Changes Afoot

Improvements all round on my new cover due to some welcome comments on the Indie Cover Project. Thanks guys!

I know I ought to  ask a designer to do the cover for me, but I so enjoy doing it myself. (I think if I had been a young person choosing a career in the last decade or so I would have covered the subject correctly. Alas, graphic designer was not an option when I was choosing a career. No one had dreamed that books might sometimes be read on a small hand held screen...)

I am now loading it up to KDP. As always, I end up "losing" the file among all my files and struggle to get the right file loaded. I think I am not consistent enough with what I do. The gap between publishing titles is long enough for me to forget how I did it last time and I suspect KDP changes how it wants it done! But I'll get there in the end, and hopefully before the end of the year. I'd like it to be published in time for Christmas, and why not? 

I was surprised to see that Shutterstock, which is where I get most all of the images I use, now has AI generated images. That was bit of a surprise and I had chosen this one before I realised it was one of them. 

Scanning the market

 

Seemed like a good idea to scan the market and see what's happening out there in the big wide world.

So I checked a few places and settled on :

11 Top Publishing Trends (2023-2025) (explodingtopics.com)

It's an interesting read. 

Snippets: audio-books are on the rise while sales of print books waned over the last decade.

Figures quoted: 2019 65% print and  25% ebook.

Ebook sales totalled $956million in sales, mostly with Amazon kindle.

Amazon has a new subsidiary ACX which will package and list an audio file for you.

Public libraries now offer digital content and the trend is up. Libraries are pushing the publisher rules about what they can and cannot provide. Way to go, libraries!

Read 11 Top Publishing Trends (2023-2025) (explodingtopics.com)  for more detail.

Predicted trends for self-publishing 2021

 

Spotted this piece floating around the internet, and it seems to be proving pretty accurate.

1: More traditional authors will move to the indie model

Some indies are having major financial success, and the rest of the publishing industry is taking note. Dean Koontz and Patricia Cornwell have signed with Thomas & Mercer. Big publisher corporate mergers means traditional authors will have less negotiating power and at least some will be tempted by the indie path

2: More indie authors will collaborate or consolidate in collectives

From sharing production costs to combining marketing efforts, this is a great way for indies to publish quicker, expand back catalogues, increase output and earnings, not just by combining email lists, but actual books as well to compete on a level above.

3: Authors will benefit from competition in the eBook marketplace between Amazon, Apple, and Google

Amazon is the largest retailer for indies, but in 2020 Apple redesigned its author portal so authors without a Mac could publish to iBooks and Google Play revamped its publishing analytics interface in fall 2020 making it easier for authors to analyse their sales on the platform. Apple and Google are clearly investing in indies in 2021.

4: More platforms fighting for Audio supremacy will benefit
savvy authors

5: COVID-19 will impact book sales in different ways at different times

2020 saw more people turn to books for at-home entertainment and education via digital means and will continue in the first half of 2021. The second half of the year could mark a downturn for eBook sales if vaccination efforts in the US and Europe are successful. This could mean a temporary lull in eBook sales during the “post-Covid re-emergence” phase of our lives.

6: The overall eBook market will continue to grow

Overall industry stats show that upwards of 70% of people who read, still read print and haven’t yet adopted a digital reading. Covid 19 turned more readers to digital in 2020and more readers are joining the digital eBook market in 2021.

7: Authors will see more success with international sales

Authors willing to invest in translation could get a great foothold in this rising European eBook market. The German market first, but the French, Italian and Spanish ones will be catching up quickly.

8: It will be a volatile year for paid advertising

More retailers and brands will spend more marketing dollars in digital channels in 2021. Increased spend and competition will drive up the costs of digital advertising for authors.

9: Email delivery and engagement will become a focus for authors

Email lists become more important and the competition is fierce. Nothing prevents you from letting them know about your latest release. Other marketing channels will suffer in 2021, so email is more important than ever.

10: Authors who write into series, and with big backlists, will win larger pieces of the pie

Writing a series results in more sales, and authors know it. Expect to see more authors writing series, and those who do will see the financial rewards.

 

Ebooks win!

