Passing on exciting news that Small Business Rocket Fuel: Marketing Tools to Boost Revenue has reached #71 on Amazon’s Best Sellers list for small business/entrepreneurship books about marketing.

This means that small businesses, the backbone of America’s economy, are going strong. It is invigorating to see people out there working hard, building value for themselves as well as the US economy. This is the real reason I wrote the Small Business Rocket Fuel books- to kickstart our economy and get people back to work and making money. Until everyone is earning a decent wage, society will be struggling. Forget about the 1%; share your knowledge and get everyone back to work.

An interesting interview with Joe Konrath was just published (see link below). Here he further expounds on his results as a self-published author. He cites significantly better earnings by self-publishing books for a low price while at the same time devoting less time to marketing than he had for this traditionally published novel. He states that publishers take over 52% of the cover price while authors receive only a bit more than 17%.

The article is definitely worth reading. One caveat though is that nowhere in the article does Joe mention his release with Amazon’s new imprint Encore. This leaves me wondering, if self-publishing is so fantastic, why sign a deal with what is ostensibly another publisher? Sure Amazon isn’t a traditional publisher per se, yet it aspires to be one. That is one question I’m sure many writers would be interested in hearing the answer to.

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/j-a-konrath-responds-our-interview-with-jamie-raab_b46413

http://elitzr.com/is-amazons-konrath-concession-a-sign-of-things-to-come/

It’s a dream come true…for all fiction junkies, the Harvard Business Review now says that research proves that reading fiction can help you earn more money. How? Because people who read fiction learn superior emotional intelligence skills by absorbing their favorite character’s responses to the trials and tribulations their authors put them through. Emotional intelligence or the ability to appropriately read and respond to other’s emotions is key to gaining promotions and earning higher salaries.

So next time you feel guilty for settling into the couch with a blanket, a cup of coffee and a good book, don’t. The dishes can go in the dishwasher. The dust isn’t hurting anyone. So get to work on that promotion and get reading!

Here’s the full story:

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/the_business_case_for_reading.html

I’m well into the pre-Holiday crunch time. But just wanted to take a minute to point out an interesting (but rather long) post on author payments. In this post, the author argues that traditional publishers can afford to and should pay authors more for their work. This would then better compensate authors and discourage them from defecting to Amazon where pay is better. Will anyone take his advice? Time will tell…

http://www.idealog.com/blog/paying-authors-more-might-be-the-best-economics

The publishing community has responded with mixed feelings to Amazon’s latest move in buying up a line of children’s books from Marshall Cavendish. Amazon’s rationale is that the new Kindle Fire is an excellent tool for viewing color books as many children’s books are. (Lucky for my book, “Small Business Rocket Fuel”, I had already incorporated color photos and color flourishes throughout the book!)

While some were pleased that Amazon would offer good distribution of the books. Others felt it was further pushing publishing toward a monopoly. Independent book stores pointed out that there is no way Amazon can replace the personal touch and insightful comments they offer customers. A final comment was that Amazon’s dominance ends up devaluing books and training buyers of them to have a lowest-cost commodity mind-set.

So many tough issues here. While the broadest distribution possible is best for sellers/authors, a monopoly will reduce author power in their negotiations for the best payment for their work.

Here is a link to a useful article:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/49771-booksellers-unhappy-with-amazon–s-latest-moves.html

It’s official, last week e-book sales surpassed those of paper based books for the first time.

The Financial Times (April 15, 2011 by Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson) reported that in February 2011, e-books sales tripled reaching $90.3 million compared with adult paperback book sales of $81.2 million. That means 9.1 million more e-books were sold than paper back books.

The numbers also showed that in January and February, e-book sales increased 169% compared with a decrease of 24.8% in paper based book sales.

The trend looks firmly entrenched especially given the ever increasing types of devices that readers can now use to view e-books including new tablets as well as the Kindle, Nook and others. RIM just announced a new tablet to compete with the iPad and a Sony tablet.

These changes will ripple throughout the publishing industry and all book related organizations. Even libraries are struggling to keep up. My library just sold off their entire CD collection in a move to digital. One wonders if books are next and if so, how will libraries transform?

Any change is sure to be gradual. One road block is that Amazon allows only limited sharing of books on the Kindle. Thus libraries can’t share books for the Kindle currently.

Even if books are eventually primarily digital, I think libraries will survive because they are so much more than book lenders. My library, like many others, is a community hub. Students meet with tutors, citizens come to hear lectures by authors or attend computer training classes, or teens just hang out.

For authors these are roller coaster times. The challenge is to adapt to e-books. Yet still profit. Perhaps e-books can even improve profit for authors. Perhaps authors will simply be lost in a tsunami of content. It seems too early to tell. The exciting part is to be in early on change and hopefully to shape change into a helpful, rather than mischievous sprite.

