5 Key Takeaways for Authors From Digital Book World

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Last week, on the heels of the Writer's Digest Conference, more than 1,000 publishing
professionals gathered for Digital Book
World to discuss the challenges of transitioning a very traditional business into
the digital age.



While I didn't attend the show this year (had to teach!), I've read a considerable
number of live blogs and write-ups. Here are a few takeaways that I found especially
important for writers & authors.

1. For major publishers, e-books will be 50%
of unit sales (but not necessarily revenue) no later than 2015. What's
driving growth? The decreasing price of e-readers, the popularity of tablets, the
launch of Google Books, and—in general—the
increasing number of ways to read and acquire e-books across a variety of platforms.

2. Publishers are being challenged
to show their value. "Publishers are going to have to prove they're better
at marketing and publicity than the authors themselves," said Simon Lipskar, an agent
with Writers House.




Furthermore, with initiatives like Kindle
Singles—where organizations like the New York Times or TED are partnering with
Amazon to release timely e-originals that in the past would've been done as quick
print books—there will be even greater competition for traditional publishers.

3. Agents have to think of themselves
as not just dealmakers, but as orchestrators of talent and careers. Given
how many potential ways content can be produced and distributed now, a good agent
doesn't just sell a print book, then move on. They're thinking about which medium
is most appropriate for a first release, and the timing and pricing of other mediums.
They're exploring all multimedia options and opportunities, and making things happen
outside the traditional models.

Also, an interesting highlight from Teleread's
report: Steve Ross of Abrams Artists said that with fewer titles being published,
and so many publishing professionals out of work, he decided to set up a consulting
service for self-published authors, and within 10 days had more clients than he could
handle.

4. Bricks-and-mortar bookstores will continue to decline—which puts further pressure,
as noted above, on commercial publishers to show their value to an author beyond distribution. Mike
Shatzkin boldly predicted: "We're looking for a reduction in shelf space of 50% in
the next five years, 90% in the next ten years."

I didn't see or hear anyone else being as aggressive in their
predictions as Shatzkin, but there was agreement
there would be some decline.




One caveat: the e-book industry growth is primarily driven by Big Six publishers,
rather than independent publishers. National Book Network president Rich Freese, whose
company distributes 200 independent publishers, said: "Ebooks aren't even 5% of our
sales, and they won't be 50% in two years."




However, the biggest fiction authors are already at 50% digital; other bestselling
authors are at 20%.

5. The YA market is not (yet) driven
by e-books. Bowker's Kelly Gallagher offered results from the latest BISG/Bowker
poll, which showed that only 5-6% of the YA market is reading e-books.

Best sources to read more in-depth:




Carolyn
Kellogg at the LA Times


Gayle Feldman
at FutureBook


Teleread




And, of course, you'll find continuing coverage of all these issues at Digital
Book World's excellent site, rich with content.



For those of you who attended Digital Book World, or were closely following
Twitter and other reports: What were your key takeaways? Would love for you to share
in the comments!



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