A lot of people claim they dislike ebooks.

They swear by a real book. For along time I hovered on the neutral line and told myself I liked both and I didn't really have to choose.

Since lockdown, I have discovered I truly like ebooks! They are there whenever I want them, at a time all the bookshops and libraries are closed and when Amazon is inundated with so many online requests for real books (among other things!) that the postal service in the UK has been logjammed.  A letter from our grandson, aged 5, has taken over a month to arrive from Australia.

I have been re-reading a series I enjoyed long ago, way back in the days when I was young and impressionable. I speak of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern. I still have two of the paperbacks published back then, and boy! is the print tiny. It isn't just my fading eyesight, even though I need a cataract removed which will also have to wait until lockdown is over, but the print really is small! The map of Pern is almost unreadable.

But when I ordered an ecopy of The White Dragon, not only did it arrive on my ipad within seconds - and this was at midnight when I finished one book and still wasn't sleepy - it also had a new cover and nice clear text that I could read without strain. Hurrah! If I wanted I could enlarge the text, and adjust the brightness of the screen. I have since ordered other titles in the series, and will go on doing so.

Ebooks win!

Battlelines over ebooks

“Sign up, log on, and borrow!”

Authors on social media are angry about the new service ~ the National Emergency Library, from the Internet Archive. It offers borrowing of 1.4 million books without a waiting list. Some think it is great.

Others think “allowing unlimited downloads of books under copyright, for which they have not paid, and have no legal right, is piracy.” It is not only illegal but also removing a source of income from authors when they need it most.

The Authors Guild  thinks the Emergency Library uses the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to weaken copyright law. The Association of American Publishers declared itself stunned by the “aggressive, unlawful, and opportunistic attack on the rights of authors and publishers in the midst of the pandemic.”

The Internet Archive maintained that it was doing absolutely nothing predatory or illegal, and that it was simply stepping up to help the nation’s readers during a national emergency.

Readers just looking to access books while also staying home could be confused.

Most public libraries have shut their doors. You can still access ebooks through their systems, but there may be a waiting list for the most popular books. Many indie bookstores have closed their doors. Amazon does not prioritize nonessential packages. So where can you go to get your book fix?

The Internet Archive argues that it is doing what public libraries do, only it has eliminated the waiting list. Authors argue that it is making a rights grab that affects their bottom line.

Traditional libraries license their ebooks directly from the publisher. 

The Emergency Library does not. Libraries license ebooks from publishers and lend them out to patrons, but they pay substantially more than individual readers do when they license ebooks. (You never really buy an ebook — you just buy a license to read it.) 

The files that libraries lend out have code embedded that makes it impossible for them to go to more than one patron at a time — hence those public library waitlists.

This model allows libraries to make their books accessible digitally, but it also allows publishers, and by extension authors, to get paid for their work without losing sales. 

Read the whole article:

https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/4/2/21201193/emergency-library-internet-archive-controversy-coronavirus-pandemic

Ebook sales fall

It seems Ebook sales declined by 2.4% in 2015, the first drop in numbers of books sold in this medium for the “big five” publishers since the digital age began.

According to the Bookseller, ebook sales slid as follows:-

Penguin Random House by 0.4%

Hachetteby 1.1%

HarperCollins (excluding Harlequin Mills & Boon by 4.7%

Pan Macmillan by 7.7%

Simon & Schuster by 0.3%

Slowed growth rate in ebooks is attributed in part to the publishers’ shift to agency pricing for ebooks and the fact that they have increased ebook prices.

Self-published ebooks are making a difference, too, by taking market share from the bigger publishers. According to a survey last year, self-published ebooks account for anything between £58m and £175m. 

In a November report, it claimed the big five account for 31% of all ebooks sold on Amazon.co.uk, while self-published authors have reached 26%.

Read Alison Flood’s article https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/03/ebook-sales-falling-for-the-first-time-finds-new-report

Wednesday 3 February 2016

I can add that the Bookseller does not consider the effect of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited system on individual authors. My personal experience may be different to everyone else, it’s true, but my income is now coming from the US Pages Read system rather than items bought. The UK seems to have stopped reading – or at least buying – since the referendum on June 23^rd!

