Galley Cat reported on Amazon’s hardline reaction to Reader Views. Amazon banned the company, which is dedicated to reviewing books and author publicity, from posting reviews on Amazon that authors have paid for via Reader Views’ publicity services, and took down reviews already posted.

In a follow up, Galley Cat queried reader reactions to paid reviews on Amazon, posting a mixed bag of responses, including a suggestion that Amazon’s ban is an attempt to comply with FTC “truth in advertising” rules regarding financial interest disclosures.

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) posted net sales figures for September 2011 noting changes from last year. Adult mass market paperback sales have declined 54%, while e-book sales have increased 100.9%

Here is Publishers Weekly with a slightly different but similar take on the AAP’s statistical reporting.

More evidence is racking up about the value of libraries to readers, authors AND publishers, even in the digital age.

This month Library Journal released the first issue of a quarterly publication called Patron Profiles. Based on surveys and data collected from library users across the country, the first issue—on libraries and e-book usage—indicates that libraries are a powerful economic engine for the book business.

“There are a lot of assumptions about what library users do,” said LJ executive editor Rebecca Miller. “We wanted to dispel the assumptions and fill in the gaps in data. We wanted to get a realistic picture of the digital transition, so we thought a national trending survey that reveals the media consumption of library users made great sense.”

Author Ann Patchett recently opened Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore in her native Nashville, when big box stores Borders and Davis-Kidd Booksellers closed, leaving the Tennessee city without a place to browse and buy books.

“We’ve all had the experience of going into a three-story Barnes & Noble and saying, ‘I didn’t really find anything I wanted to read.’ But you can go in to a small store with an intelligent staff …. [and] well-displayed, well-chosen books, and come out with five books that you’re dying to read. And that’s what we’re going to do.”

On Steven Pressfield’s site, Shawn Coyne weighs in on author/entrepreneur Seth Godin’s decision to end his successful publishing venture, the Domino Project.

Literary agent Rachelle Gardner advises authors to minimize the obstacles when trying to break into traditional publishing.

And for some writerly inspiration, at Writer Unboxed, Krissy Brady reviews Jonathan Fields’s book Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt Into Fuel for Brilliance.

This will be my last post as part of the Industry News Team of Kecia and Pat. I will be taking over duties as VP-Communications, while Pat will continue to bring you news and tips regarding the publishing industry of concern to RWA-WF members.

Have a great writing week everyone!

Kecia &

Your Industry News Team

Sorry, I’m a little late with the post! My excuse is the lazy days of summer are upon us. Hope everyone is beating the heat. By far the biggest news in the industry last week was the liquidation of Borders Books. AP journalist Mae Anderson in this USA Today article presents some of the varying perspectives on the “big box” bookstore’s closing. A Publisher’s Weekly article, meanwhile, speculates on where readers who prevously browsed in Borders will go, noting that one publisher said e-books “is what’s saving all of us,” and quoting Susan Katz of HarperCollins Children’s Books:

“We’re very sad to see the closing of Borders. There will certainly be a void without them.” Then she added: “But we look forward to continuing to work with the many enthusiastic booksellers across the country to bring new and established authors to readers everywhere.”

On the industry marketing front, actor-musician Tyrese Gibson “Tweets Onto the Bestseller Lists” with his memoir, using his contact with 1.8 million followers through Twitter. There’s a lesson to be learned here, as Tyrese discusses his Tweet-loyal fans:

“They’re following you for a reason–they want to know about your life, your thoughts, your feelings, the things inspiring you. So whenever I’m doing a video, or a new song, I think of them as my audience. I tend to tweet about things that will catch their attention. My followers are spoiled–they’re just there waiting!”

Author Bob Mayer echoes that sentiment in his discussion of his decision to self-publish his backlist and even his new titles in “The Hybrid Writer: Balancing Traditonal and Self-Publishing.” He makes the point that,

The writers who are being successful now are those who understand promotion is an integral part of their success. Authors must connect directly with readers via social media. The published author with a strong backlist has the potential to connect to a whole new generation of readers and they don’t need a publisher to do so.

