Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The Numbers Game

JA Konrath has only sold 100,000 ebooks. As usual, he makes a good case for the wisdom of controlling content. I spent a good part of the first half of the year pinballing around and learning, taking on the publishing industry, analyzing numbers, trying to inspire indie writers to quality, and it's just a big explosion of everything. It feels like the 1960s music scene must have, lots of everything of all levels and genres, all getting out there in a vibrant mix.

Time sorts it all out. And the publishing industry is wonderful if you can get in it and are smart. But you have to be smart no matter what, and you're smarter than I am. So I will be doing less and less of that kind of analysis, and focusing more on my own stories.

In the meantime, if you want to get started publishing your own work, I'd recommend Blood Red Pencil for finding an editor, Stephen James Price to do your page layout, Neil Jackson for cover art (if you want a "thriller" look), and Dellaster Design for e-book layout.

Today's stop on the Kindle Giveaway tour is Crazy For Books. Last day to comment at Bookhounds. Tell a friend!

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2 comments:

Regge Ridgway said...

well said scott. I was thinking about the future of ebooks and I couldn't help thinking of the paralels with movies to home video via local video stores to video on demand to dvd kiosks in my vons. could ebooks follow and those without home computers can download a book from a kiosk? hmmm

Author Scott Nicholson said...

yeah, publishers should develop subscription models to take advantage of their quantity.