Give it away for Free?

Reading this article has given me food for thought. We all remember how Robert Galbraith published The Cuckoo’s Calling, gathered critical praise, but sold  a measly 1,500 copies during its first four months. (Actually, I think 1,500 copies sold in a month is pretty good....)

When the news broke that  “Robert Galbraith” was a pseudonym for J.K Rowling, sales of the book skyrocketed to 225,000 copies in a single month and proves how important Author branding is in selling books. With the recent shift towards digital publishing and online selling, it is now more important than ever for authors to build a strong fan base.

What can authors do to reach new fans and build their brand? Lots, it seems. Many authors maintain blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter and email lists, so loyal followers keep up with their latest news and releases. Using these channels, authors communicate with fans, listen to feedback, and even offer special contests.

Authors grab attention by offering a limited number of copies of their book for free. It is a good way of getting people to join your mailing list. (I must push my English reticence about self-promotion to the back of the cupboard under the stairs and get on with it. Grits teeth...)

Free promotions  attract the attention of those who browse for ‘free,’ and hopefully persuade them that your book is worth reading - and that they'll go out and buy something else you've written. Then there's something called "flash sales."

"In a recent Forbes.com article, branding expert David Vinjamuri called flash sales a “powerful tool” for authors looking to build a following. Many authors, for example, will discount the first book in a series, hooking readers early through a price promotion. Additionally, authors may use promotions to prime the pump for a new release by discounting older titles."

BookBub service works with authors to promote limited-time deals.

Bella Andre, an independent, bestselling romance author has this to say: “Limited-time price promotions — mine are often 24 hours — are a fabulous way to help gain visibility for my books.”  Read what she says by following the link: recent interview. And then read the original article that started me thinking about this:Why Bestselling Authors Give Away Their Ebooks For Free
April 7th, 2014

The future with ebooks

I knew in a vague sort of way that ebooks collected data about my reading habits, but I wasn’t fully aware that “they” – whoever they are – can tell when we read, how quickly we do so, how often  we stop, and if most readers stop at a particular portion of the book. It’s a scary thought that the publisher might suggest to an author that a portion of the book should be cut and a more exciting plot twist be inserted  to keep people reading beyond the “boring bit.” From there, it isn’t too much of a step to books designed and written by readers.

It also raises the question of editing. It is done now, with both print and e-books, but what of the future? Odd words and phrases have always been changed on an editor’s say so, sometimes much more than that. But with ebooks, change will soon, if not now, be the work of moments.  Open up your new book on an ereader and you could find you heroine’s name has changed from Pansy to Scarlet, or that your hero is an ex-SAS professional with a penetrating grey gaze rather than the cornflower blue you gave him. The difference will be that the editor has made the changes without consulting you first, and the changes may be far more wide-reaching than the ones I've quoted.

Musing on what might be normal in twenty years time, you can see that Publishers and Editors can only become more central in the book world of the future. But what of the agent? Perhaps those agents who see a bleak future ahead are the agents now offering to “edit” an author’s work - for a fee. You have to wonder if they have the required skills to do so. Some will, others won’t, but if the e-book market keeps growing, then editing and assisting an author to self-publish is a sure way of keeping one’s head above water.

Time for Amazon to pay

Pennines in snow

E-book sellers Amazon, Kobo and Barnes & Noble are located in Luxembourg.  In January 2012 France and Luxembourg dropped VAT rates on e-books to 3% so that the tax charged on both printed and digital books would be equal. That might seem fine, but in the UK, the tax on e-books is 20%. Infringement of the VAT rules on e-books distorts the single market and runs counter to the fundamental EU principle of fair tax competition.

Objections were put forward last October but there have beent no changes in the situation. Several Ministers and representatives of both paper and electronic publishing industries have voiced concerns over the negative effect on sales in their domestic markets, and so the EC has referred the matter to the EU Court of Justice.

