I don’t listen to podcasts much because almost everything I do is writing- or reading-related and listening interferes with that. But yesterday, while unable to read, I listed to the SF Signal podcast on bookselling. (Via Cheryl Morgan.)
The panelists, Cat Valente, Chris Roberson, Allison Baker, Alan Beatts (plus moderator Patrick Hester), discussed the fallout for the bookselling ecosystem of the restructuring of Borders. They’re all smart and well-informed, and between them cover a variety of perspectives. So it turns out to be a pretty good primer on how bookselling works these days. So for those who have never really understood the ins and outs of the (complicated and deeply fucked-up) business, go listen. (You only really need the first 40 minutes.)
However, you’ll be shocked to learn that I’m not in complete agreement with the concensus.
- I believe we’ve passed the point where we can talk about a monolithic publishing industry (if we ever could). Over the last decade ‘publishing’ has morphed to encompass a variety of models. It’s a whole new ecosystem. Cooperatives. Small e-only publishers. A changing role for agents. Independent editors, book designers, and developers turning the reviled (by many) ‘self-publishing’ niche into a new, better, stronger animal call ‘indy publishing’.
- Epublishing is already driving paper publishing decisions. We’ve passed that tipping point.
- Cat Valente mentioned the inherent unfairness of a world where only rich people could read ebooks. (I’m paraphrasing wildly. Cat, if I’ve got it wrong, my apologies.) But my guess is that within a year the Kindle, and similar e-ink readers, could be functionally free.
- The role of communities such as Goodreads, Library Thing, ad hoc blog and Twitter communities, genre sites (corporate, such as Tor.com, and not, such as Dear Author) will grow and generate the kind of awareness (and then word-of-mouth) that used to be the purview of the broadsheets.
- The Big Six trade publishers will go one of two ways:
- Assume a role more akin to Hollywood studios: buying finished product, tentpoles, blockbusters, while the smaller projects originate independently elsewhere.
- Finally understanding that their previous B2B stance (their customers being wholesalers, resellers, distributors) has to change to B2C, that is, dealing directly with the reader-as-customer.
- It may well be that some will pick one way, some another, and one or two try both. I don’t know. But if I had to bet I’d say ‘both’. I think we’ll know more in a year or so.
- Allison Baker sounded smart, in terms of economic Darwinism and forced efficiencies in the business–and yet I’m always wary of treating the market (and book buying and selling is just that) as a rational system.
In the end, I think the truest thing said was by Alan Beatts (who runs Borderlands, a fabulous bookshop in San Francisco). “How you spend your money is a vote.” If you spend your money at Amazon.com (and many of us do, for many reasons), you’re voting for the rise of Amazon’s power and influence. If you spend your money at an independent, you’re voting for the survival of that independent. As someone once said about politics, voters gets the government they deserve.
What kind of book ecosystem do you think we, as readers, deserve?
It always surprises me when somebody says, “But, I can't read your ebooks because I don't have an ereader,” or “I can't read your ebooks because I have a Kindle, and your ebooks aren't in the Kindle store.”
I patiently explain that the Kindle can display my ebooks (in the Mobi format), and that if people buy them from me I get a better deal, and that if they want to test what I say with no risk and no strings, Starfarers is available for free.
And they look at me like I'm from Mars, and say, “But I have a *Kindle* so I can *only* get books from the Kindle store.”
Sigh.
As for needing a dedicated e-reader —
I've been reading ebooks on my phone since before it was actually a phone (several different Palm PDAs).
The big ebookstores have apps that will display ebooks on your computer. Many public libraries (such as Seattle) offer ebooks in several formats via Overdrive and NetLibrary; those too you can display on your computer or your phone or PDA.
Lots of alternatives to the dedicated ereader exist, and most of them are free.
Vonda
Vonda, yes. To all of it.
You're neglecting the fact that reading e-books on a laptop isn't exactly fun times- and not all of us can afford the fancy phones that can read text. I certainly can't.
It's a bit of a moot point in my case, 'cause I detest e-readers anyway. Real books for me.
