There Are No Rules - Industry News & Trends

Marketing in a Digital Age

Jane — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:24:22 GMT

More than a year ago, I left a comment on the Booksquare blog by Kassia Krozser, on a post titled "Why Publishers Should Blog." Kassia argued that publishers needed to be more vocal about supporting the titles they publish. I responded:

Definitely agree, but I have to wonder if the lack of enthusiastic comments direct from publishers is primarily due to lack of time (and energy, sadly). If an editor (or whomever) is juggling dozens of projects in a given year, accomplishing just the basics can be enormously demanding. (Lean staffs!) The “friendly” online marketing or buzz building has often been left to the authors, rightly or wrongly.

Kassia didn't agree with me then, and now I don't agree with me either.

However: I'm not convinced it's the publishers who need to market and promote as much as the individual people who work at the publisher. That's because Publishers speaking as Publishers may not be very interesting to listen to, and it's hard to develop a relationship or carry on a conversation with the corporate entity "Publisher" unless we're talking about an imprint known for a specific type of work (like Tor), or a publisher focused on a genre (like Harlequin). What is the "voice" or approach of a publisher if they have dozens and dozens of potential target audiences?

Maybe Publishers (as corporations) don't need to "blog," but an imprint and its community of editors must be involved in efforts to spread word to a community of readers, through whatever channels or tools make sense for a particular topic, since editors are unique in their position of knowing the content so intimately (and hopefully the audience too!)—not to mention very influential in how the book performs.

All this to say two things:

First, I'm participating in a free webinar hosted by Digital Book World, Marketing in the Digital Age: Batteries Not Included.

This webinar may not be specifically geared to aspiring writers, but the story I told above is an important one when you're considering who to publish with and what to expect.

Authority and influence no longer lie with traditional media outlets and traditional marketing techniques. The old buttons we all used to press don't work any more. And frankly, many of the new buttons don't work either, depending on how well you use them.

So this webinar promises to be a fascinating discussion about what it means to market books (or content or media) in a digital age. I'll be joined by Guy Gonzalez (Digital Book World), Diana Villibert (Marie Claire), Patrick Boegel (Media Logic), and Dan Blank (Reed Business).

It's an incredible honor to be included, and it's amazing to think how far my company F+W has come in its approach to publishing.

Which leads me to my second point: I recall in 2007 longingly reviewing the first Tools of Change Conference schedule, and wanting to be savvier and more forward-looking in my publishing approach. I recall hearing Mike Shatzkin speak that same year at BEA, and feeling the urgency of his message.

I don't think I would've believed it if God himself had told me: that my company would be hosting Digital Book World in January 2010 (with Shatzkin as program chair), and covering consumer publishing issues in a way that helps me keep Writer's Digest growing and profitable when so many things in the print-based business are changing (often diminishing).

Two sessions I am most looking forward to:

Back-Loaded Book Deals: No (and Low) Advance Contracts, Profit-Sharing and Other Innovative Business Models (with Robert Miller of HarperStudio, Rogert Cooper of Perseus Vanguard, and agent Susan Ginsburg of Writer's House)

New Business Models: Changing the Commercial Rules of Publishing (with Richard Nash, Eoin Purcell, Chris Morrow, and Diane Naughton)

In short, I don't have to be sad about not being able to attend TOC any more.

The Age-Old Battle Between Author & Publisher

Jane — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:23:18 GMT

To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and get sensible people to read it, are the three great difficulties in being an author.

—Charles Caleb Colton

Almost anyone can be an author; the business is to collect money and fame from this state of being.

—A. A. Milne

Publishing is no longer simply a matter of picking worthy manuscripts and putting them on offer. It is now as important to market books properly, to work with the bookstore chains to get terms, co-op advertising, and the like. The difficulty is that publishers who can market are most often not the publishers with worthy lists.

—Olivia Goldsmith

One of the signs of Napoleon's greatness is the fact that he once had a publisher shot.

—Siegfried Unseld

Publishers are all cohorts of the devil; there must be a special hell for them somewhere.

—Goethe

As difficult as it is for a writer to find a publisher - admittedly a daunting task - it is twice as difficult for a publisher to sort through the chaff, select the wheat, and profitably publish a worthy list.

—Olivia Goldsmith

One should fight like the devil the temptation to think well of editors. They are all, without exception - at least some of the time, incompetent or crazy.

—John Gardner

If you've been following industry chatter, you may have seen some conversations lately about whether authors need publishers (or vice versa). Plus there's now a Twitter tag for the discussion, #publishersmatter

To catch up, you can read these 3 pieces:

Do Authors Still Need Publishers?
by Mark Coker of Smashwords (e-publishing service)

What Do Authors Need?
by Kate Eltham at Queensland Writers Centre (Australia)

Do Publishers Still Need Authors?
by Guy Gonzalez, my colleague and audience development director for Digital Book World (My views align closely with Guy's.)

Aspiring writers and authors can be extremely mistrustful and suspicious of publishers— creating a group only too eager to join the revolution where writers/authors have power and publishers become obsolete.

Those who can never get inside the pearly publishing gates feel marginalized and like they never got the attention they deserve, while those who do break in feel exactly the same way. As Daniel Menaker has said:

Many of the most important decisions made in publishing are made outside the author's and agent's specific knowledge. … [Publishing] silently colludes in trying to ignore the obvious … that the first printing of your book will be three thousand copies, that it will not have full-color galleys, that no advertising or tour is planned, and that it has been assigned to a publicist who up until yesterday worked in the Xerox department. Why the collusion? Because this is a business fueled largely by writers' need for attention, and no one wants to crush any writer's dreams before a book is even published. Especially since every now and then they actually come true.

Today, many authors are left out to sea as soon as the book hits store shelves, a critical moment in the life of many books. By the time the author realizes what's happening, the window of opportunity has vanished—that moment when you can ensure stores/retailers see the book as a quality and profitable item, leading to a good model (number of copies per store).

Other authors get turned out by their publishers when their books don't sell, even if they could've been a quality midlist author with more time and investment. (Most publishers don't have the luxury of waiting.)

Obviously neither of these phenomenon help the author OR the publisher.

I wonder if successful publishers of the future will attract quality authors mostly by …

the deep reach of their distribution (especially if to a particular audience)
their editorial/curation prowess and stable of quality authors
the support and service they provide authors

Publishers have done a poor job, at best, in the support and service role.

How many publishers actively support their authors when it comes to teaching them online marketing and promotion practices? How many will analyze their authors' efforts at platform and branding? How many will give them the education, tools, or resources they need to be true partners with the publisher? How many will—at the very least—provide clarity on what the publisher will and will not do for the author, or explicitly convey their own strengths and weaknesses, so the author goes in eyes wide open?

While publishers of the future need to distinguish themselves by the quality of their partnerships, the quality of their audience reach (community), and the quality of their curation, I bet there will be publishers who become known for support and service, and attract quality authors like bees to honey—and be more successful because of it.

What do you say?

Turn Your Book Into an iPhone App

Jane — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:39:38 GMT

This is a story about an energetic author who deserves an award for truly living by the adage, "There Are No Rules." In fact, I shall start an honorable group, "There Are No Rules Crown Club," for people who live up to this moniker, starting with Al Katkowsky.

Al e-mailed me over the summer and suggested that he might be a valuable speaker at our annual conference in NYC. I agreed, and he spoke about his success in transforming his book, Question of the Day (self-published), into an iPhone App that now ranks as one of the Top 25 book apps and has been downloaded more than 80,000 times.

I asked him to answer some questions that would give you an idea of how you can accomplish something like this too. You might also want to read this other article he penned for Teleread.

So at first you were initially skeptical if turning your book into an iPhone app was a good use of your time and energy. But ultimately you decided to go for it. What did that process look like, e.g., how long did it take, what resources did you need, and how much did it cost?

The process of building the first version of the App occurred over a six-week period. This was with Daniel, who was simultaneously working a 60-plus hour work week, and had previously committed to other outside work. It needn't take that long. The work came in between $500 and $1,000 total, but there is more work to be done [for another version].

For authors, I would say keep in mind that the improvements I am about to take on fall further and further away from the presentation of a book, and don't necessarily reflect the amount of work that any author needs to take on. However, your App must "do tricks." This is iPhone, not Kindle—you're competing with Tetris for attention. That's why I wisely got into the Books category [for iPhone apps], and left Entertainment!

What are some practical steps that an author can take to launch their book as a successful iPhone App?

We've been studying this for a long time, listening to experts in the field and watching what authors and publishers are bold enough to do, and what they are afraid to do. I recommend putting out two thirds of your content for free, perhaps more.

The publishing world is currently focused on how to move into the digital domain while minimizing the threat of piracy. They do need to be addressing this. So the idea of increasing the release of free content is, well, freaking them out. Yet, it is exactly what they need to be dealing with.

Free content is part of the glue of "tribes", as Seth Godin might say. Understanding the true ratio between free content and paid ensures a healthy, continuous relationship with customers.

Thinking about preparing for the future when it's already here is like preparing for a flood when you're already drowning. They're doing too little, and it may already be too late. They've begun to release one free book of an author, or of a series, to promote interest in the rest. What if you're a first-time author, with only one book?

Lite versions of apps fall into a great literary tradition: generating enough interest to facilitate purchasing the next installment. The classic example is "A Tale Of Two Cities", which was originally published as part of a literary journal, in installments. Pick it up and pay attention to the end of each chapter, the way things are summed up.

I want to recommend three operable models here for the first time, for fiction writers:

1. Release a lite (free) version chapter by chapter. Every four to six weeks, update your App with a new chapter. There will be a push notification through the App Store that your book has added a new chapter; iPhone users love updates of their favorite Apps. Whether your App was pay or not, updates are always free.

Some people don't update right away. But you can track the amount of updates on a daily basis to see how many people are actively keep up with your new additions.

After updating the app to Chapter Seven of your ten-chapter book, that's it. Game over. Now, at the same time, release your full pay app version for purchase. They can pay now.

2. Release a lite (free) version with somewhere between 60% to 80% of the content. Less than that may engage them, but that amount will really seal the deal. If they like what they've seen, they will pay for the rest. If you give away too much, they may pick up your book somewhere and check the last five pages for the ending.

3. Have you begun podcasting? I've spoken to best-selling authors whose hands are tied; they are not permitted by their publishers to put out iPhone versions of their books. One of these is a very well known podcaster.

You can create first-time integrated experiences for your readers. This author should have been the first to do this, but instead, it could be you. At the top of the page, a choice in media:

"Chapter 4: Would you like to read, or would you like to be read to?"

We've all had to discontinue reading before we've felt like it. In this format, you could offer your reader the option of plugging their iPhone into the car stereo and reading to them at the point where they had to stop reading on their own.

What's been most surprising about the experience?
That major publishing houses are nowhere near me [in the iPhone app rankings]. One James Patterson book came close for a while. I'm at number 23 today, he's at 53. We're both free. I'm also surprised by the fact that the other apps that are near me are compendiums, reading apps, etc ... no actual print books.

It surprises me that people are impressed that I got the Apple Store event dates. Again, is anyone even trying?

The acceleration of Books within the App Store is surprising and even a little shocking. When I got in in April, there were 3,000 book apps. Check this out: on September 7, the books category hit the 10,000 mark. On October 7, it hit 12,000, a full 20% growth in only one month. That's staggering, and you can't tell me that people aren't paying attention to the potential of books within the iPhone format.

When you spoke at our conference, you said that you weren't quite ready to be looking for an agent on the print edition, even though QotD has been downloaded more than 80,000 times, and currently in the Top 25 out of over 12,000 titles in the Book App category. What benchmark are you waiting for? OR, are you waiting to be approached?

I walked into the conference thinking that I had something going for myself, but that there were a lot of people in the business who either think nothing of it, aren't aware of it, or don't understand the value of it. These feelings were confirmed and magnified at the conference. Several respected industry people told me that I have a huge platform now. I did, in fact, meet up with an agent who was enthused about what I'm doing. She sees "huge" potential, and doesn't think that others in the biz see it that way. We'll stay in touch, and that's a good thing.

Industries won't change until they see money flowing into someone else's pockets. If industries can't create money flow, they will certainly follow it. They are forcing me to grow. And that is a good thing.

The next time I update, it will be like tapping over 80,000 people on the shoulder. They love their apps. They are going to listen. And here's the kicker: I asked about a hundred people to download my app. The rest found me. It's a marketer’s dream. How can you not see the value in that?

You've had some tremendous success without any mainstream or “traditional” assistance (or that's my impression?). What advice do you have for others who may be pursuing an indie path?

The main thing I had to do was to get right with myself, and my answers are based on that.

