Kindle Cage Match

The Challengers

Ok, not actually a CAGE match, but it caught your attention didn’t it?

Actually touted as the “Tour d’ World Championship Cup Open Ultimate Decathalon Challenge Cage Match,” the folks at Green Apple Books have forced the Kindle into a showdown with actual books.  Go here to see the first 2 of 10 tongue-in-cheek videos. 

So… what does the Kindle do? … It does what it does.

Which does NOT include selling books back for cash (where’s the book, indeed), nor is it very easy to hand sell with it’s warning of electrical shock.

-Kristina

There Be Dragons – Part 2

I apologize that it has taken me a long time to blog about the results of the There Be Dragons poll.  For those of you who haven’t read it or don’t remember it – you can find the post here.  

Amazingly, the response was split (7 votes to 6), adult picture book to young adult picture book – I was expecting it to be heavily weighted in the direction of the adult option.

Here’s what I found on Amazon - it’s categorized under romance and paired with Heather Graham’s Unhallowed Ground.  

Apparently, at BEA, the line for Heather Graham (her daughter was also signing at the next table) was ridiculously long.  She was handing out There Be Dragons but it’s hard to say if the line was for this title or was made up of fans that just wanted her signature.

The book is published September 1.  So I’ll be checking Amazon to see how the book ranks – especially in comparison to Heather’s previous titles.

-Emily

Ads in E-Books

Ad Age recently ran a story about advertising in e-books, which I found fascinating.  I’ve often wondered why book publishers didn’t try to sell ads in their titles, especially huge properties.  I had pretty much just decided that there was some sort of ethical dilemma going on in publishers’ minds regarding literature and advertising (is my naivety showing?) or perhaps they couldn’t convince authors to sell-out to advertisers. 

But now, it seems as if ads are finding their way into our realm.  While the ads are not “in” the books (as in banner ads above the text, or even (gasp!) product placement within the story), it seems as if sponsoring a book is becoming acceptable.  Here are some highlights from the article:

• “While the big players figure out how to wrap advertising in and around digital books, a few start ups are already merging the two,”
• “Wowio is giving readers several entrees to its catalog of e-books, allowing them to pay for the books, which start at 99 cents per title, or download the free advertiser-sponsored PDF versions.”
• “The first page of a sponsored book reads: “ITaggit is proud to sponsor this e-book for [registered user]” and includes a link to iTaggit’s website. There is no additional advertising in the book.”
• Other Wowio advertisers: Verizon Wireless and jeweler H. Stern
• ” ‘It was an experiment. This was a tactical opportunity and a way of doing something creative at a reasonable cost,’ Mr. Stern said, adding he would consider using e-books again as a promotional vehicle.”
• ” ‘They’re just exploring all the multiple ways you can monetize content, so you can offer a customer a full-priced book at $9.99 or you can offer them a half-priced book that’s partially underwritten by advertisers,’ said Mark Coker, founder of e-book seller Smashwords.”

-Kristina

The Top 50 Women in Publishing

From Book Business, the Top 50 Women in Publishing!

Since most of us are women, I thought I would share this fascinating look at what makes publishing’s top women the top women! 

“They have founded publishing companies and started their own imprints; signed coveted authors and fostered virtual unknowns who have skyrocketed to the top of The New York Times Best-Seller List. They have orchestrated complex manufacturing projects and spearheaded environmental initiatives that are lessening the industry’s carbon footprint. They have championed new technologies and implemented them in ways that mark industry ‘firsts’; created and launched marketing campaigns that have enticed and engaged readers both in stores and online.”

Here’s a highlight, for those of us who took her class:

Carrie Kania, Senior Vice President and Publisher, Harper Perennial & It Books
Kania started her career at Random House. She joined HarperCollins in 1999 and became publisher of Harper Perennial in 2006, where she oversees publication of titles such as “Dandy in the Underworld” by Sebastian Horsley and “Down and Out in Murder Mile” by Tony O’Neill. Harper Perennial is also the home of many notable backlist titles (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The Bell Jar,” and “Brave New World,” among many others) and new voices such as Simon Van Booy, Justin Taylor and Lydia Peelle. In 2009, Kania became publisher of It Books, a new pop culture imprint, publishing titles from Dita Von Teese and Neil Strauss, among others.

• Tip: “Love what you do. You need to eat, drink and sleep this if you want it to work. And if you don’t love it—truly, heartbreakingly love it—then don’t do it.”

My favorite parts of this list are the tips from the women themselves!

-Kristina

Amazon vs. Apple vs. Publishers

Thanks to Elizabeth for the great comment here.  She linked to the article, “Amazon Taps Its Inner Apple” written by Adam Penenberg, that led to this post.

I’m in the mood to hate on Amazon (bad grammar intended).  This feeling could stem from my budding career in publishing.  But whatever the origin, I resent Amazon’s plan to control every aspect of publishing – from content to distribution.

Penenberg points out that the Amazon threat encompasses both electronic and print books.  The Kindle enables Amazon to bypass traditional publishers and lure authors with higher royalty rates in lieu of advances (this minimizes both the up-front risk and the high return issue that the industry faces).  In fact this has already begun – Amazon has released a Stephen King novella.  Because publishing is such a “hits” business, if Amazon seduces the biggest names, publishers lose their major sources of revenue.  And we all know that there isn’t enough to go around as it is. (We in the industry are in it for the love, not the money).

On the print and distribution side, Amazon has ventured into print-on-demand.  What’s to stop them from suggesting that publishers merely send them the book’s file and Amazon will print and deliver the copies.  The publisher saves on printing, freight, fuel.  Amazon becomes the book seller and buyer.

