I'm as excited as the next guy or gal about the possibilities of e-publishing, but I have to admit a new fear: e-book theft.
This is not your run-of-the-mill piracy. That I can handle. There are two major camps on this older issue: 1) Anger over lost revenue because people are sharing your book and not paying you for it; 2) Excitement because it means your book is being read by more people. More people = more fans, and thus more readers and potential buyers for future products.
Yeah, I'm more in camp 2 on this point, and I think it's just an inevitable part of the business.
But I'm talking about something else here entirely, and it scares the heebie-jeebies (sp?) out of me. E-book theft is when someone takes your digital book and reposts it online under their name. In other words, they've stolen your book and selling it as their own.
And it's on the rise. Dave Farland in his Daily Kick yesterday talked about one 'author' who had stolen 350 titles and reposted them as his own e-book.
That's so outrageous it makes me more than angry. It makes me highly anxious over what may happen to the budding industry, to new authors with little clout to go after such thieves, especially in lawless lands like China where US copyright law has no power. Remember when the unauthorized Harry Potter book 7 came out before the official release date? The one with Gandalf in it?
Just in case you think I'm overreacting, read this article on "Spam Clogging Amazon's Kindle Self-publishing."
Scary because we might lose control over our own product, our own revenue, and even our own names.
It's also scary because it will impact how Amazon handles self-pubs. It will impact other sales vehicles, like Smashwords and B&N. And it will eventually, but quickly, impact how we as e-authors want to market and sell our books.
Suddenly I'm wondering if the big publishers won't find their own niche in this new world faster than we thought. If they can find a way to fight this kind of piracy successfully, they will have given themselves an edge they so desperately need.
We'll have to stand fast and find a way to beat these new nemeses.
As for me, I'm still working on option 3--the one I told you about a few posts ago. Don't worry, I'll reveal those plans soon!
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
J.K. Rowling on the Future of E-Books
I find this fascinating. Print books will never die, and I think we must continue to use them as part of our marketing strategy, but e-books just keep gaining traction and power. I think more and more we need to consider the e-world and consider following in J.K. Rowling's footsteps, same as others.
She owns the digital rights to her books and stands to make a killing. Consider this: she doesn't have to pay Amazon.com a penny. So while most of us rush to Amazon to sell our books on the Kindle and earn 35% to 70% royalties, she's going to earn 100% royalties minus fees to pay for the site, which, of course, will be hugely interactive and popular.
The rise of e-books means greater control of product and marketing. That means we all stand to gain from sending people to our own websites and imprints. Of course, most of us will want to continue to use Amazon.com, Smashwords, and the other web portals that have marketing power and clout.
But at the same time, sell them from your own website. Find ways to attract readers there. For example, sell them from your website at a slight discount. If you sell a book for a dollar at Amazon, but only 50 cents at your website, you still earn more from your own site based on Amazon's pricing structure, and you will likely garner more sales from your site that way than you would otherwise. The same concepts, with different numbers, work with books at $2.99 at Amazon versus, say, $2.50 at your site.
You have to keep in mind the power of high sales at Amazon and consider what sending sales to your site means. Perhaps your site is interactive, engaging, and interesting, and the sales there are mostly part of your offering to fans--ease of purchase and pricing, etc., while you still promote Amazon.
No one has the clout of J.K. Rowling, the kind of clout where you can sell exclusively through your own site. But that should be a central part of your arsenal.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
ePublishing Production Plan
Today my personal editor (my wife) and I discussed our ambitious production plan. Then it evolved into our entire product launch plan. And then I had even greater ideas. Woah. Very exciting. So here's a little taste of what we've done. Note that I haven't yet developed a production schedule. We still have some details to hammer out, some costs to fix, and some decisions to make. But we are getting closer to really launching the model and building to an online launch by August or September. I've revised the plan to produce 2 books and 2 novellas this year, followed by 2-3 books in the series next year, depending on how the creative side works with the development side, and perhaps more novellas, or some combination.