First of all, if you need to write and be read, and selling thousands of books is not a major concern, don't let anyone tell you you aren't serious.

For the rest of us:

People often do things like self-publishing without fully realizing why they did it. It serves to make them feel good about themselves, temporarily. It is exactly like when someone you work with or go to school with loses weight. They needed to do it, it was a lot of work, they feel a feeling of satisfaction and they get a lot of compliments. After a while, they don't get compliments and they still have to give up the Twinkies. Are you kidding? What kind of rip-off is that? A total rip-off! A few weeks later, the Nordic Track gets parked in the garage. They quit as soon as it stops feeling good.

I always say, "Know what's driving you." Why are you doing this, and is that driver enough to get you through rejections, confusion, boredom and that lost in the woods "what do I do next" feeling? You need to know, but there will be tough moments when even the drivers leave the room, and you'll really want the Twinkies. Starting at that moment, every little thing you do for your self is a huge victory. The down feeling will go away, something will turn in your favor, and then "perseverance" is not just a word anymore.

So, know your drivers, know that you will change course many times, and be ready to divorce your naysayer friends in a split second. Some people keep them around as motivation, but to me, they are poison. You can't afford the time it will take to figure out why they give with one hand, and slap with the other. You don't know why, and they don't know why. And they're not going to stop. They don't need to change, but your environment needs to change. You're doing something much riskier and more difficult than most of the people people you know. Distance, immediately!

Every day that you recognize that something is off course, and you don't initiate work on a solution, you're blowing it. You may as well quit and start to like working for somebody else, because you are not being true to yourself, and your babies are dying. You are killing them with inattention.

I'm fairly easy going, but I have a pretty big ego. As a creative person, I know that my ideas are my life blood. I did create Question Of The Day, but making it into a book was not my idea, and neither was the iPhone App. My indebtedness to others teaches me a lot.

There will always be a right time to jump from "indie", whether it means hiring staff and becoming a startup, or going with a publishing house. Your ideas will always be your own, but you can never achieve as much by yourself as you can with other people.

What are your next steps, let's say in the next year? Do you have any longer range plans or goals?

Question Of The Day will remain a free app. Not a "lite" version, but a full version that is free. We are now putting together a companion pay app, built from suggestions of QotD downloaders. This version will have twice as many videos, and I am also weighing the possibility of adding half of the questions from the next book, which is already written.

We are planning a social networking version, where people who are playing with the app can locate and communicate with others playing with the app, and play together. At their option, they will be able to see each other's location in the world on a map.

Ultimately, I'd like this to do well enough so that I can put it behind me and focus entirely on music. In one way or another, I'll always have something to do with Question Of The Day, but I have to get back to what I was doing before I got here. Not that I'm not working on it, but it really needs my full attention. I need to be doing it all the time, like I was.

--

My indebtedness to Al for sharing these thoughtful, thorough answers (and also thanks for his enduring patience). And to all iPhone users: Go download that app! (I did, and it's wonderful.)

So, for readers, does this raise more questions for you? What do you think the big surprise is? Let's hear it in the comments!

Achieving a Dream of Mine

Jane — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:46:39 GMT

Years ago, back when I was directing the trade books and market annuals for Writer's Digest, I would often have a conversation with author Christina Katz that went something like:

CK: Hey, you guys should bundle together XYZ!
Me: Yeah, I wish we could! We're not set up to do that, though.
CK: You should also sell combined subscriptions to the magazine and WritersMarket.com.
Me: Yeah, that would be great! We're not set up to do that, though.
CK: Have you ever thought about creating XYZ package of services for one low price?
Me: Sounds cool. We're not set up to do that, though.

Back then, Writer's Digest operated in fragments, depending on what division of the corporation it belonged to (book division, magazine division, education division, event division, etc). Each division focused on selling a particular book or product or service, rather than developing an integrated community serving up solutions directly to an audience of writers.

When I talk about publishing changing, this is what I mean: We (authors + publishers) must have conversations with audiences/readers to learn how to serve their needs, rather than try to push a specific product-widget. And "serving needs" is that remarkable mix of content, service, packaging, design, personalized interactions, digitized or interactive formats, conversations, community—whatever it is that offers the best solution.

But it's hard to do that when you're a magazine focused only on selling more magazines. You look at everything through the lens of how to keep the magazine alive.

And it's hard to do that when you're a book line only focused on selling more books, and are rewarded only by book performance.

And so on.

A year ago, F+W took the step of reorganizing its business based on interest area. And I took the lead for the the Writing Community.

It's been quite a year, and many things have changed behind the scenes, including how we run our eCommerce and direct-to-consumer business. (E.g., we no longer have a mail-order club, but we do have Writer's Digest Shop.)

And now, as of this week, Writer's Digest has integrated its two most popular services into one full-service plan (with perks!).

We're calling it the VIP program and it includes a one-year subscription to the magazine and a one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com. As a VIP, you get 10% discounts all year for WritersOnlineWorkshops.com and Writer's Digest Shop (which already offers Amazon-like pricing), plus a free webinar recording on marketing/promotion. (VIP price tag: $49.99. Amounts to 75% discount off retail, monthly rates.)

It may seem like a small thing to people outside of the business. But it's a symbolic step on our path to a truly audience- or reader-driven approach. And it's light years of progress from when I started at F+W Media in 1998. Consider what's changed:

Our reach is widest through online channels, which didn't exist in 1998.
Writers can have conversations with our staff instantly through social networks, which didn't exist even a couple years ago.
Our editors work on content and service, rather than focusing on books or magazines. They are also active partners in the conversations that market and promote those products.

From this perspective, it's a good time to be in publishing. There are unlimited opportunities for those who can directly reach their audience, have the energy to engage, and are willing to experiment with new business models.

It's Not Business As Usual--Stop Acting Like It

Jane — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:31:45 GMT

In my role at Writer's Digest I balance two key objectives that's an odd, meta-publishing endeavor:

Help aspiring writers succeed in the publishing arena
Keep the Writer's Digest business—as a publishing and/or content business—viable

Because of my position within the publishing industry, I see up-close the effects of hard economic times, transformational technology, and increased pressure to produce more with less. Friends lose jobs, businesses fold, we try to follow the cliche "work smarter, not harder," and remind ourselves of the heartfelt reasons we're in the business in the first place.

Here are some recent thoughts from others, from a variety of perspectives:

Daniel Menaker (former Executive Editor-in-Chief of Random House)

I believe that this impending Gutenberg-level shift in reading culture, along with the economic disasters of the last two years, render the challenges of present-day hard-copy publishing all the more agonizing, immediate, and dramatic. At least in the abstract, and especially in this economic climate, most other professions pose some of the same problems for those who pursue them, no doubt. But the tectonically opposing demands on publishing -- that it simultaneously make money and serve the tradition of literature -- and its highly unpredictable outcomes and its prominence in the attention of the media have made it a kind of poster adult for capitalism and the arts in crisis. [click here for full article]

Guy Gonzalez (F+W community leader behind Digital Book World)

For all the talk of publishing’s supposedly imminent demise, there are far too many passionate people working in and around the industry, at every level, to let that happen. And whether they realize it or not, it doesn’t matter if they’re working for one of the major publishers or an independent press, in senior management or as an editor, author or bookseller — there’s a wide and fertile common ground we all share and it’s best represented by the community we all serve: the readers.

Ultimately, it’s readers’ changing habits that are driving the fundamental changes in the publishing industry – everything from the types of books they’re reading to the formats they prefer reading them in – and as a result, it’s the current business model of most publishers that’s under stress, not the community service of publishing itself.
[click here for full post]

From Mark Barrett at DitchWalk.com

Everyone in the new content pipeline must demonstrate added value in order to be embraced by both authors and readers. As an author, if you are not helping me monetize my content in some way, I have no valid business reason for partnering with you or hiring you. As a reader, if you are not providing me a service I need at a competitive price I will simply go elsewhere.

… As a writer, questions of cost and profit and revenue are of interest to me because I now have a direct pipeline to readers. I know I can reduce my costs to something approaching zero, so the question of most concern to me is how to generate revenue. I know I need help to monetize my content. I need sites that will host it and promote it, readers that will recommend it, and publishers who will do the same if I want to reach the widest possible audience.

I want to make deals with business partners in order to accomplish these goals. I want to have the money to hire professionals like editors and designers to help me produce the best work I can. And I want publishers to help me reach the widest market if that makes sense to both of us. [click here for full post]

***

I frequently encounter these two groups:

The writers/authors who read all of this, who do comprehend what's going on, but seem unwilling or unable to adjust their expectations of a publisher or their own responsibility for success
The agents, editors, and other publishing insiders who also comprehend what's going on, yet expect or demand business as usual when it comes to book deals, contracts, and other partnerships

There are also the people who say, quite rightly, that writing and publishing a "real" book is still the big dream, and people will keep chasing that dream no matter how much we all argue that the book is dead, that times have changed, that no one reads any more, etc.

Yes, the dream will always remain. As far as I can tell, it has been a dream for more than a century (The Writer, a competitor to Writer's Digest, has been in business for more than 120 years).

But achieving that dream is going to take many more shapes, and look a lot different, than it did even 5 or 10 years ago.

Most of all, I want YOU to see, really see, what's possible (now & in the future—see The Art of Possibility), identify what you can achieve, and understand tactics to get things done.

I'm trying to do these things, too—along with care for the morale of the people I work with at Writer's Digest and F+W.

I am reminded of Kenny Moore's words:

Morale continues to remain dismal in most companies and employee surveys reveal three disturbing trends: nobody trusts, workers don’t believe senior management and employees are too stressed out to care. Problems with trust, belief and caring. When I lived behind the cloistered walls, we referred to these dynamics as a crisis of Faith, Hope and Charity. As the Recession continues to take its toll, the business world is facing a spiritual problem as much as a fiscal one. Napoleon once said that leaders are dealers in hope. That sounds like a sacred quality to me.

Photo credit: benefit of hindsight

15 Worthy Blogs I Just Discovered

Jane — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:10:37 GMT

I recently received the "One Lovely Blog Award" from Jillian Livingston (go check out isdisnormal—and you must if you are a mom). My thanks to her for introducing me to this concept.

As a result of being honored, I've been asked to note 15 blogs I recently discovered that I find worthy of the award.

(Photo above: A sign at a Buddhist temple advises that those with good eyes are inclined to fall into deep wells—which is how I feel when I discover a great new blog!)

So: here are blogs I've added lately to my Google Reader. (You can see my shared items from Google Reader here, and I accept sharing requests too if you use Google Reader.)

(1) Digital Book World
This is the newest blog launch from F+W, but it's backed by the inimitable Guy Gonzalez. A good read for savvy writers who want a larger understanding of publishing industry challenges. (Note: Digital Book World is offering a free webinar on "The Truth About eBooks" on October 21.)

(2) When Fridays Were Fridays
Written by someone who started working for a large company right out of college and stayed 30 years. I feel a cosmic connection to this person, because in 17 years, I wonder if my "About Me" will look exactly the same. I particularly like her post Have You Ever Faked It?

(3) What Consumes Me by Bud Caddell
You'll love it at first sight.

(4) Kenny Moore
Kenny is the co-author of The CEO and the Monk. I love how compassionate and human his advice is, while still being practical and appropriate for a corporate setting.

(5) Start Up Blog
I feel like I'm getting a better business training here than I would at a university.

(6) Self-Publishing Review
A site that benefits from a multitude of contributors. Professional and quality information, with a bit of magazine style to it (lead stories, resources, features).

(7) Fiction Matters
And it's not here just because they complimented me lately (or because of a bourbon affinity discovered on Twitter … well, maybe a little). Check out their guidebook, then peruse tips.

(8) My Name Is Not Bob
By the charming Robert Brewer, editor of WritersMarket.com. He is also blogger at Poetic Asides, but this is his personal blog, just launched on August 14. He's been a little quiet lately, but I know he'll be active again.

(9) The Sound and Furry
And this one is by the customer service rep behind WritersMarket.com, who is herself an aspiring children's writer. Great tips here for writers, plus cats (a great accent for every blog).

(10) Information Is Beautiful
Always amazing and share-worthy posts.

(11) Clay Shirky
Very infrequent posts, but outstanding quality when it comes to contemplating the future of media.

(12) The Book Oven
Something for everyone—especially writers—to keep an eye on.

(13) Publishing Trends
Their best content will cost you, but they still post really wonderful insider information for free.

(14) Bad Pitch Blog
While not directly tied to writing/publishing, read this long enough and you'll become a better salesperson and promoter of your ideas. A totally new find and I love it.

