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Publishing and Promoting
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Print or Ebooks?
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I enjoy an E. book now, though I have to say I love my collection of paper books. During my painting days, which I left behind six years ago to write, my choice was audio. Sometimes art becomes tedious, so there's nothing like a good audio story to spruce up the scene.JoAnn Hill
Listening to audiobooks is something I can do from any device so long as I have comfortable earphones--most devices including smartphones use the same earphone jack.An iPad or similar weight/size tablets isn't as comfortable for reading as nook, kobo, kindle or other ereaders.
If I'm carting around an iPad in a purse, bag or backpack--it's just not that more difficult to tuck one or more ereaders in with it (nor does it add that much more weight).
In concept the audio novel appeals to me, but I find that being unable to quickly scan over the last few pages when I pick up the book after a day or so if I've forgotten a plot point or the thread of a conversation, becomes irritating.Also I tend to stop listening when I do something else because I tunnel focus.
A few updates:E-books don’t have to be the death of print
eBooks and print can co-exist
Readers win when libraries add e-books, but preserve print, as well
Japan's Ebook Readers Fans of Print, Too
V.W.: I'm with you. If it's a really good read, I like to read parts over, and I too have a real hard time focusing on more than one thing at a time (which is, by definition I suppose, unavoidable since to focus for me implies concentrating on one thing).
welcome allAre you reading from the paper book more fun and speed? I enjoy it.
The quarterly sales report issued by the publisher, that accompanies the royalty check, includes a breakdown by format, not only for the previous quarter, but year-to-date as well. Though obviously not a reflection of readers' preference for the industry as a whole, it may still be of interest to some.April 1 through June 30, 2015 - 9 units
Format/Units Sold/Royalty
Paperback: 2 (22.2%) $6.90
E-Book: 7 (77.8%) $9.45
Audio Book on CD: 0 ( 0.0%) $0
Audio Book Download: 0 ( 0.0%) $0
Aug. 9, 2011 though June 30, 2015 - 944 units
Format/Units Sold/Royalty
Paperback: 467 (49.5%) $1,485.60
E-Book: 421 (44.6%) $506.25
Audio Book on CD: 34 ( 3.6%) $127.50
Audio Book Download: 22 ( 2.3%) $72.60
Congrats Jim for your royalties. Looks like once it sells more the paperback give a bigger pie of income..
Jim wrote: "The quarterly sales report issued by the publisher, that accompanies the royalty check, includes a breakdown by format, not only for the previous quarter, but year-to-date as well. Though obviously..."
Thank you Jim for that information. Good to know. JoAnn Hill
Jim wrote: "The quarterly sales report issued by the publisher, that accompanies the royalty check, includes a breakdown by format, not only for the previous quarter, but year-to-date as well. Though obviously..."My experience is the opposite. I make very few paperback sales, no more than two or three a month. The rest are all ebooks.
Both. Sometimes I want the convenience of reading on any device I have with me, other times I want the feel, the look, the smell of print.As an author I take pains to make both formats thoroughly readable and enjoyable. I do notice that friends and acquaintances tend to buy print, and other readers tend to go digital. Also, print is obviously necessary for book fairs and public events.
I do love both though, as a reader and an author.
My online sales are mostly ebook, but I take print copies to local cons, small book shops, and a few other venues and make a ton of sales that way. Overall, I sell more print than ebook because of that. If I didn't do the local footwork, I doubt I would sell many print books at this point in my career.
Nikki, how do you win over book store owners? Up in the northeast, I can't even get them to discuss it.
I live in the Northwest and so far the bookstores I've talked to have been very receptive to local authors. Most are smaller independent bookstores (or coffeeshops). I'm working on some bigger ones now, so I don't know how that will go yet.
Best of luck. I plan on continuing to try here. In store events? Consignment? Who knows what will work?
A medical analysis:E-Books Are Damaging Your Health: Why We Should All Start Reading Paper Books Again
But the article keeps comparing reading a paper book to reading Facebook or similiar and jumping from link to link. That is not comparing apples to apples.The kindle recall study does not disclose the study parameters. Were the readers reading more and in different situations, on the train, on the street, in between appointments, and so on, which would mean that the reader's mind was not as fully immersed in the book as he would if sitting in an armchair at home.
The article does mention the light from readers working against inducing sleep, which I had heard about from other sources, but lowering the screen brightness will help diminish that effect.Also, why not use both, utilizing tech during the day and saving paper book reading for bed? Problem solved.
Abuse or excessive use of anything may be harmful to one's health. That applies to eating, drinking, watching television, staring at a PC monitor or reading books (e-books or traditional print), etc.Moderation in all things is usually the recipe to avoiding health issues.
Good point. Accepting that, I am pretty confident moderate use of ereaders will not be harmful.
A. wrote: "A medical analysis:E-Books Are Damaging Your Health: Why We Should All Start Reading Paper Books Again"Medical analysis, my foot. The writer had an opinion and sought to support it. That's not exactly scientific. The few issues that have merit have to do with specific types of devices, not e-books themselves, and those can be addressed.
