BOOK PUBLISHING'S SLIDE SINCE 2005

If you don't faint easily, open this link about the latest book publishing stats in the USA:
http://www.bkpextranet.com/AuthorMaterials/10AwfulTruths.htm. It was prepared by Steven Piersanti, President, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, updated June 15, 2009. 

But buried in the dismal stats are some clues on coping with the the new reality as an author. Mentioned briefly are the importance of an extensive promotional plan in nonfiction proposals and one for the social media. At the end Peirsanti gives seven strategies that can help us respond.

There's more too. You need to read this, but sit down first!! Read it knowing that your book ONLY competes with other books in its category and sub-category, not all titles.

TROUBLING NEWS FOR FREELANCERS CONTINUES...

BEACON FLASH #42  - February 2010

December 2009 brought the news that the National Geographic Adventure magazine is folding after the Jan/Feb 2010 issue. January 2010 brought the news that many markets are slashing the fees paid for articles so severely that many freelance writers cannot earn a living any longer. Along with that depressing news, evidence exists that articles are getting shorter and less well researched. (See LA Times here.)

Freelancers are smart if they develop other ways to earn revenue that keep them writing and feeding their creativity.
Some suggestions:

• don't give up your day job right now if you're lucky enough to have one
• pass along your knowledge through sessions at your community college's continuing ed programs
• today, even with point and shoot cameras, anyone can take photos good enough for print. Start selling your digital images to print and online markets
• sell your images to businesses and institutions
• write copy for company websites - small businesses are always looking for assistance.
• tutor students in English and writing
• offer to write promotional copy for small businesses
• provide editing/formatting services if you are good at this aspect of writing

Do what you have to do to keep food on the table, but don't forget to keep writing, even if it is just for practice.

Help yourself stay motivated by:

• Continuing your professional development - make a list of what you want to know more about, prioritize it, and work your way through it. 
• Keeping current in your area(s) of interest. 
• Remaining engaged with your writing community. 
• Keeping a writing journal of ideas (in a notebook or on a voice recorder) that will provide fodder for articles when the climate warms up for freelancers.
• Learning how to edit your digital images with Picasa, a free program from Google - it's easy!
• READ!!!

APPLE UNVEILS THE iPAD...

 iPad (c) www.engadget.com (Joshua Topolsky)

Apple unveiled its new iPad this morning. It looks like a magazine-sized iPhone, but is a cross between a computer, a 3G phone, and an e-reader. WiFi only version - US$499; WiFi + 3G - US$829.

An excerpt from wired.com of Apple's launch today of interest to authors who publish e-books:

iBooks is the app for reading books. (It looks a lot like Classics for the iPhone.) Within the app you can download e-books from the iTunes e-book store.

Five of the largest publishers are on board: Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster, Macmillan, Penguin, Hachette
“We’re very excited about this.”

Now he’s demoing the iBook app. It’s a bookshelf. It flips around to reveal the iTunes Store (kind of like a room behind a secret wall.) Tapping a book on the shelf launches a nice, pretty-looking page. Swiping left or right turns pages. You can change the font size if you’d like. Bigger or smaller. Change the font. “We use the EPUB format. It is the most popular open book format in the world.”

Read more http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/apple-tablet-event/#ixzz0dqliPPW1

SOME STATISTICS FOR WRITERS

Pingdom has posted statistics for the Internet world in 2009 at http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/01/22/internet-2009-in-numbers/. To me the figures that start at "Internet users" (scroll down a bit) are the most telling for writers.

The sections on images and videos show how we have to become content providers more than just wordsmiths, and the social media statistics demonstrate how important these sites are for promotion of our work.

Take a look!

APPLE'S ANSWER TO KINDLE AND SONY READER?

This weekend, the buzz was all about Apple's long-awaited  answer to e-readers (Amazon's Kindle and the Sony Reader). The Globe and Mail newspaper devoted a two-page spread in the Report on Business on Saturday, January 16/10. Following its usual position, Apple has not even acknowledged that they have an e-reader under development, letting the anticipation boil over.

Hyped as the Kindle Killer, the iSlate (a predicted name) is said to be bigger, better, and much more like a computer with very different technology driving its performance. It's more a cross between a netbook, a reader, and an iPhone. Estimates claim it will retail for about US$1000.00. If all the speculation is correct, the iSlate is an apple (!) to the oranges that are Kindle and Sony Readers. You cannot, maybe should not, compare them....

You can see an artist's impression of the device and read the speculation and hype about the iSlate here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/behind-apples-iron-curtain/article1432726/.