OK, I purposely stopped at 14. You tell me what No. 15 should be—based on the best last blog that's been added to your RSS reader or bookmark list. (Wondering about RSS readers? Read my tip on how to save time with an RSS reader.)

The Distribution Barrier for Self-Publishers: Less of an Issue?

Jane — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:04:41 GMT

When I started at Writer's Digest in 2001, my first assigned beat was the self-publishing scene. I was given Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual and The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing by Marilyn & Tom Ross, as primers on the topic.

I edited the magazine's column on self-publishing (discontinued), the newsstand-only special issues on self-publishing (also discontinued), and helped coordinate the judging for the Self-Published Book Awards (still going strong).

Back then, one of the biggest hurdles for any self-published author was securing bookstore distribution for a printed book—a near impossibility unless you could strike a deal with a wholesaler or distributor (also nearly impossible).

Much of the advice we gave in the magazine, and elsewhere, focused on how you could distribute and sell your book directly to readers, or through specialty sales channels. (Fortunately, 50% of books sold in this country are through specialty and mass-merchant accounts. A few examples of a specialty account: Michael's craft store, salons, gift shops.)

The indie scene is much different now for a few reasons:

(1) It is easier to take a risk on self-publishing your work electronically since there is usually very little upfront investment.

(2) You can e-publish your work for a variety of channels
(including the free-to-use Amazon DTP program), without securing an ISBN, and without granting exclusivity to any one channel or retailer.

(3) Avid readers are beginning to buy and even prefer books in electronic format, whether through Kindle, Sony Reader, or mobile devices.

That said, don't take this as a sign that it's easy to realize overnight success through self-publishing options, whether electronically based or not. I really love Christina Katz's "back to reality" advice, Good-bye, Cinderella: Self-Publishing Isn't the Only or Always the Best Choice for Writers.

There are many viewpoints, and there are just as many changes taking place daily in the industry. Just take the latest announcement today from Smashwords, Sony Reader, and AuthorSolutions. People who use Smashwords or AuthorSolutions to publish their work can have their e-book made available on the Sony Reader.

I spoke to Smashwords founder Mark Coker yesterday about the news, and it's impressive to see what his service can now offer an indie author (for free!):

Your e-book available for sale (or you can make it free to readers) in nine different formats, including HTML, JavaScript, Kindle (.mobi), Epub, PDF, RTF, LRF (for Sony), Palm Doc, and plain text (download or online view). This conversion process is totally automated, very fast (minutes), and based on a Word document that you submit to Smashwords.
Automatic distribution to people who use iPhones or Android-based phones.
Distribution to BarnesandNoble.com, including Fictionwise and their eReader app (distribution to B&N is contingent upon your files meeting format requirements, e.g., having a proper cover image and copyright page)
And, as of today, distribution to people using Sony Reader.

Mark says that he's in talks with other major online retailers for even more distribution opportunities. (I bet you can think of at least one major book retailer not listed above.)

I see physical distribution becoming less of a meaningful barrier as authors can distribute e-books in all the same places that traditional books are sold.

It doesn't equate to instant or even easy success, but authors who are able to create demand for their work, and aren't afraid of sweat-equity, have the potential for success if happy readers (fans!) help spread the good word.

Do you have an e-publishing experience to share? Or what questions does this raise for people who are wondering if this path is worth the time and energy?

For more:

My previous blog post: Do Writers' Futures Lie in Indie E-Publishing Platforms? (includes interview with Mark Coker)
Feature package on self-publishing from March/April issue of Writer's Digest magazine
My previous rant on self-publishing
How to publish on Smashwords (at their site)

How to Succeed in Today's Publishing Industry (Takeaways from Conference)

Jane — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:33:06 GMT

By noon on Saturday, attendees were commenting that they'd already gotten their money's worth. I consider that a big win!

If you missed the event, you can still get some valuable takeaways:

Meryl Evans has compiled Tweets from the event, which I've made available for printing and download on Scribd.
You can also read this fabulous recap from an attendee: 8 Gatejumper Tips Heard at the Writer's Digest Conference.

And most remarkably, Meryl Evans sent me a note to help attendees make sense of what to do next! See below. My big thanks to her generosity.

—

So You Went to the Writer's Digest Conference. What Are You Going to Do Now?
by Meryl Evans

In the Writer's Digest Conference blog, Robert Lee Brewer reported on something he overheard:

So, earlier today, in the hallway, I overheard one writer speaking to another. She said, "I don't have the time to handle all this."

I was not surprised to hear this kind of statement at a conference on publishing and marketing and communicating and podcasting and basically everything we've been going over since Friday. But, of course, I started thinking about how successful writers should be, at least, trying.

Well, after a long pause, she continued speaking to the other (very good listener) writer, "But I have to make the time if I'm serious about making this work."

The writer caught on. Not all of us think about how we're going to make the most of a conference. Or we feel overwhelmed that it paralyzes us preventing us from taking action. We bring home all the notes we took filing them away only to never see them again. Then the least we can hope for is that our brains remembered a few key points while we wrote or typed them and apply them.

Review Your Notes
Take five or ten minutes to look over your notes. You can handle that, right? As you review your notes, pick one to three things you want to use. Post them in your to do list or whatever you use on a regular basis so you can remember and practice. Give yourself a deadline—you're a writer, you can handle it. Check off each item as you do them.

Got 'em all done? Great. Now, go back to your notes to cross them off. Pick one to three more things to try. Repeat.

That wasn't so bad, was it? Turning loads of notes into a couple of doable tasks makes a difference.

Write One Article
You probably walked away from the conference with a few article ideas. Rather than trying to do it all, I pick one topic and write the article within a couple of days after returning home. You can make it a blog entry, an article for your publication, whatever. In writing the article, those ideas will stick with you. Plus, you gain a bonus of sharing that with others.

When you finish the article, revisit the other article ideas and what you can do with them. Rather than feeling spread thin with all your article ideas, you focus on one article at a time while putting the rest away for later. You've captured the ideas on paper or on your laptop. They won't disappear. Well, unless you delete them, lose them or trash them.

Key Points from WD Conference
You can find great tweets from the conference by searching Twitter for WDC09. Here are some highlights worth remembering, captured from tweets and the blog so you don't have to read it all:

Christina Katz: Platform is everything you do with your expertise. So many tools are available; must prioritize, maximize your time. Do you see yourself as the producer of your writing career and take 100% responsibility for your success?
Jane Friedman: Platform comes first! Book second. Without a strong platform and topic—creating demand—your book will have a difficult time finding its place in the market. Any changes publishers want to make to the book is what they believe will help increase book sales. They basically want what's economically best for your book—and that's ultimately a good thing.
Scott Sigler and Seth Harwood: Once you show you can move (sell) books, publishers will take notice. That's why giving away your first book online for free and building up an audience is essential to getting publishers—who have ignored you for years—to wake up and realize your talent and value. "You are the best person to sell your book," says Hardwood.
Alice Rosengard: Sees organization as a common problem with nonfiction proposals.
David Mathison (Be the Media) keys: Have a direct relationship with your audience. Control your rights. Repurpose your content.
Chris Brogan: The best way to get a book published is to not try to get a book published. The whole trick about promoting is to not talk about yourself. Learn to talk about other people. Twitter is not about talking; it's about listening.
Agent Miriam Kriss: A lot of "overnight successes" are 10 years in the making.
Agent Panel (Jessica Sinsheimer, Regina Brooks and Michelle Humphrey): Difference between freelanced editing and traditional editor is the latter cares, has a vested interest in the book. Professionally edited, professionally typeset, professionally designed are critical for success via POD.

Figuring Out Your Facebook Strategy: 3 Essential Tips

Jane — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:54:18 GMT

In May 2006, after reading this article in the New Yorker, I joined Facebook, which at that time was primarily used by students. Not being a student, I found very few people to friend, so the account lay dormant for 18 months until Facebook really took off as a direct competitor to MySpace.

At first, I only friended people I knew very well and had met in person—and I didn't receive that many requests from strangers anyway. Then I gradually and tentatively started friending people I had virtual relationships with, but had not met, feeling oddly like I was using the site "wrong." (Facebook used to ask for confirmation on how you knew someone, and if you couldn't verify from a pre-selected list of options, it reprimanded you. Seriously!)

Then maybe 6 months ago, I witnessed what Robert Brewer, editor of WritersMarket.com, was doing. He had a few thousand friends (and now has maxed out at 5,000!), and he had an amazing network of really cool people who were engaged, supportive, and excited about his work (particularly Poetic Asides). Plus he shared endearing and personable information that really developed him as a "real" person, without being indiscrete or falling into the TMI trap.

I suddenly questioned my Facebook strategy. What was I really protecting anyway? I was already Facebook friends with current and former colleagues, former classmates I hadn't seen in 20 years, and others who I don't know any better (on a personal level) than someone who follows my writing through this blog or Writer's Digest.

Plus I adopted the philosophy many years ago that I would avoid posting anything online (even in a "private" network) that I wouldn't be comfortable sharing with the world.

So I decided to open up the strategy and accept friend requests from people who were already friends with other friends, who I had met at conferences, who were readers of my blog, who had taken an online class with me, and/or anyone who included a brief note with their request. (Click here to friend me.)

Here are three tips on having an open Facebook strategy, particularly for people who might have a book, product, service, or message to spread.

1. To manage a growing number of friends, make sure that you tag everyone as part a group. You can do this immediately when people request to be your friend, or you can always apply and change/add tags later. Here's a screenshot of what this looks like:

The benefit of having such lists is that it helps you manage privacy controls (e.g., if you only want your vacation photos viewable by close friends/family), and you can also target messages/invitations to specific lists.

However: As wonderful as privacy controls are, they can really backfire if people find out you've blocked them from certain areas of your profile. Make sure you know what you're doing. Plus I never assume such controls are infallible.

2. Decide what kind of focus you want your Facebook presence to have. For instance, my Facebook wall is focused on information relevant to writing and publishing. It includes an automated feed from my Writer's Digest blog (meaning my blog posts are automatically posted to my wall), and I share articles of interest to writers.

I had a friend joke recently that I was the only person he knew whose Facebook page was used for professional purposes, and that last time he checked out my profile, a window popped up to accept his credit card.

Ouch!

But that's a warning to everyone: you can't treat Facebook as a sales tool. Rather, it's a way to give people another way to interact, learn, trust. I see it as sharing & service, and if I'm lucky, so do others (rather than as a sales tactic).

I bet some people would pay though to see some of the high school photos available in my Facebook albums.

3. To avoid a complete time sink, decide what kinds of activity/requests you will engage in and which you will ignore. For instance, I don't participate in any types of games, causes, or other past times on Facebook (for awhile I indulged in Scrabble, but stopped). I also make the "chat" tool inactive for everyone except a few personal connections. I take the occasional frivolous quiz and post the results, which always leads to fun and valuable interaction.

I often get this question: Should I create a fan page for myself or my book/product, and keep this separate from my personal page? There's nothing wrong with this approach, and given the 5,000-friend limit in place for personal profiles, it can make sense for someone who expects to have a very large following (I'm looking at you, Robert—who did in fact just create a fan page!). But for most writers/authors starting out, without a separate and distinct business or book/product, it doesn't make sense to segment your Facebook presence and manage two profiles and two sets of interactions.

And that's key: Facebook allows interaction on a level that I can't get anywhere else, helps keep connections going, and offers many opportunities I wouldn't have otherwise had to offer help or be helped. The interactions you have will be as meaningful and authentic as what you put into it. I hope to see you there. Plus: Become a fan of the Writer's Digest page.

(And, to beat the drum: Are you looking for more expertise on social media for writers? Check out our September conference, featuring Chris Brogan as keynote!)

Want a Crystal Ball to See the Future of Publishing? You Have One.

Jane — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:01:30 GMT

I'm often asked by writers what the future of publishing looks like. Will print survive? (Yes.) Will newspapers survive? (A few.) Will book publishing become a do-it-yourself free for all? (For some.) Will anyone pay for content, or will a free model reign? (Both.)

Confused yet?

Everyone is.

Amidst the chaos, there is one voice I keep going back to again and again. I first discovered Mike Shatzkin at the 2007 BookExpo America. Mike gave a speech, "End of General Trade Publishing Houses: Death or Rebirth in a Niche-by-Niche World." (Click here for the text of that speech.)

What he said was dead-on true to what I was experiencing in my job—and felt in my gut—even though the speech was looking 10, 20, even 30 years out.

From that point on, I wanted to know everything this guy was ever going to say, and thank god for the rest of us, he started a blog earlier this year.

So it was a dream come true for me (personally and professionally) when F+W (the parent company of Writer's Digest) partnered with Mike on a new event called Digital Book World.

