Tina and Michael touched on neighboring industries, so perhaps it might help to get some perspective on what’s (been) going on in related fields.

Ebooks and Video Games:

Electronic publishing and electronic games both started in the 1970s, developed in the 80s, and became widely available in the 90s. Video games are now a comfortable 2nd place in the entertainment industries, ahead of music and books.

Ebooks are relatively nowhere. Why? Video games was a new separate industry, so its leaders were motivated to develop and popularize the medium. Ebooks were in an existing industry blind to their potential, and when they began to emerge in public, they were actively discouraged by the vested interests in traditional publishing.

The implication is: digital will boom when it isn’t sabotaged. Where are ‘print’ games now? Where is ‘print’ television (analog)? I’m not saying print books will go the same way as traditional games or analog TV or video tape–perhaps they can join with their cousins, newspapers and print magazines, to fight a successful rearguard action.

Or perhaps not. Are you willing to gamble that print books will be probably the only traditional media to hold off the digital advance? If you’re signing contracts with digital royalties under 35%, you’re gambling. Especially if there’s a clause preventing you retrieving your rights while the book still sells–it’ll always sell as an ebook. Don’t kiss 20-25% lifetime royalties away.

Ebooks and Digital Music:

The music industry is much closer to the book industry for comparison purposes. Digital music also faced an entrenched traditional industry leadership intent on sabotaging its development, which held it back for a decade. Two things made the difference, and led to the breakthrough: the MP3 format, and Apple’s leadership in marketing and digital distribution via iTunes.

The inference is: digital books will boom when there’s a universal format, and when some leading company takes the reins to lead the marketing charge into the mainstream. Alternatively, the traditional large publishers, recognizing the inevitable, may lead a slower boom, if no Apple shows up. They’ve already started, and it would be a brave executive who’d pull back now and let his competitors forge ahead.

Ebooks Market Reach:

A final perspective I’d like to highlight is the market which awaits you as ebooks go mainstream. There are roughly 1 billion English readers worldwide–ie people capable of reading a romance novel. That’s over three times the population of the USA.

When did you last make a print sale in Shepparton, Australia? Or ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Holland. Mumbai, India, Singapore, or Tokyo, Japan–those are all from our recent customer orders.

What will really drive ebooks into dominance in this larger market is price. While New York is charging double figures for its ebooks, LSB and the other independent epublishers are doing well while charging around $5 per title. That’s in a tiny market. So don’t think current NY pricing is typical of the future.

Once the market expands, we will all be able to do well charging $2-3 per title. That will make ebooks quite an attractive proposition for people’s entertainment dollar, so we’re likely to see an increase in reading relative to the other entertainment industries.

An increasing share of a market three times the size of the current print market. Want some?

Conclusion:

Deirdre, Angela, Raelene, Treva and Tina have made an eloquent case for ebooks within the publishing industry, I hope you will take their messages to heart with an open mind, and seek out the education you need to make good decisions from now on about your writing career.

I hope my exploration beyond publishing has also opened your eyes and mind. It’s difficult to see other than a strong steady advance for ebooks, when you become aware of what’s already happened and happening in related industries.

The good news is, it’s mostly all good news. Three times the royalties in a market three times as big, at prices likely to grow reading’s share in the world. Let’s hope ebooks have as big an impact on the world as print books have done.

Final note to epub authors: I see many of you taking defensive positions, apparently buying into the propaganda from NY. Don’t, there’s nothing to defend. As discussed above, it’s the nature of the entrenched to dig in, and keep digging and shoveling dirt. Brush it off, you’re ahead of the game, gaining very valuable experience for the coming wave–and protecting your future earnings. Surely, music to your ears.

Write on!

Mike Feury,
Co-owner,
Liquid Silver Books.

Will I ever try for prro print publication again? Maybe.

When I can write book and get it out there in under a year via an ebook publisher, minus the cost of printing and posting hard copy manuscripts and the year or longer wait for a reply of any kind…. Well I’m no longer seeing an advantage to ‘pro’ print publishing.

I guess unlike most authors I’m not concerned with seeing my books in hard copy. To me it’s just a waste of a good tree I’d rather sit under or see birds nesting in. (Yes I’m one of those ‘pro green’ people.)

The antiquated print publishing business model–as done by major NYC publishing companies–is going to have to change or go the way of newspapers. We all know what’s happening to them. It’s a cold, hard fact that the current method used by most major print houses is going to have to change, or they are going to go the way of newspapers and other dinosaur technology companies. The RWA has to come to grips with this or join the other dinosaurs in extinction.