To help with your efforts in the social media direction, Jane Friedman guest blogs at Writer Unboxed on “5 Reasons Why Your Online Marketing Doesn’t Work,” mentioning that, “You have to sell the sizzle.” That may be my new motto…

And that’s all for this week. Happy Writing!

Your Industry News Team

Publishing was still mulling over trade show take-aways from BookExpoAmerica this past week. Among the more positive reports was this upbeat summary, The Serious Business of 21st Century Publishing, by journalist and publisher Peter Osnos. Osnos reported that:

The overall sense in publishing is that, rather than being pushed to the margins of the information and entertainment revolution, the industry is making dramatic changes with skill and flexibility that surprises everyone involved.

Meanwhile, the industry take on author marketing, promotion, and social networking strategies came to the fore as romance novelist Cathy Yardley sparked discussion about finding one’s Right Reader; Jane Friedman blew open a persistent myth about Introverts and Marketing; SocialTimes.com Megan O’Neill reported on Portuguese publisher Leya’s efforts to draw in young readers by posting stories on the FB Wall; and Neil Glassman provided another perspective on social networking in his profile of journalist Nick Kristof: Making a Difference with Tweets. Though two-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Kristof came slowly to the social networking world, he advocates responsibility and integrity within its focused parameters:

…the reality and immediacy of raw text and video benefits from informed perspective and curation. 140 characters can be profound, but that does not mean they always are.

And speaking of persons of integrity, at Writer Unboxed, Jan O’Hara continued her two-part interview with former-agent-now-author Nathan Bransford. And agent Courtney Miller-Callihan offers some in-depth advice on author-agent protocol. Hint: Write a fantastic book!

Your chair is your energy. According to this NY Times article by Olivia Judson, sitting in a desk is bad for your health, your weight, and your focus. Here’s another article by Lloyd Alter showing examples of stand-up desks.

Michael Hyatt made very interesting predictions in his post on Six e-Book Trends to Watch in 2011.

“Bundled Books. Some publishers have experimented with this, including my company. However, I believe it will happen in earnest this year. The major e-tailers will make it possible for you to buy different kinds of e-bundles at a discount—a bundle of the same book in both print and e-formats; a bundle of of one author’s complete library or most popular titles; or a bundle of several titles on a particular topic.”

From Jane Friedman on Twitter: “Nice summary of trends – 10 predictions about future of book publishing.”

From sassymonkey: Reasons why we buy books online (and why we don’t) .

Sourcebooks editor Deb Werksman talks about the book acquisition process. This is the first of Romance University’s year long “Behind the Book Scenes” series.

Kristine Rusch wrote another post on midlist writers in these changing times. If you’re a midlist writer, it’s good news. Even if you’re not, it’s an interesting post about the industry.

Mary Kole at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency talks about the agent’s role in today’s digital book world. She compares it the digital book world to the wild west.

“I’ll argue that, as publishers embrace different content delivery systems and processes, agents will take on more packaging responsibilities: editorial work, marketing consultation, design, etc. Whether we’re presenting a book to editors or an app proposal to a digital publisher, we will have had a more active hand in its reaching “market ready” status.”

Here’s a MUST-READ response to Mary Kole’s post from Dean Wesley Smith.

“There was absolutely nothing at all wrong with what this agent said. All logical. All fine from an agent’s point of view.

But from a professional writer’s point of view, I wanted to run screaming into the night when I read that.”

Tying into this, if you’re a writer who wants to do it yourself–without an agent or a publisher, you might be interested in this post at the How to Write Shop by Lori Devoti on How to Format an Ebook starting with Microsoft Word.

I’m ending with comic relief from Debbie Ohi at Writer Unboxed on The Four Stages of Writing.

Jessica Faust talks about labels, chick lit and women’s fiction on Gabriela Lessa’s blog.

If you ever read (or start to read) a book filled with clichés and bad writing, and you can’t understand why it’s on the bestseller lists, then this article titled “Why we love bad writing” is for you.

A new Canadian agent, Carly Watters, at P.S. Literary Agency, is currently acquiring International Literary and Commercial fiction, Women’s fiction, Chick lit, Sagas, Literary Thrillers, crossover YA novels, Memoir and up-market nonfiction.

