This week in publishing (January 24 to January 30)
Posted By Sue Collier on January 31, 2011
Here’s some of what’s happening in publishing right now:
From Interesting news, tidbits, and articles for self-published authors: Why self-publishing in e-book format is better today
“Today, more than ever before authors are presented with publishing opportunities that have never existed before. This is not to understate the hard work that authors have to go through to get recognition, write great books, and make a full time living from their passion of expression. However, it is to say that today, due to advances in communications technology, authors can now get their books distributed much easier than they could a decade ago.”
From Mashable: Kindle books outselling paperbacks
“It’s official: electronic Kindle books are now outselling paperbacks on Amazon, marking a major milestone in the publishing industry.
”The news was revealed in Amazon’s fourth quarter earnings report, and comes just six months after the company announced that e-books were outselling hardcovers.”
From Brave New World: Publishing’s Napster moment is now
“The Book Business is now experiencing its ‘Napster’ moment. It is not about file sharing and digital distribution, but about an industry facing significant digital disruption. It is a wake up call and although books face similar issues to other media industries, ‘books are different.’ Music had to initially deal with losing control of distribution and the threat of ‘free music’. However, the Book Business now have to deal with changes right across the value chain, the relationships that have supported it, from the author to the reader and even the physical spine that has bound it together for many centuries.”
From The Book Designer: Print on demand—CreateSpace or Lightning Source
“There are a lot of self-publishing companies out there, they seem to sprout overnight in the fertile soil of the internet.
“But when clients ask me who they should print with, I only recommend two:CreateSpace and Lightning Source.”
From Zoe Winters, Paranormal Romance Author: No shortcut to awesome; what I’ve learned so far
“I’ve said before that there is no shortcut to awesome and it’s time to take my own advice. I’ve had an interesting publishing journey so far and I’ve made a lot of mistakes (I’ve done some things right, too, but I’ve made a lot of mistakes.)
Right now, 24 hours after Save My Soul went live on Kindle, I’m already reflecting on things and thinking about WHY I make myself so crazy over this shit… things which I largely cannot control.”
From The Digital Reader: Amazon Kindle singles now available in the Kindle store
“Before the advent of digital reading, writers often had to choose between making their work short enough for a magazine article or long enough to deliver the “heft” required for book marketing and distribution. Three months ago, Amazon made a call to serious writers, thinkers, scientists, business leaders, historians, politicians and publishers to join Kindle in making a new kind of content available to readers–Kindle Singles.”
Thanks for the shout out, Sue!