FAQs ABOUT PUBLISHING E-BOOKS

My January 3 post about e-books selling more than print brought in a flurry of questions from authors and aspiring authors. It also caused some dismay and disbelief among a few readers, but mostly acknowledgment from the writing community. 
   Here are my responses and I urge you to understand they are just one view (mine) in the avalanche of speculation Amazon's report created.

What are the opportunities for writers, especially those who are positioning themselves to self-publish? 

I have been digitally publishing my books since 2000, both commercially and myself. All my self-pubbed books are available in electronic versions (.pdf) on my website.

To get my books for writers accepted by Sony and Amazon for their e-readers, I was forced to find a commercial American e-publisher. I didn't find this difficult, simply annoying. If Amazon would accept self-published e-books by authors with residence in Canada, I would have done it myself using my imprint, Beacon Publishing.

   Is it worth it the hassle? Most definitely for me. My e-book sales were slow until I started tweeting about my e-books, and then my sales increased by 200% almost in the first six weeks and haven't looked back.

   My advice to authors: hedge your bets - self-publish your books in print and electronically in a variety of formats.

Are commercial (trade) publishers producing e-versions for sale?

   Yes, more and more. Some bring out e-versions at the same time as the print book is released. Others wait until a hard-cover bestseller comes out in paper-back. But still others don't e-publish at all or restrict the availability of the e-version to the USA, probably due to the rights awarded in the contract.

   I have been in the business long enough to remember trade publishing contracts without e-rights. Over the past five years, my trade contracts have changed everytime. Ten years ago, I could also negotiate to keep the e-rights for myself, but not any longer. Publishers want them and want them all, even unknown e-rights. Trying to change a small clause in the e-right section is a hard-fought proposition these days - the best I could do in 2009 was to put a time limit on how long my publisher had to exploit the e-rights. I doubt I would even achieve that nine months later after the explosion of sales of e-books and Kindles that Amazon reported. (See The Writers' Union of Canada for more on contracts and e-rights.)

   Once authors have a trade contract and their publishers have the e-rights, authors must nag them to get the book converted and sold to Sony and Amazon for their e-readers. Print sales still seem uppermost in publishers' minds and many  are slow to accept the value of e-sales.

How will e-publishing affect earnings through royalties (if books sell more cheaply through Kindle, do writers' royalties - meager as they often are - also take a hit? 

No question! Given that the retail price of e-books is much lower than print so far, author's royalties drop accordingly. On an e-book that costs a reader US$6.99, the author receives $1.00, but this is a higher percentage than the 10% you earn on print copies. Authors need higher sales volume for e-books to make the same return as print.

   Some other thoughts here concerning the price point. The big box bookstores and Costco are demanding publishers sell them print books at very low retail prices - almost as low as e-versions. E-books have been creeping up a bit lately. Where is this trend going to end up? Honestly, I don't know, but I have a sinking feeling it will soon reduce earnings from royalties. This is one of the reasons I choose to self-publish all but my books on Canadian history - I make more money!

Will e-books make it easier or more difficult for writers to promote their own work? 

   Well, you can't book signings in the same way as you do for print versions! Readings, perhaps? But if you've read the Winter 2009 issue of The Beacon, you'll know what my publisher and I think of the value of those events.

   My take on promotion is to meet the readers of e-books where they congregate - online. Hence, my success with Twitter promotion. You must have an author blog at the very least.Offer yourself as a guest blogger and for blog interviews too.Get active on Facebookin networks who are interested in your area of work, be they writers or readers.

   Note that the 50-64 age group is buying e-readers and smart phones 50% more numbers than the Gen Ys and Millenials. They can afford them and travel. Instead of carrying a suitcase one third full of books on trips, I load up my e-reader with books in text and my iPod with audio books for when my eyes get tired on long flights. Result - I can take more with me or use a smaller case. And, please note, I fit the demographic - I shall be 65 in seven months.

   Sales of e-novels now outstrip e-nonfiction, turning the old stats on their heads. Reasons? Perhaps it's price, illustrations don't work that well on e-readers, green-consciousness, and many buyers preferring to have nonfiction on their bookshelves for reference.

Now what are others saying about this topic? To make a wise judgment for your situation, get several opinions from all the stakeholders and weigh them carefully to see if e-publishing is a good choice for the books you write.

E-BOOKS SOLD MORE THIS CHRISTMAS THAN PRINT!

Amazon media release announces that they sold more e-books than print books this holiday season - a milestone for the company that has nearly 400,000 digital books available.

See the full release here:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1369429

Do you think this is the shape of things to come?