Amazon announced that the third-generation Kindle is now the bestselling product of all time on Amazon Worldwide, “surpassing Harry Potter 7.” As a result of the popularity of e-readers, classics novels are enjoying a renaissance “because they can be downloaded for free onto electronic readers.”

Perhaps another result is that book publishers see their role as gatekeeper shrink, with writers such as Joe Konrath leading the wave of authors who are selling their own books through online retailers.

“In addition to Konrath, bestselling author Seth Godin, science fiction writer Greg Bear and action novelist David Morrell recently have used Internet tools to put their works online themselves. Earlier this year, suspense master Stephen King, Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho and Stephen Covey, the author of bestselling self-help books, self-published some of their works exclusively on Amazon’s Kindle bookstore.”

And this brings us to a Writer Unboxed post by Jane Friedman on the how bad it really is in the publishing industry. After you read it, be sure to scroll down and read Bob Mayer’s comment.

Russ Grandinetti, the head of content for Amazon.com’s Kindle business, talks about Amazon’s plans for its rapidly growing Kindle business.

Smashwords founder Mark Stoker has some interesting predictions for publishing in 2011. Dean Wesley Smith gives his opinion on Stoker’s predictions.

Mike Shatzkin, Founder & CEO of The Idea Logical Company, talks about selling the backlist and finding the next battleground.

“Remember those ebook catalogs I suggested might be a good idea? Why not start by putting one with an entry for every title by an author into every ebook by that author? That’s a pretty obvious opportunity. I’ll make my last publishing prediction of 2010: anybody not doing this by the end of 2011 will be seen as “behind.” (It might be that any agent not already suggesting this, if not insisting on it, is behind now.)”

Here’s advice on getting Google eBooks to notice your book, though if you’re technically challenged like me it might be confusing.

If you’re interested in the results of a survey of U.S. literary agents on the subject of e-book royalties, you’ll want to read this.

Happy New Year!

We’re having our first agent guest blogger this Monday, the fabulous Jennifer Schober from Spencerhill Associates. She’s written a great blog and she’s taking questions. Be sure to stop off and comment.

Agent Jessica Faust from Bookends posted her New and Updated Publishing Dictionary. She says it’s an “ever-popular post.”

Agent Donald Maass wrote a blog about The Elements of Awe on Writer Unboxed that every writer should read. He used information from a New York Times article on a study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. The study shows which NY Times articles are most emailed to friends and family, and end up going viral. Maass brilliantly links the results to writing.

“Their conclusions have some relevance for fiction writers because they reveal what it is about stories that probably generate word of mouth. This month and next I’m going to discuss these elements and show how you can apply them in your novels.”

If you can bear reading one more article about e-book pricing, the Math of Publishing Meets the E-Book might be the one.

J.A. Konrath has only good things to say about e-books. His blog title says it all: “JA Konrath Kindle Sales: 30k Ebooks in 11 months.”

“I’m currently selling $1.99 ebooks at the rate of 170 per day. That means I’m earning around $120 per day just sitting on my butt. If this trend continues as-is, I’ll earn $43,800 this year on previously published short stories and novels that NY print publishing rejected.”

E-books aren’t the only unconventional alternative writers are taking. John Edgar Wideman, a two-time winner of the Faulker Award for fiction, is publishing his next book through Lulu. Briefs, Stories for the Palm of the Mind, are available now.

“I’ve been thinking about alternatives for a long time,” said Wideman, whose works of fiction and non-fiction include the award-winning Brothers and Keepers, Philadelphia Fire and Fanon. “Lulu seems to represent a very live possibility as the publishing industry mutates. I like the idea of being in charge. I have more control over what happens to my book. And I have more control over whom I reach.”

This study on The Short-Term Influence of Free Digital Versions of Books on Print Sales shows that for the most part giving free digital books increases sales. The only ones that didn’t work was Tor, and they concluded it could have been because of Tor’s distribution.

“Two of these books (titles 32 and 41) both had releases of paperback editions that preceded the free book by only a few weeks. Thus for the majority of the ‘pre’ weeks, a paperback version was not available. These newly released paperback versions could easily explain why the “pre” sales of these titles were less than the “post” sales.”