Category Archives: Writing

eBook, Self Publishing, Writing

Ebooks Responsible for Nearly $1 Billion Growth in Trade

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

According to Digital Book World, eBooks pushed the total net book sales over $27.1 billion for 2012. eBooks were 20% of trade publishing net sales for 2012, beating the 2011 eBooks sales figure (15%) handsomely.

From the DBW article:

The BookStat report shows prices are fairly stable for trade, ebook growth has slowed but contributes significantly to book sales overall, and that both romance and YA are growth genres, according to Ned May, VP and practice leader at Outsell Inc., who presented the stats at today’s MIP event.

The complete BookStat report will be released in June, and it will show a net new dollars figure for eBooks of $995 million.

You can read the original article HERE.

Self Publishing, Writing

Writers Union of Canada to vote on admitting self-published authors

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The CBC is reporting that the Writers’ Union of Canada is expected to vote on a measure to accept self-published authors as members at the end of May. From the article:

“…The Writers Union of Canada represents over 1,900 authors from across the country. For the past year, an ad hoc membership committee has been gathering feedback from chapters across the country on whether the organization should revoke its long-standing policy of not admitting self-published authors. Members will vote on the issue at TWUC’s AGM in Ottawa at the end of May…”

Continue reading →

Writing

Ernest Hemingway’s papers coming to America from Cuba

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

According to the AP, the Finca Vigia Foundation is working with Cuba to preserve and digitize papers left by Papa in Cuba after his passing in 1961.

More than 2,000 items have been digitized and sent to the United States.  This enhances the collection of 3,000 documents – including a manuscript with an alternate ending to “For Whom the Bell Tolls” as well as corrected proofs of “The Old Man and the Sea” – to include passports showing where the Nobel Prize-winning novelist traveled, as well as personal correspondence.

From the AP:

“…On Monday at the U.S. Capitol, U.S. Rep. James McGovern of Massachusetts and the Boston-based Finca Vigia Foundation announced that 2,000 digital copies of Hemingway papers and materials will be transferred to Boston’s John F. Kennedy Library…”

Ernest Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was a Nobel Prize laureate, author, and adventurer. His writing style continues to be a strong influence many writers, and the adventures he had through two World Wars, in Africa, as an ex-patriate, and as a journalist would become the stuff of legend. Continue reading →

eBook, Self Publishing, Writing

FINALLY! A Publisher Figures Out That DRM Is Useless!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

c|net Australia has just put up an article “Tor Books: piracy not an issue despite lacking ebook DRM” that state what I and others have been preaching for years.

From the article:

“One year after Tor launched its DRM-free store, the publisher has said that there has been “no discernible increase” in piracy.”

On April 25, 2012, Tor Books UK removed DRM from all of their ebooks.  According to a blog post by Julie Crisp on the Tor Books site, “We made this decision in conjunction with our sister company in the US, for our shared brand imprint. It was something that we’d been exploring for quite a while and a move that we felt committed to for our particular area.”

DRM is copy protection added to ebooks and other media by publishers and retailers supposedly to prevent piracy.  It assumes that the person legitimately buying the media from the retailer is a thief.  As a purchaser, I find this kinda insulting; if I was a thief, I wouldn’t be buying the work in the first place.  Duh!

Continue reading →

Dead Tree Books, eBook, Writing

BBC News reports that self-publishing is a ‘wonderful phenomenon’

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

BBC News is reporting that 2012 was a record year for the UK publishing industry.

The Publishers Association Statistics Yearbook reported total revenues of £3.34B with digital sale hitting £411M, and sales of physical books coming in at £2.9B.

“Self-publishing has been a wonderful phenomenon,” said Richard Mollett, chief executive of The Publishers Association. “It has thrown up a great new interest in writing and reading.”

You can hear the whole bit from the Today programme HERE.

You can visit the Publishers Association HERE.