Being a Self-Publishing Champion Means Being Content Agile
Content Agility: The measure of an author's ability to market his/her books across multiple delivery systems (books, mobile devices, tablet PC's, eReaders).
Self-publishing may fast be becoming like a prize fight where the content agile become the winners of the championship payouts. Are you content agile? Are you able to sell your print books while breaking eBook download records at the same time? Where are you in the world of self-publishing? Are you hitting every possible delivery platform or have you yet to cross the digital divide at all?
Maybe you're a new author who has discovered success by going strictly ebook. Yeah, at 70% royalties, you get a better cut from selling Ebooks. But once you've created a demand for your title why wouldn't you go to press if the demand existed Did you know less than 3% of the US population owns Ipads? There's a slightly higher percentage of ereader penetration due to lower price points. The point here, is even though print books sales have dropped significantly, they're still proving to be profitable. That's why if you have the budget to print and you've created a strong demand for your Ebook, you may be content agile enough to include more potential fans who have yet to adopt eReader technology. Though Ebooks are changing your sales and fast, you still may be able to make money from print publishing.
This shouldn't really change your eBook strategy unless you don't have one at all. As blogged at this site before, Ebooks are revolutionizing publishing. Because of the Ebook, it's easier than ever to self-publish and compete and compete the with big houses. This trend will probably continue as Tablet and eReader pententration will continue to expand to 15% according to a Bain & Company report. Why wouldn't you want in? There are some things to consider though, especially age. The Bain report states that the largest eBook demographic is a male in his early 20's to early 30's. But it also reports that the segment most likely considering an eReader purchase is a woman around age 35. In all, the report states, people who use reading devices are most likely to be the avid readers. These numbers are promising because though males tend to be the early adopters, women with higher purchasing power are now making the transition. What's great is that people who download one of your stories are most likely to be those who love reading books. That means if you can tell this person a good story, they're likely to appreciate this and come back for more.
The tricky notion to all this data is that people who use eReaders still tend to buy printed books, even among the younger generation who've come of age in the digital era. That's why, as soon as you've sold enough books to both create the demand and the capital, you should consider going to press. The big takeway here is that though ebooks provide the best return on investment, the print media still offers an earning potential that's worth your consideration, especially if you aspire to be a self-publishing champ.
The self-publishers who take the time to learn demographics and learn who's most likely to read their stories are the ones best prepared to set up sales channels just right to reach their potential fans. The lesson here: If rule out print publishing – simply because it's cheaper to create and distribute Ebooks, or if you blow off print publishing because you're selling Ebooks like bonkers – you may very well be opting out of the content agility it takes to be a self-publishing champion.
Are you content agile? If so what are some things you do to follow who's buying your books and how they are having it delivered?
