
With a speed and a passion—and no typos, too.
 
Hour after hour, the prose kept on flowing,
Though I had no idea where my story was going.
“But write it, I must!” I decided right then.
I resolved to see this project through to the end.
 
At one a.m. the second act came together,
At two I knew this book was better than ever!
My hero had purpose, my plot had no slack.
I cut my “B” story and never looked back!
 
I got up to make coffee at quarter to three;
Curses! My spouse left no Starbuck’s for me!
With instant crystals I’d have to make do.
Cripes! He used all of the half and half, too!
 
“I could add some Kahlua,” I told myself.
“There’s a big, honking bottle right there on the shelf.”
So I added a splash. And then a splash more.
At five, I finally came to on the floor.
 
With more Kahlua than coffee in the cup nearby,
An idea for the third act I wanted to try.
Werewolves! In high school! And vampires, as well!
It worked for that Meyer chick, my book’s a sure sell!
 
I tied up the plot in a neat little a bow,
With the arrival of aliens, and giant worms from below.
Defeated were foes of the Earth and the sky,
And thousands of townsfolk did not have to die.
 
With the Kahlua bottle all but drained,
I turned to do the last bit of work that remained.
To this one tradition, I was happy to bend.
Two carriage returns, all in caps: THE END.
 
I sprang to Facebook, to announce I was through.
From thence, on to Twitter, and MySpace too.
But lo, I exclaimed as my face met the sun,
"Twenty-four days late, my NaNoWriMo is done!"

 

This is a cross-posting from April L. Hamilton‘s Publetariat #fridayflash blog.

#fridayflash: Writer's Night Before Christmas

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Twas the night before Christmas and all through my draft

Were examples of my inattention to craft

My characters all hung about without care,

In hopes that a plot point soon would be there.

 

My family were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of red herrings danced in my head.

The dog on its blanket, and the cat in my lap

Had just settled themselves for a long winter’s nap.

 

When on my computer there showed a blue screen!

(And if you use a PC, then you know what that means.)

Away to the cell phone I flew like a flash;

I dialed tech support and broke out in a rash.

 

The sales pitch that played while on hold I waited

Ensured my tech guy would be roundly berated.

That is, if he ever should come on the line.

And for this, per minute, it’s one-ninety-nine!

 

“Good evening,” he said, in a Punjab accent,

“I am happy to help you, and my name is Kent.”

More rapid than the Concorde was his troubleshoot,

I was back up and running, after one last reboot!

 

"Now Gaiman! Now, Atwood! Now, Cheever and Austen!

Salinger! O’Connor! Shakespeare and Augusten (Burroughs)!

Don’t withhold your wisdom! Upon me, bestow it!

Inspire me! Show me how best not to blow it!"

 

To their books I turned for some worthy advice;

I was pumped to return to my work in a trice.

So across clacking keyboard my fingers they flew,

With a speed and a passion—and no typos, too.

 

Hour after hour, the prose kept on flowing,

Though I had no idea where my story was going.

“But write it, I must!” I decided right then.

I resolved to see this project through to the end.

 

At one a.m. the second act came together,

At two I knew this book was better than ever!

My hero had purpose, my plot had no slack.

I cut my “B” story and never looked back!

 

I got up to make coffee at quarter to three;

Curses! My spouse left no Starbucks for me!

With instant crystals I’d have to make do.

Cripes! He used all of the half and half, too!

 

“I could add some Kahlua,” I told myself.

“There’s a big, honking bottle right there on the shelf.”

So I added a splash. And then a splash more.

At five, I finally came to on the floor.

 

With more Kahlua than coffee in the cup nearby,

An idea for the third act I wanted to try.

Werewolves! In high school! And vampires, as well!

It worked for that Meyer chick, my book’s a sure sell!

 

I tied up the plot in a neat little a bow,

With the arrival of aliens, and giant worms from below.

Defeated were foes of the Earth and the sky,

And thousands of townsfolk did not have to die.

 

With the Kahlua bottle all but drained,

I turned to do the last bit of work that remained.

To this one tradition, I was happy to bend.

Two carriage returns, all in caps: THE END.

 

I sprang to Facebook, to announce I was through.

From thence, on to Twitter, and MySpace too.

But lo, I exclaimed as my face met the sun,

"Twenty-four days late, my NaNoWriMo is done!"

 

Self-Publisher’s 5-Minute Guide to Book Printing Processes

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With all the talk about print on demand, digital printing and the future of the publishing industry, it’s easy to forget that we’ve got books to produce in the here and now, and we need to know the best way to produce those books today, this week. Okay, we only have 5 minutes, so let’s dive in.

Podcast: Self-Publisher’s 5-Minute Guide to Book Printing Processes

[Publetariat Editor’s Note: Click the link above to open the podcast in your computer’s default media player program. Alternatively, you can just read the text of the podcast, provided below.]

Three Ways to Print Books

There are actually three distinct technologies to print books, all of which are widely used. Let’s quickly run them down and see where each comes into play.

  1. Letterpress—This was the main printing method from Gutenberg’s day until the middle of the twentieth century. In one way or another, type, pictorial engravings, or etched metal plates made from photographic originals are inked and then paper is rolled over them, transferring the image to the paper, one sheet at a time.

     

    Letterpress technology led to large, automated presses. You can see just how versatile this printing method had become because it overshadowed all other forms of printing for over 400 years.

     

    Letterpress is still in use today for very fine limited edition books, and in areas of the world where electricity is unreliable. A letterpress that’s powered by a foot pedal can run for many years with just a lube, and doesn’t need power at all..

     

  2. Offset—Offset printing’s development at the beginning of the twentieth century was sparked by the accidental discovery that an image transferred to paper by a rubber covered cylinder was actually sharper than the image from the original type. This offset image gave rise to the name offset printing.

     

     

    Komori 38 Web offset press

    Komori 38 Web offset press. Each of the four towers prints a separate color.

    With the advent of industrial uses of photography and advances in paper and platemaking materials, photo-lithography, the making of printing plates through the photographic process, allowed offset printing to overtake letterpress.

