Though this isn’t technically industry news, it’s about promo, which is important to all of us. I’m awed at Therese Walsh’s “Big, Fat 49-Author Contest for My Debut, Take 2.” A brilliant idea.
Great article in USA Today about the romance genre and the RWA National conference.
Romance University has an excellent series of posts about WordPress for non-techies. Though the advice is given to help the reader set up a WordPress blog, it’s also applies to WordPress websites. The RWA-WF website uses a free WordPress theme. Here’s the first post, the second, third, and fourth.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos talks about authors, readers, Kindle, the market, and more.
Book editor Tom Dupree compares the Kindle and the ipad.
“If my main objective is to read or hear e-words, Kindle is the winner — and it’s still the best dedicated e-reader by far, even with all its new competitors, especially since we’re getting into mass-market pricing territory. $139 (for a new-generation, wi-fi-only Kindle) isn’t all that far from $99, and that’s where Santa tends to get involved. But if I want something closer to my laptop, or netbook, something in between it and an e-reader, I have to go iPad – and man, they still cost hundreds of dollars.”
I found two interesting posts on Barnes & Noble. The first says Barnes & Noble will be giving Kindle serious competition soon.
“In September, the chain will begin an aggressive promotion of its Nook e-readers by building 1,000-square-foot boutiques in all of its stores, with sample Nooks, demonstration tables, video screens and employees who will give customers advice and operating instructions.
By devoting more floor space to promoting the Nook, Barnes & Noble is playing up what it calls a crucial advantage over Amazon in the e-reader war: its 720 bricks-and-mortar stores, where customers can test out the device before they commit to buying it.”
The second says Barnes & Noble “put itself up for sale Tuesday, succumbing to pressure from shareholder activists as digital books erode the traditional business of the nation’s largest bookstore chain.”
They aren’t the only chain in trouble. Borders is laying off 100 employees at their main distribution center and stocks are down.
Time for good news and thanks to agent Kristin Nelson, I have some. She says that editors are looking for heartfelt emotion. Isn’t heartfelt emotion what WF is about?
There’s an interesting article on multimedia e-books about publishers “enhancing” digital books with videos, photos and other media.
CEO of Ingram Book Company, Skip Prichard, is embracing the changes in publishing.
“I think this is the most exciting time to be involved in the book business. Not only are books receiving more media attention, the new technologies offer an unprecedented opportunity to engage readers. Audio and video enhancements offer authors the ability to reach a reader like never before. Social networks allow readers the chance to discover books they would never have found. Touch screens let children interact with books or play games related to the story. Educators find that reading assignments come alive as all learning modalities can be engaged. Three-dimensional graphics and spoken text transform plain words into dynamic new worlds. The book itself is being reinvented. The future is here.”
Even Jeff Bezos is stunned by the success of Kindle books sales.
“I predict we will surpass paperback sales sometime in the next nine to 12 months. Sometime after that, we’ll surpass the combination of paperback and hardcover. It stuns me. People forget that Kindle is only 33 months old.”
In response to “literary agent Andrew Wylie’s exclusive agreement with Amazon.com to publish Kindle editions of 20 backlist titles by notable writers,” Random House has said it “will not be entering into any new English-language business agreements with the Wylie Agency until this situation is resolved.” Apparently, Wylie is rethinking his decision. I’m sure we’ll hear more on this soon.
Three new ebook platforms are nearing their debut. One of them, Copia, is in color and connects you with social networking groups, like Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads. It will be only $99. But from the comments, I see they aren’t ready yet and there might be technical problems.
I’ll end with a great NINC interview of Smashwords Founder Mark Coker, who says:
“Readers typically don’t pay attention to the name of the publisher on the spine of the book. They pay attention to the author and the story.
Self-publishing is all about the author being their own publisher. Self-publishing is a process of liberation. It’s the author taking control over their own destiny, and accepting personal responsibility for their own success or failure.”