You can read Mike's announcement of the event here. A little of what he says:

In the trade space, one of the big ebook topics (which we plan to explore in depth at DBW) is “pricing.” What should ebooks cost the consumer? The convention among trade publishers has been to peg ebook retail prices to the least-expensive edition available in print. So if there is a cloth edition and a paperback edition, the publisher would be guided on ebook pricing by the paperback (usually setting at or slightly below the print book price.)

But in academic publishing, hardcover and paperback editions are often published simultaneously. The publisher figures that the paperbacks are for the students; the hardcovers are for the libraries. Since ebooks in the academic space are considered primarily library items, and because they have often become part of larger searchable databases, the academic publishers would set their ebook prices based on the hardcover, the more expensive print book available. He also said that sometimes they are even more expensive than the hardcover, because of the additional functionality they have, like links and embedded video.

This was important information for our client, who works across publishing segments. But if presented without a clear contextual frame, it could well be confusing information to a consumer trade publisher (or an academic publisher) trying to figure out a pricing strategy. Because we are tightly focused on consumer trade publishing, our panel(s) at DBW might not mention a tie-to-hardcover pricing, but if we did, we’d pose the model and talk about why it made sense in some other context, but not in ours. We’ll be talking about lots of other things that affect price: discounts, retailer strategies and control, the impact of the publisher selling direct to the consumer, and the extent to which there is enrichment or enhancement, for example. All of those things, as well, are somewhat different in the consumer space than in the others, where aggregation and value-added capabilities are critical components of ebook development.

It would be very easy in an economic climate like today, where we see newspapers and magazines closing, to bemoan the state of the industry.

But I continue to be optimistic, because I feel like I have a small grasp on what the future is like, and how I can successfully adapt to it (along with my company). And that's what Digital Book World is all about—adapting in a way that can positively impact our business today.

Photo credit: Silver ArTiSt

Keep Your Career Alive by Following the Reader

Jane — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:21:21 GMT

Today I had a wonderful conversation with Mr. Media (Bob Andelman) about Writer's Digest, the writing/publishing community, and the future ahead for writers. You can listen to the recording of the live show here.

While the conversation was initially sparked by this previous Mr. Media interview, we spent much our time discussing issues affecting writers.

Many newspaper/magazine/publishing outlets are disappearing—due to lack of advertising revenue, readership, and/or sales. So writers have to look for those places where readers are actually engaged and spending their money. That's where the money will follow for content creators, and I use that moniker very specifically. It's not about being a freelancer or journalist or author any more. Most often, it's about providing content, in a variety of forms, or adapting it for different audiences and purposes. Same goes for the future of publishing and media companies; they don't provide just a book or a magazine—they provide content or, you could say, a service wrapped around that content.

I like the idea of following the reader. There is a blog now called Follow the Reader that discusses some of these issues (in relation to book publishing), and you can follow Twitter conversations on the topic (#followreader).

See the conversation on Twitter about "follow the reader."
Visit the blog Follow the Reader.
Read about the conference we're hosting this September that will help you follow the reader.

Who Exactly Are the Middlemen in Publishing? Can They All Disappear?

Jane — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:42:04 GMT

There have been a number of thought-provoking articles lately on:

whether publishers can be eliminated as the "middlemen" between authors and booksellers/readers (read this Fast Company article postulating a future where authors make deals directly with Amazon; and read this TOC post on the future role of publishers)

whether agents can be eliminated as the "middlemen" between authors and publishers (read this Seth Godin post about agents)

whether booksellers can be eliminated as the "middlemen" between authors/publishers and readers (read this about the future of bookselling from an indie bookseller in NYC)

If you take these opinions to their logical extreme, then eventually we'll end up with just the authors and their readers—without any publishers, agents, or booksellers around to interfere or steal away profit.

Do these middlemen interfere? (And/or steal?)

Or do these middlemen provide a service, contribute value, and/or offer quality curation for particular audiences?

Certainly there are many types of middlemen. The question for me is: Which will survive and why? The ones who contribute the most value?

Also consider:

Do booksellers really want to take on the responsibilities of publishers—which involves fielding the needs, wants, and desires of thousands of authors? (And are authors ready to give up relationships with established and talented editors?)
Do authors really want to take on the responsibility of agents, which involves scrutinizing contracts and financial statements from publishers, and knowing the business so well you can smell when something's wrong—and fight like a bulldog for the best outcome?

As far as the role of booksellers, that seems a little more in question. Publishers already have the means and ability to sell direct to readers. So do authors. What qualities do booksellers need to cultivate to remain relevant in their middleman position?

Consider this from the current issue (July-August 2009) of Poets & Writers, where Jofie Ferrari-Adler speaks with Jonathan Galassi, president and publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux:

Actually, at our sales conference … some of the salesmen were saying that neighborhood bookstores are doing better in the economic crisis because people are more interested in buying locally and supporting small businesses. … It's not just more, more, more. But I think all of the traditional bookstore chains are in trouble. Amazon is very, very effective. But I think Amazon is a potential … frenemy. It's not just interested in being a bookstore. So I think we have to sell our own books to people. … bookstores are the weakest link in the chain. … There are always going to be bookstores, but I don't think that's where the future of bookselling is.

As a final note, read this especially fine and thought-provoking post by my colleague Guy Gonzalez, who discusses ways in which gatekeepers (or curators of great content) will survive alongside the crowds.

What do you think? Post in the comments.

Photo credit: Dreamer 7112

5 Ways Writers & Book Publishers Need to Embrace Change NOW

Jane — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:41:59 GMT

In today's writing and publishing industry, knowing how to change and quickly adapt to change can be your biggest competitive asset.

This has been a key takeaway for me from the weekly Twitter editorchats that I started participating in last week.

The discussions often focus on industry change and trends, especially in relation to new media and technology. Part of the discussion last night was about the generation gap in publishing, sparked by Time's article on how by 2019, leaders will have to manage and motivate people in new ways due to generational changes.

I read the Time article and thought: Yes, but this kind of change can't wait 10 years! Just like magazine and book publishing can't wait 10 years to find a new model for survival.

The editorchat was insightful, but I don't see a generation gap. Rather I see a gap between those who can adapt to change and shape a new vision of the future (on a daily basis these days!), and those who get stuck and/or have pessimistic outlooks on the change.

There's a stereotype that "old" people can't adapt to change as well as "young" people—but my experience has shown it's more of a mindset or attitude.

Some people have the ability to act as soon as they know a change is needed, while others think so long and hard about making a change (in order to make the "right" decision and feel comfortable) that it's too late.

Here are 5 specific ways that writers/publishers need to embrace change now.

Writers: The book is not the beginning or the end. Let me restate that: Do not make it your life's work to get that first book published. It's not the Holy Grail any longer (if it ever was to begin with). The book is only one piece of a much larger effort that you need to focus on. Stop thinking you need a book to accomplish your goals (E.g., "I can start speaking/promoting once I have a book.")
Publishers: The act of reading is not tied to books. Stop thinking that if physical books disappear, that reading will also disappear, or that reading will be diminished, or that your jobs will evaporate. Books are not tied to the act or survival of reading. It's a romantic and lovely object, I agree, but it's merely one (sometimes limited) vehicle for something much, much bigger (storytelling, innovative ideas, inspiration, instruction).
Writers: Power lies in your reach to readers, not in the prestige of your publisher. Kevin Kelley has become famous for saying that it only takes 1,000 loyal followers to really make a go of something. If you develop those followers, you can have a much more stable and rich career that is not dependent on publishers to distribute and sell your work—because you already know where and how to market to your audience.
Publishers/agents: Be a true partner and add value to authors' careers. Or become irrelevant. Because of #3, publishers stand to suffer more in the long run, because today's (and tomorrow's) savviest authors already have the tools they need to be successful without a publisher's distribution strength. (Just not all of them have learned this yet!) Publishers who truly partner with authors, and start offering support in new and meaningful ways (see this great idea of a Digital Concierge over at PersonaNonData), will attract the best authors, the best content, the best value, the best readers, the best community.
Publishers and authors alike should focus on vertical communities/niches. The more connected to a specific community you are, the more you understand what it values, what it is willing to pay for, and what sparks action. Paradoxically, the wider you cast your net in terms of audience, the harder it is to get anyone to notice or care.

When you take these 5 things together, I think authors will partner with publishers who offer a community of other like-minded authors (networking/growth potential), who offer diverse opportunities and methods of support, across all types of media, and who share the same values.

New media and technology has made the world transparent. Everyone is going to partner and invest based on mutual benefit/support and values. Those who don't stand for anything special, who lack a great story (or myth) to share, will struggle. (See this cover story from Inc. magazine for an example of a company and CEO who intimately understands this.)

The world is changing, and I'm grateful for it.

Warning: You Don't Want to Miss the Best Content of the Year

Jane — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:20:20 GMT

This week marks the 1-year anniversary of this blog, There Are No Rules. I am still finding the right combination of content and perspective that will help you, so on this anniversary, I offer this invitation:

What questions, topics, and subjects do you want me to cover in the year ahead?
What do you need the most help with?
What has been most helpful to you in the past year, to help you advance your writing career (from anywhere!)?
What would you like more of?
What could you do without?
What information do you usually remember most from this blog? Why do you read it?

Everyone who comments on this post (and includes their e-mail address), will receive, in PDF form, my presentations and handouts from my talks on how to succeed as a writer in a transformational time in publishing.

The best commenter (as judged by me!) will have a choice of a 15-minute phone consultation, a query letter critique, or a first-page critique.

Now, to celebrate my best content from the past year, in case you missed it!

2 Most Popular Posts of All Time

8 Articles/Posts All Writers Should Have Read in 2008
FYI, if you're a blogger, you should know by now that list posts almost always perform better than all others.

On Being One of 100,000+ People Stranded in Thailand
Of course a tale of my misadventure would do well! As the Brazen Careerist has said, it's the personal element that often brings your readers back for more. (True?)

Series Posts

Save Time Tips (using Google tools and other tech solutions). After the first tip that's linked here, look for two more tips immediately after.

How to Avoid Sabotaging Your Writing Career (1-7)
Here's #7, with a link to the others at the bottom of the post.

10 Years in Publishing: What I've Learned (1-5)
Here's #5. Click on nearest preceding days for 1-4.

Biggest Traffic Generator in One Day

My Big Rant on Self-Publishing

Best Practical Answers/Solutions for Writers

5 Questions to Ask Yourself After Hearing: We Can't Sell Enough to Justify Publishing It

Useful Google Tools You've Never Heard Of

The Essential Components of an (Unpublished) Author's Website

Best Big-Picture Views for Writers

Do Writers' Futures Lie in Indie E-Publishing Platforms?

How Writers Can Start Blogging in a Meaningful Way

Fiction Writers Need Platforms, Too

The 3 Types of Writer—Which Are You?

Posts With Hidden Content You Might've Missed

WD Editors' Intensive Cheat Sheet (great links to how-to-get-published, plus how to get connected)

Recap: Harriette Austin Writers Conference (red flags in first 15 pages, PDF download of my workshop on honing a great nonfiction book concept)

Get a List of All the Sites I Follow

Best Fun

How Many Editors to Screw in a Lightbulb?

Time to Get a Tattoo?

Want to guest blog here? I'd like to extend an invitation to writers (whether you blog or not): If you have tips, advice, success stories, or not-so-successful stories to share, let me know privately via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter. (You can also reach me through this portal.) I'm starting a guest series on Fridays and would love to feature all kinds of perspectives.

Photo credit: Sandra

Writers and the Recession: How Can You Succeed?

Jane — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:39:03 GMT

I was interviewed by Tad Richards of the New York Careers Examiner. We discuss writing, publishing, recession, and how everything is changing ... and how writers need to shift strategy to succeed. A snippet:

TR: With print periodicals in danger of becoming dinosaurs, what's the future there for writers?

JF: Where is journalism headed or what will happen? I have no idea. We're in the middle of a huge transformation in the culture, and it's nearly impossible to say how it will shake out. Clay Shirky wrote a fabulous essay on this that I highly recommend to every writer. I do think the culture is headed into a media environment that does not value advertising, but has a lot of respect for content. Writers who can build a trust factor and also specialize in reaching a particular audience should find plenty of opportunities no matter what happens. Being online and being engaged (the social media thing) will be essential. Everything will be more community-driven ... but how all of this will be monetized and provide writers/journalists with a living ... We'll see!

Click here for the full interview.

Best Tweets for Writers (4/13/09)

Jane — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:23:37 GMT

I watch Twitter, so you don't have to. (We'll see how long I can last.) If interested in where I found the Tweet, I've indicated the Twitter user.