     

    In sheet-fed offset, paper is fed to the press and printed one sheet at a time. In web offset, special presses are used to print from a large roll of paper which, as it travels through the press, forms the web for which it is named.

    At the end of the press the paper is cut into individual sheets. Bindery equipment to fold, trim and assemble the printing job is often set up right at the end of the press, allowing the printer to complete a printing project in one pass from blank paper to a finished, assembled job.

     

  3. Digital—Digital printing, the result of marrying a computer-driven high-speed copying machine to computer-driven bindery equipment, is the fastest-growing form of book printing today. Computer servers hold separate but coordinated digital files for the book’s cover and interior text block.

     

    At a request from the operator or a computer instruction, the files are downloaded to the printing end of the press and imaged with toner in the same way your high end copier images copies. The resulting pages are combined with a color-imaged cover. The whole book is glued together and trimmed. Some digital printing equipment can produce an entire book, color cover and all, in just seven minutes.

     

    The major difference between letterpress and offset printing, on one hand, and digital, on the other, is that digital printing is designed to create one copy of a book at a time. The other, earlier methods of printing produce books in stages, and only work efficiently when producing many copies at once.

Comparing the Three Printing Methods

Well, now we know about the three printing methods, but how does that help pick the right one? Here’s how each printing method is best used:

  • Letterpress printing is used almost exclusively for fine, limited edition books. The characteristic “bite” of the type into the paper, and the resulting subtle texture it adds to the page is impossible with other methods. These books are usually made with lavish materials and can cost hundreds of dollars each.

     

  • Offset printing is used for the majority of books produced today. Web offset is used to make mass market paperbacks, like the ones sold in racks at supermarkets and at airports, and for very large printings of other books. Sheet-fed offset book printing offers the best quality reproduction of artwork and photography, and is the most flexible when it comes to the number of sizes offered for books and the different kinds of paper available for printing.

     

  • Digital printing is increasingly being used in the print-on-demand distribution model that’s becoming so popular. Larger publishers are moving their backlist books to digital printing, saving money on warehousing and shipping. The self-publishing phenomenon has created a huge demand for digital printing through print-on-demand distribution, since it has eliminated almost all of the cost of putting a book into print.

     

In Summary: Use letterpress printing for very fine, limited edition collector’s books. Use web offset for mass market and very high volume books that don’t need to be high quality. Use sheet-fed offset for print runs over 500 copies or where high quality reproductions are needed. Use digital printing where print runs are very short or where you have no need of an inventory of books.

This is a cross-posting from Joel Friedlander‘s The Book Designer site.

Author (and Teacher) Seth Harwood Talks Craft

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You may know Seth Harwood as a podcaster and novelist, but you may not know he’s also a creative writing instructor and lecturer at Stanford University. Herewith, Seth answers some questions about craft.


Publetariat: What’s the most common problem or weakness you find in the work of your students?

SH: The first thing that comes to mind is a lack of using scenes.

With a lot of beginning writers, they’re more interested in getting into a character’s head and telling a wide open story than they are in creating specific images and the kind of scenes that a reader can really imagine. One of the things I see that can really help is getting the writer to slow down, to create images and characters on the page that seem three dimensional, that a reader can experience at the same time as he or she is reading. I’m a big fan of the idea that the reader and the writer are co-creators of the story. There has to be room to let the reader’s experiences and imagination in.


P: Many writers struggle with crafting realistic dialogue. Do you have any tips for dealing with this problem?

SH: Yes, again, it comes back to scene and making sure the dialogue exists within one. In my classes we do an exercise around using action and dialogue together. A lot of times dialogue can turn into just two (or more) talking heads: words on the page without bodies in a space saying them. It’s important to keep the characters’ bodies involved in the reading experience.

The other tip I suggest is always reading your dialogue out loud. This can really help catch a lot of "the wood."


P: In educational programs on writing there’s typically an emphasis on literary fiction. Yet your first novel, Jack Wakes Up, is in the crime/noir genre. Coming out of your MFA program, how did you make that transition?

SH: Well, that’s a great question. I was writing short stories for a long time and love that form. I still love short stories and as a student-writer, I learned so much by working with them. I really got a sense of beginning/middle/end and the composition of a piece that would’ve been very hard to learn if I were just working on novels.

But then as I tried to publish a book, everyone urged me to go out on the market with a novel. "Write your novel," was the advice I kept hearing. So I spent some time working on novels and I was dissatisfied with my first attempts. It wasn’t until I started to introduce more action, comedy and thrilling characters that I really started to feel the sparks and enjoy myself while I was writing. Ultimately, I had to face the fact that I had influences that weren’t just from books: I love movies, TV shows, video games, and I had to let some of that into my writing. When I did that, JACK PALMS CRIME was born!


P: Mainstream publication of short story collections has been on the decline for years but there seems to be a resurgence of the form in ebooks, and in fact you’ll be coming out with Kindle editions of your short story collections on December 27. Are the skills needed to write an effective short story different than those required to write an effective full-length novel? Can working in one form improve one’s work in the other form?

SH: Yes, absolutely. As I said above, I think short stories are a great learning tool, a form you can really cut your teeth on. There’s something so important about being able to start a story, finish a draft, then revise it… and revise it… and… you get the picture. Finally, you can finally call a story done and move on to a new one. There’s something about this process of starting and finishing that I think speeds up the learning process for writing. After all, writing is revising in large part. Because a story is so much smaller, it’s easier to learn revision on them.

And yes, it’s exciting that now I have a chance to do something with my short story collection using ebooks and Amazon’s Kindle platform! For a long time I thought the stories just needed to be shelved because no mainstream publisher would publish them–and this is with twelve of the fifteen stories having been published in literary journals! Now I’m able to bring out the stories myself on Kindle and see if I can get my online audience behind them. We’ll find out on Dec. 27th, when A Long Way from Disney hits Amazon’s Kindle store.


