The Kindle Revolution started with a bang last Christmas.
It came so swiftly, that I was caught off guard with boxes of umpteenth printing of my travel guide, Bus Across Mexico.
Suddenly my paperback, which usually sold out each printing within 4 months, was now dead in the water. I took me a few months to realize what had happened.
Readers took to the Kindle like candy. Not only could they order books from the comfort of their home, but books were digitally delivered to their Kindle within minutes.
Now they could load dozens, even hundreds of books onto a device that only weighed a few ounces. They could put the Kindle in a large pocket, a briefcase, or pocketbook, and take all those download books to read anywhere, anytime.
This was truely a revolution in the publishing word that had started thousands of years ago with clay tablets.
Finally realizing this, I scramble to format my travel guide for the Kindle. Within a few days of uploading it, sales started coming in again.
True, the price was no longer $19.99, but a Kindle competitive $4.99. But there was a 70% royalty that was pure profit since there was longer a manufacturing cost.
It has taken the big NY publishers a year to catch on to the Kindle Revolution. But they are jumping on the train with high prices (they have a huge staff overhead) and backlisted books that are dated. And they are even shafting their authors in process with measly 15% royalties.
The reading trend is now toward the indy authors. Some of them were successful big publisher authors who jumped ship for the much much bigger royalties.
Now another Christmas season is just around the corner. This time there are more Kindle models that will be put under the Christmas tree.
What does all this mean for the writers?
For the first time in the history of publishing, writers are finding themselves in charge of their marketing and promotions. If we take up the challenge to make our books stand out in a crowded forest of books, we can finally reap benefits for our hard work.
Creative writers are coming up with out-of-the-box ways to market and promote. One YouTube promo I enjoyed was by a woman who made a silent video of her writing snappy messages about her book on her white refrigerator. When she ran out of space, she switched to the top of her stove.
This was a video that I had to watch to the very end.
Another creative writer stood her book up on the kitchen table, and interviewed her book! That was another YouTube promo that had to be watched to the very end.
Clever. Clever. Clever.
Do everything you can to put your book in front of the readers as they get ready to open their wallets for Christmas.
by
Robert BerryhillSuddenly my paperback, which usually sold out each printing within 4 months, was now dead in the water. I took me a few months to realize what had happened.
Readers took to the Kindle like candy. Not only could they order books from the comfort of their home, but books were digitally delivered to their Kindle within minutes.
Now they could load dozens, even hundreds of books onto a device that only weighed a few ounces. They could put the Kindle in a large pocket, a briefcase, or pocketbook, and take all those download books to read anywhere, anytime.
This was truely a revolution in the publishing word that had started thousands of years ago with clay tablets.
Finally realizing this, I scramble to format my travel guide for the Kindle. Within a few days of uploading it, sales started coming in again.
True, the price was no longer $19.99, but a Kindle competitive $4.99. But there was a 70% royalty that was pure profit since there was longer a manufacturing cost.
It has taken the big NY publishers a year to catch on to the Kindle Revolution. But they are jumping on the train with high prices (they have a huge staff overhead) and backlisted books that are dated. And they are even shafting their authors in process with measly 15% royalties.
The reading trend is now toward the indy authors. Some of them were successful big publisher authors who jumped ship for the much much bigger royalties.
Now another Christmas season is just around the corner. This time there are more Kindle models that will be put under the Christmas tree.
What does all this mean for the writers?
For the first time in the history of publishing, writers are finding themselves in charge of their marketing and promotions. If we take up the challenge to make our books stand out in a crowded forest of books, we can finally reap benefits for our hard work.
Creative writers are coming up with out-of-the-box ways to market and promote. One YouTube promo I enjoyed was by a woman who made a silent video of her writing snappy messages about her book on her white refrigerator. When she ran out of space, she switched to the top of her stove.
This was a video that I had to watch to the very end.
Another creative writer stood her book up on the kitchen table, and interviewed her book! That was another YouTube promo that had to be watched to the very end.
Clever. Clever. Clever.
Do everything you can to put your book in front of the readers as they get ready to open their wallets for Christmas.
by