Most valuable Tweet of the day:

5 Things I’ve Learned From Making Me 2.0 a Bestseller
@danschawbel

The rest:

Tech solutions for writing. Save and store your work online with Dropbox.
@motsjustes @ShaunaSweeney

Tech solutions for writing. Need to write? ... JDarkRoom for PC users, Scivner or WriteRoom for Macs
@motsjustes @gempari

13 plot points to check during revision
@motsjustes

Three Grammar Rules You Can (And Should) Break
@weblittlepieces

Think the business side of writing/publishing is not important? Excellent discussion.
@tweetstogo

Intriguing options to help you avoid the many distractions from writing that are available on your computer.
@benwhiting

Here are 5 ways to make your writing more memorable ... b/c the more memorable you are, the more you'll sell!
@quipsandtips

Has Publishing Gone Nuts? Interview This Sunday

Jane — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:38:46 GMT

This Sunday at 4p EST, I'll be on the air with Wordsmitten's Kate Sullivan, who interviews someone from the publishing industry each week on her radio show.

You can listen here via BlogTalkRadio.
(Also, stay up-to-date at Twitter: @wordsmitten)

The WordSmitten "About the Books" radio broadcast (and podcast) has been nominated for the 2009 Gracie Awards (George Burns and Gracie Allen) sponsored by the AWRT.org. Recent Gracie Award-winners include Oprah's Gayle King radio broadcast. Recent guests include Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward P. Jones, journalist and author Gay Talese (Mr. New York), National Book Award honorees Fiona Maazel and Sana Krasikov, sportswriter Jeff Pearlman, and author Natalie Goldberg.

Last year, I spent a lovely time in the Florida area with the folks at Wordsmitten, when they hosted a one-day writing conference.

When you check out the BlogTalkRadio site, you'll see the following colorful note:

During last year's visit to the WordSmitten event, and the rowdy authors assembled for that spectacular writing conference (Connie May Fowler, Robert Tarte, Alison Steele, Kate Sullivan, and Jane Friedman conducted sessions), Jane Friedman came through unscathed despite flat tires, an abundance of wine, merriment, and sassy writers.

The WordSmitten team is delighted she survived the writing conference and authors' parties. Even more interesting, we're glad she still talks to our editorial staff.

Hope you'll listen in -- and call-in with a question.

WD Editors' Intensive Cheat Sheet

Jane — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 02:39:01 GMT

A huge thanks to all the wonderful writers who are visiting our offices this weekend for Saturday's educational workshops, plus Sunday's critique day. I hope you took away some useful action steps on your path to publication.

As promised, I'm posting some resources and links that we discussed during our time together. If I've missed anything you were hoping for, don't hesitate to comment on the post, and I'll add more info as needed. (And for those attendees who have useful links to share, please post in comments as well.)

Agent/Query Research

Chuck's blog (Guide to Literary Agents)
AgentQuery.com
PublishersMarketplace (fee-based)
Miss Snark
QueryShark

Community Writing & Publishing Sites

Authonomy
WeBook
BookRix

DIY/Self-Publishing Sites (Free/Next to Free)

Smashwords (partnership with Stanza, the iPhone e-reader)
Lulu
Blurb
CreateSpace (Amazon-related)

Blogging and Site Building

Wordpress
GoDaddy (domain registration)
Storytlr
JaneFriedman.com (example of my lifestreaming homepage using Storytlr)

General Social Networking

Facebook (I accept all friend requests; also look for Writer's Digest page)
Twitter (@JaneFriedman and @WritersDigest)
LinkedIn (you can network with me here too)
Ping.fm (to coordinate your status updates among all social networking sites)

Previous & Helpful Blog Posts

Other Events You Might Want to Try

BEA/WD Writers Conference in New York City (May 27), with our pitch slam featuring 60 agents
Our September event on the business of publishing, also in NYC, on the weekend of September 19-20. Details coming, keep checking our events page.

List of Attendees
If you did not receive an e-mail giving you online access to this list, drop me a note.

Interested in the next Writer's Digest Editors' Intensive—on June 20-21? We'll soon be opening for registration here.

Hey, Writers: What's Your Online Strategy? What Are You Waiting For?

Jane — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:09:59 GMT

I recently received this letter from Jane Bretl, an attendee at our Writer's Digest December Editor Intensive event:

I attended the Writer's Digest Editor's Intensive in December. I was the very quiet woman in the back who was soaking up information like a sponge, all the while trying to put together a cohesive, intelligent-sounding question in my head. I never did come up with a satisfactory question to ask; only one nervous joke about twitter, and an overwhelming feeling that every else in the room had a much better handle on what was being discussed. I did not know how much I did not know about the world of publishing until I attended your event. I'm new.

It took me about a month to digest (no pun intended) all the information from that day, but by mid-January I was ready to give it a try. I joined facebook, started a blog and was on my way. Soon, I took your advice and secured the URL of my name and was posting daily. The more I wrote, the more I felt the decades-old writing barriers push away -- the ones that had always held me back from a daily writing habit. I don't want to sound too dramatic, this is just a blog for goodness sake, but I can say that my writing life is dramatically different since the day you inspired me to try something new. I don't know where it will lead me next, but it feels good.

As you have the next Editor's Intensive coming up soon, I wanted say something that may already be obvious, or not -- that everyone who attends, even the quiet lady in the back with the confused look on her face, will walk away with information she can use.

Click here to visit Jane's new site!

I can't tell you what a relief and a delight it was to receive this note, because when I do discuss online tools with writers, sometimes I wonder if I'm suggesting the impossible: to dramatically change your thinking about how you write and interact with readers, agents, editors.

Some writers think they can't make the leap — and therein lies the only problem.

You can make the leap (just as Jane did), and it can have a dramatic improvement in your writing life, whether you're new to the business, or an old pro who simply hasn't yet taken advantage of all the new tools available.

It simply requires an openness.

Looking for some help on the how to part? You can attend one of our intensive events (there are four scheduled this year), or rather than travel to our offices in Cincinnati, you can take our interactive online course on March 31 that teaches you, step-by-step, how to get started with your online writing life (see here for more info). And/or you can keep reading this blog; I'm like a broken record when it comes to authors learning to be savvy online.

Photo credit: pshutterbug

Perhaps Piracy Is Exactly What Publishing Needs

Jane — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:13:41 GMT

The issue of piracy flared up on this blog a few weeks back, with some readers disagreeing with me about piracy as a potential good thing.

I found the following viewpoint fascinating—inspired by a piece in the Guardian, and shared and commented on at Teleread (a major blog devoted to e-books).

The Guardian said:

To put it less glibly, the publishing industry isn’t being forced to confront a radical shift in consumer behaviour caused by technology, because that scenario just is not happening. Customers aren’t forcing the issue by choosing to abandon books and read pirated text instead. And this means the problem isn’t there to be confronted.

Teleread commented:

Publishers know what’s costing them book sales—it’s the general public’s overall apathy toward reading. There are a few loud complainers about pirates—generally authors, rather than publishers …

Without a pirate threat to fail to “beat,” publishers are under no obligation to “join” them. Which could explain why most of them continue to encumber their books with useless DRM, and to charge more than consumers are usually willing to pay. E-books only account for half of one percent of total book sales, and there is no significant pirate threat to make them get serious.

You can read the full blog post from Teleread here, along with a link to the original Guardian piece.

How the Internet Has Got Publishing By Its Tail

Jane — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:26:22 GMT

I recently did an hour-long interview with the delightful Patricia Volonakis Davis, Editor-in-Chief of Harlots' Sauce Radio. Patricia describes the interview with me as such:

Those of us who read books, and those of us who write them, will be equally enthralled with [this] interview on Harlots’ Sauce Radio this month. You’ll find her savvy in her assessments of the industry’s ‘buzziest’ new toys, such as Authonomy, Smashwords, and Kindle 2, and frank in her judgments of trade dinosaurs like Publishers Weekly.

Click here to go straight to the interview.

My Big Rant on Self-Publishing

Jane — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:12:13 GMT

I can't tell you how tired I am of hearing people bash self-publishing. The things I hear usually fall into two categories:

Most self-published books aren't quality
Some self-publishing services are unethical

If you agree with one of the above statements, let me lay it out real clear for you: The landscape is changing, and if you haven't noticed, you're behind the times. This particular blog post addresses the quality issue, because the ethics issue is becoming less of a problem. The moment any self-pub service tries to pull a fast one or do something questionable, it's trumpeted far and wide online. And often it's the people who aren't doing their research and due diligence that get taken advantage of. I'm not saying it's right for this to happen, nor do I condone it, but all industries have bad eggs.

But moving on, consider:

Distribution models are changing. With advancements in technology, and the power now within an average writer's hands, it's not necessary to have physical bookstore distribution to achieve success. (See my interview with Smashwords and Stanza for more on this.)

Traditional publishers now rely on authors to do all the marketing and promotion. It used to be that writers could concentrate on writing and forget about that icky sales and marketing stuff. Well, welcome to the new world. Marketing is now expected from authors. And authors who survive will be the ones who find ways to authentically grow their platform and meaningfully reach their readership.

Communities will decide what books are worthwhile, and communities won't have ego-filled judgments. Publishers will always be giving their authors one thing that is hard to come by: a measure of instant credibility. (That is: Someone thought this was good enough to take a financial risk on.) In good scenarios, there is also collaboration: to make a good book a great book. But soon, communities will have as much power as publishers to decide what books deserve attention. Plus you and I will be more likely to trust judgments coming from people we know and have something in common with, not necessarily The New York Times. It goes back to the whole end of cultural authority.

You're probably thinking, "Oh my god, she's totally in the pocket of the self-publishers and enslaved to them because of their advertising dollars that support the magazine." You can take the cynic's view if you wish and choose to believe that what I write is not authentically my view. But my background is 10 years of traditional book publishing—acting as the gatekeeper. I have a lot of investment in that traditional model. But I know if we [insiders] don't change what we do, we'll become irrelevant, and that's a worse fate.

When I started working for Writer's Digest magazine, one of my first assignments was producing the special newsstand-only issue on self-publishing (called Publishing Success). And I noticed that self-publishing is a hell of a lot of work. You don't get any hand-holding from agents or editors, and you're on your own if you want to be successful. Most people execute it poorly because they are not business people, and they don't have a good grasp on their audience. They're simply writing for themselves (catharsis). But I'm not going to fault the entire self-publishing approach because many people use it as a tool for personal validation (e.g., by publishing a life story, 200,000-word novel, or manifesto).

While at Writer's Digest, I've seen thousands of self-published books come through our Self-Published Book Awards. Ninety-nine percent don't meet my standard of quality for publication. But I can also tell clearly they were a work of passion, and it meant something dearly to people to get it in print. I can be heartless and say, "Well if these people have a book inside them, that's exactly where it should stay," or I can say: "Go ahead, take a chance, get hurt even." Most people, even published authors, have a lot to learn when it comes to what deserves print publication.

You want to have a traditional publisher and a literary agent that you can tout—so you can strut around and call yourself a published author? Go right ahead. But here's the judgment I bring to the table: Does your book sell? Do you have visibility? Or are you living in obscurity? Because I can't tell you often enough: I don't care who published you or how much you were paid for an advance: If you ain't got readers, you ain't got love, you ain't got money, you ain't got a future in publishing.

It is exciting to be able to publish a book virtually within 5 minutes with the new services available (through Amazon & Kindle, through Smashwords-Stanza-iPhone, through Lulu, and others). Yes, it will lead to an unbelievable amount of media detritus. But we have the tools today to find what we want and ignore the rest.

Photo credit: jerine

The End of Cultural Authority

Jane — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:11:36 GMT

There's a great interview over at Poets & Writers with four editors in book publishing. One of the best bits:

Q: When you look at the industry, what are the biggest problems we face right now?

CHINSKI: I think they're all so obvious. Returns. Blogs.
GARGAGLIANO: And just finding readers.
CHINSKI: The end of cultural authority. That's something we talk about a lot at FSG. Reviews don't have the same impact that they used to. The one thing that really horrifies me and that seems to have happened within the last few years is that you can get a first novel on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, a long review in The New Yorker, a big profile somewhere, and it still doesn't translate into sales.

More Books on Phones (and Other News for Writers)

Jane — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:00:35 GMT

It's Friday, time for a little reading break, so I'm sharing with you the latest interesting news I've digested this week.

