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Wednesday, August 31, 2011
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Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The Kindle Revolution
Digital readers will save writers and publishing, even if they destroy the book business.
By Marion Maneker
Amazon announced the second iteration of its Kindle electronic reading device last month. The next day, HarperCollins announced that it would close its Collins division to substantially reduce head count and limit the number of books it acquires to publish. It was almost as if Harper was acting out a ritual dismemberment upon hearing the news.
There was, in fact, no cause and effect between the two events—but there ought to have been. The Kindle may be little more than a novelty device today. With each passing day, though, it begins to have the potential to change the business model for writers of all types and stripes. As for Harper, the layoffs were the caboose in a long train of publishing industry firings that began last fall. Think of the causal chain here as the beginning of the beginning for digital delivery of written works and the beginning of the end for the corporate publishing conglomerate.
Why are the publishers cutting back? Sales aren't exactly down across the board. Look at Simon and Schuster, one of the first to cut jobs: Its sales were up 1 percent in the fourth quarter (though profits were down). Nor is S&S on the defensive. In her year-end letter to employees, S&S head Carolyn Reidy exhorted her employees not to turn tail and run: "This is precisely the moment—when established routines do not yield the customary results—that we must take chances and embrace risk."
The risky part of the business—best-sellers—isn't really the problem. Though how to manage that risk has become a serious problem for several houses. What's eating into publishers' profits is the slowing of backlist sales. Penguin CEO David Shanks told the industry's news hub, Publisher's Marketplace, that backlist sales—where they get most of their profits—were slow in October and November. In December they were back to normal based on the success of a series of vampire books, which is really backlist selling as frontlist.
Backlist is slowing because traffic at the bookstore chains is slowing. Barnes & Noble's holiday sales were down nearly 8 percent as measured by same-store comps. Retail was bad everywhere in the fourth quarter, but for the year, those comps were down more than 5 percent. Ironically, the book chains are falling victim to the same disease that killed the independent bookstore. High-margin sales—big best-sellers that come in the back of the store in a shipping box and leave through the front with a customer in the space of a few hours or days—have migrated to other outlets. When a book is running hot, most sales don't take place in bookstores at all. They're at Costco and newsstands and grocery stores and dozens of other nonbook book outlets. Meanwhile, back at the Barnes & Noble, the low-margin books—those worthy backlist titles for which the store must pay a lot to store on the shelves for weeks or years just so they'll be waiting for you when you finally come looking for them—are clogging up the system.
Think of it this way: Borders and Barnes & Noble pay lots of rent on large stores filled with backlist books in the hope that the cornucopia of titles will attract you to them. But, in truth, you go there to read magazines, drink coffee, and loaf. You're not buying many of those backlist books when you're there.
By Marion Maneker
Amazon announced the second iteration of its Kindle electronic reading device last month. The next day, HarperCollins announced that it would close its Collins division to substantially reduce head count and limit the number of books it acquires to publish. It was almost as if Harper was acting out a ritual dismemberment upon hearing the news.
There was, in fact, no cause and effect between the two events—but there ought to have been. The Kindle may be little more than a novelty device today. With each passing day, though, it begins to have the potential to change the business model for writers of all types and stripes. As for Harper, the layoffs were the caboose in a long train of publishing industry firings that began last fall. Think of the causal chain here as the beginning of the beginning for digital delivery of written works and the beginning of the end for the corporate publishing conglomerate.
Why are the publishers cutting back? Sales aren't exactly down across the board. Look at Simon and Schuster, one of the first to cut jobs: Its sales were up 1 percent in the fourth quarter (though profits were down). Nor is S&S on the defensive. In her year-end letter to employees, S&S head Carolyn Reidy exhorted her employees not to turn tail and run: "This is precisely the moment—when established routines do not yield the customary results—that we must take chances and embrace risk."
