Candice Hughes

Spring has been here for several weeks now, with the usual crazy New England weather- shorts and tee-shirts one week then back to sweaters and coats the next.

Besides the changing but consistently wacky weather, the publishing industry continues as well, changing but expectedly so.  Publisher’s Weekly reported that e-books were up 177% for 2009 while sales of most other books were flat or slightly lower than the year before. All forms of entertainment have been moving digital for a number of years. Yet things rarely move entirely digital or, if they do, convert in their original form. I still listen to the radio periodically. I often listen to the radio online. It’s still the radio, just a different delivery system. I envision paper-based books sharing the world with digital books- reaching an even larger audience.

Spring is a great time for writing- full of energy and bursting with ideas! So now it’s back to a writer’s main job…writing.

The Wall Street Journal listed 2 thrillers among the top 5 novels for 2009. These were The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown)  and The Associate (John Grisholm). The Lost Symbol was first place. Two of the top 5 have strong romance themes (The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows).

Both romance and thrillers can get you heart pounding and make you forget the dragging ecomony. Little wonder they’re popular!

Can’t wait to see what 2010 brings!

For anyone who has missed it, Elisabeth Sifton has an essay in The Nation this week (The Long Goodbye? The Book Business and its Woes). Her experience in the industry spans decades giving her a rare perspective. She expresses frustration and sadness at the many changes in the industry, particularly the consolidation and transformation to what she describes as a poorly functioning profit-focused model. She declaims the lack of interest of those running publishing companies in their products and product generators (books and writers). Her essay is well worth reading.

I know so many people who are passionate about books. A good number of these people are young- just the sort of readers the industry needs because they have many years of book buying ahead of them. I’ve seen tweens drooling over catalogues of books at libraries. They aren’t shy about putting in requests for book orders with their librarians. Recently when I commented on how teens/children may soon be reading text books on the Kindle, one groaned and told me he certainly didn’t want his books on one.

Books as objects have a special power. Think of magic books like in Harry Potter. Would it work to have a magician’s blog? How about books so controversial they’re banned. I have an early edition Orlando by Virginia Woolf. The cover is stamped, “Not to be introduced into the British Empire.” Woolf’s book provoked thought and discussion. It served it’s purpose. How does one ban a web site or a blog for offending sensibilities? Except for the most egregious offenders, few web sites or blogs are removed. Electronic words are more accessible and more pervasive yet Web sites and blogs simply have less psychological power than books in my opinion- even though all are based on words and all attract readers and discussion. Somehow being intangible dilutes the power of the words. Imagine holding up a print out of a blog as one shouts about its seditiousness. Or maybe one would bring a laptop on the podium and (shudder) display it with PowerPoint?

While I welcome and embrace electronic media (I am a true techie at heart), I think books retain their magic. Why, I wonder, can’t electronic media and books continue to live in harmony? Each will serve it’s purpose.

Bookmarked: Blind Alley by Iris Johansen

Last week an amusing survey revealed the books most lied about by Britons. (Reuters, March 5, 2009)

Forty two percent of Britons claimed to have read 1984 by George Orwell when they had in fact not read it. My immediate reaction was: we’re well past 1984 so what’s going on? Then I had to admit that it was an interesting book even if Orwell potentially got the date wrong. Next I wondered if so many people are saying they’ve read it but haven’t then the shelves must be groaning with excess stock. After checking Amazon, I found this wasn’t true. I confirmed that 1984 has a number 7,429 sales ranking in the Heritage Publisher 2007 version. For a book first released in 1949, this is pretty impressive.

So, people are in fact buying quite a few copies of 1984. Yet, over 40% of people surveyed haven’t read the book. What are people doing with the copies then? In England, perhaps they’re propping up their tippy sofas or stabilizing the breakfast table? Or perhaps, the books are prominently displayed along with the other lied about books such as “War and Peace”, Ulysses, and the Bible? If so, there must be a lot of book dusting going on- unless the copies are periodically tossed out when they look mangy and replacements are driving the high sales.

