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/

In the continuing competitive battle between Amazon and Barnes and Noble, B&N has stated that it will not carry paper books published by Amazon in its bricks and morter stores. However, you will still be able to find Amazon digital titles in B&N’s online store.

While Amazon has now entered publisher’s territory by publishing its own fiction books in several genres, B&N has not done so. It is sticking to its distributor role.

This will further widen the gap between the traditional publisher/distributor companies and Amazon. The challenge competitors will have is that Amazon’s business is significantly more diversified and provides it with funds to develop the book division.

As readers and authors, we’ll just have to hope that the competition provides more opportunities.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/50444-it-s-official-b-n-will-not-stock-titles-published-by-amazon-.html

Yes, the e-book has evolved from a mere pest underfoot or perhaps a curious novelty into a giant in only a few years.

In doing so, it has upset the entire apple cart that is the publishing industry. Authors can now publish and manage their own books and communicate more directly with readers. Even better, e-books are finally starting to wake up to their potential.

From the start, I envisioned a whole new world for e-books that would make them far different from paper books. With the power of electronics’ magic, e-books can become entertainment powerhouses melding many forms in one (images, video, audio, and so much more.) With all these exciting visions dancing in my head, it was somewhat of a let down to find that even inserting images into a Kindle e-book was challenging. At the time I published, the colorful photos I’d taken were only viewable in black and white. Now they are in full color (thanks, Kindle Fire!).

My hope for 2012 is that it becomes feasible for me to do even more than put some photos and web links in my books (without spending a fortune and thus driving up the price for readers).

While e-books have huge potential, challenges have grown as the number of authors has rapidly expanded. It has become much harder to identify quality writing from experienced and knowledgeable authors. On Kindle forums, I see readers complaining about this challenge. Authors must work even harder to demonstrate their skills and show readers why their books are worth the time to read.

Despite the challenges, it has been exciting riding the rising surge of a wave of change in publishing. In 2012, publishing promises to continue the fireworks show. Every author will need to navigate a world changing by the minute. I will be right there with my fellow authors, trying to decide what is best for my books in a shifting world.

Here’s a link to 2012 predicitions for publishing:

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2011/ten-bold-predictions-for-book-publishing-in-2012/

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

This is the kind of story I love. A group of smart, twenty-something New Yorkers disenfranchised by traditional literary society/industry strike out on their own and create a new journal and intellectual salon. These writers and editors could have given up when all the doors slammed in their face. But they didn’t. They pushed on and created something new themselves. Now they are starting to gain national attention for their work.

They might not be raking in big salaries yet, but that’s beside the point. They are on the right path. They are on the path of opening doors themselves, not standing outside closed doors passively and waiting for them to open. There may be twists and turns on the path and it may get discouraging, but it’s essential to keep trying and keep learning. Most successful people have experienced plenty of failure as well, but the key thing is they learn from it and move past it.

Here’s the whole story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/fashion/new-yorks-literary-cubs.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210

In another big shift towards digital publishing (e-books), the WSJ has just announced that it will work with Nielson BookScan to add e-book rankings to it’s bestseller list. This is an exciting change that will further increase the prestige of e-books. It also serves to better align the bestseller list with total books sales. The two were becoming increasingly misaligned as more and more e-books are being sold with e-book sales recently exceeding paper books.

Here is a link to the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/wsj-best-seller-lists-e-books-113928679.html

A new lawsuit has been filed by the Author’s Guild and allied partners to stop digitization and free distribution by a university consortium of hundreds of books published by non-US authors. The university consortium feels these are orphaned books, but Author’s Guild states that authors haven’t been notified or given the chance to withhold their books from the project.

This is part of the push/pull between authors asking for fair payment for their work and those wanting access to information that began with the Google lawsuit. The tension clearly shows that agreement has not yet been reached on how to balance these needs. These decisions will set the course for the future of information and entertainment communication. I say communication because books as they are created as enhanced e-books will overlap more and more with other media. This is a critical juncture. If authors are not fairly compensated or able to assert adequate rights, future authors will be discouraged from creating new works and information flow will be reduced in quality and quantity as skilled communicators exit the field. If information is too closely guarded it may be hard for readers/viewers to access it. The courts will be strongly challenged to create a Solomen-like solution.

Here is the link to the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/authors-guild-sues-universities-over-online-books-233911504.html

I have been wondering how to sign books for my readers since my new book (Small Business Rocket Fuel: Marketing Tools to Boost Revenue) is currently available as a e-book only. To my surprise I found two companies have recently been started to allow authors to sign e-books for their readers. The first is Authography and the second is Kindlegraph. Authography has no pricing information on it’s web site but seems to be focusing on deals with publishers. Kindlegraph is free, but requires authors to allow Kindlegraph access to their Twitter accounts including reading their tweets and monitoring who they follow. This seems a bit “big-brotherish” to me. I got to thinking how could authors just sign on their own like they used to do with paper books.

How to get your Autograph: I came up with a solution that allows the communication to be solely between my readers and myself. Any one who has purchased my book (Small Business Rocket Fuel) can e-mail me using the address shown in the “About the Author” section. (You can find it easily by clicking on the link in the Table of Contents at the beginning of the book). After I receive your e-mail requesting an autograph, I will create a personalized page for you digitally signed by me. Your page may contain a short poem, digital images, colors and various design elements along with my autograph. I will then e-mail you the page to whatever e-mail address you provide.

All it takes to create these digital signatures is MS Word, Adobe Writer and some imagination. Shhh, don’t tell anyone else or they may decide to skip Kindlegraph and Authography too.

An interesting article showed that e-book sales are still increasing. In May, e-book buyers said they’d increased purchases by 67% (see article link below).

Another article in the WSJ yesterday showed that John Locke (the first person to sell a million e-books) had signed up with an agent (Jane Dystel) and a NY publisher (Simon & Shuster) for distribution. He said his reason was to capture paperback sales from readers who haven’t yet transitioned to e-books.

This is an exciting time in publishing. It’s in just such a mixture of traditional and emerging technologies that great leaps forward can happen. (Think of industrialization in the early 1900s- Ford, Edison and more). Opportunities abound to be creative right now.

After spending the last 6 weeks immersed in a fantastic class on digital marketing for my MBA, I’m brimming with ideas!

Here’s the link:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/48418-the-latest-e-book-buying-trends.html