The risky part of the business—best-sellers—isn't really the problem. Though how to manage that risk has become a serious problem for several houses. What's eating into publishers' profits is the slowing of backlist sales. Penguin CEO David Shanks told the industry's news hub, Publisher's Marketplace, that backlist sales—where they get most of their profits—were slow in October and November. In December they were back to normal based on the success of a series of vampire books, which is really backlist selling as frontlist.
Backlist is slowing because traffic at the bookstore chains is slowing. Barnes & Noble's holiday sales were down nearly 8 percent as measured by same-store comps. Retail was bad everywhere in the fourth quarter, but for the year, those comps were down more than 5 percent. Ironically, the book chains are falling victim to the same disease that killed the independent bookstore. High-margin sales—big best-sellers that come in the back of the store in a shipping box and leave through the front with a customer in the space of a few hours or days—have migrated to other outlets. When a book is running hot, most sales don't take place in bookstores at all. They're at Costco and newsstands and grocery stores and dozens of other nonbook book outlets. Meanwhile, back at the Barnes & Noble, the low-margin books—those worthy backlist titles for which the store must pay a lot to store on the shelves for weeks or years just so they'll be waiting for you when you finally come looking for them—are clogging up the system.
Think of it this way: Borders and Barnes & Noble pay lots of rent on large stores filled with backlist books in the hope that the cornucopia of titles will attract you to them. But, in truth, you go there to read magazines, drink coffee, and loaf. You're not buying many of those backlist books when you're there.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Become A Ebook Publisher
There is a wide open and ever-expanding marketplace just waiting for you.
Do you know how much $$ you are mi$$ing by not having your book available on Kindle?
Did you know that if your book is on Kindle it is also available on the iPad? (Kindle app for iPad)
E Publishing Templates
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
How to Enter the Lucrative eBook Market
-- By James Burt, Info Marketing Expert
I've recently been researching the growth of the eBook market.
Here are some tips I can pass on to you from my research to
help you expand your info marketing business:
--- eBooks are lucrative avenues for business: Whenever a new
fad or medium comes along, it's natural for people to be
suspicious of them. If one thinks of "Crystal Pepsi" back in the
early 90s, it might have seemed a fun fad at first to have clear
cola on the market, but clearly it did not last as a commercial
venture. On the other hand, digital music players such as the
"iPod" might have seemed weird 10 years ago, but they've
turned out to be a lasting consumer good. eBooks fall into the
latter category. They aren't nearly as cheap to buy as a
secondhand paperback or even new print edition, but they have
caught on with the public. While consumers are buying a
pricey format to use to read, eBook titles are not that
expensive. This coupled with the fact that they are compact,
durable, and very attractive new products make them desirable
to consumers.
--- People want the same quality material for their eBooks:
This is where you as the information marketer fill a particular
commercial void. As with the advent of other digital media,
especially films and video games, a lot of material became
pirated by less than ethical folks looking for a quick buck. You
might have seen the films on a pirated DVD that was filmed
with a video camcorder inside a cinema. Awful sound, awful
picture, and hardly even worth the little money that was paid
for it. Apparently some eBook material that has been released
is very sub par -- whole texts with spelling errors and sloppy
page layouts, and some have even been acquired from sources
without permission. Info marketers stand to take their already
existing quality material and put them into eBook formats,
which can be marketed further to eBook-using clients. You
might have to solicit a digital publisher to help you create an
info product in eBook form, but it will likely be well worth it in
the long run. Quality is quality no matter the format, and
people will pay for quality material.
--- Info marketers don't stand to lose anything: This is related
to the last point. In my research, I was shocked by one eBook
publisher's view of the future of publishing. He expressed no
nostalgia for print media and said it was time to get hip to the
times. His blunt and honest opinion is probably worthwhile
to hear from someone in the industry. But, as an info marketer,
you may not want to be so quick to write one medium off and
focus solely on another. eBooks are just another good venture
for your business and, rather than dump all your old print
material, you can maintain some of it while incorporating
eBooks into your business. It might be tough to get going, but
working eBook info products into your existing business is just
another new avenue for more success.
