eBooks, Kindles, and the Digitization of the Industry (continued)

What were the challenges and lessons for ebooks?

Biglione: There are no industry standards and best practices. There are so many platforms. It's also difficult to define whether you're an author or content provider. The changes are moving so quickly.

Curtis: Ebook publishing is actually fiendishly complicated. It seems simple to users. But questions of rights, pricing, and technology are complex. This is why a decade ago ebooks were beginning to be talked about the so-called trend fell off quickly. The industry have been quietly regrouping.

Chapman: It's like if Barnes and Noble, Borders, and an independent publisher all wanted a book on different colors and thicknesses of paper. What's the publisher supposed to do.

Biglione: It's an evolutionary process.

Recommended Resources:
http://www.teleread.org/
http://thedigitalist.net/
http://www.blackplasticglasses.com/
http://www.toccon.com/toc2010


POSTED BY MELISSA HILL

eBooks, Kindles, and the Digitization of the Industry (continued)

Biglione: If you give ebooks away for free as a promotional copies, there is a boost in sales of print books.
Curtis: Even through piracy. There's usually a delay in how quickly it shows up on piracy networks, and even still it boosts sales.


Chapman: Piracy is a threat to the bestselling authors (the Dan Browns). The midlist, it neither helps nor hurts. For the least known authors, piracy actually tend to help because their being read and talked about where they may not have been before.

POSTED BY MELISSA HILL

eBooks, Kindles, and the Digitization of the Industry

Jane Friedman, Publisher and Editorial Director of WD, Ryan Chapman, Internet Marketing Coordinator at MacMillan, Kirk Biglione, digital media consultant and publisher at Quartet Press, and Richard Curtis, a leading New York literary agent and founder of E-Reads discuss new digital opportunities.

If you sell your book to a traditional publisher, should you reserve your ebook rights?
Curtis: It's all but impossible to keep your ebook rights if you sign a traditional book deal. Not even nonexclusive rights. This isn't likely to change.

Issues with Amazon:

• Amazon has a huge backlog of titles to go on Kindle.
• Amazon isn't giving up sales numbers (so comparisons with print editions are difficult).
• The ranking system can be a subjective.

What kind of royalty can you expect with an ebook?
Curtis: The industry standard is about 25%. This isn't set in stone.
Chapman: Some genre publishers, like romance, may be higher—up to about 35%.

POSTED BY MELISSA HILL