Publishing on the Moon

Publishing on the Moon:

On this day in 1994, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com. As an author, publisher and disabled shopper, I thank him. I’ve been with Amazon for over 20 years now, and they reminded me of that with a gift recently.  I recall my resistance to using my credit card online—but I believe in the beginning I could call and give my card over the phone.  Jeff Bezos had said back then, he wanted the biggest bookstore in the world.  It reminds me of the publishing contract Don Pendleton had with the late New York publisher, Donald I. Fine, which included Fine’s publishing rights on the Moon.  (Don and I laughed, at the time)  Maybe that is what Bezos is working toward with his space program.  After all, Jeff Bezos is a visionary, and thank goodness, he is.  I never could have published 78 books, and also foreign language books at foreign Amazons—without Jeff Bezos’ vision.   

~Linda Pendleton

 

Sales Soar as E-Books Go Mainstream

According to The Authors Guild, Inc.: “e-books are now mainstream. Year-over-years sales of e-books increased 160 percent, to $389.7 million, in the first five months of 2011, exceeding sales of adult hardcovers and gaining fast on adult trade paperbacks.”

And the Authors Guild states that the Book Industry Study Group reports that the percentage of book buyers reading digital titles rose from 5 percent last October to 25 percent in June.

I’m sure e-book sales will continue to “soar,” especially as more and more authors choose to go the self-publishing route with Kindle, Smashwords, and receive a decent royalty, much higher than any traditional publisher offers. It also gives readers opportunity to buy e-books at reasonable prices for their Kindle, iPad, Kobo, Smartphone, computer, tablets, or other devices. And some we haven't even heard of yet....

Linda

Author Barry Eisler Turns Down Half Million to Self-Publish

At first glance some may think best-selling thriller author, Barry Eisler is nuts to walk away from a half million dollar publishing deal with one of the Big 6 NY publishers. But I don't think he is. I believe he's smart and visionary in his decision to self-publish ebooks.

Many new or midlist writers, as well as best-selling authors are now putting their books at Amazon Kindle, Smashwords (which distributes to a number of retailers in various ebook formats), and publishing print on demand through Amazon Creatspace for -0- or $39. What is nice about all of these, is the author sets the price on his or her book, and can change it at any time. It appears the books that are selling the large numbers, especially at Kindle, are priced from .99 cents to 4.99. But you never know. It all depends on what someone might want to read, fiction, nonfiction, and the many subjects and genres. Lots of choices.

If you are an author, new or old, thinking of e-publishing backlist books, or new manuscripts, but still unsure about taking the leap, read what Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath have to say in this discussion of ebooks. It is possible it may remove any resistance you have to the idea of self-publishing. (Be prepared to have a cup of coffee at your side before you start reading as it is a long discussion, but well worth the read.)

Also you may be interested in this previous blog I did on Barry Eisler some time ago, and this one.

~Linda

Janet Evanovich on ebooks and self-publishing

"If you are a guy and you make a lot of money, you are a success. If you are a woman and you make a lot of money, you are a bitch." ~Janet Evanovich, author

Jeff Rivera interviewed Janet Evanovich for mediabistro.com. Here is his question to Janet in regards to ebooks and self-publishing.:

“With the eBook revolution threatening to overtake print books permanently, what are your thoughts about how this could affect your revenue?”

Janet: “Yeah, I love eBooks. I think they're great, and I'm not sure how they are going to affect my revenue. I'm not sure anybody knows. I think we're going to have to wait and see how it shakes out. What I know is that they are not going to go away. The kids have come up being so comfortable on the screen, and now even all ages are buying into the Kindle and iPad. eBooks are here to stay. I think that anything that expands the market, anything that encourages people to read, anything that enhances the reading experience, makes it easier, makes it cheaper, makes it more interesting -- fabulous, I just love it. I think we haven't even seen the beginning of eBooks. All kinds of great things are going to come out of it.”

“Today's authors stand to make dramatically more income by self-publishing and publishing directly on formats such as Amazon's Kindle. Have you given any thought to doing the same for your future titles?”

Janet: “Actually, I have given it some thought, and then I've said, "What? Are you nuts?" It's not that simple. I think that there are a lot of people out there self-publishing and who have the ability to get their work out now because of the Internet, but it has lots of limitations: distribution, publicity, marketing. There are just many, many components that for me, at least at my level, just don't work for me. I am actually really happy to have help from a publisher. It's enough to keep my ass in the chair and keep writing without taking on that also. And I mean, I have my whole family working for me and they're all doing their own jobs, and I can't imagine one more job added to the list.”
© WebMediaBrands Inc. 2010. All Rights Reserved

Read the interview here.