--- eBooks are the future: The previously mentioned publisher's
comments seem blunt, but they are a good direction to use as a
benchmark for the future. We might see the death of all print
products -- mail, magazines, info books -- outright. Or maybe
not. But the basic lesson is simple and less brutal: you have to
keep an eye on the future and, if eBooks are here, they are
likely here to stay for a while. There will be more
modifications to their technology, new developments, and most
likely new opportunities to come for all entrepreneurs out
there. In the end, as an info marketer, be on guard for what is to
come. Your foresight can help maintain and even increase your
personal success.
Perhaps like you, I have yet to catch the eBook buzz. I still
carry a paperback in my coat pocket wherever I go. But I
intend to get educated about it even more. Stay tuned for more
eBook news. The future might just be words on a small screen,
but this can be a goldmine for info marketers ready for to
utilize them
I've recently been researching the growth of the eBook market.
Here are some tips I can pass on to you from my research to
help you expand your info marketing business:
--- eBooks are lucrative avenues for business: Whenever a new
fad or medium comes along, it's natural for people to be
suspicious of them. If one thinks of "Crystal Pepsi" back in the
early 90s, it might have seemed a fun fad at first to have clear
cola on the market, but clearly it did not last as a commercial
venture. On the other hand, digital music players such as the
"iPod" might have seemed weird 10 years ago, but they've
turned out to be a lasting consumer good. eBooks fall into the
latter category. They aren't nearly as cheap to buy as a
secondhand paperback or even new print edition, but they have
caught on with the public. While consumers are buying a
pricey format to use to read, eBook titles are not that
expensive. This coupled with the fact that they are compact,
durable, and very attractive new products make them desirable
to consumers.
--- People want the same quality material for their eBooks:
This is where you as the information marketer fill a particular
commercial void. As with the advent of other digital media,
especially films and video games, a lot of material became
pirated by less than ethical folks looking for a quick buck. You
might have seen the films on a pirated DVD that was filmed
with a video camcorder inside a cinema. Awful sound, awful
picture, and hardly even worth the little money that was paid
for it. Apparently some eBook material that has been released
is very sub par -- whole texts with spelling errors and sloppy
page layouts, and some have even been acquired from sources
without permission. Info marketers stand to take their already
existing quality material and put them into eBook formats,
which can be marketed further to eBook-using clients. You
might have to solicit a digital publisher to help you create an
info product in eBook form, but it will likely be well worth it in
the long run. Quality is quality no matter the format, and
people will pay for quality material.
--- Info marketers don't stand to lose anything: This is related
to the last point. In my research, I was shocked by one eBook
publisher's view of the future of publishing. He expressed no
nostalgia for print media and said it was time to get hip to the
times. His blunt and honest opinion is probably worthwhile
to hear from someone in the industry. But, as an info marketer,
you may not want to be so quick to write one medium off and
focus solely on another. eBooks are just another good venture
for your business and, rather than dump all your old print
material, you can maintain some of it while incorporating
eBooks into your business. It might be tough to get going, but
working eBook info products into your existing business is just
another new avenue for more success.
--- eBooks are the future: The previously mentioned publisher's
comments seem blunt, but they are a good direction to use as a
benchmark for the future. We might see the death of all print
products -- mail, magazines, info books -- outright. Or maybe
not. But the basic lesson is simple and less brutal: you have to
keep an eye on the future and, if eBooks are here, they are
likely here to stay for a while. There will be more
modifications to their technology, new developments, and most
likely new opportunities to come for all entrepreneurs out
there. In the end, as an info marketer, be on guard for what is to
come. Your foresight can help maintain and even increase your
personal success.
Perhaps like you, I have yet to catch the eBook buzz. I still
carry a paperback in my coat pocket wherever I go. But I
intend to get educated about it even more. Stay tuned for more
eBook news. The future might just be words on a small screen,
but this can be a goldmine for info marketers ready for to
utilize them
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