The Word Cloud

The American Association of Publishers (AAP) have released their figures for March.

The headline figures were that e-books grew 145.7% year-on-year from March 2010 (in revenue terms), and print bounced back after a terrible start to the year, with two categories showing gains.

Adult Hardcover was up 6% year-on-year and Adult Mass Market Paperback grew 1.2%. Adult Trade Paperback fell 7.7%.

Despite that drop, Adult Trade Paperback was the #1 selling format at $115.9m, followed by Adult Hardback at $96.6m, e-books at $69m, and Adult Mass Market Paperback at $55.2m.

Full breakdown, and analysis, on my blog. 

We’re delighted to launch a competition today for the first 75 uploaders to our Beta site.

We’ve sourced a great writer services prize for you being among the first ebook uploaders to our Beta, courtesy of Cornerstones Literary Consultancy.

Read more…

Last time we talked about how e-book dominance is inevitable, and how the US is leading the charge. Pretty much everyone pegs the UK market as being around a year behind the US. However, latest figures show the gap may be closing.

The Publishers Association (PA) has revealed staggering e-book growth in 2010.

In figures just released this morning, UK e-book sales – across all categories – have grown to over £16m ($26m), growing by over 300% on 2009 levels.

By end of December 2010, they had captured 6% of the market.

They didn’t release a full breakdown of the figures, but did say that both fiction and non-fiction grew by around 300% and, bucking the trend we have seen in the US, children’s/YA grew faster – by over 500%.

These figures did not include what the PA calls “consumer reference” digital sales (presumably dictionaries and encyclopaedias etc.) which showed strong sales of £14m ($23m).

Very interesting.

Full article here from The Bookseller.

This is a short post this morning, but later today I will be announcing the official release of my first e-book. Stay tuned.

When music industry revenues collapsed after the introduction of MP3s, many writers became worried. While musicians have been able to find alternative income streams – including touring and merchandise – writers generally have one: their stories. Not even Stephen King or J.K. Rowling would fill a stadium for a reading, and most mid-list authors and new writers are lucky if there is a decent turn-out for a free bookstore appearance.

In my last post on piracy, I covered how the measures the publishing industry has undertaken to combat piracy have only served to alienate their paying customers, but today I want to look at piracy from a different perspective: its benefits. While I don’t condone piracy, I think it’s an issue where authors need to challenge their assumptions.

Today, I argue why most piracy can't be considered lost sales, how to easily combat the rest, and put forward some authors' views that piracy actually increases sales. 

Continue reading: Could Piracy Be Good For You? 

In today's post I look at Amanda Hocking, John Locke, and the rise of the 99 cent e-book. I cover criticisms that this is a race to the bottom that will ultimately devalue books in readers' eyes, and I finish by outlining strategies to succeed at higher price points.

Let’s rewind.

When an author or publisher uploads their work to Amazon (and the rest of the e-tailers), they are free to choose the price that they sell at. With most companies, the minimum price you can sell at is 99 cents. Until recently, only a small portion of writers were choosing to sell their work at this price, mostly new writers, without an established audience, hoping to build a following.

On paper, that’s a good strategy, although other writers have complained that this was a race to the bottom, and that they were being priced out of the market.

Read the rest of Will 99-Cent E-Books Destroy The World As We Know It?  

Hi all,

Today's blog post turns the spotlight on European Publishers, looks at the share that e-books have captured there, what's holding back growth, what's hindering self-publishers, how Amazon have failed to achieve dominance, and how European publishers are doubling down on the mistakes that US publishers have made.

Read more here:  You Can Go Your Own Way: European Publishers Double Down On America’s Mistakes


Enjoy,

Dave

Today's post is about piracy and the stupid things publishers are doing to combat it, which don't work, and only serve to annoy their customers, you know, the people who actually pay for books.

Enjoy,

Dave

Yo Ho Ho And A Bottle Of Rum