Some actual medical studies (primary sources) with different points of view:Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness
Real life trumps laboratory in matters of public health
Reply to Zeitzer: Good science, in or out of the laboratory, should prevail
Managing Media: Reflections on Media and Video Game Use From a Therapeutic Perspective
Recognizing Academic Performance, Sleep Quality, Stress Level, and Mental Health using Personality Traits, Wearable Sensors and Mobile Phones
A tablet that shifts the clock
Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics
So.... The gist is the medical community doesn't completely agree on whether ereaders have a negative affect?
Apps that adjust colour temperature according to the time of day.http://www.phonearena.com/news/10-bri...
V.W. wrote: "Apps that adjust colour temperature according to the time of day.http://www.phonearena.com/news/10-bri..."
Nice to see that there are a few more available than I thought. I'll give Lux Lite a try, I don't think I've tried it yet. I use f.lux on my computers and have for years, and I'm constantly searching for something that works as well on Android.
I do a lot of image work on my PC, so it's not practical to keep changing the colour temperature back and forth. As for my phone, it doesn't seem to affect me. I fall asleep the moment I turn it off in bed.
I think in terms of medical studies there's a huge difference between eInk ereaders, backlit devices, and light-across-page-evenly ereaders (glow, paperwhite, voyager type of technologies which are not backlit but rather like a book light across the page).
Christopher wrote: "So.... The gist is the medical community doesn't completely agree on whether ereaders have a negative affect?"Yes, it looks like they don´t.
For those of us who write for an older reader (over 50 or so...) I don't think you need to choose. Produce both. There's only a bit more time required for print, and if you use sources such as CreateSpace and can do your own design and covers, no real additional cost. I like to make my titles available in every possible version.
Agreed. And I do notice my older readers (especially those from the old neighborhood) often refer print.
I've gotten to prefer reading on a reader device. Oddly enough, my smartphone Kindle app is now preferred over my Nook! Maybe I'm getting younger???
Now that's a development they don't talk about in the medical journals!
As an author, I offer both print and ebook. I do my print through Lulu.com, so there's no cost there. I personally, as a reader, like to have the option of both. I have 'must-have' books I buy in print, and books I want to try and or simply enjoy but know I won't keep, I buy in ebook.
My publisher does POD paperback, with ebook editions following six months after the release of the POD. I write in a genre that is heavily favored by ebook-reading types, so this actually did my book some harm. Most people didn't want to shell out for the paperback, and by the time the ebook came out, it was stale and everyone was convinced the title was only available in paperback. Live and learn.
Abigail wrote: "My publisher does POD paperback, with ebook editions following six months after the release of the POD. I write in a genre that is heavily favored by ebook-reading types, so this actually did my bo..."Abigail,
Please don't allow one bad experience to discourage you from considering multiple formats for your work. Choice of format is driven by readers' personal preference. The length of time a book has been available usually has little or nor impact. Refer to message 108 for specific examples.
Thanks, Jim. I would never abandon physical books! It just happened that in the genre I was writing, very few people wanted to read it in that format, or to pay the cost of the paperback. If anything, the experience left me less inclined to publish in that genre, where people seem to want cheap or free read-in-an-afternoon-and-forget-it books.
Abigail, have you move on from that publisher?
Christopher, I’m not sure, keeping options open. They will reliably publish anything I write, but when I finish the next book, I will try to get an agent and see if I can get a more mainstream publisher. For the first book it was a pretty good arrangement—the publisher had an excellent designer, and it was important to me that the book look a certain way. When I went with them, I did not think as much as I should have about what happened after publication. I believed that since it was a genre fiction book and the genre had “fan” sites that reviewed such books, its way would be relatively smooth. Have since had quite the education about present-day realities of marketing and publicity!
Digital is such an automatic part of the market these days that I was alarmed that they had a six-month delay. It doesn't make sense and suggests they are unaware of the realities of today's publishing expectations. I hope I am wrong,
Christopher wrote: "Digital is such an automatic part of the market these days that I was alarmed that they had a six-month delay. It doesn't make sense and suggests they are unaware of the realities of today's publis..."It's something that publishers tried to do from the beginning of ebooks - windowed releases, due to fear that ebook sales will cannibalize print sales. Some still do it, but it's becoming less common, thankfully. I don't know why they couldn't see that most people have a preference, and making ebook buyers wait is going to lose sales and waste a huge chunk of the viable marketing window.
I agree. And a publisher who still does it today would concern me.
When I self-published this spring, I was focused on paperback and with some considerable effort sold close to 200 copies through local bookstores and my website.But since I put attention into promoting the ebook version, sales have blown past the paperback and are continuing to roll along. One big advantage of an ebook is that an author can set a short term discount price such as $0.99 to get sales and reviews happening. Not a lot of royalty on those days but nothing to lose because no print costs.
I have come to believe that ebook sales are my future.
I love the paperback and won't abandon it, but I plan to put 90% of my marketing effort into ebook. YMMV, my genre is hard scifi and I am guessing that genre matters.
This makes a lot of sense, James.
My cellphone is within reach 24hrs a day, so that means that all my current reading is available at the touch of a button. I have a tablet, but I rarely use it to read. It is just to bulky. I started reading ebooks when I got my first PDA, and those screens were awful, but the convenience factor trumps everything for me.
As for screens, I am an author and spend most of the day on the screen. I also do CGI art, so more time staring at pixel level items on the screen. I suppose I've just grown used to it.