Tag Archives: books

Inspiration, Success Stories, Writer Reference

J.A. Konrath: Fisking Donald Maass

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Oh. My. Goodness.

My favorite author has just spanked the Emerald City Doorman hard enough that it’s going to leave a mark.  And Mr. Maass is going to have a severe limp for quite awhile!

It’s no secret that I am an indie-publishing heretic, posting often and everywhere about how every author should look into getting themselves published without getting ridden hard and put away wet by a legacy publishing dinosaur (that’ll give you a limp for sure!).  But no one – NO ONE – takes the publishing industry or their flan-boys to task better, cleaner, and more beautifully than Mr. Konrath.

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Dead Tree Books, eBook

Discount Books Daily Launches Curated Email Newsletter for Book Lovers Seeking Discounts and Variety

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Daily email offers subscribers discounted eBooks, paperback books and audiobooks in various genres.

Discount Books Daily is a daily email newsletter for book lovers looking for deep discounts on genre-specific audiobooks, eBooks and/or paperback books. Membership is free and subscribers gain access to books from traditional publishers as well as top-notch independent authors. The vision is simple: make interesting, discounted books (in the genres and formats readers prefer) that are easy to find and easy to purchase.

Discount Books Daily aims to provide readers access to deeply discounted books without forgetting one truth: readers need and want choices. “We’re a team of readers. And though we have that in common, what we read and how we read is quite different. I might download a new book onto my tablet, but my partner Miles, who is a new dad, gets his best reading done listening to audiobooks during his work commute. There are also people like my husband who enjoy touching the cover of a book, dog-earing the pages and placing a book on their bookshelves. We don’t want to forget them,” says co-founder Tina Patterson.

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Dead Tree Books, eBook

The Guardian and L.A. Times continue crusade against self-publishing

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The L.A. Times is parroting an article first reported in The Guardian:

“98 British publishers folded last year due to e-books, discounts”

The original article published November 4th in the Guardian has a headline screaming “Ebooks and discounts drive 98 publishers out of business” with a subhead of “Number of closures is 42% up on last year, as digital books and huge pressure on margins push companies over the brink” … and it’s all nonsense.  Bollocks.

The quote by Anthony Cork of the accountancy firm Wilkins Kennedy included is “the rise of Amazon and other discount sellers with massive buying power means the pressure on publishers’ margins is now immense. While publishers might be able to sustain relatively small margins on a bestseller, it is much harder for niche publishers.”

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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.