WSJ checks out the digital-age 'Vanity' Press

Increasing attention has been given to the unexpected success of several authors who have chosen to "self-publish" via digital text platforms such as Amazon's and are finding it much more rewarding than waiting for a large publisher to notice their work.

The Wall Street Journal's Geoffrey A. Fowler and Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg report on the "technological disruption that's loosening traditional publishers' grip on the book market—and giving new power to technology companies like Amazon to shape which books and authors succeed."

  As in reports described in the earlier articles linked to above, they note the success of writers such as Karen McQuestion who decided to publish her own book online through Amazon's digital-publishing area and has sold, through Amazon's Kindle store, over 36,000 copies of "A Scattered Life," which has a film option with a Hollywood producer.  Amazon's imprint Amazon Encore will publish a paperback version along with a new Kindle edition in August.

  Publishers have been wary of the new power of technology companies to shape which authors and books succeed, circumventing the publishing establishment.

  This month Amazon is increasing the authors' take to 70% of revenue, and both Apple and Barnes & Noble have jumped on the digital self-publishing bandwagon.

  The WSJ story, which is quite thorough and very balanced includes a look at the field of competitors (photos included):  Smashwords (Mark Coker); Lulu (Bob Young); FastPencil (Steve Wilson); Scribd (Trip Adler), and Author Solutions (Kevin Weiss) as well as Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos of course.  It also includes a couple of videoclips, including Fowler "joining the Digits show to discuss how this is threatening the traditional book industry." and WSJ's Marshall Crook offering "a brief history of the book."  The article itself has its own introductory or overview video.

  After the latest look at the e-book pricing battles, the article focuses on Joe Konrath (AKA Jack Wilson) who, along with Karen McQuestion (and Boyd Morrison), often share the spotlight on their unanticipated but impressive success stories.

' Mr. Konrath says he's already earning more from self-published Kindle books that New York publishers rejected than from his print books. In the past 14 months, he has sold nearly 50,000 Kindle e-books, and at the current royalty rate, he makes $58,000 per year from his self-published works. When Amazon royalties double this summer, he expects to bring in $170,000 annually.

  ...the success of Ms. McQuestion's debut self-published novel, "A Scattered Life," illustrates perhaps the biggest long-term threat to traditional publishers: a replacement for their ability to curate and market books.

...CEO Jeff Bezos says Amazon wants to be a partner, not a threat, to publishers. "I think the real risk is that there are a multitude of publishers. Some of them are really forward leaning, and are really going after this new e-book area," he says. "If you are not one of those publishers, then I would be worried." '

They include a discussion of what would work best for authors and publishers in this new high-tension, competitive environment with large stakes for all.

A really interesting read.  More here...

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 Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources  Top 100 free bestsellers
   Check often:  Latest temporarily free non-classics or late-listed ones.

Amazon pricing some Penguin hardcovers at ~$10 during pricing battle

Venture Beat reports that Amazon is hanging tough with the last of the Big 5 publishers bent on the Apple Agency model, which allows the large publishers their heart's desire to set higher pricing for bestselling e-books and uniform pricing for the customers at all e-bookstores, even if this nets the publishers less than they would have received for the lower-priced e-books under the earlier traditional wholesaler arrangement.  Their focus is not to allow their newer e-books to be "devalued" in that they feel the $9.99 pricing lowers the perceived value of books in general.

  While the other 4 in the Big 5 group have completed agreements with Amazon, it seems Penguin and Amazon are currently at an impasse in the negotiations on ebook pricing and availability.  Neither company is commenting on this.  Venture Beat's Anthony Ha writes:

' Details of the agreements haven’t yet been disclosed, but Penguin has refused to sign on.  It was the lone holdout.  As a result, Amazon had to stop selling the publisher’s e-books as of April 1.  The retailer appears to be retaliating, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal — not by removing books, but by dramatically lowering the prices on hardcovers.  Amazon is taking the loss of revenue, but the [Wall Street] Journal says publishers hate those price cuts, because they lower the value of the book in the eye of the consumer.

  For example, the hardcover of Roger Lowenstein’s The End of Wall Street” has a full price of $27.95, and Barnes & Noble’s website is selling it for $15.37.  On Amazon, it’s $9.99.  Or there’s Annie Lamott’s Imperfect Birds — $25.95 full price, $18.68 on Barnes and Noble, $9.99 on Amazon. '

So, if you're interested in getting any Penguin or Penguin Riverhead (Annie Lamott et al) hardcover books at the lower prices, now's the time.
  Be aware that only a few of their hardcovers are priced as low as $9.99 though.

Again, here are links to hardcovers for just Penguin and Penguin Riverhead.

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See the ongoing Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources
  Check often: Latest free non-classics, shortcut http://bit.ly/latestfreenonclassics.)