Just today, the New York Times reported that Amazon is looking at offering Kindle books on the iPhone. Huge! Google also now has titles from Google Book Search available on mobile devices.
Smashwords will be the first to release Dan Poynter's new book about self-publishing. You can catch an interview with Poynter over at the Smashwords blog. My favorite quote from Dan: "Social networking is the ideal way for authors to promote their books. You can get the word out while discussing your favorite subject with colleagues all over the world. BTW, social networking has been around since the campfire. It is simply discussing your favorite subject with your friends. Today we have social media. We can reach our colleagues via the Internet and mobile phone systems. People anywhere in the world can join the campfire."
Which comes first, the product or the marketing? This brief post by Seth Godin is at the heart of what aspiring authors need to remember, especially those considering the indie route. (Freedom to publish yourself comes with great responsibility—if you want to be read, that is.)
Thinking about ways to build platform? As always, Chris Brogan offers tools and questions to think about as you survey the web for inspiration and direction, "57 Internet Possibilities to Investigate."
This blog has been very heavy on e-book commentary lately (due to my life's iPhone Renaissance). Here's an article for those of you wondering how anyone ever finds and reads e-books, and what factors you need to consider before publishing one.
Finally: a couple mainstream media articles on publishing e-books (Christian Science Monitor) and podcasting your book (Time magazine).

Photo credit: KB35

Should Writers Worry About the Pirating of E-Books?

Jane — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:54:37 GMT

Many unpublished writers worry that their ideas will get stolen, or that their work will get stolen before it reaches publication. I always counsel writers to stop this unproductive thinking. First, writing isn't exactly a lucrative thing to steal. It is not a highly profitable venture to steal unpublished novel manuscripts. Second, given the extremely low success rate when pitching editors/agents, who wants to undertake the burden of selling an unpublished novel? (Not to mention anyone who steals work is likely to be exposed sooner or later.)

However, with the advent of e-books, there is a new concern that writers will lose out on sales if the files aren't adequately protected (the whole DRM issue, which has been eloquently and passionately discussed over at Booksquare).

Sandy James mentions this worry in a comment in my post Do Writers' Futures Lie in Indie E-Publishing Platforms?

My first five books are all ebooks, although they will eventually hit print. … I have signed with a great agent, and I hope to expand my fanbase by publishing with larger houses. But these ebooks were a fantastic way to get my foot in the proverbial door. I learned about the publishing process, how to handle edits, how to work with cover designers, etc... All of my books are given a great edit, they are available from many outlets, and all will be in print only a few months after the ebook release.

As far as worries -- pirating is at the top of my list. I suppose ebooks are as vulnerable as music files, and we all know about how easily data is passed around. Think the Napster debacle or the Google settlement. On the other hand, how is that any different than one person buying a book and loaning it to her friends? Either way, it's a loss of income for an author and publisher.

Now, I freely admit that I tend to worry a lot less than other people. I tend to think that the more unreservedly you give, the more you will receive. People notice, respect, and reward generosity. And I think this has proven out even in the music industry.

We've seen it happen in the book industry, too. When Suze Orman's book was available free from Oprah's website (to coincide with a show appearance), the book returned to the No. 1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list.

Giving things away for free, or at the very least, giving away a large portion of your work for free (to hook people and prove the value), leads to more sales. When your work is passed around for free, other people are doing your marketing for you. Presumably a new audience is being exposed to your work.

What is your experience? Does free sell?

Photo credit: St_A_Sh

Do Writers' Futures Lie in Indie E-Publishing Platforms?

Jane — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:36:51 GMT

The March/April issue of Writer’s Digest magazine hits newsstands in the week ahead; its feature package focuses on self-publishing. While the issue touches on all forms of self-publishing—print as well as digital/electronic—we could do an entire issue devoted to the evolving models for online or digital self-publishing.

We also closed the issue before the partnership announcement between Stanza and Smashwords. You’re probably thinking, Why do I care about the partnership of two companies I’ve never heard of?

True, it wasn’t until I had an iPhone that I became really aware of these two companies and understood what was happening.

Here are the basics:

The iPhone is a mobile device that’s used by nearly 20 million people.
Stanza is a popular e-book reader you can use on your iPhone (you download it for free directly from your phone).
Smashwords is a self-publishing company that publishes e-books only. You can use their service without any upfront cost, plus you can make your book available for as little or as much as you want (even for free).
Smashwords + Stanza means your self-published work can be available to millions of people, or at least the 1 million people who have downloaded the Stanza application onto their iPhones, as of January 2009.

Big-picture, what does this mean for writers? We’re starting to see the eradication of distribution barriers to self-published works. If authors can effectively spread the word about their work, then it can be quickly, easily, and inexpensively downloaded on a very popular device.

I find it intoxicating. All of this is quite new, but also instantly transformative. Smashwords debuted in early 2008; Stanza became available on the iPhone in July 2008. (You can see the impact Stanza has had on the reading and publishing community by reviewing the headlines on their news page.)

So I took some time to talk on the phone with Smashwords founder, Mark Coker, as well as Lexcycle’s COO, Neelan Choksi. Here’s some of what they had to say.

Interview with Mark Coker at Smashwords

I’m just now realizing the power of the iPhone and Stanza. I admit, I didn’t really comprehend the e-book universe until recently.

Stanza has become a really powerful reading platform. If you talk to core e-book reading enthusiasts, they'll tell you that the iPhone is nothing new, but I think what we're starting to see is we're expanding beyond those early adopters to the mainstream. Especially with Oprah talking about the Kindle, that opens people's eyes.

Reading on paper is a prejudice we're up against. But when people try it, they have a wow moment, kind of this religious experience. My first experience with the Kindle was on Waikiki beach … and I brought it on my vacation, and I booted it up, and I went to the bookstore, and I downloaded samples of different books. It was easy and within 10 minutes I had purchased my first book. You can bring the bookstore anywhere, you can bring your library anywhere, and you can have your book your way.

E-books still only account for about 1% of all book sales, probably less. There's a lot of upside—it's going to happen, it's going to continue to grow in a big way, regardless of what happens with the traditional print industry.

What we're seeing with e-books is what we saw with blogging several years ago—the same prejudices in the media, but we saw what happened in the blogosphere. There are a lot of talented people in the world, and until some of these technologies came along, they just did not have a voice or a chance to show their talent.

A lot of writers or authors ask me: Will they be able to earn the same kind of living if e-books start to replace traditional print book sales?

Writing is going to become more profitable for more authors. Even if e-books continue to become widely successful, print books aren't going to go away. The authors that are currently successful in print will continue to be successful in print. If you look at the current book industry supply chain, from author to reader, it’s author-agent-editor-publisher-packager-distributor-warehouser-bookstore. There are a lot of costs associated with that supply chain. It's a big cost to ship dead trees. There are a lot of costs that can be cut when you go digital. The costs of producing a digital book, or the costs of producing one more copy, are zero. If the book is going to be professionally edited and vetted by an editor, there are still those costs. But when you eliminate all these other costs, like returns, you can dramatically lower the cost of the book to the customer and at the same time dramatically increase the profitability to the publisher or the author.

Another thing that gets me excited about Smashwords is the lower cost of books. Most of the books are $3, many are free. Print books averaging $14.95 are unaffordable to the vast majority of people on this earth. It's really cool to think that if we can lower the cost of books, then we can lower the barrier to unleash a new era of literacy and culture and information sharing.

We'll always have commercial books and we need them, and we need a way for authors to profit from their works.

Longer term, like a year or two, my hope is that Smashwords will start attracting some established authors who choose to go the independent route for their next book or choose to keep the digital rights and publish it on their own.

For authors who choose to self-publish, are e-books a better option?

Print is a very important format. Authors should provide to the consumer whatever the consumer wants to have. Authors should continue to publish in print and also publish in a digital format.

The biggest threat facing all authors is obscurity. This is another exciting thing about digital books, making them accessible in an entirely different way. I think is print wonderful—but they're different things.

Books have always been sold via word of mouth. The Internet is an ideal word of mouth tool. We've added simple things to make it easy for people to share their books on social networks. If the book is truly great, it can find an audience.

In the next five years, I think it's fair to say we're going to see fewer bookstores out there. As bookstores disappear, it reduces exposure opportunities for authors who are lucky enough to be part of that system. And it also hurts publishers. It's happening already today—we're going to see fewer bookstores, few publishers, and publishers publishing few books, at least under the traditional system. So I think we're going to see publishers making more interesting use of digital, more use of POD, and more authors aspiring to be independent from the beginning.

Our focus as a digital publishing platform is to provide all authors the tools they need to publish, promote, and sell their books and we hope that it’s an enabling force to unleash a torrent of new talented content out there. I can't stress it enough, though: Authors need to be realistic. This is not a get-rich quick thing. It's always been difficult to sell a book, and as an indie author, it's even more difficult. Authors who invest their time and energy into this will be rewarded for it.

Interview with Neelan Choksi, COO of Lexcycle (creator of Stanza)

I see a lot about reader response and awareness of e-books, but I wonder if writers or authors also understand what’s happening, and are using the iPhone and Stanza?

The writers are pretty cognizant of what's going on, or at least they're learning about it. There's enough mainstreaming of what's happened. As soon as you get Oprah talking about the Kindle and by extension e-books, you've just mainstreamed the whole thing. I do believe that writers are very aware of it, and it may be going from genre to genre at different paces. For example, sci-fi and romance, as is often the case, are leading the charge. We first read about Stanza and romance on someone's blog; they had gotten an early edition from an author using Stanza on their iPhone. That’s one example; there's a lot of examples, where individuals are starting to figure it out.

We get pretty regular e-mails or calls or conversations with authors. With Random House, there's a promotion happening and a bunch of others are doing the same promotion. They went to about a half dozen of their authors and said: We can make your backlist titles available on Stanza for free, plus an excerpt of your upcoming book for free, and it will be a way of getting new readers learning about you as an author. Cory Doctorow made that model unbelievably famous.

And example of another conversation I had with an author—with everything that's happening in the big houses from a publishing perspective—there's all of this upheaval. Part of what's happening is that the blockbuster authors will always get the attention of the publishers, but there's a level that now just aren't. More than 300,000 copies of this author’s book will sell, and his comment was that he didn't believe his next book was going to get the attention from his publisher. He was thinking about creating his own publishing house. I mentioned Smashwords to him, here's a really interesting model. How many books would you have had to sell with your original publisher to make the same money as you would with Smashwords?

Some big author is going to go this indie route, either as a threat, or as something they truly believe in. Someone's going to do it simply because the numbers make sense.

None of this would have happened if digital publishing hadn't reached this inflection point. The numbers still aren't that big ($44 million sold in the United States), and aren't particularly compelling when compared to the traditional industry. But I think a million isn't a number that anyone expected us to have at this point.

Can you give any insight into what genres or categories are selling the best through Stanza onto the iPhone?

I fully expect the breakdown to look just like the rest of America’s book sales. Right now, there's a lot of interest in politics and government and Obama.

Remember this company is about a year old. The desktop version of Stanza for Mac was basically supposed to take content and covert and upload it to a Kindle, primarily for people's personal documents. The iPhone Stanza app released in July 2008 with just free books—a strategic decision because we felt there would be push back. … We thought the best thing was to put no barriers in the way of adoption.

What’s been the biggest surprise for you?

We had no anticipation we would hit 1 million downloads in 5.5 months. The adoption has probably been one of the biggest surprises of all.

The industry itself right now is in a situation that all ships rise with the tide. Maybe really the surprise was how much marketing Amazon was going to do, how much marketing Sony was going to do, and all of the new devices that are coming out. … It just feels like there's so much momentum behind it.

Also, one of our most commented on features is the simple fact that when you reopen Stanza on iPhone, it takes you right back to the last page you were on and the last book you were in. You don't have a problem with reading five pages worth of material while standing the grocery store line. You get immediately back to where you were, and you know as soon as you shut it down or take a call, you know when you open up Stanza, you'll go back to that same spot. It's a bookmark essentially.

We've done a survey on our site and the primary places that people read using stanza are (1) bed (2) commuting (3) waiting areas.

That was a big surprise for a lot of people, iPhone use in bed.

—————

I'd love your comments about your experience either reading e-books or writing/selling/promoting e-books. What's most exciting about it, and if you're a writer, what causes you the most worry?

HarperCollins Offers Contracts to Its Community Site Writers

Jane — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:55:25 GMT

This is a pretty big deal: HarperCollins has signed not one, but three authors who participate on their community site Authonomy. The news was announced on the Authonomy blog under the title "The Publishing Contracts Have Begun." Summaries of the three author stories:

Author can't get traditionally published, so he self-publishes and has some local success. He then places his book on Authonomy and gets noticed by community members and a HarperCollins editor.
Author posts work on Authonomy and is noticed by the community. Signed for a three-book deal.
Author posts work on Authonomy, and it is noticed an agent who regularly browses the site for new talent. Agent sells it to the publisher.