I’ll pull myself back here before I go into an incoherent rant – Amazon still has a long way to go before the above happens.  And I don’t think (I don’t want to believe) that they can do it.  There is still major competition in the e-book distribution channel – mainly from Apple.  And Amazon is nowhere near Apple’s level in hardware design. 

I’m rooting from Apple (if I had to choose one company to dominate) – why?  Because Apple is the lesser of the two evils – a hardware company, it is intent on selling devices, not content.  Though publishers may get squeezed on e-book prices, they will still be in control of content.  And, yes, they will have to change their ways, but it’s been a long time coming. 

For now, publishers benefit from the power struggle (we’ll throw Google in later).  No one company is controlling the distribution channel; there are multiple bidders.

And I’ll say it again – the way we consume books is going to change drastically but traditional books will never completely go out of print.  They are timeless.

-Emily

P.S. – I’m personally boycotting Amazon. When it comes my time to purchase a reader, even if it is inferior to Amazon’s model (I’m hoping it won’t be – I’m hoping Apple will have something by then) I will not buy a Kindle.

P.P.S. – Thoughts?

Frank McCourt’s Passing

I’m sure many of you saw that Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes, dies yesterday.  There’s a wonderfully in-depth obit at NYTimes.com if you’re interested.

I, along with many readers, fell in love with McCourt’s prose as I read Angela’s Ashes; the struggle and despair he conveyed was heartwrenching.  I don’t really have anything much to add about his passing… just wanted to spread the news.

–Kristina

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

Yes, you read it right. 

Quirk Books – the publisher of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (an international bestseller) now brings us the story of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.  (Certainly has the alliteration going for it, but doesn’t have the same ring as PPZ). According to Irreference, this is a story of “romance, heartbreak, and tentacled mayhem!” Hee hee.

Wait, it gets better…this is the full description as found on Irreference.  It was too good, I had to include the whole thing:

“Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities. As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels?  This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen’s biting social commentary with ultraviolent depictions of sea monsters biting. It’s survival of the fittest-and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love!”

It still gets better: here’s the BOOK TRAILER.

In case you haven’t read PPZ (I haven’t, but it’s on my list) you can find the first 3 chapters here).  There aren’t any chapters available for SSS but I will keep you updated. (Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is on-sale Sept. 15.)

I could certainly go into a dialogue (like many others) about the trend that’s beginning or analyze the direction which publishing is going based on these titles but that ruins the fun (and quirky fun is the point, in no way do I believe these should be taken with literary seriousness). 

But I will ask you your opinions…will you read it?  Have you read PPZ? Was it just…to die for?  (Snicker all you like, that’s the best I could come up with right now).

-Emily

More on E-Book Timing (and stupid quote of the day)

In relation to my earlier post about delaying e-book releases… today The NY Times covered the issue, listing a number of other publisher who are delaying, or at least considering delaying, best-selling authors and titles as e-books.

Probably in the stupidest quote ever, Mike Shatzkin, the founder of the Idea Logical Company (a digital issues consultant) said, “People who read e-books don’t buy physical books, and people who buy physical books don’t buy e-books.”

I mean, c’mon… before they were e-book readers they were p-book readers and if they can’t get their hands (their e-hands?) on a digital copy and they want it bad enough, they’ll shell out the extra cash.  It’s a question of supply and demand.  It’s like saying people who read paperback don’t read hard cover and vice versa.  Am I wrong here?

I DO find it interesting that this takes some power away from Amazon.  When publishers refuse to make a product available to the seller they are directly impacting the industry in ways they didn’t before.  Even MORE interesting (to me at least, since I didn’t know this)… “For now, Amazon is taking a loss on each e-book it sells because it generally pays publishers half of the hardcover list price on new releases. So publishers who delay releasing e-books run the risk of losing sales, for which they are now getting higher margins than they are on print books” (NYT).

I’m having trouble in my head right now distinguishing whether the numbers add up to make it matter to publishers.  I mean, if they know they can sell a million hard cover copies will the loss of the e-book sales hurt them when they know the $9.99 price point will still be there a few months down the road?  I doubt it.

-Kristina

A New Slice of American Pie

The state of our industry has been the subject of many, many, many, many, many discussions.  Here, listen as our woes are sung to the tune of the well-loved “American Pie” or click the image above.  Thanks to Rob B. for the link.

–Kristina

Delaying the E-Book, How Publishers Can Get Around Amazon’s Pricing

Sourcebooks is getting lots of attention for delaying the e-book release of one of their big YA titles.  (Kaleb Nation’s BRAN HAMBRIC: The Farfield Curse)  They’re said to be waiting at lease six months after the hard cover release before allowing the book into e-format. 

Dominique Raccah, Sourcebooks CEO, says, “Hardcover books have an audience, and we shouldn’t cannibalize it …it doesn’t make sense for a new book to be valued at $9.99.”

Agent Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group (no relation to the above mentioned title) has said that he “doesn’t allow any of his authors’ books to be published simultaneously as an e-book when [he] can prevent it.” He tells the Wall Street Journal, “It’s no different then releasing a DVD on the same day that a new movie is released in the movie theaters. Why would you do that?”

Sourcebooks, however, is not anti-e-books… they recently allowed a number of their romance titles to be available from Smashwords, the digital publisher.  These digital romances are priced at $6.99 and are available in nine different ebook formats.

I think Sourcebooks is doing a good job of taking a stance against Amazon’s $9.99 price point.  While I understand the consumer oriented pricing from Amazon’s point of view, as a publisher it’s SO costly to lose the additional revenue from a brand new title.  For a highly anticipated title/author, it seems to make sense to delay the e-book and try to make as much on the hardcover as possible–people will pay the additional $5-10 in order to read the next Stephanie Meyer (or insert more high-selling literary author here) as soon as it’s out. 

Your thoughts?

-Kristina