P: Thousands of writers have recently completed draft novels as part of National Novel Writing Month, and many of them are now thinking about next steps, such as workshopping and revision. Do you have any advice on how to approach this stage of the writing process?
 
SH: Yes! First of all, I’d let those NaNoWriMo novels sit for a while. At least a few months. They were written in such a frenzy that it’ll take a while for the dust to settle and the writer to be able to look at the pages for what’s really there–to separate what’s still in his or her head from what’s down on the page. In a few months, it’ll be time to start revising those novels. When that time comes, the best place to start is with a fast read-through of the whole book. Read it and make notes on what’s there as well as what needs to change to make the story the one you really want. It’s a big rush of creativity during NaNoWriMo. Writers have created A LOT of material to work with. Now it’s time to use the revision tools–cutting, rewriting, reshaping–to make that material into your book. Save the polishing for last. Don’t start editing/changing single lines until the last steps.


P: In your upcoming Stanford Online Writer’s Studio class, The Essential Art: Making Movies in Your Reader’s Mind, the focus is primarily on craft but you will also be devoting some time to the current publishing environment and author platform. This is unusual for most creative writing classes and programs. Do you feel these topics should be included in any university-level creative writing program? Why or why not?
 
SH: I think it’s important to include these topics because they lead to writers being enthusiastic. They lead to writer-excitement, which is in small supply these days. I find that when my students start to see ways they can share their work and start generating their own audience–through social networking and free serialized audiobook podcasts–they get very excited about creating new work; they get inspired. I’ve seen this make a great deal of difference in their attitude, approach to the page, and general feelings about writing. So yes, I think it’s important to include.

That said, the main focus of this class is craft: literally showing how to write in such a way that a reader co-creates the narrative in a mental movie as she reads–goes from words on the page to visual characters and scenes in her mind. That’s what we’ll really be building in this class: the tools to take words and turn them into moving images for readers.

 

Seth Harwood received an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He has taught creative writing at the University of Iowa, UMass Boston, and the City College of San Francisco, and his fiction has appeared in more than a dozen literary and crime/noir journals. His first novel, Jack Wakes Up, which he first serialized as a free audiobook, was published by Three Rivers Press (Random House) and reached #1 in Crime/Mystery and #45 overall in books on Amazon.com on the first day of its print release.

Registration is now open for Seth’s upcoming Stanford Online Writer’s Studio class, The Essential Art: Making Movies in Your Reader’s Mind. The class runs for 10 weeks, from January 11 through March 19.

At Mediabistro's Ebook Summit

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This post, from Laura Dawson, originally appeared on the LJNDawson Blog on 12/16/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission.

Yesterday I was at Mediabistro’s eBook Summit, an event that actually spans two days (but I had to take one day to get this newsletter out, so there you go). They opened with a session on Open Road, the company founded by Jane Friedman and Jeffrey Sharp.

Jane and Jeff were interviewed by Carmen Scheidel of Mediabistro, who gave Jane and Jeff a chance to explain exactly what Open Road is, and what it intends to do.

Apparently they are looking at backlist titles with an eye towards both ebook and movie products. Their example was William Styron, whose books make good movies ("Sophie’s Choice"); there is also some extant footage of Styron himself that’s never been widely available. And it’s high time his books were available as ebooks.

Additionally, they are publishing what Jane calls "E-riginals", which are ebooks native to Open Road.

When Carmen brought up the memo from Markus Dohle at Random House regarding digital rights (and many of the books Jane would like to publish are, in fact, Random House books), Jane very carefully stated: "We are only working with people who represent that they have those rights to sell to us." This she repeated a couple of times.

Open Road is also working with universities, which of course are great repositories of authors’ papers. And they are developing apps – Jeff cited an app that would lead tourists around Charleston, highlighting Pat Conroy’s haunts.

Some discussion from the Q&A – all answers are Jane’s:

What will it take for traditional publishers to thrive once again? "I think there will always be physical books, and it’s essential that we keep them. But some of the issues of traditional publishing have to change. Advances are difficult, The idea of chasing the bestseller is very very difficult. Most of the time if you chase the bestsellers, you don’t make money. We are in a secular change – meaning we are not going to go back. Publishers will get smaller, advances will go down, and nonreturnability of books is essential. Each publisher will find his or her way; it’s going to be a tough decade, and the balance between e-publishing and physical publishing, the e-world is going to get pretty close to representing 50% of the publishing business."

How will readers purchase your ebooks? At what price? "At this point we are thinking of standard list price as around $14. But again, nothing’s definite. We have to see what the audience will bear. All of the marketing that we are doing will live on OpenRoadMedia.com. Pieces will be pushed out everywhere else. But we are not selling books from our website. We are auditioning distributors. We are agnostic – we will be on whatever device exists. We will distribute and have our books sold everywhere ebooks are sold."

Could you talk about the kinds of deals you’re making with authors for backlist and e-riginals? "We are in 50-50 partnership. Our intention is to be a 50-50 partner with a content owner."

Are you encountering resistance from traditional authors that ebooks will erode print sales, and how do you mollify those concerns? "Number one, we have to respect the author. If Sherman Alexie doesn’t want his books on e-, that’s okay. The issue of erosion is like the issue of price. We need every possible consumer and every possible purchase we can get. We cannot turn away a customer. I do not believe that the publishing on e- should be delayed. That’s TODAY. I cannot be dogmatic. Do I think there will be some cannibalization? Yes, but we are building a new audience and we have to satisfy that audience. It’s extremely important for us to face this head-on – perhaps we will increase the reading audience rather than cannibalize the audience. Traditional publishers have very big nuts – their overheads are beyond anything that’s understandable by people who don’t work in a big company, and the erosion of hardcover sales WILL hurt their bottom line."

How do authors reach you? "We say that we are not accepting unsolicited manuscripts. If it’s agented or with a lawyer, we will accept solicitations."

