Everything’s Coming Up Indie. Right? As slippery as the business of publishing-industry statistics is, the author Hugh Howey and his unnamed associate referred to as Data Guy have now given us a year of AuthorEarnings.com reports. This is a good thing. Despite Howey’s detractors and some of their misgivings, the AuthorEarnings series of interpretive essays have… Read More
Is the honeymoon over? KU comes between Amazon and its self-publishers
A kind of downgrade for Amazon, and nowhere near Wall Street The most significant change is that Amazon KDP has slipped to third and also reflects the growing discontent self-published authors have with the introduction of Kindle Unlimited and recent communications regarding the new VAT law in Europe for 2015. We also have five new providers entering… Read More
Plunging In: The Bookseller's first Independent Author Preview
Here’s the good news: I do think that pretty much all the books I’ve included are good enough to be traditionally published, and by that I mean, well enough written. That should be music to any weary stigma-fighter’s ears. My colleague Caroline Sanderson is filling me in here on her experiences in choosing the very first round… Read More
Not exclusively about exclusivity: Kindle Unlimited
With subscriptions at the center of last Friday’s #FutureChat — and Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited (KU) in particular — it’s worth noting how pleased we are that both Justo Hidalgo of Spain’s 24Symbols and (tentatively) Eric Briys of France’s Cyberlibris will join us on 14th November in London for The FutureBook (#FutureBook14), Europe’s largest publishing conference, at the… Read More
Is Amazon KU exclusivity a velvet barrier for authors?
It “might be a possibility” at some point that Amazon would consider changing the the Kindle Unlimited (KU) subscription programme’s exclusivity requirement for independent authors, according to Daniel Slater, Amazon Independent Publishing principal. He spoke Thursday (22nd October) on a panel discussion at the 25th anniversary national conference (#ninc14) of Novelists Inc., in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Slater was… Read More
AuthorEarnings.com: Kindle Unlimited On The Line
‘I wish our conclusions could be more . . . conclusive’ But all things being equal? Authors are working without a net right now. As with so many things in publishing at this point in its encounter with the digital dynamic, the potential contradictions loom large in the new AuthorEarnings.comreport, just out today from the… Read More
Hugh Howey Calls A Ceasefire
‘No Need To Come Out On Top’ It’s time to back off a bit on the arguments for self-publishing. In a classic example of “burying your lead” — along with a hatchet –the author-activist Hugh Howey quietly has signaled a stand-down to his supporters this week And he’s doing it with the note of generosity… Read More
Getting Past The ‘Bookstore Barrier': Freethy And Ingram Go Into Print
‘Without Giving Up Digital Rights To One Of The Big Five’ The best-of-the-bestselling Amazon Kindle Million Club independent authors today is announcing a partnership with one of the recognized giants in book distribution: Ingram is providing a full-service sales and publishing team that will also be instrumental in selling, printing and distributing the books worldwide as… Read More
Vote on The FutureBook Innovation Shortlist's "Inspirationals"
The winner will be named as part of The FutureBook Innovation Awards announcements at The FutureBook Conference on 14th November at Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London. (Best early-bird prices for the event are offered only for a week longer, to 17th October.) Among a boisterous gathering at Halle 8’s Publishing Perspectives Stage on Thursday evening to… Read More
Who Has Time For Publishing’s 'Long Tail'?
‘Sales Are Down For Most Authors’ Sales are down for most authors. You don’t see blog posts about it or tweets, but it’s a reality. And the reason is simple: there’s more content out there than ever before. That’s the self-publishing author-turned-publisher Bob Mayer in a blog post at Digital Book World (DBW), The Content… Read More