At any rate, for amusement at your next cocktail party try making up some interesting new plot points or characters for 1984. Toss them out and see if everyone keeps nodding.

This weekend, my RWA (Romance Writers of America) chapter hosted Amy Pierpont from Grand Central Publishing. A number of us agreed this meeting was one of the best we’ve had because Amy has such a wealth of industry experience and is so passionate about books.

One key take-away from our discussion about the industry was that paranormals are still going strong with no end in sight. (Keep looking for those vampire books!) Expect paranormals to combine with other genres or subgenres. Recently I found a pirate vampire series for young adults that seems to be checked out of our library most of the time (a definite issue when my young adult is clamoring for book 2). I was particularly happy to hear that paranormals have a bright future since my second novel is a paranormal thriller with romantic elements (no, I didn’t entirely drop the medical slant, it’s just less prominent than in book 1). There aren’t any vampires in my novel but I believe I have some beings who are just as intriguing.

Another trend is the growth of e-books and e-readers. Publishers are looking to do more in this area because of the growth even though, at this time, the e-book area is only a small part of overall sales. From our informal sampling, there’s still a lot of room for growth since only one writer in the room currently has an e-reader. However, there was strong agreement that as readers, we book people are enamored of the touch, feel and smell of books- something an e-reader doesn’t offer.

The final trend I’ll mention is the growth of e-marketing tactics. Look for electronic announcements of all kinds from publishing companies promoting novels. Word of mouth is still the best way to attract readers and that is moving to the Internet as well with bloggers recommending novels and talking with their favorite authors.

While the publishing industry, like most other industry, hit a rough patch, there are a lot of exciting things going on!

The new Kindle is out! I took a look at Amazon’s video of the Kindle 2 yesterday. It’s starting to look pretty tempting… I especially like the read aloud feature. This feature could be great for someone who’s older and can no longer read or for anyone who can’t look at or read a book for any reason. It might even keep kids entertained by reading them stories on a trip.

The other interesting feature is the thinness. I’m not sure how I’d feel about holding something that thin after being used to the weight of a book. Or how I’d feel about not being able to put my fingers on the pages and turn them. Since the screen is black and white, book covers will be monochrome and less exciting.

The wonderful thing about the Kindle is that books will be even more available to everyone, any time, wherever they are. If you are bored and stuck somewhere, you could order up a book and read (so long as there is wireless). The stack of books by the bed becomes a few millimeters thick. And once you go digital, a book can become a multi-media experience.

Being a techie at heart…I just might have to put this on my wish list. And start thinking up new plots and characters that can go digital…

Over the past few months I’ve been pondering innovative marketing strategies in publishing. Why? Basically just because I love publishing and would love to see the industry jolted out it’s doldrums.

In September the UK Harper Collin’s announced a website “Authonomy” that functions like a pre-publication Amazon web site. Writers post 10,000 word chunks of their books and visitors review and rate the copy. The highest rated copy is then read by Harper Collin’s editors. Any one in any country can post their work.

I have no idea if Authonomy is proving profitable for Harper Collin’s. It’s still in beta testing. What do I think of it? I’m of two minds on the idea. On the one hand, anything that stimulates interest in writing or reading gets an A plus! But does this site really get a writer out of the slush pile as the site implies? I’m not sure about that. It seems to me the slush pile is simply moved online and gains enthusiastic, free (though untrained) reviewers. The theory is that these reviewers are the same people who might buy the book if sold so in effect, they receive an early preview and the author receives helpful comments.

The bottom line is I think Authonomy is a great marketing tool. But it is likely of dubious utility for career-oriented writers who have to essentially publish copyrighted material for free and hope they receive useful feedback.

A second innovative marketing tool in Europe is the new Faber Academy where published authors teach new authors. This is also a great marketing tool for the publishing company. It gives them publicity and makes money. Writers attending the workshops will receive the benefit of learning from well-known authors. If only they offered a class in the United States!

In my next post I’ll explore why European publishing is pushing the envelope on innovative marketing.