 

CEO of LJNDawson, Laura Dawson provides consulting services to publishers, libraries, booksellers, and book industry service providers. Her clients have included McGraw-Hill, Audible, Ingram, and LibreDigital. She was also a co-founder of the StartwithXML project. Laura blogs at the LJNDawson Blog where you’ll find frequent updates on technology, publishing, bookselling, libraries, and industry gossip.

 

How To Feature On The Most Influential Websites In The World

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Being a writer is a business. If you write books or articles, you want people to read them and preferably pay you for it. It would be fantastic if lots of people paid you for writing because then you’d be Stephanie Meyer, but we’ve all got to start somewhere!

So how do you get readers?

One way is to cultivate small groups on niche websites, speak in person, communicate with individuals on social networks and maintain your own quality blog and web presence. All this is definitely important!

But you must also go where the people are.

If you have a presence on the most important sites on the internet, more people will find you. The current list of most influential sites from Read, Write, Web include:

  1. Wikipedia.org
  2. YouTube.com
  3. Flickr.com
  4. Twitter.com
  5. Google.com
  6. MySpace.com
  7. Facebook.com
  8. IMDB.com (movie site)
  9. NYTimes.com
  10. Apple.com

How do you get on these sites?

The big guns on the internet have been around for years or are celebrities. It’s taken me around 18 months to build a small, but growing, online presence, so don’t expect to get there overnight. But here are some useful posts to read around why and how you can use these influential sites. The brilliant thing is – they are all free!

Wikipedia: Everyone is using Wikipedia now for online research. It has been shown to be as correct as the Encyclopedia Britannica, and a recent interview with Jimmy Wales, the founder, discusses accuracy. Here is a useful article on writing effectively for Wikipedia. I am in the process of trying to write my own Wikipedia page so I’ll do a post on this when I have learnt it myself!

If you doubt social media at all, read this first => Writers need social media, and social media needs writers

 

YouTube.com: Now you can get a cheap Flipcam or iPod Nano with video, it is easy to get on YouTube. You can also use your webcam for a static picture, or build your own video using stills and music. Here’s a post on how to build your own Book Trailer using free software MovieMaker. I have been doing a series of videos on my NaNoWriMo experience which have just been one take with my iPod Nano. And of course, the poster boy for video is Gary Vaynerchuk, whose 10 book deal for Harper Collins I discuss here. Here’s my YouTube channel if you want to connect.

 

Flickr.com is a brilliant site for photos that I mainly use for Creative Commons photos for this blog, and my ebooks. However, it is also picked up in search engines and people go looking for photos there for other projects. I have had several of my photos featured in various online articles, which have all been linked back to my site. So it also works as a traffic tool. It is definitely worth creating a page and loading some photos on it, even if it is just your book covers, your promo photos and media appearances. Here’s my Flickr site.

 

Twitter.com. You may have noticed I love Twitter. It is my primary social network of choice and I am very active on it @thecreativepenn. There’s a good reason too – it is HUGELY popular now and brings traffic to my site as well as enabling some fantastic online relationships. If you don’t know anything about Twitter yet, read this article first. Then go ahead and join up!

 

Google.com People use Google to find things by searching. If you want people to find you by searching, you need to have a blog that is regularly updated on your niche topic. Here’s how to setup a blog, and here’s 10 tips for effective blogging for authors.

Facebook: How authors can use it for book promotion. You can also join The Creative Penn fan page if you want to connect with some more people!

 

Apple.com. You can get into the Apple Store in a few ways.

a) Create your own podcast and syndicate the feed to iTunes. Here’s 5 Steps to Make Your Own Author Podcast. You can Subscribe to The Creative Penn podcast here on iTunes.

b) Create your book as an iphone app. Al Katkowsky did this – here’s an interview with him. Here’s an article with 13 Tools for Building Your Own iPhone App. This is definitely on my list for 2010 so I’ll post a how-to article when I have done it!

 

That may all be a little overwhelming, but the point is that you can be on the top influential websites in the world. There are people there and you need to be part of the conversation.  These are all key aspects of author platform building which is what publishers want these days, so you just need to put some time in and it will start to make an impact.

This is a cross-posting from Joanna Penn’s The Creative Penn site.

Is It Time To Kill 'Jerry'?

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In 2000, screenwriter John Blumenthal self-published his comic novel, What’s Wrong With Dorfman? after his manuscript had been rejected 75 times. (You know, I have to admire a writer who believes in their book that much. I’m not sure how anxious I would be to resubmit my book after 30, 40, or 50 rejections.)

In any event, people kept telling Blumenthal how much they loved the book, even though they were rejecting it for publication. So he decided to take matters into his own hands, set up a publishing company, and self-published his book.

 A Self-Publishing Success

Dorfman was selected by January magazine as one of the 50 best books of the year. Blumenthal went on to get other major reviews and eventually sold the book to St. Martin’s Press.

Blumenthal has also published with Simon & Schuster and Ballentine. He sold over 4,000 copies of his self-published What’s Wrong With Dorfman? by working relentlessly at promotion. But he realized his company, Farmer Street Press, would need someone to play the role of publisher. That’s how “Jerry” was born.

As he said in BooksnBytes.com,

There was no Jerry. Jerry was me. Every self-publisher should have a Jerry, although you can call him Bob or Moishe or Deepak, it’s up to you. Jerry was the front man. He put his name on press releases etc. I wanted people to think Farmer Street Press was a real company. Unfortunately, I had to fire Jerry because we just didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things.

“Jerry” Has Plenty of Ancestors

Before so many people jumped into self-publishing, we tried mightily to disguise what we were doing. Somehow a publishing company run by John Smith (for example), publishing a book by John Smith, publicized by a PR person named John Smith does not, perhaps, convey the best message to those you are trying to sell to. Or at least that’s what we thought.

One of my publishing mentors, Felix Morrow, created the Mystic Arts Book Society, an early negative-option book club. He had to have a monthly magazine in which the editor picked the books for the month and wrote them up for the membership.

Felix realized that among the many new books he would be promoting through his book club, there would be some he couldn’t sell himself. Felix had a long history as a writer and publisher and some of the subjects Mystic Arts dealt in were considered to be “fringe” or “alternative” or “counterculture” at the time.