It is interesting to know that Amazon requires UK publishers to pay most of the 20% VAT charge on e-book sales even though Amazon pays only 3% in Luxembourg.  It is not clear if Amazon passes on such gains to its customers. In going digital, Amazon has avoided the effects of piracy that so harassed the music industry and has no hesitation in admitting that, with all its massive clout, the company seeks the most advantageous arrangements, and is doing nothing illegal (apart from undercutting tax laws. Surely that is illegal?)

Their goal, they say, is to make it easy for readers  to obtain the books they love…and to offer greater access to those books. Well, that's fine for readers, and for Amazon. I suppose it is also great for authors. It is not so great, in fact it is hugely detrimental to UK publishers. It is common knowledge by now that though Amazon generated sales of £3.3billion via its UK website in 2012, it paid zero corporation tax to the UK on profits from that income. Over the last three years, sales have raked in more than £7.6 billion - but no corporation tax has ever been paid on profits.

All I can say is, Remember Starbucks, Amazon, and cough up.
If anyone wants to read a longer article on the subject, here's what the Guardian had to say last October: Pay up
 

 

Holiday from writing

Publishers Weekly here has published interesting facts on ebooks over the last two years. It isn't really a surprise to learn that fiction is the best seller, but I wasn't expecting the Literary/Classic genre to come out as the top-seller genre.

Perhaps the fact that many classics are free or exceedingly cheap has something to do with its high place among the other genres. Science Fiction - well, given the tecchie aspect, I suppose I should have expected those readers to take to ebooks like a duck to water. Christian Inspirational is the next highest category, higher than romance. So much for the oft heard claim we've heard over the last few years that romance outsells any other fiction genre! Not in ebooks, it seems.

I appear to have given myself a holiday from writing. Not a conscious decision, but its definitely happening. I finished the wip perhaps three weeks ago and since then haven't written anything except blogs, reviews, e-mails, that sort of thing. One excuse - if I needed one - is that Shadows came out 24th May, and while I worked on promotion for that, writing - as in starting a new work or continuing another - took a back seat. I try to remember to check Twitter and Facebook every day, and I've made a couple of trailers for You Tube. And then of course, there's the tennis. First Roland Garros, and now Wimbledon. And yesterday Rafa made it through the first round.

Sits back and relaxes.

Whatever next?

Did you know that China-based readers get around copyright laws by joining British libraries and plundering their virtual collections for free? No, I didn't either. But because of this Chinese crime, publishers are re-thinking how libraries access their ebooks. It's not a move admired by libraries as they fight for survival. Here are some of the arguments kicking around at the moment. The links will take you to the original articles.


The Publishers Association claims this poses a serious threat to publishers' commercial activities. So they want readers to come to the library premises to borrow ebooks – which sort of defeats the object of the e-reading concept.
One library authority briefly allowed borrowers outside its geographical boundaries access to ebooks, and publicised the service with the line: "Free ebooks, wherever you are, whenever you want." Reading that, one can see why publishers dislike the idea.


Overdrive (the system that allows remote library lending) insists the debate is a storm in a teacup. The system establishes checks to ensure that libraries serve only to those customers in their service area, abd that particular library no longer uses that particular slogan.


Some authors object to ebooks on the basis that while they currently receive 6p every time a physical copy of their book is borrowed from a library, they don't get a penny if the digital version is loaned.


There is more. HarperCollins has entered the fray, telling libraries that henceforth ebooks will be sold on the condition that they can only be circulated 26 times before they self-destruct. They claim this reflects the usage of the print editions sold by HarperCollins to libraries for literally centuries. As most librarians and readers will know – indeed anyone with a modicum of common sense – this is not true. the ebook deal HarperCollins is offering to libraries. It's bizarre to argue that this finite durability is a feature that we should carefully import into new media.


It is true Ebooks have loads of demerits when marketed to libraries. They are sold at full price, while print editions generally go at a hefty discount to reflect libraries' volume purchasing. They can only be read with proprietary readers, which is a bit like insisting patrons read their books by the light of one preferred lightbulb. They can't be sold on as a library discard once the library no longer needs them for the collection.


But they have virtues, too. The major one is that they don't wear out. To pretend that this virtue belongs on the vice side of the argument is indefensible. Of course ebooks don't wear out. We all know that.