OK, here's some of the plan:
We broke the product development and launch into a handful of categories: Content development, Design, Marketing, Production. We then further broke these categories into specific components:
Content:
1st draft
2nd draft
Alpha readers
3rd draft
Beta readers
4th draft. These are complete.
Next:
Editorial review (by an outside editor, for marketability, consistency, and the like)
5th draft
Copyedit (my professional wife)
Proofread.
A this point, the ms gets split into print production for POD and ebook production cycles. I won't bore you with the details now, but they involve page layout, font type selection for text, chapter heads, titles, covers, and the like. Then we split between formatting and proofing the two types of product.
As for Marketing, this really involves a number of processes. We are very close to settling on an illustrator. I'll let you know more once we come to a mutual agreement on details, but suffice it to say I'm very, very happy with the contacts I've made, but one in particular is a shining star that would be just perfect in so many ways.
Also with marketing comes the prep for blog tours, press release, and heavy investment in social media. I'm also researching marketing firms (low chance there due to budget, and due to the fact that the research thus far indicates that most of them aren't really savvy yet with social media and ebook launches. I hope to find I'm wrong, but we'll see). I have found an interesting marketing blast plan through Createspace. I'll let you know what I decide there. It could be very helpful to you if it works. Suffice it to say that I'm not going to just throw my book up. It's going to require a lot of work to achieve visibility, and I hope to invest sufficiently in that realm.
Marketing also involves a website platform, the audio production (which has its own huge schedule), and mobile apps. The last part is an idea barely out of a two-hour brainstorm, but the possibilities are enormous. I'm really, really excited about that part. Again, once things begin to take a better form, I'll share what I'm doing there.
OK, I could put more specifics here, and perhaps I'll repost this in about two weeks when I have more details in concrete. But we're really hoping to launch a product that will be much, much more than just a black and white text novel, but an experience. Shoot me any ideas you might have, especially if you have connections with people who know how to build mobile apps. Thanks!
OK, here's some of the plan:
We broke the product development and launch into a handful of categories: Content development, Design, Marketing, Production. We then further broke these categories into specific components:
Content:
1st draft
2nd draft
Alpha readers
3rd draft
Beta readers
4th draft. These are complete.
Next:
Editorial review (by an outside editor, for marketability, consistency, and the like)
5th draft
Copyedit (my professional wife)
Proofread.
A this point, the ms gets split into print production for POD and ebook production cycles. I won't bore you with the details now, but they involve page layout, font type selection for text, chapter heads, titles, covers, and the like. Then we split between formatting and proofing the two types of product.
As for Marketing, this really involves a number of processes. We are very close to settling on an illustrator. I'll let you know more once we come to a mutual agreement on details, but suffice it to say I'm very, very happy with the contacts I've made, but one in particular is a shining star that would be just perfect in so many ways.
Also with marketing comes the prep for blog tours, press release, and heavy investment in social media. I'm also researching marketing firms (low chance there due to budget, and due to the fact that the research thus far indicates that most of them aren't really savvy yet with social media and ebook launches. I hope to find I'm wrong, but we'll see). I have found an interesting marketing blast plan through Createspace. I'll let you know what I decide there. It could be very helpful to you if it works. Suffice it to say that I'm not going to just throw my book up. It's going to require a lot of work to achieve visibility, and I hope to invest sufficiently in that realm.
Marketing also involves a website platform, the audio production (which has its own huge schedule), and mobile apps. The last part is an idea barely out of a two-hour brainstorm, but the possibilities are enormous. I'm really, really excited about that part. Again, once things begin to take a better form, I'll share what I'm doing there.
OK, I could put more specifics here, and perhaps I'll repost this in about two weeks when I have more details in concrete. But we're really hoping to launch a product that will be much, much more than just a black and white text novel, but an experience. Shoot me any ideas you might have, especially if you have connections with people who know how to build mobile apps. Thanks!
