Blogger: Mary Keeley
Location: Books & Such Midwest Office, Illinois
As soon as we think we have some understanding of what to expect in 2012, we encounter a new twist as innovation continues to reinvigorate the dry soil of publishing’s recent years. Today I’ll highlight several recent twists and the opportunities they offer authors.
1. How many Kindle Fires and Nook Tablets do you think will be sold this Christmas season? Amazon and Barnes & Noble planned their releases well. But surely more competitive devices are on the horizon. Optimism for publishing abounds. The more new formats, the more potential for sales of your books.
2. Lest you think Amazon has secured every corner of publishing’s brave new world, the playing field isn’t as lopsided as you might think. Their Kindle magazine business has been fairly weak while Apple’s Newsstand has soared (more on this below). And some e-commerce companies are better prepared to deliver content in the international market. Even now eReaders are becoming available around the world, opening new doors for Christian authors to get books with our worldview everywhere around the globe.
3. Don’t underestimate the value of your published magazine articles to enhance your platform. Opportunity knocks for authors. Apple’s Newsstand, which offers free apps to quickly and easily purchase newspaper and magazine subscriptions, is proving to be quite successful. PixelMags, provider of ways to convert content into apps and distribute the apps to smartphones and tablets, reported a surge of 1,150 percent in subscription sales the first week after Newsstand launched less than three months ago.
That’s not a typo; take a minute to process that data. It’s only a matter of time before Christian magazine publishers get onboard. Even just a portion of that surge will mean amplified name recognition for Christian authors, not to mention the potential positive impact on your social media.
Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet, Apple Newsstand, PixelMags, soon-to-be software producers that will provide your book in multiple languages . . . there’s no foreseeable limit. The competitive frenzy among innovators provides more and more opportunities for authors. These innovators are watering the soil, preparing it to bloom again.
Are you optimistic about next year? About your publishing possibilities? Are you finding it easy or difficult to adjust to the transformation of the publishing industry?
Thank you, Mary, for your post. I have sold a few copies of my book on Kindle. I am asking for a Kindle for Christmas too!
I am of the old school in that I enjoy holding the hard copy of a book in my hands, feeling the paper, looking at the cover art, etc.
But I can see how eBooks are the future. I work at a University and see how students prefer eBooks over hard copies of textbooks. I don’t blame them!
I am optimistic about next year! I pray my next book series will be contracted by a publisher and available on Kindle and Nook. So, adjusting to the changes in the publishing industry won’t be hard for me….just as long as the way of the hard copy of ANY book doesn’t go away any time soon!
Blessings to you!
Ruth Douthitt
These are wildly exciting times for writers with more opportunities for publication in more venues than ever before! The only hard parts are keeping up with the rapid changes and turning out quality stories fast enough to capitalize on the opportunities opening before us.
My prediction? One publishing language that’s non-proprietary across all e-readers. Competition will then center not on selection (because even now we publish in all the formats) or price (because those are already low), but on developing mixed media that fully utilizes the capabilities of e-books as more than simply digital text. Ebooks with musical scores? Full motion illustrations? Book club loops facilitated by the author? It’s all fodder for imagination! 🙂
As a person, I have quite the difficult time comprehending all this technical change, and — much as I would like to — can’t even think where to begin in order to get in on some of these fabulous communication opportunities. As a writer, I am more than grateful that my publisher handles most of that stuff. But as a reader…
Ebooks have expanded my reading range in so many delightful ways. It has changed hearing about something, waiting for payday, driving to town to get it (or ordering online, if they don’t stock it, which is more and more the case in this economy), to NO WAITING. And in most cases offered at a fraction of the cost. Which allows me to read so much more rather than have to pick and choose. I don’t have a brand-name reading device, yet, but I have a computer, which allows me to get in on all these benefits for free. Which just goes to show it’s like a car: you don’t have to understand the combustion engine to drive one.
So, while a great many writers are suffering “growing pains,” the casual reader audience that just stepped onboard (they might not have plunked down $25 to try your book, but for the price of a latte, they’d be delighted)… is a real boon. It even seems to be one of those “reapers overtaking the sowers” type things. And as an author? Can’t think of anything more exciting than that!
I am optimistic for the next year. Each day I work on writing, each chapter, paragraph, sentence, line, and word I write brings me closer. It may not happen in the way I wanted it to, but it’s going to happen.
As for the transformation, I’m being dragged into it. Not kicking and screaming, but not necessarily running in that direction.
Very optimistic. 2011 saw my first 2 writing conferences, an agent contract, and several publishers interested in a book concept.
There is still much work to be done, but I’m excited to see what doors, hurdles, and mud-bogs God takes me tough (an open door is way too easy).
A couple Magazine article openings and several speaking/training opportunities are lining up, and while I don’t fully grasp all the minute details of the new publishing world, I know God can use them for His Glory and I’m blessed by the opportunity to be part of His plan.