Wednesday, September 14, 2011

E-Books Growing

The Decatur Book Festival took place over the Labor Day weekend. Part of the focus on the festival was on self-publishing, although that was primarily by the vendors and attendees. The featured authors were primarily representing print books.

Alison Reeger Cook, who wrote an article for the Gainesville Times, attended a workshop on “How to Make Self-Publishing Work for You.” Here are some nuggets she shared about what she learned at that workshop and the festival as a whole:
While the upside to self-publishing is that the author has complete control over the presentation and sales of their book and can make more money per unit sold (if the book sells well), the downside is that the author is the one who must pay for the publishing package and arrange all the marketing for his work.

This requires an excellent savvy in networking and advertising. …

As of today, e-books cover 16 percent of the book market, while 84 percent is still traditional printed books.

Within the next 20 years, this will almost be a complete reversal: it is projected that e-books will have 89 percent of the market, and printed books will only have 11 percent.
Cook noted that what readers will always look for is a good story, no matter the means of publishing.

What do you think about her prediction that within 20 years there will be an great upheaval in the way we read?

12 comments:

  1. I think it will take far longer than that for the percentages to swap. With nothing more than my conversations with people in various places, I don't think the odds will go much more than 50/50.

    I think people need to worry more about lack of paper hurting print sales than eBooks sales.

    Karen
    http://klsyed.com

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  2. The prediction can be right. But I think the issue is how to make readers know that some self-published books are good. Many reviewer sites still do not accept book submission from self-published authors.

    Every Savage Can Reproduce

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  3. I'm leaning toward it being possible that a major shift could happen in 20 years. I see the kids of today pretty much living on their iPhones and computers. I think they will lead the change.

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  4. I hate to say it, but I think that shift is *much* sooner than that. One reason is the failure of chain bookstores. Another, I'm afraid, might be publishers closing shop unless they're able to make a shift to ebook sales (forgoing the traditional pricing they've depended on.)

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  5. I wouldn't have thought so before I bought an eReader. I'm a convert, and now, I think the shift will happen, and much sooner than 20 years.

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  6. I have an eReader now, too, and love it. I am surprised by how quickly I adapted.

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  7. I lean heavily in that direction. There will always be print books, but perhaps they will all be print on demand and ordered online rather than being stocked in a bookstore.

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  8. I'm not sure it will take that long.
    Ann

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  9. Helen, i agree that there will be a shift and partly because there is such a plethora of electrical gadgets.

    For some, the computer--whether laptop or tower--is their major source of entertainment. I'm not particularly a tech savvy person, but I have all my music on my computer, I watch movies and a few tv shows, I have a PC kindle program and my actual kindle.

    I do enjoy reading a physical print book, but I do read at least 60% of my books on my e-reader.

    Sia McKye's Thoughts...OVER COFFEE

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  10. I believe it! Ever since I purchased my iPad, I've switched completely to eBooks.

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  11. I don't believe that the figures are accurate. Everyone I've talked to says that their ebooks far out-sell their print copies and it's certainly true in my own case. The ebook revolution is upon us and there's no going back. It's a matter of economics and I don't think there will be many publishers in existence in 20 years.

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  12. It seems quite possible. Everyone is depending on technology for more and more all the time. Soon electronics may be used for everything, including books. So many young people do everything on their cell phones (and some older folks too) and Ereaders are becoming more popular all the time. From a publishing standpoint, look at the cost savings to publish Ebooks. Good, thought provoking post, Helen!

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