Has anyone been participating on Authonomy? What do you think? It is a very intoxicating idea to think that, if you work really has a stand-out quality and value, it may get noticed on this community site. A favorite thing editors and agents like to say is: Quality always rises to the top. Perhaps this site helps that happen for more writers, more often, more quickly?

8 Articles/Posts All Writers Should Have Read in 2008

Jane — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:37:48 GMT

The eBook Problem and The eBook Solution (Booksquare)
Read it for a basic understanding of the issues related to e-book publishing and distribution. When Kassia Krozser leads by saying that e-books will not be the next big thing, though, that's not really the point of the article. Just keep reading.

Story vs. Book: The Future of Publishing (Booksquare)
Another from Krozser that offers a perspective on why the traditional publishing industry must change its model to survive, and how the author's role changes too.

Essential Points in the Free Debate (Tools of Change for Publishing)
I tell writers that giving stuff away for free is not to be feared. It always results in more sales for the physical book or for other products. This article has a nice summary of the overall free debate; this issue is just going to become more important.

A Book Publisher's Manifesto for the 21st Century (The Digitalist)
When you click the link, you'll find a blog post that will prompt you to download a PDF that contains the manifesto. It's probably the most comprehensive article of the year on how publishing will change.

The 21st Century Writer (The Futurist)
An article about the future of publishing that focuses squarely on the author's point of view.

The Kindle and The iPhone Dance (Publishing Frontier)
An easy to understand dissection of these two devices from a book perspective.

50 Steps to Establishing a Consistent Social Media Practice (Chris Brogan)
Social media expert Chris Brogan offers a checklist that's invaluable to any author building an online platform.

How Content Marketing Will Shake the Tree (Chris Brogan)
Another great post from Chris Brogan that can help authors understand how to use their content to both sell books and build a platform. It's geared toward businesses, but easily adapted by individuals.

What articles did you read in 2008 that you still remember or have kept handy?
Share in the comments section.

Cool Map of Digital Landscape!

Jane — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:52:46 GMT

While reading Mark Coker's blog (for Smashwords), I stumbled upon this wonderful map of the digital publishing landscape. Even though it's in Spanish, it offers an amazing visual of the new publishing universe. It also makes me want to run out and buy an iPhone, though that's also encouraged by my recent research into ebook readers on mobile devices!

(The Spanish blog originating this map is here. Go there for the large version.)

Using Twitter: Do You Have Tips?

Jane — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:50:14 GMT

After perusing this directory of publishing industry people on Twitter, I finally created a Twitter account for the Writer's Digest community (@WritersDigest if you would like to follow, and @JaneFriedman if you would like to specifically follow me).

I have been quite lax in using Twitter; right now I prefer Facebook and blogging. If I consistently and thoroughly followed everyone I'm interested in (probably more than several hundred people), I sense it would be like drinking from a fire hose—and would I be able to accomplish anything if distracted every 5-10 minutes by updates?

I wonder how both unpublished and published writers are using Twitter. Do you have a Twitter account? Are you actively using it? And if so, has it changed anything about your writing and publishing life? What tips do you have for other writers?

Will You Be at the Presidential Inauguration? Write & Publish About It

Jane — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:14:09 GMT

The March/April 2009 issue of Writer's Digest magazine (which will soon be available to subscribers and on-sale at newsstands) focuses on self-publishing, and includes mention of some innovative publishing models that are starting to heat up. One of them is WeBook, which is a little difficult to explain (they call it "the home of community-sourced books), but here's a perfect example of the power of this model:

WeBook, in honor of the presidential inauguration, is publishing a collection of Obama inauguration stories, "told by real people in their own words." You can submit your story anytime between January 20, 2009 – Midnight EST January 21, 2009, at WeBook.com, and WeBook wil publish the book within two weeks using digital printing by CreateSpace (an Amazon company), and sell it for $9.99. All profits from the project are donated to 826 National, and WeBook is asking contributors to the collection to donate their royalties as well.

Clikc here for the full detail.

You have to sign-up with WeBook to submit your story for consideration, and if your story is selected, you'll have to sign a publishing agreement stipulating how you will be paid and what rights are being purchased. (I was not able to find a copy of such an agreement, but be sure to read any publishing contract carefully before signing.)

Monthly News from Glimmer Train

Jane — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:43:51 GMT

Glimmer Train has recently chosen the winning stories of their October Family Matters competition.

First place
Karen Outen of Upper Marlboro, MD, wins $1200 for “Inside the Universe of His Parents”. Her story will be published in the Spring 2010 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out in February 2010.

Second place
Dana Kinstler of Tivoli, NY, wins $500 for “Eclipse”. Her story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories, increasing her prize to $700.

Third place
Luke Fiske of Cold Spring, NY, wins $300 for “Beautiful Jewish Women Will Sleep with You for Free”.

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here. This quarterly competition is open to all writers for stories about family, with a word count range of 500-12,000. Click here for guidelines.

--

If you didn't know, Writer's Digest partnered with Glimmer Train to publish two compilation volumes of the best stuff from their Writers Ask newsletter. Be sure to check them out.

Thanks to Everyone Who Participated in WD's First Webinar

Jane — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:39:44 GMT

Welcome to all the webinar participants from today's free session: 5 Tips to Getting Published in Tough Times! Here are links to the sites I recommended in my presentation:

Also: Our first paid webinar will be on January 15, all about landing an agent, by Chuck Sambuchino ($99).

And I will be hosting a 90-minute session of January 29 on secrets to getting your nonfiction book published.

5 Tips for Your Writing Career in a Difficult Time

Jane — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:58:57 GMT

Over at Writers on the Rise, I'm interviewed about the changes happening in the media industry. Here's a brief snippet, but click the link for the 5 tips:

Writers must be involved with online life and expect to provide online content, and have an online presence. I’d say your career will come to an abrupt halt in a few years if you’re not willing to participate, market, promote, or engage in online activities and audiences.

NOT: How Can I Make Money? INSTEAD: How Can I Serve?

Jane — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:13:08 GMT

My colleague Amy Schell recently shared Seth Godin's interview with the people over at Harper Studio. A couple wonderful snippets:

If everything is free, how is anyone going to make any money?
First, the market and the internet don't care if you make money. That's important to say. You have no right to make money from every development in media, and the humility that comes from approaching the market that way matters. It's not "how can the market make me money" it's "how can I do things for this market." Because generally, when you do something for an audience, they repay you.

What's the most important lesson the book publishing industry can learn from the music industry?
The market doesn't care a whit about maintaining your industry. … you can decide to hassle your readers (oh, I mean your customers) and you can decide that a book on a Kindle SHOULD cost $15 because it replaces a $15 book, and if you do, we (the readers) will just walk away. Or, you could say, "if books on the Kindle were $1, perhaps we could create a vast audience of people who buy books like candy, all the time, and read more and don't pirate stuff cause it's convenient and cheap..."

Monthly News from Glimmer Train

Jane — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:42:37 GMT

Glimmer Train just announced the winners of their August Very Short Fiction Award competition. The first- and second-place winners will be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

First place ($1,200)
Michael Schiavone (Gloucester, MA)
“No One Comes Here By Accident"

Second place ($500)
Jackie Thomas-Kennedy (Charlottesville, VA)
“The Bridge Is Moving"

Third place ($300)
Debbie Weingarten (Tucson, AZ)
“Precarious Things"

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here. This twice yearly competition is open to all writers for stories on any theme with a word count range of 500-3,000. Submissions may be sent for the November Short Story Award for New Writers using the Glimmer Train online submissions system at www.glimmertrain.org.

Also: Family Matters contest (Deadline: October 31)
Glimmer Train hosts this contest four times a year, and first place is $1,200 plus publication in the journal. It’s open to all writers for stories about family, with a word count range of 500-12,000. Click here for complete guidelines.

If you didn't know, Writer's Digest partnered with Glimmer Train to publish two compilation volumes of the best stuff from their Writers Ask newsletter. Be sure to check them out.

On Being Skipped (or: How Your Book Gets Sold Into Bookstores)

Jane — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:15:21 GMT

There's a blog offering the best explanation ever of how your book gets sold into bookstore chains, by the marketing manager at John Wiley & Sons. Here's a brief snippet:

But bookstores are businesses, not public conveniences. No store has the responsibility to carry every book published -- although, to be honest, that's a straw-man argument, since no one is asking for that. (They're just wishing that their books, the books they like, and the books by their friends be spared the chopping block.) I market books for a living, so I can tell you an unpleasant truth: the order for any book, from any account, starts at zero. The publisher's sales rep walks in the door with tipsheets and covers, past sales figures and promotional plans, to convince that bookseller's buyer to buy that book. In many categories -- SFF is still one of them -- the chain buyers say "yes" the overwhelming majority of the time. But not all the time. Sometimes, that buyer is not convinced, and the order stays at zero.

How the Economy Affects the Dreams of Writers

Jane — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:54:11 GMT

Earlier this week, our team discussed the soon-to-be-relaunched (and incredibly improved) WritersMarket.com. Because we'll have so much more value to offer (e.g., all listings from the niche Market Books, like Poet's, Novel & Short Story, and Children's Writer's), we need to implement new subscription models and pricing.

As part of this meeting, our WritersMarket.com customer service rep extraordinaire, Nancy Parish, offered some fascinating statistics from the past few months:

In August, 4.8% of subscribers who canceled said they couldn’t afford the service.
In September, 2% of subscribers who canceled said they couldn't afford it.
In October, 29% of subscribers who canceled said they couldn't afford it!

Definitely points to the strange things happening in our econonmy these days, though the common wisdom about the Writer's Digest business has always been: When times are tough, people still hold onto their writing dreams, and even look to writing to hopefully provide extra income.

I'm wondering if this is really true: Does writing still stay front and center in our lives during good times and bad? Do we look to it as refuge AND rescue?

A Book Proposal Is Like a Business Plan

Jane — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:17:59 GMT

One of my posts earlier this week (that argued most prescriptive nonfiction books have great info, not great writing) sparked a wonderful comment from Deborah that I wanted to bring to everyone's attention—because, as she says, this might be the most important point of all:

This explains why I have so many personal rejection letters that compliment my writing and my organization -- and some even end with, "I hope to work with you in the future," but I still don't have a book credit.

The real gem of this post is within the parentheses of the last sentence -- a book proposal is like a business plan for a book idea. I've recently asked a couple of published friends if I could see their proposals, and I was left with my chin on my chest in awe over their marketing plans. After reading them, I realized that my little page-long marketing plans seemed really vague and incomplete compared to their plans, which were three for four pages long and filled with VERY detailed information (names of contact people, venues for speaking, etc). When I read this post, it clicked that they had written a business plan for their books.

Put another way: The No. 1 thing an agent or editor looks for in your book proposal: why your book will sell (turn a profit) and why you're the perfect person to market (sell) it.

Many thanks to Deborah for her insight!

How to Fail at Publishing in a Whole New Way

Jane — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:31:50 GMT

Today at Maud Newton, John Warner (creative director of TOW Books), summarizes the new strategy of the TOW Books line:

Now, after two years of, let’s call it, non-success, I understand that the problem is at least as much about publicity and distribution as it is about quality. (At least I hope that’s the problem.) So I’m here to announce that if TOW Books is going to fail at publishing, we are going to fail in our own spectacularly new way.

How badly are we struggling? Well, we’ve released four books. Their Amazon rankings at the time of this typing are:

170,374
388,165
706,198
1,033,377
The most distressing part is that last number belongs to a book I wrote, So You Want to Be President? — a book that should have been especially relevant and timely given that it’s a guide to running for office when totally unqualified. I hope it’s in Governor Palin’s briefing materials.

Read the full post here.

The Differences Between Imprints at Book Publishers

Jane — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:23:08 GMT

There's a great post (that will become a series) at Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind that explains the differences between imprints at book publishers. Must-read material for aspiring book authors (and hey, for agents and people inside the industry too!). A snippet:

Something else that might help would be to take Thomas Dunne's name off of any minotaur titles they acquire, because I'm sorry, which imprint is it? Or is it St. Martin's? Way too much confusion, please pick one (which would be Minotaur, of course.) As for Thomas Dunne Books, um, well....I think of small titles that make money on the library market? To be fair, Dunne's been around publishing for something like 40 years and the "something for everybody" attitude worked in a world of single-digit television channels. Now, not so much. Will the name survive when Dunne retires? Somehow I doubt it.

Click here to visit the full post.

Round-Up of Insightful Articles on Publishing's Future

Jane — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:34:25 GMT

I've spent a good portion of this week catching up on trend reading. Here's a sampling of what I've found worthwhile.

"Book Publishers: Learn From Yelp—Even Gawker" (BusinessWeek)
How book publishers can remain relevant and vital by using 2.0 technology. This has generated many responses throughout industry blogs.