Authors and Kindle publishing

In A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, Joe Konrath, aka Jack Kilborn, continues to write about how he has managed to do very well on Amazon book seller lists with the many books and short stories he releases through the Kindle Digital Text Platform ("DTP") feature, and this is before Amazon starts paying 70% to publishers using the platform in June 2010.

The current blog entry, titled "Kudzu and Kindle," explains:

' There's a plant known as kudzu, which is widely hated in the south because it takes over cropland. It grows fast, and uses runners to spread. Kudzu can quickly saturate an entire field. One patch becomes two patches, then four patches, then sixteen patches, and pretty soon it's everywhere you look.

I'm noticing a similar phenomenon with writing in general, and ebooks in particular. '

There have been a number of success stories though the weed-like aspect threw me, including (of the ones I've run across) one writer whose Kindle book was doing very well, partially with the help of some exposure at the three most-attended Kindle community forums, and he subsequently was signed with Simon and Schuster, an end obviously helped by the attention his Kindle book was getting at Amazon.

  Here's a far more detailed story of how a very proactive Morrison marketed his books (and himself, an important factor) to build on his writing and some great blurbs from bestselling authors (whom he'd met years ago at a writer's conference) for books that had received rejection slips.

  In the Q&A session quoted, he mentions and links to the Kindle forums in which he received very positive responses and gives tips on how not to overmarket ('spam') the forums since that would only irritate the assembled who will associate some bad things with the titles of one's novels :-)

  As his writer friend, Susan Tunis, describes at her blog, he took his rejection slips in stride and just started working on a new story.  But he was

' a pretty savvy guy... He didn't just offer them for sale, he joined several online Kindle user's sites and made contact with potential readers... Before he knew what was happening, unknown, unpublished author Boyd Morrison was climbing the Kindle bestseller charts.  His agent thought it might be time to shop The Ark again.

Suddenly the New York houses were a lot more receptive.  And Boyd may well have made history.  He may be the first author to turn Kindle success into a major publishing contract!  Boyd has a two-book deal with Simon and Schuster and The Ark has also been sold in seven foreign markets!   You'll see the hardback release of The Ark on store shelves next summer... '

Obviously, some very effective writing was at the heart of the success but the Kindle provided the opportunity.

The Kindle book A Scattered Life, by Karen McQuestion, was recently optioned for a film - announced by the author in the Kindle forums.  It's been quite popular and has 25 customer reviews, with an average of 4-1/2 stars, and is #2 under 'Family Relationships.'

Jan Curran, writing of her new life in what's termed an "active senior living facility," has had an enthusiastic response from Kindle readers on the forums, and her book, Active Senior Living, currently has 14 customer reviews, and an average rating of 5 stars out of 5.

The level of success varies of course but it's at least easier to find an audience now and actually be read -- and be paid for it.

Joe Konrath ends today's advice on his blog with:

' I used to be known as the guy who wrote nine unpublished novels and got over five hundred rejections before landing a book deal.

Now I'm known as the guy who pays his mortgage selling books on Kindle that NY rejected.

Be the kudzu. Join the revolution before everyone else figures this out and it's harder to get noticed. '

AND FROM A KINDLE READER'S POINT OF VIEW
I noticed the following comment under JA Konrath's blog post on "Kudzu and Kindle" and remembered that I see this change of heart on almost a daily basis as I wander the news columns and comment areas.  It usually comes from writers, those for whom words are Life, but who love traditional books and have resisted the Kindle.

' I just received a kindle for my birthday, and I had a very negative view of the thing.  Now that I'm using it, I LOVE it. I can see more and more people moving in this direction. '

Japanese-language Kindle? Int'l expansion in self-publishing

I was startled the other day to see The Mainichi Daily News article a couple of days ago that said "Major publishing firms are set to form an electronic book publishers' association next month in a bid to counter the expected launch of Amazon's Japanese-language Kindle e-reader."

  Where did that come from?  Haven't seen it anywhere else though I waited a couple of days after reading it.  They go on to say "With the e-book market expanding rapidly and the Japanese version of Kindle e-book reader expected to hit store shelves sometime soon, publishing companies have decided to come together to cope with the anticipated competition."

  Whether this is just a horror they're dreading or whether they have received word of such a device or not is not known where I sit.  But I do think it's an eventuality though not easy to implement for so many countries.

 In the meantime, in another step toward internationalism, Amazon has announced that its digital self-publishing arm is no longer limited to authors in the U.S. and the English language.  Its digital text platform "will support books written in German and French"

CNet's Lance Whitney adds "The Digital Text Platform enables writers to publish without the middleman (i.e. a book publisher) by uploading PDF, text, Word, or HTML versions of their books. Authors can set their own prices and in return grab 35 percent of sales."

That's it for now. Will have a bit more late tonight.