His solution: he created an editor for his book club, John Wilson, who was really Felix’s alter ego. As John Wilson he could find books for his members and had complete freedom to write the copy he needed for his monthly newsletter.

As Felix would say, when we talked about the possibility of duplicating his book club in the 1990s, “I needed John Wilson. He could say things that Felix Morrow could never say!”

Time to Kill Them Off?

We’ve entered a whole new world when it comes to self-publishing and independent publishing. Like musicians a few years ago, it’s now seen as useful, almost obligatory, for authors to have direct contact with their readers, and we are constantly being bombarded by advice to “build our author platform” and “dialogue with readers” to establish a “community of interest” around the books we write and publish.

In this new model, it’s authenticity that counts. We have authors blogging about their creative process, about their editorial progress, about how much money they are making from the sales of their books.

On Twitter we can follow our favorite authors and interact with them in ways we never could have imagined a few years ago.

With this wave of contact, communication and authenticity, do we really need the “Jerrys” and the “John Wilsons” of the past? Authors now establish publishing companies, hire editors, designers and book printers, and proudly declare themselves author/businesspeople in the marketplace.

It could be time to kill these guys off. What do you think? Do we still need to keep up the artifice, to pretend we are really a small publisher, not a guy in the dining room with a laptop? Would it matter any more? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

This is a cross-posting from Joel Friedlander’s The Book Designer site.

A Long, Detailed Look at Distribution Windows

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This post, from Kassia Krozser, originally appeared on her Booksquare site on 12/8/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission.

Has there ever been an industry more unwilling to make its customers happy than publishing? Simon & Schuster and Hachette have (independently) decided they’re going to hold back the ebook releases of some titles. Not all of course. Most likely just the ones they paid far too much for anyway. They’re taking a stand by creating marketplace confusion…some books yes, some books no. Consumers will need to guess.

Gee, that’s a good idea. But not a problem for me. If the book isn’t available, I’ll buy something else. I won’t be checking back in three or four months, because, well, clearly the publishers don’t want my money. And the chances of me remembering? Going with nil to nada. And even if I do, what bright and shiny new books will capture my attention…?

This new delay relates to windowing, the concept of moving a product through specific retail channels for specific periods of time. Windowing is a concept that works really well in the motion picture industry, though studios are trying to compress those windows, while the music industry (another business prone to overpaying advances) works with simultaneous release of formats.

[Part One: Response to Nat Sobel]

The window argument, as practiced by the motion picture industry, is often cited as justification for withholding digital books (and even trade and mass market paperbacks). To me, this represents a flawed understanding of how money flows in the motion picture industry. Books and movies are not comparable.

But first, let’s talk about rebellion. Nat Sobel used the window argument with an unconvincing twist. He chose Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs as an example. Despite being pulled early by a number of [unnamed] exhibitors, it grossed, am I reading this right?, $30.1 million on 3,119 screens. I haven’t seen this film, so I don’t know if the sub-Pixar numbers are warranted, but I can tell you this: with that many screens reporting for opening week (generally the most lucrative; mama didn’t raise no stupid exhibitors!), the protest was, at best, muted. Like books, movies suffer from the limited marketing attention, though motion picture awareness and dollars are much higher. New titles are constantly displacing old, to the point where a release from a month ago is largely forgotten.

(Engrave that thought on your brain.)

Yes, motion pictures (a category that includes feature films, television series, and made-for-video/DVD) cycle through a series of windows. Those windows are growing ever-tighter, especially the one between theatrical release and home entertainment. It’s a money thing. The difference between books and motion pictures is this: a revenue continuum with direct, indirect, and sometimes repeat consumer sales.

Say that three times fast!

So what do I mean by “revenue continuum with direct, indirect, and sometimes repeat consumer sales”? Good question. Let’s walk through an oversimplified (ha!) feature film lifecycle. I think it’s instructive to dissect if this what publishing thinks it wants. Note: I am purposely leaving out some, mostly ancillary, revenue streams (this is not a master class), and there may be steps skipped in real life. Also, I am leaving out marketing costs associated with trade shows.

  • Theatrical: Movie is shown in a theatrical setting. It’s generally the first time people interact with the film, and if it’s good, they might pay two or three (or more) times to watch it again. Popcorn and really huge sodas are often involved. The money split is interesting, with studios getting decreasing returns the longer the film is in the theater (90/10, 80/20, 70/30, and so on; unless it’s an art house film, which plays out differently). Marketing costs are largely borne by studios (big, huge marketing costs) with co-op between studio and theater also in play. Consumer sales: direct.
     
  • Non-Theatrical: This is a pretty big market with not a lot of dollars. It’s all showings outside the traditional theater setting (prisons, schools, boats). Airline sales are generally lumped into this group. Some consumers may be watching the film for the first time; others caught it in the theater. Most marketing costs are borne by the third party, though some co-op comes into play in “theatrical non-theatrical” settings. Consumer sales: direct (ticket, pay-to-view) and indirect (streaming on airplane).
     
  • Pay-Per-View: A television-based market. Consumers pay to access a movie. First-timers and repeat viewers are engaged. New models are emerging. Marketing mostly a function of the third party, though, again, possibility for third party. Consumer sales: generally direct.
     

  • Home Entertainment: Right now, this is mostly DVD, and for a long time, it was the golden egg. Home entertainment covered that awful gap between production, marketing, and print costs and, oh, profitability. People have largely finished with building their libraries, and now purchase more selectively.

    At its most basic, the home entertainment market breaks down into three areas: sell-through (consumer purchases product), rental/premium (Blockbuster, Netflix), and streaming (models emerging all the time). Again, first-timers and repeat customers. Marketing has trended toward the theatrical model. Consumer sales: direct and indirect.