Debate on Self Publishing Continues, and Continues

Author Jon Guenther posted interesting comments on his blog about self-publishing and the ebook debate which is the current hot topic in the world of publishing. (I agree with him). And I have a feeling the topic will not cool to a tepid temp for quite some time.

This week a news item from mass market paperback publisher Dorchester Publishing, reported in Publishers Weekly and elsewhere, stating the company "has dropped its traditional print publishing business in favor of an e-book/print-on-demand model effective with its September titles that are “shipping” now." They have been in the mass market paperback business publishing mainly romance, and also westerns, thrillers, etc., and although not one of the NY conglomerates, they've been a stable and recognized publisher since 1971.

It is also an indication that the movement by many authors into self-publishing ebooks and PODs, along with the public buying and reading ebooks, is definetly having an impact on the book world. Every few days it seems, another topic of interest regarding ebooks arises, whether from Amazon, authors, agents or publishers.

I am currently expanding my ebook distribution beyond Amazon's Kindle now to the various other platforms for reader devices through Smashwords.com. And this week Amazon.com in the UK now has Kindle and our U.S. books available.

Times they are A'Changin' .... and A'Changin'

And many of us are happy to see the changes and new opportunities taking place. I believe it gives us a new sense of identity as authors to have not only choice in the way we publish our books, but control over our works as never before.

Some of my previous posts about the subject of self-publishing PODs and ebooks.

Charlie Rose Interviews Amazon's Jeff Bezos

Linda Pendleton on the Self-Publishing Debate

Linda Pendleton on Pixels and Fonts: Ebooks and Ebook Readers

And two articles I published nearly ten years ago concerning the subject at a time when the interest in ebooks was really just beginning:

Pixels and Fonts, Should it Matter? Resistance to Ebook Publishing by Some in the Library Profession.

Ebook Publishing vs. Print Publishing: A Look at the Pros and Cons.

And more from Jon Guenther on his Blog: Amazon and the Kindle Rock.

Yes, Times they are A'Changin'

Yipee...



~Linda

Self-Publishing Debate

I’m beginning to find rather amusing these ongoing and, at times, heated discussions of self publishing vs. standard publishing. Oh, some refer to it as vanity publishing...a term I now consider to be misplaced in some instances. If you receive royalties, I believe that to not be vanity publishing.

More than ten years ago, the Authors Guild, Inc.(I’ve been a member since 1990) began to offer their members the opportunity to put there out of print books back in print. Many authors have done so. I did so with my late husband, Don Pendleton’s two mystery series, 12 books in all: the Joe Copp Private Eye Thrillers and the Ashton Ford Psychic Detective series. The Back in Print program was in conjunction with iUniverse.com (a company somehow connected at the time with Barnes and Noble) and apparently now under the umbrella of Author Solutions/Author House.

At the time I published Don’s 12 books with the Back in Print program, the set up cost per book was $99 and the royalty rate was 25%. I also published several other books with iUniverse over the next two years or so, at the $99 setup, and did my own covers, and had a royalty rate on those new books at 20%.

They’ve made profit...and I have heard from others, “but you didn’t get anything up front like you would with a publisher.” No, you do not get an advance when publishing this way, an advance against royalties. And in some cases, depending on the size of the advance you receive, it could be all you ever get, or if you earn out more royalty above the initial advance (usually part on signing, part on delivery of the mss), the publisher may distribute it to you over a long period of time while keeping some of your earned royalty money as a protection for them against returns by booksellers.

In the last few years since I published with iUniverse, their rates have increased significantly...about 500%. And things are not as good with this new company—they were slower to post royalties, and are not posting Kindle royalties (I paid $99 bucks recently to have two book put at Kindle by iUniverse). That was a mistake on my part as I could have done it for FREE myself, as I’ve discovered how easy it is to do. I’ve now put 31 books at Kindle myself, and I love that as I can watch my daily sales through my account at Amazon Kindle.

I have also ended my agreement with iUniverse on the Joe Copp and Ashton Ford mystery series, and will be putting them in print with createspace.com shortly. I did new covers for all 12 and put them at Kindle where they are selling nicely. Those same covers will be done soon for the new PODs.

I also published two books with createspace.com, my PI novel, Shattered Lens: Catherine Winter, Private Investigator, and The Cosmic Breath: Metaphysical Essays of Don Pendleton. That was quick and easy at $39.

