Kindle publishing - The Penelope Peters Effect

[Ce Ce]

Yes, I'm talking about publishing imprints Amazon is launching in their original publishing programs. They have a romance imprint (can't recall the name), a mystery and thriller imprint (Thomas and Mercer), and I think others. I believe the first books are due out next month, but I'm not sure about that. Larry Kirshbaum, highly respected in publishing circles, is on board in NY, but the imprints themselves are being run out of Seattle, where Amazon is headquartered. Barry Eisler signed with them, and Lee Goldberg. (They're also doing another author's backlist for at least one series through an imprint I believe is called Encore.) They're beginning to attract some fairly well-known writers who have solid publishing histories with the Big 6 in New York.

I'm told their contracts are the most author-friendly ever seen in the business by at least one very experienced and savvy author.

It's clear Amazon wants to be a major player in publishing, and they certainly can be with ebooks. What remains to be seen, I think, is whether they have the distribution channels and clout to get their paper-published books out there just as aggressively.

[L C]

It's clear Amazon wants to be a major player in publishing, and they certainly can be with ebooks. What remains to be seen, I think, is whether they have the distribution channels and clout to get their paper-published books out there just as aggressively.

I'm beginning to wonder if the days of paper books and bookstores are numbered. I was never in the camp that said they were, but with Borders folding, maybe it's true. Maybe everything really will be electronic. I guess browsing will be done with those little apps that flip pages for you, assuming you find the book.

[Chris Turkel]

The first to go will be mass market paperbacks since ebooks will fill the niche they hold now: they are disposable. I think big box bookstores' days are numbered.

[Emily MacGowan]

You know what I think? (who cares, really, but still...) I wonder when book publishers are going to go the same way as movie studios, and offer a free digital copy of a movie when people buy the dvd/blu-ray. Why can't I get a kindle copy of a book included when I spend $30 on a hardcover? Why can't I add one on for 99c when I buy the hard copy in a bookstore? The costs to the publisher are minimal, and if they get their copyright sorted out (maybe you have to give your kindle ID number or whatever to the bookstore at time of purchase), then it makes so much sense.

It's peace of mind, and I think that many people would love to own that pretty hardcover, but also want to be able to keep their book *forever* on a cloud server, etc, and be able to bring it on holiday when they take their kindle. I think that would boost the number of hard copies being sold, definitely.

[Chris Turkel]

I think it more has to due with working out the mechanics and economics of bundling ebooks with hardcovers. Authors tend to be territorial of their various rights and they will (rightly) demand to be paid for the ebook, whether or not the publisher charges for it. This rights/payment thing has been going on for a while and will take a while to work itself out.

[Ce Ce]

What Chris said. There may well come a day when some or all hardcovers come with the "bonus" of a free ebook download, but right now publishers and authors and agents are just trying to sort through the pros and cons of all of it. Publishers are claiming that it's costing them major bucks to "upgrade" their practices in order to produce ebooks, which is why they tend to offer authors no more than 25% of net proceeds; they're using the same argument they've used for years to keep our royalties low, saying their overhead is high. If they began giving away ebooks, even as an incentive to buy hardcovers, they'd either have to raise the price of hardcovers, admit that ebooks cost them little to nothing, or do something to make up for the lost revenue.

I do agree that mass market is going to take the biggest hit due to ebooks, and may well disappear as our "mass" audience gradually switches over to electronic devices. Hardcovers are still doing well, and so are trade paperbacks. Also, despite what we often read here online, ebooks still make up a significally minor percentage of overall sales for most of us. For now, at least ...

[Gary Kessler]

Hmmm. I work in both print and e-book publishing (both on the authoring and the publishing ends), and I don't know of any e-book publishers who don't acknowledge that e-book setup (even though they have to put it in several different programs) is a lot easier than print publishing. And 25 percent return for the author isn't bad at all when the major distributors are taking 50 percent. Authors tend to assume that publishers aren't much value added in getting their books to market and maintaining them in distribution, and this just ain't so.

[Ce Ce]

OF course epublishing is easier (quicker, cheaper, more efficient) than paper publishing, but I've heard firsthand -- from more than one of the Big 6 -- that they're being forced to "upgrade" their equipment and hire on or outsource specialists in order to produce quality ebooks. Yes, I realize they've had lots of time to do this; it's not as if ebooks appeared out of thin air yesterday. But that's their argument -- as opposed to the arguments they've made for paper books that it costs them lots to design, print, store, ship, and so on. I'm not saying their overhead isn't higher in marketing paper books, but I'm having a hard time with the arguments that being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century and adding the ebook format to their business model is costing them nearly as much as they claim.