Yikes! It’s been awhile since I have been able to post, nose to grindstone and all that. Here we are nearly at the end of winter. It’s been a real New England winter this year. Snow so high my mailbox was nearly buried. We may be at the end of it now. Today it’s pouring rain and found myself early in the morning mucking about in boots and a Gortex parka, sloshing through slush and mud to let the water company guy check the meter. He said, “It’s really coming down.” I nearly answered, “Ahyup.” But being in a weird bit of New England that glows with the silver glitz of New York City shining on the horizon, I bit that back and just said, “Sure is.”

I found a great blog post on how rampant e-book theft is. This is a serious concern since e-books are the biggest growth area in publishing. It seems to me that all creative entertainment types need to band together and figure out a way forward (from music to movies to written-word story-tellers- can’t call us book authors much longer, I guess). I’ve been studying up on Intellectual Property law for my other project (working on technology transfer). Copyright law is both robust (anyone qualifies who has created a unique, creative work, no need to actually apply for anything) and weak (it takes money and time to enforce and how many creative types have either of these to spare?) It seems to me that greater protection needs to be worked out somehow so that creators can be fairly compensated for their work. Otherwise, the whole sandcastle crumbles. How many of us can afford to devote our days and nights to work for free for our muse? Sadly, muses don’t pay mortgages or grocery bills and royal patrons have been few and far between for the last several hundred years.

Take a look at this blog for another writer’s take on e-book theft: http://ow.ly/44g9g

Enjoy!

Studying for an MBA has steeped me in numbers, which at first are slippery and awkward. Gradually as the weeks go by they develop rhythms and tones. Formula’s coalesce naturally, while not being an Albert Einstein, I can tip-toe up to the edge and gaze down into a world where numbers communicate more succinctly, more precisely than words ever could. All of this helps me understand the main character in my forth novel, which is still unraveling toward it’s end. Maybe this is a bit excessive, an extreme length to go to understand someone not even living. Only it’s not just that is it? No, for a linguaphile, for an author addict, it is never just the character. No, it is also about them and how they can shape the clay of letters. And so, a linguaphile floats, immersed in numbers. I can tell you they can’t be misunderstood like words, not by someone who “reads” them, no, only misused. So which is better? Is the reason we love stories rather than calculus texts because we enjoy being deceived? Are we still thrilled by the cottony yellow blanket, eyes appearing above, peek-a-boo so many years later?

I think the answer is yes. Do you?

I have also been studying the peek-a-boo itself. It’s all in the feel and touch of the blanket. One you know so well, you can feel it on your fingers just by looking at it. The tension of the taunt blanket stretched in mid-air by what? Magic? Hiding what? It’s just there if you could reach it, but you can’t. It might crumple down any minute. In the dark behind it might be your neighbor’s pit bull, red-tongued, slavering, breath like rotting meat on your face. It might be your mother, smelling like flour, eyes crinkling, puffing with laughter.  Puffing against the blanket, blowing it in and out slightly. In the still air, the blanket moves, panting.

Cascading down the blanket reveals Steven King, the master blanket maker. If you want to know how to make a blanket, something sweet and baby-yellow, read Steven King. I have now finished Wizard and Glass.

For fun, if you like crime, watch the new Sherlock Holmes on PBS.

Besides making a fabulous story (product), if you are an author, you’ll want to know how to build your products and career. Try reading The Intelligent Entrepreneur by Bill Murphy. It’s a bit heavy on Harvard Business School, but has some good pointers.

Above all, this week give thanks for readers and publishers of alternate realities (fiction, electronic or print). Happy Holiday!

I just love my local library. Our librarians put together a fantastic slate of authors every year. This year, they wrapped up the lectures with a bang by inviting Lee Child to speak. The substantial auditorium was jam packed, spilling out into the hall, so clearly our librarians made a good choice.

He was witty during his lecture about his publishing career. During the numerous questions, of which I’m sure he’d heard a few many times, he came across as honest and patient, giving thoughtful answers.

One topic that interested me considerably was e-books. The publishing industry has been in an uproar over e-books for the past couple years. Lee Child gave the clearest answer I’ve heard yet about what price e-books should have and why. First, he said consider that his standard hardcover sells for about $28. The cost of printing and shipping the hardcover is about $5. That means the value of the story (content only) is about $23 for those receiving it first (hardcovers come before paperbacks if there are paperbacks).The $23 covers the cost of all the publishing staff (editors, marketers, etc) plus the very important author- everyone who helped create the story and make it visible to it’s audience (I’m adding this bit, Lee Child didn’t go into this detail).

E-books, contrary to popular perception Mr Child said, do have a cost for creation and delivery. After all, someone had to create the computer program used to format and deliver the book. Estimate that cost at $1 per book. That means the e-book cost is $23 + $1= $24 (or the cost of the story plus the electronic formatting and delivery). Obviously at the much bandied price point of $9.99, someone is losing money.

There were many questions about Reacher, but I’m not going to go into all of them here. I do recommend that if you have a chance to hear Lee Child speak, you should take it.

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.