For those who don't know him, Dan Poynter is an acknowledged guru in the independent publishing field. He's known not only in the United States, his world speaking tours cover just about every country on the globe. He also publishes a newsletter that is always chock full of up-to-date info about the writing and publishing world. His newsletter is FREE and you can sign up for it by going to his website, www.parapublishing.com. Here are just a few quotes from this month's issue.
"Books published in 2009 using traditional production methods: 288,355, a 1/2% decrease from 2008. Books published in 2009 using on-demand printing or internet printing services: 764, 488, a 181% increase over 2008.
"James Patterson has sold 1.4 million units of his books as eBooks for devices like Kindle and the iPad. "If eBooks get people who might otherwise not be reading to pick up a book, then that makes me happy," Patterson said.
"When bookseller Barnes and Noble started selling their new version of the Nook reader with both 3G and WiFi for $199, Amazon fired back and reduced the Kindle2 to $189. That's a $70.00 drop overnight.
"Barnes and Noble predicts that their sales of eBooks will reach $6 billion in three years while the sale of print books during that same period will fall by $6 billion.
"Authors who publish the digital edition of their books through Amazon will now receive 70% of the list price of their title. Amazon will serve as the publisher and retailer. Currently and typically, authors receive only 10-12% of the net receipts from large publishers. [Many publishers limit the royalties of their writers to 6% -- Ed.]
"The sales of eBook readers around the world totaled 1.43 million units in the first quarter of 2010. The shipment of eBook readers from manufacturers to vendors in April-May reached 740,000 units, with Barnes and Noble's Nook reader accounting for 37% and Amazon's Kindle trailing by 16%."
The writing and publishing world is rapidly changing, fellow writers, and adaptation is the key to survival.
Posted by
Russ Heitz
www.russheitz.com