  • Pay Television: In this instance, we’re talking about the premium pay channels like HBO and Showtime. Big bucks are paid by premium channels for the privilege of an exclusive television window (U.S. only) starting about 12-13 months after theatrical release. First-timers and repeat customers tune in; people who paid in the theater or own the DVD are funding the license fee if they’re also premium pay subscribers. Marketing mostly borne by the third party. Consumer sales: indirect (money not associated with a specific product).
     
  • Network Television/Basic Cable: Other stuff is happening between Pay and Network, and it’s discussed below. Once upon a time, the network debut of a motion picture was a big deal (and reasonably lucrative). It’s less so now. Basic cable has picked up some of the slack here. First-timers and repeat customers. Marketing largely borne by network/cable channel. Consumer sales: indirect.
     
  • Syndicated Television: This is the never-ending revenue stream (or seemingly never-ending). International sales do kick in earlier in the lifecycle (and are a mix of pay and free, depending on the country), and domestic syndication happens after the network window. Films are syndicated like crazy. In a 24-hour programming world, there is always time to be filled. First-timers and repeat customers. Marketing largely borne by individual stations, though some additional dollars may shake loose, especially if a barter arrangement is employed. Consumer sales: Direct and indirect (mostly indirect, as a lot of this activity is ad supported in free television markets).
     
  • Wash, Rinse, Repeat: In addition to the ongoing television sales, home entertainment sales continue. Sometimes a film will get be reissued theatrically, sometimes an older title will show up on an airplane (crazy, but it happened to me on a flight!). As long as a product can be sold, it will be sold. Marketing: situation dependent. Consumer investment: ditto.

So that’s what I mean about the revenue continuum. So how do books fit into this model? Well, let’s see. Gifts aside, books are generally a one time sale (more if that consumer suffers from my particular form of insanity and poor library management). As you can surmise from above, there is never an actual gap in the windows. Ever. Okay, books can do that.

And, as you can surmise from above, there is a marketing continuum. Studio and theater advertising leads to airline advertising leads to retailer and studio advertising leads to premium pay advertising leads to network advertising leads to endless commercials in the free television space. Well, I guess books can do that. I mean, it’s gonna take some work to keep titles in the minds of readers, but, sure, I’ll play along. The key to success here is constant marketing. Luckily the costs are spread among players. This stuff gets expensive. Trust me. I’ve been there.

Note: without this ongoing effort, all hope is lost.

Differences. “Windows” in books don’t have that lovely mix of direct and indirect money. They don’t have that revenue continuum. Authors only get paid on that first sale. Actors, directors, and other get residuals and participations, whether the sales are direct or indirect. A hardcover window doesn’t protect hardcover sales from anything but people who want to buy the book in another format (the horror, people who want to buy books!).

I’ll be absolutely frank about one thing: publishers have already lost the pricing battle. They’re being subsidized by Amazon and Barnes & Noble now, but if they cannot figure out how to make their business work in a consumer-friendly way, well, we saw how ugly it got for the music business. I love that some publishers argue that it’s for the authors, because we all know how many authors actually earn a living wage from their writing. It’s a business thing, I get that, and there is definitely concern for authors. There’s just as much concern for the bottom line.

No shame there. Truly.

Publishing has, I’d guess, a year, maybe two, to figure this out. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but protecting the current business model — especially since publishers have done nothing to justify any aspect of their ebook pricing stance — is a zero sum game. You’re losing me and others as customers. How do you recover from that?

Personally, I’d look to another industry for guidance. In music, multiple formats have, with some blips, had simultaneous releases. In some cases, that lead to multiple sales. Yes, consumer behavior has changed, but it’s clear two separate formats can co-exist without diminishing the value of either. Look at how people can — with some teeth-gnashing on the part of the music industry! — move their music from CD to portable audio player of choice back to CD.

I would also look at the motion picture tradition of skipping theatrical releases when it’s clear some films are better as direct-to-video (sadly, a decision sometimes made after expensive production).

I get that this is hard. I’ve watched it happen in other industries. It’s been painful every time, but if you want to succeed, you make it work. If you want to go down with the ship, I have a lovely window seat for you….

 

Leave No Stone Unturned – Sell Thru All Channels

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I have talked about the competitiveness of the book industry. Last year there were over 275,000 new books published. At the same time, there are fewer bookstores. If you don’t understand why, go watch the popular video You’ve Got Mail to see a very realistic scenario. So, what to do?

It is imperative to sell your books in as many channels as possible. OK, that’s Marketing Speak—translation—sell your books to as many places as you can in as many forms as you can. Let’s take a look at these:

  • Traditional distributors & Giant Chains
  • Bookstores
  • Libraries
  • Nontraditional outlets
  • Direct sales of printed books
  • Direct sales & distributor sales of Ebooks
  • Direct sales & distributor sales of Audio books

Traditional Distributors & Giant Chains

These include selling with the help of a wholesaler such as Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and smaller independent distributors, as well as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc. These are the height of competitive channels; however, they are necessary. They are also not very lucrative, since you have to give 55 to 65% discounts to these entities. With the cost of production, that doesn’t leave much for the publisher. Still, you need to use them because of their established inroads into the bookselling community.

Bookstores

They are harder to reach because there are fewer of them—both major chains and independents—and because they are overwhelmed by the book offers they receive. Still, they must be approached.

Libraries

This market has shrunk somewhat due to shrinking book buying budgets. They also prefer getting books from well established library distributors that add in little benefits such as paper pockets for date-due-by cards and such. If you believe your book will have an appeal to this market, I would highly encourage you to include the Library of Congress registration data on the copyright page.

Nontraditional outlets

This can be a lucrative market if done right. One of the chief benefits is no returns. Retailers other than bookstores just aren’t used to doing that. If your book, nonfiction or fiction has a specialty theme in it, this is a viable market for you. For example: you’ve written a guidebook to bike trails in your community. Bicycle shops are far more likely to sell your book steadily because that’s where your market segment can be found. It can work for fiction as well. If you’ve written a good action novel about bike racing or touring, bicycle shops are a great place to sell it. This is one example, so use your imagination to consider other places. Let’s say you’ve written a series of mysteries built around quilting (sound familiar?) Quilting stores and even craft supply stores would be natural venues for your books.