"Brand Presence" (PersonaNonData)
How publishers can engage consumers directly by branding their categories, subjects, and/or authors. This is another article that has generated considerable discussion. A snippet:

Publishers are best placed to build author-centric and subject/theme-oriented websites--not sites oriented around a "brand" that isn't relevant, but those that focus attention on segments of the business that remain relevant to consumers.

"10 Reasons Not to Write Off Reading From a Screen" (thedigtalist.net)
Quick, pithy list for all writers to learn from.

"Pricing Digital Book Content: Where's the Sweet Spot?" (Reilly TOC)
The final conclusion? No one knows. But it's a fascinating discussion leading to that conclusion.

WritersDigest.tv

Jane — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:59:00 GMT

This fall, Writer's Digest is launching Writer's Digest TV. Catch a glimpse of what this will be like by viewing these free chats/interviews from ThrillerFest 2008.

Recap: Willamette Writers (and My New Philosophy for Pitch Feedback)

Jane — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:15:38 GMT

I am long overdue in sharing some tidbits from my trip to the Willamette Writers Conference last weekend in Portland (Ore.). Here's an overview.

Lunch talk by author Christina Katz
WD author Christina Katz delivered Friday's excellent lunch talk; for me, her message was very much about how a writer's attitude and perspective can greatly affect success, and emphasized the many wonderful ways that writers have it better than ever (more ways to get information, more ways to network with other writers, more ways to see your book sold and promoted in the world, and so on). Read Christina's recap of the conference (which includes a photo of yours truly).

My talk on The World of Sales
Unlike my previous presentations on this topic that only ran 45–60 minutes, this session was a full 90 minutes. I wondered if I would have enough to say to fill the time, but there were many excellent questions from the audience that helped add valuable discussion, and will certainly inspire some future presentations I give. A few topics that really interested writers:

Marketing and publicity efforts by you vs. your publisher. How do you prepare? How do you work with a publicist? Should you hire your own publicist? (The answer is yes.) What does hiring a publicist cost and what can you reasonably expect from a good publicist? FYI: Industry studies have shown that authors who hire publicists do in fact sell more books!
How authors can positively affect sell-through numbers. While your publisher may do an excellent job selling your book INTO stores, those books can be returned at any time, for any reason, resulting in a negative number on your royalty statement! So what can authors do to ensure their books sell THROUGH stores into customer's hands? A lot depends on an author's ability to drive traffic to retail outlets to buy books (that is: marketing platform). Think about how you reach readers and how you can grow your direct contact with your readership.
How authors can find book sales numbers. Unfortunately, you can't. There is a service, Nielsen Bookscan, that tracks book sales through most trade channels (bookstores), but this service is only available to publishers and other members of a fairly exclusive club. You can, however, check a book's copyright page to see what printing it's in. If it's been reprinted many times and it's not very old/dated, that's a sign of a good-selling book. You can also tell how successful a book is by how many copies a chain bookstore stocks at any given time. The more copies on the shelf, the better it sells.
How often do authors earn out their advance? Actually, no one asked this question during the session, but I did get it afterwards, and it's a very popular topic. I see varying statistics in the industry (e.g., as few as 10% of authors earn out), but definitely the large majority of authors do NOT earn out their advance. That means whatever you're paid upfront is all you will ever receive—no royalties!

My New Philosophy for Pitch Feedback
Most of my conference time was spent taking appointments with writers who were interested in pitching a book for F+W Media. For the most part, the pitches were solid, though most people aren't as familiar with the F+W list as I would like (otherwise they would be spinning their concepts in a different way).

After this three-weekend conference extravaganza of pitches and critiques, I've learned something valuable about giving feedback to authors on nonfiction book concepts. Here it is.

I know my F+W categories so intimately that as soon as I hear an idea (within 5 seconds), I know if it's viable, at least on the surface. I know if it's a marketable idea given our strengths or market position at F+W.
HOWEVER: If I don't think an idea will work, I should NOT respond by saying: "No, that won't work for us" or "That won't sell" (which sparks: "But I know so many people who need this book" or "Everyone tells me this is a great idea" or "I know I could sell it.").
Instead, my strategy is this: "Let's discuss what's selling in this category right now." Or: "Let's discuss the audiences that F+W can reach right now and how this book could target them." Or: "If that title were on our list at F+W, it would need to overcome these market challenges."

This accomplishes three very important things:

First, it gives people hope, as well as thoughtful consideration from me, that their idea could potentially work. No one, no matter how professional, wants to hear a "no" five seconds after an idea is uttered. It's kind of like: Let's give love a chance here.
It focuses discussion on the market for the idea rather than the idea itself. This might seem like a small difference, but it's a crucial one. By doing this, no one is saying the idea isn't workable or valuable. We're talking about how the market works, and if there's a big enough market—or if F+W can even reach the intended market. It helps the author think about the project in terms of audience, instead of just their gem of an idea (which they're likely passionate about, and should be!).
Finally, this helps educate the prospective author about F+W, about the category, and what typically works in the market. We all want to be successful, right? No author wants a book to be published that only sells a handful of copies. Plus, a discussion like this, with the right information or examples, usually spark ideas for how the author could spin the topic to make it appropriate for our list.

Finally, keynote speaker Marc Acito rode a bike through Saturday night's banquet! Video below. See his blog post here.

Content Providers Will Survive. Will Authors?

Jane — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:46:28 GMT

In one of my posts last month, I discussed how writers can sabotage their careers by treating online/multimedia activities as optional. In the comments section, Christina Katz (a Writer's Digest author), said:

Whoa, there Nelly!

I've been on the horse for a very long time and you're galloping a bit to far ... ahead.

Don't like this kind of talk. Don't like my work being called "content."

I can't imagine any writer I know who would thrill at the sound of that word.

Easy does it, there. S-l-o-w. D-o-w-n. You know I'm forward-minded ... but this is a bit too forward for me.

I have a feeling most book authors will not warm up right away to this idea of being a "content provider" rather than an author. (And let's not exempt editors from this thinking, either. Meredith has talked about hiring "content strategists" rather than "editors." See this article.)

There is a great deal of romance, authority, and credibility tied up in this idea of being an author. And it sounds distinctly less sexy (and even less beneficial) to be a "content provider." And while I think we should keep playing with the words until it sounds desirable for everyone involved, the sooner we can shift our thinking here, the more viable we will all remain.

Last week my company, F+W Publications, officially changed its name to F+W Media. Read the press release here. CEO David Nussbaum says:

As a Company, our mission is to strive to offer the highest quality content in a wide variety of formats – from print to digital to video – to highly passionate enthusiast communities. We provide compelling content engaging communities and most importantly consumer satisfaction. We are a media company with enormous potential for future growth through excellence and innovation.

So what's the takeaway?

Method of delivery (or format) is irrelevant. Book, DVD, Web site, podcast? It doesn't really matter. What will do the best job of delivering useful, engaging content or community?
While some people (or some audiences/consumers) may be enthusiasts specifically of the book format, first and foremost (at least when we're talking about the majority of the nonfiction audience), people are looking for an interaction, experience, or information.
I love this Seth Godin quote from an article in The Futurist, "The 21st Century Writer": "The book is a souvenir." What does that mean? It means that the book is becoming the ancillary product in a much larger experience, that people want more than information. Read "The 21st Century Writer" to fully explore this idea.

Media companies, formerly known as book & magazine publishers, have to create or support products/content/experiences so unique and personal that they can't be easily duplicated elsewhere for free. Books are only one aspect of the bigger picture.

(Apologies to Christina Katz for setting her up! As she says, she's very forward thinking.)

Excellent & Innovative Author Marketing-Promotion-Publicity Tips

Jane — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:19:32 GMT

Here's a round-up of the more intriguing or helpful articles I've been reading on author marketing, promotion, and publicity.

What Social Media Does Best (Chris Brogan)
Chris Brogan's blog is probably my favorite new read; he tackles questions of marketing/promotion in relation to social media in a fresh and useful way. This post helps give you a grounding of the principles.

Use LinkedIn to Promote (The Publicity Hound)
LinkedIn is a social networking tool for professionals that comes in handy for job searches and business opportunities. I'd never really considered it as a book promotion tool, but this post gives a vague idea of how it might work. (Unfortunately, rather than deliver the real goods, the post promotes a teleseminar on the topic.)

Tips on Working With Publicists (GalleyCat)
Here you'll find links to the latest advice on how authors can work effectively with their publishers' publicity departments (or lack thereof) or independent publicists. Invaluable. Read. Bookmark. Save.

Starting and Writing an Effective Blog
One of the most frequently asked questions at conferences is how to start and run a blog that really makes a noticeable difference to an aspiring or published author's career or visibility. Here are a variety of resources I've found that offer genuine tools:

Blogging: How to Get Started (Sling Words). A step-by-step primer on the logistics. (What service do you choose, how do you set it up, etc.)
A Sample Blogging Workflow (Chris Brogan). Shows you how to keep your blog populated consistently with good content without expending all your energy on it.
10 Secrets to Better Blogging (Chris Brogan). He must know what he's doing, because this is my third link to his site in this post.

Secrets of Book Publishing from a Self-Published Author

Jane — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:56:36 GMT

After finally ending a two-week hiatus on my blog/Internet reading, I have many things to share in the coming days.

First, for aspiring (and established) book authors, I highly recommend the following post from self-published author Mark Hurst, which is one of the best point-by-point explanations I've seen of how the book business works (and it certainly puts your expectations in line). I do disagree with him that publishers are making significantly more money than the authors, but other than that, it hits the nail on the head.

A snippet:

When you approach publishers with an idea, your main job - practically your only job - is to explain very clearly why the book is going to sell. (Here it really helps if your last name is Clinton.) If you're not a known author or celebrity who can guarantee some sales, then it's best to come in with a clearly defined, market-tested book idea... not to say a knockoff of a bestselling concept or a me-too book on a hot trend, heavens no, we'd never do that, just maybe something "inspired by" a successful book.

Read the full post here.

Nick Hornby Doubts E-Books

Jane — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:30:33 GMT

Over at the official blog of Penguin Books UK, guest blogger Nick Hornby gives some excellent reasons why he doesn't see e-books (or e-book readers) becoming prevalent or popular any time soon. Basically, his argument boils down to:

Books are consistently lovable (unlike CDs).
With e-book readers, you do not already own e-books to load on it. (Contrast with iPod where you already own the music.)
People don't buy that many books to begin with.
Book lovers are late adaptors of new tech.
People will waste time on their iPods rather than reading on some other device.

Highly recommend reading the entire post here. Thanks to our managing designer Grace Ring for sharing the post!

How to Stay Viable as Publisher: Just Produce Quality Content

Jane — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:39:38 GMT

It is now mid-year, and that means everyone is starting to discuss mid-year performance (and individual performance). Right now I'm in the process of summarizing the 2009 outlook for my imprints at F+W, my new publishing initiatives, and anything else that proves my area will be more profitable next year rather than less profitable.

Just in time, there is a fabulous article today in the Washington Post by respected publishing veteran Jonathan Karp. He directs an imprint called Twelve (which publishes 12 books each year).

He discusses the pressure on publishing houses to be profitable, and summarizes the ugly options, of which I am all too familiar:

1. Add more titles to augment sales. (I hate this option the most. More titles, more work, usually fewer sales … plus you inevitably publish titles of lesser quality.)

2. Sell more copies of existing authors and titles. (As Karp points out, most executives don't accept this as a viable option when the industry is flat, at best.)

3. Ask popular authors to "increase output."

4. Diversify your "product line."

5. Cut costs, pray to the gods of movie tie-in paperback editions or hope that one of your authors gets his or her own talk show.

The final paragraphs of Karp's article offer hope that we can all soon get off this infuriating treadmill of more-more-more product. Emerging technologies will eventually give publishers only one way of standing out in the market: quality product. (Imagine that!) He says:

… publishers will be forced to invest in works of quality to maintain their niche. These books will be the one product that only they can deliver better than anyone else. Those same corporate executives who dictate annual returns may begin to proclaim the virtues of research and development, the great engine of growth for business. For publishers, R&D means giving authors the resources to write the best books -- works that will last, because the lasting books will, ultimately, be where the money is.

Read the entire article at the Washington Post, "Turning the Page on the Disposable Book."

Notes From the Slush Pile

Jane — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:36:23 GMT

Candy Gourlay over at Notes From the Slush Pile has been kind enough to notice my series on how to avoid sabotaging your writing career (which continues this week, so stay tuned). Be sure to visit Candy's blog if you're interested in the children's/YA genre, lots of up-to-date industry info.