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Power of Facebook
So, 13 hours after posting my blog and Facebook about the Mormon Times article on my presentation to LDS Storymakers on writing for the Church magazines, I had 2 comments and no 'likes' on Facebook.
However, just minutes after the Ensign Facebook page posted the link, there were 26 'likes' in the status post, 25 'likes' in the second post with the actual link (Facebook doesn't seem to place posts with links as the main status message), and several comments. That's the power of 55,500 friends on one active site (Ensign) versus 466 friends (mine) on a moderately active site.
This teaches me an interesting lesson: social media can be a powerful tool to get the word out, but you have to create a fan base that opens up the possibilities. The magazines have that. For my novels--both middle grade and epic fantasy, I'll have to work hard to market myself to make a splash.
However, just minutes after the Ensign Facebook page posted the link, there were 26 'likes' in the status post, 25 'likes' in the second post with the actual link (Facebook doesn't seem to place posts with links as the main status message), and several comments. That's the power of 55,500 friends on one active site (Ensign) versus 466 friends (mine) on a moderately active site.
This teaches me an interesting lesson: social media can be a powerful tool to get the word out, but you have to create a fan base that opens up the possibilities. The magazines have that. For my novels--both middle grade and epic fantasy, I'll have to work hard to market myself to make a splash.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Excellent writing telesminar
I participated in an excellent teleseminar last week about the publishing industry and changes in how authors need to view it. Although predominately leaning towards the nonfiction market, much of what was said and shared relates to fiction as well.
The seminar was hosted by Roger C. Parker (for more about him, check out his Web site), and his guest was Stephanie Guzikowski (you can read a summary of the conference she presented the ideas used as the basis for this seminar here).
They discussed "The 10 Awful Truths About Book Publishing," compiled by Steven Piersanti, president of Berrett-Koehler.
Very interesting. What it all boils down to is this: because publishers are doing less and less for marketing books, authors need to rise above the average rest and really shine in their efforts to produce excellent material and to market themselves, building a fan base and connecting with individuals. Very interesting stuff. For example, about 1 million books were published last year, more than ever before, but even as the number of books published go up, book sales are declining. Today the average published book has less than 1% chance of getting shelf space in the average bookstore.
However, authors can combine new media and old strategies to get recognized. They can even hire a publicist. Stephanie is a publicist, so she had a vested interest in promoting the concept. Still, it can be helpful. My sister published a book two years ago as part of my sisters' joint company ("The Venus Week": book my wife and many of her friends think is extraordinary about women's health). They hired a publicist who played a key role in helping them get promoted. Of course, one of my sisters is a marketing expert, so that didn't hurt, either!
The seminar was hosted by Roger C. Parker (for more about him, check out his Web site), and his guest was Stephanie Guzikowski (you can read a summary of the conference she presented the ideas used as the basis for this seminar here).
They discussed "The 10 Awful Truths About Book Publishing," compiled by Steven Piersanti, president of Berrett-Koehler.
Very interesting. What it all boils down to is this: because publishers are doing less and less for marketing books, authors need to rise above the average rest and really shine in their efforts to produce excellent material and to market themselves, building a fan base and connecting with individuals. Very interesting stuff. For example, about 1 million books were published last year, more than ever before, but even as the number of books published go up, book sales are declining. Today the average published book has less than 1% chance of getting shelf space in the average bookstore.
However, authors can combine new media and old strategies to get recognized. They can even hire a publicist. Stephanie is a publicist, so she had a vested interest in promoting the concept. Still, it can be helpful. My sister published a book two years ago as part of my sisters' joint company ("The Venus Week": book my wife and many of her friends think is extraordinary about women's health). They hired a publicist who played a key role in helping them get promoted. Of course, one of my sisters is a marketing expert, so that didn't hurt, either!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)