So what I am so amused at is the apparent belief by many (agents, publishers, and authors) that books published in this way have no value. You can read what many are saying in their blogs, and in comments about POD and ebook publishing....if an author decided to bypass the agent—the mainstream publisher, then the manuscript must be “junk” and not worthy of publication. Why does a writer’s group disallow an author membership if he or she has published in this way? Why are some well-known writers against this kind of publication? Why do they care? They have made their money via their choice. (or have they actually gotten ripped off by mainstream publishers and don’t care to admit that—and believe me, it can happen).

Personally I prefer having control over my books, and if it means not having to go through the marketing process of a well-written manuscript, whether at the agent level or the publisher level, which can take many, many months or longer, it is well worth it to me. I get irritated when an agent takes months to reply, or will only reply to a query if interested, often leaving the author hanging will waiting a reasonable time, Yes, my books may suffer lack of distribution, but I have decided that I will do all I can to let people know of my writing and those who are meant to read it, will. The others who want to complain and prejudge the quality of work with a self-published tag on it, well, that is their problem.

Authors write for a variety of reason and expectations from publishing their work can be varied. And the rewards of writing have nothing much to do with bucks but with heart-felt feedback. Those are the things that stay with an author, the joy of sharing—the meeting of the minds, the author’s with the reader’s. The moment you learn you inspired someone with your words, that’s all that really matters. I’ve enjoyed that many times over in the last twenty years. And my husband, Don Pendleton was able to enjoy that for his long career, and even today, I still receive emails from his fans on how his books inspired them.

For some quality self-published works, take a look at Jon Guenther, H. Charles Dilmore, Summer Bacon, Stephen Tremp, Don Pendleton, Linda Pendleton, Greg Pendleton, and in the coming weeks, a memoir by Athena Demetrios. I’m sure some of you know of others who could be added to the list. I know the list of quality, interesting, and inspirational, self published books must be very long. It has to be as there is a lot of talent in this world.

Some mainstream publishers and booksellers who are getting in the game of offering publishing programs for a fee, now includes Harlequin, Thomas Nelson, Barnes and Noble (just announced), Hay House, of course, Amazon, and I would bet the list is growing day by day.

So why the negative reaction by some agents to authors who self publish? Seems obvious....they may be out a job one day.

What is not obvious is why another published author cares if one of his peers decides to self-publish....

Oh, maybe that’s it. They don’t consider self-published authors “peers” in their “elite” world? Could that be it?

All that said, do I believe in spending a lot of money putting your book out there? No, not really. Any aspiring author about to publish should carefully research, consider all alternatives, and not be “taken in” at a vulnerable time—vulnerable—yes, as it feels great to hold your book in your hand, or to see it listed for Kindle download or other downloads as ebooks.

It’s a sense of pride of doing what we love to do, and doing it well. As Joseph Campbell once said, “Follow your bliss.” And if that bliss is writing, do it!

~Linda

The Unease in the Publishing World

"Nothing endures but change." - Heraclitus

Many authors are moving away from traditional publishing and going to self-publishing. This last month there was outrage in the publishing industry because Harlequin and another publisher now have a branch of their companies dealing in self-publishing.

Kevin Weiss is CEO of Author Solutions, the company who owns the self-publishing companies such as Exlibris, Author House, and iUniverse (who I have published several books with in 2000 and 2002, in addition to putting 12 of my late husband, Don Pendleton’s books back in print with their program in association with the Authors Guild, Inc.).

I’m not necessarily recommending an author choose to go the self publishing route without doing some research of the idea, but as I have written I have been upset by the attitude of publishers and many agents who believe a self-published author is not worthy of regular, traditional publishing and is not a professional. And I am also perturbed by the same attitude of author organizations, such as the Mystery Writers of America, who will not allow membership in the organization unless an author has been published by a company they consider to be a traditional publisher. I consider those attitudes to be elitist and unreasonable.

I must say I agree with what Kevin Weiss states in his video, and in my last blog I talked about Jeff Bezos’ Amazon and the Kindle Reader.

Change is happening in the industry and there is resistance. I doubt we’re going to go backwards so everybody might as well surrender to it instead of fighting it. It is time for change. And readers who are not spending $30 on a hardcover book should be giving publishers a hint. And millions spent on advances, especially celebrity advances, are not being recovered.

Seems there is a message there.

Let's see what 2010 brings....

~Linda