I never thought I would oppose technology in any way, hum. The things one learns about oneself.
I don't like reading ebooks on a laptop either.
Which is kind of weird since I feel sometimes like I spend most of my life on the Internet… using my laptop… reading stuff.
As an experiment, I searched ebay for “palm treo” and found some for a few dollars.
“I don't like ereaders; I prefer printed books” is a perfectly reasonable response, though it was a response to a question I wasn't addressing.
“I can't read your ebooks because I have a Kindle and your books aren't in the Kindle store and I can only get books for my Kindle from the Kindle store,” not so reasonable.
Vonda
Reading a book is a different… thing from browsin' the 'net, so it's not that weird.
The bit about printed books wasn't so much in response to you as to Nicola; even if e-readers are free, I'll probably still pass them over. Although I'd be certainly more inclined to take a look than I am now.
“”I can't read your ebooks because I have a Kindle and your books aren't in the Kindle store and I can only get books for my Kindle from the Kindle store.” <--- Yes, that is... welp, gotta say, that's pretty stupid.
“I can't read your ebooks because I have a Kindle and your books aren't in the Kindle store and I can only get books for my Kindle from the Kindle store.”
But why aren't your books in the Kindle store? It's easy. It's free. It's distribution. 77% of my sales are ebooks, and 90% of those are Kindle sales.
Catherine M. Wilson
http://shieldmaidenpress.com/
Hi Catherine,
That's a complicated question.
A main factor, though, is that I'm a founding member of Book View Cafe (an authors' co-op devoted to bringing our backlists into print in electronic form) and I hope that having Dreamsnake and The Moon and the Sun available there will bring more attention to the project and benefit all our authors, not just me.
Vonda
PS I wouldn't exactly call a 70/30 split “free.”
Hi Vonda,
Not sure what you mean by a 70/30 split. I meant, it's free to upload your books to Amazon's Kindle store.
If you're talking about “royalties” (they aren't, strictly speaking), on most of my sales I keep 70% of the retail price of the book. On foreign sales, and on books priced less than $2.99, I keep 30% of the retail price.
Catherine M. Wilson
http://shieldmaidenpress.com/
I'm enjoying this conversation, especially how civilized it is about what is, for many, a hot button issue. Thank you, everyone!
Hi, Nicola,
Didn't mean to hijack your comment thread here, but I appreciate being able to chat with Catherine about a subject I've spent a good bit of time on recently. (Though I spend more time thinking about how to create an attractive and readable ebook than I do thinking about marketing, which may not be the smartest thing I've ever done.)
Hi Catherine,
You're exactly right. Once your book is in the Kindle store, amazon.com takes 30% (or more). So, while it's free to upload into the store, it isn't free to sell from the store, if you see what I mean.
They have a huge customer base and folks who sell from their store get the advantage of that, which is worth the cut they take.
I'm just not ready to do that myself. I like the control I have at Book View Cafe. If I want to tweak the file, I can see the results on our site immediately. If I want to experiment with a different price, I don't have to keep track of the pricing at other sites, which I would if I had promised not to sell a book for less than whatever amazon.com was selling it for.
Anyway, you're quite right that I should put books into the Kindle store, but I'm not quite ready to do that yet.
Best,
Vonda
Vonda, Catherine, I don't feel 'jacked at all. I'm happy to listen in.
Vonda said:
So, while it's free to upload into the store, it isn't free to sell from the store, if you see what I mean.
Well, if I expect a bookstore to sell my books, I have to give them part of the sale, otherwise why would they bother? And bookstores want 55%.
I'm happy to give Amazon their cut. They give me world-wide distribution. Worth it!
Catherine M. Wilson
http://shieldmaidenpress.com/
Hi Catherine,
Yes, this is true, and I acknowledged it.
But “free” it isn't.
It isn't “free” at Book View Cafe, either, in terms of my time. But I like the control I have over my work.
I may change my mind; I may exchange the control for the ginormous potential audience. But for the moment I'm going to chug along with our little website.
Best,
Vonda