Direct sales of printed books

This worked well for me during the 1990’s when I had my own publishing company. In addition to fulfilling orders for my own products, I added about 200 products from other publishers in a direct mail catalog. I had 8,000 customers and did a third again more business from the basement of our home than I did from our bookstore downtown. Today, we have the internet in addition to the postal system, which is a whole new world.

Direct sales & distributor sales of Ebooks

A pdf version of your book and cover isn’t that hard to produce and sell over the internet as an ebook. It should sell for about 50% of what your printed version’s retail price is; however, it’s all pure bottom line territory. If you want to make multiple format versions for Kindle, etc., you can buy the software to do that or you can use a distributor such as Smashwords.com who will put your book into multiple versions and sell it through many channels for only 15% of the retail price. To me, that is a good deal and well worth considering.

Direct sales & distributor sales of Audio books

Finally, there are audio books. These can be as technically difficult to produce and certainly more expensive than printed versions. This is why audio books generally more expensive than printed versions. Traditionally one would use skilled readers (usually out of work actors) in an expensive recording studio. Then there are the expenses of pressing CDs and designing their labels and container covers, which are every bit as expensive as book covers and even more so if multiple pages are required. But I have found a wonderfully cost effectively way to do this—Hudson Audio Publishing. They do have an acceptance committee, so if your book doesn’t cut it, you won’t be able to go thru them; however, their up front production costs are minimal and are paid primarily from royalties. You can record your own right at your PC or Mac or you can use free lance voice over experts they can recommend. They charge 30% (for a $10 book, you keep $7) of the retail price to sell your book through established audio book markets as downloads. This is the audio version of an ebook. They pay royalties every 90 days. You can find them at http://www.hudsonaudiopublishing.com/.

Bottom Line

You cannot afford to not consider all of the above in today’s competitive market place. The more venues you use, the more formats you use, the more credible you become. You’ve got to be a player if you expect to quit your day job (oh no, not yet!). Now go out there and make your presence felt.

 

This is a cross-posting from Bob Spear’s Book Trends Blog.

Ebook Strategies for Traditional Publishers

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This post, from Clifford Fryman, originally appeared on his website on 12/10/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission.

Many traditional publishers are scared of the growing popularity of e-books. If there was ever any doubt of it, the announcements over the last two days of three major publishers delaying the release of the electronic book versions of at least some of their titles by three weeks to six months after the hard cover releases is proof. What is their reasoning for such a move?

“We’re doing this to preserve our industry,” Mr. Young said. “I can’t sit back and watch years of building authors sold off at bargain-basement prices. It’s about the future of the business.”

Mr. Murray said that if new hardcover titles continue to be sold as $9.99 e-books, the eventual outcome will be fewer literary choices for customers, because publishers won’t be able to take as many chances on new writers.

The problem is these publishers are fighting e-books instead of embracing and using them to their advantage. No matter how bad they want it, the reality is that e-books and their lower price points are inevitable. They should be planning for this instead of trying to postpone it while alienating potential customers in the process.

I’m not a publisher, or even someone with a business degree, but I do I have a few ideas of strategies publishers could use to make e-books work for them. Note that none of them includes delaying the release date until after the hard cover release.

  1. Serialize e-book editions of potential best-sellers.
    Publishers would serialize the e-book edition of potential best-sellers by breaking the book into three equal parts. Release the first part the same day as the hardcover edition is released. The next two parts would then be released one per month over the next two months. Each installment would be priced from $1.99 to $3.99, whatever would bring the e-book edition to approximately in-line with the price point the paperback edition would be set at.
     
  2. Bundle backlist books with e-book editions of potential best-sellers.
    Publishers could take advantage of the e-book edition of a potential best-seller to promote backlist books from the author or of other authors who fall within the same genre. Prices would be set at around $19.99. Customers would get two books, the author’s older books could be sold, and readers could be introduced to another author they may decide they like and eventually buy more of their books.
     
  3. Bundle books by debut authors with e-book editions of potential best-sellers.
    Instead of releasing a hard cover or paper back edition from a new author, test the waters by releasing their debut novel only in an e-book edition that would be bundled with a potential best-seller in the same genre as their book. Again, the price would be set for around $19.99. Customers would get two books, publishers could take a lower cost risk on new authors, and the new author would get the promotional advantage of being included with an expected best-seller. If the new author is well received and interest is high enough, the publishers could then release print editions in either hard cover, paperback or both with the knowledge that the potential for sales is already there.

Like I stated above, I’m not a publisher or someone with a business degree, but these seem to make sense to me. What do you think? Are they feasible options publishers could take? Or am I way off base in my thinking and should leave business ideas to the professionals? Don’t be shy, speak up and let me know.

 

Part 2: Why Indie Authors Will Break Traditional Publishers

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This post, from Brad Vertrees, originally appeared on his Brad’s Reader site on 12/9/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission. You can read Part 1 here.

Independent ebook websites like Smashwords and Feedbooks are giving indie authors an unprecedented advantage by letting these authors distribute their work without the gatekeeper of traditional publishers. While the digital domain has not been perfected, indie authors are coming out of hiding and setting their writing free into the world.

Authors CaRIAAn Learn From Music Industry

For a long time large record labels controlled the music industry. If your band didn’t have a contract with a record label, your music career wasn’t going anywhere. But as the internet began to spread and music became digitized, the record labels fought these new distribution methods while musicians embraced the new technology.

The result? Bands have little need for large record labels today because they can do everything on their own thanks to the technology that’s available. Over the last decade the record labels have become less relevant and the RIAA has resorted to suing their own customers for alleged copyright infringement. Indie authors are following in the same footsteps as these bands who gave the virtual finger to the record labels.

I think the trend will continue and we’ll see more authors taking the indie route. There is still a stigma to self-publishing, but the stigma is slowly dying as self-publishing  becomes more mainstream and accepted. It helps that a lot of bestselling authors today self-published their book before landing a publishing contract. My favorite example is Lisa Genova’s book  Still Alice (aff link), which had been rejected by numerous publishers until she sold it on her own.

Large publishing houses still have one advantage

I will give credit where credit is due. Publishers do have the advantage of a vast distribution network and can get books onto the shelves of chain bookstores (i.e. Barnes & Noble and Borders) with ease. They have the infrastructure and network in place to move a lot of books all over the world.

To further complicate things for indie authors, however, the large bookstores usually won’t consider stocking a self-published book for one reason: The books can’t be returned if it doesn’t sell. This must-be-returnable policy has long been a controversial issue among publishers and authors alike, and a pain in the side for all indie authors. Again, this gives the large publishing houses an advantage because of agreements with the book chains and their large distribution network.

And as much as they have been criticized for putting the indie bookstores out of business, the large chain booksellers are vital for new releases and any author who wants to make the bestseller list cannot survive without the likes of Barnes & Noble. This might be a necessary evil, but it certainly doesn’t help indie authors.

A light at the end of the tunnel

I think it’s fair to say that not all indie authors have aspirations of making the bestseller list. Look at some of the titles on the list at any given time – a lot of those books are popular because they appeal to large audiences, meaning the writing can be mediocre at best. A good example is Dan Brown’s most recent book The Lost Symbol. Many around the web called Brown a hack and deeply criticized his writing.

Indie authors want to be independent for a reason. They want to write something unique, that probably won’t appeal to the masses. For indie authors, it’s not about reaching the largest possible audience, it’s more about reaching an eclectic group of readers that can truly appreciate a book or short story that is different than what you find in mainstream literature.

My own goal as a writer is not to reach the bestseller list, and not even to land a contract with a large publishing house. My goal is to write what I want to write and find a niche audience to cater to. I also want to control my own career and not be bound by a contract that takes away even the copyrights to my own writing.

Even the distribution advantage that traditional publishers have is being minimized. The internet is becoming the great equalizer and letting authors publish their works, many with great success, in digital format without the need for a large expensive distribution network. And if those indie authors want to release their novels in print, they can do so easily by self-publishing their books and selling them on their own via their author website/blog.

Indie authors becoming a formidable foe

In conclusion, traditional publishers have a lot to fear from indie authors. Their role as gatekeepers to the collective literary canon is being chipped away at with great speed. These publishers are decreasing the number of new authors they sign, and giving these new authors only minimal marketing support. They are throwing most of their money behind the big-name popular authors who can rake in millions of dollars.

Authors now have a choice when publishing their work. They can go the traditional route or the indie route. What real advantage does the traditional route to publishing offer?

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcb// CC BY 2.0

Part 1: Why Indie Authors Will Break Traditional Publishers

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This post, from Brad Vertrees, originally appeared on his Brad’s Reader site on 12/7/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission. Part 2 will run tomorrow.

 think large publishing houses are scared, and for good reason. They’re faced with an enemy that they see as a threat to their business. I’m talking about the growing number of indie authors – those who totally bypass the large publishing houses and self-publish their books in print and digital format. Indie authors aren’t afraid to trek out on their own and play by their own rules.

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Indie authors have several advantages over authors who go with a traditional publishing house. And it’s these advantages that could be the downfall of  the traditional publishing business.

 

– Indie authors can distribute their books in any manner they please. They can sell ebooks online and sell print books out of the trunk of their car. The distribution channels for authors is opening, thanks to the internet (the great neutralizer, as I call it).

– Indie authors can seriously undercut large publishers’ prices on books. These authors don’t have a very high overhead and can offer their books at much lower prices and still make a tidy profit.

– Indie authors become their own brand. They create an online presence through their own websites, Twitter, Facebook and other sites. They sell their books to a built-in fan base.

– Indie authors can control the copyrights to their works.

Example: Joe Konrath

Even when publishers do get into the ebook game, it does not always benefit the author – at least not financially. One of my favorite author blogs is A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing by Joe Konrath. He talks about making a living as a writer, including a lot of discussion about ebooks.

In a post he wrote back in October entitled Kindle Numbers: Traditional Publishing vs. Self Publishing. Joe “spills the beans” about his earnings and posts what he has made on ebooks from Hyperion (a traditional publisher) that have been published on the Amazon Kindle. And then he posts his earnings from ebooks he has self-published on the Kindle. Here’s how it breaks down:

Ebooks from Hyperion sold on Kindle

– Earnings from Jan. 1 to June 31, 2009.

– 6 titles published on Kindle.

– Price range per book: $3.96 -$7.99

– 1237 ebooks sold in 6 months.

– Total royalties: $2008

Self-published ebooks sold on Kindle

– Earnings from Jan. 1 to June 31, 2009

– 4 titles published on Kindle.

– Price range per book: $1.99

– 9800 books sold in 6 months.

– Total earnings: $6860

Joe made $4853 more self-publishing his titles on the Kindle. He offered fewer titles sold at a much lower price ($1.99). Why so much success with self-publishing? I think this big difference is due to the fact that when Joe self-published on Amazon, he got roughly $0.70 per book sold (35% of the price he sets).

For the books published by Hyperion Joe receives 25% of whatever the publisher receives. It’s also worth noting that Hyperion and Amazon have to strike an agreement regarding these prices. This leaves Joe with a lot less control and a lot less money in his pocket.

Here’s the interesting part, however, Joe does not own the rights to the books sold by Hyperion. If he did?

If I had the rights to all six of my Hyperion books, and sold them on Kindle for $1.99, I’d be making $20,580 per year off of them, total, rather than $4818 a year off of them, total.

Just by owning the copyrights to his own works, Joe can increase his own earnings by several thousand dollars. This makes a great case why copyright (especially in the digital realm) is becoming such a hot button issue.

Do you think I’m right in my assessment that indie authors will eventually bring the large publishers to their knees? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

In Part 2 (to be posted on Wednesday) I’ll be writing about the one large advantage publishers have over indie authors and how that advantage can be minimized.

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylemay// CC BY 2.0