Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Grub Street Printing Newsletter #76, August 2015

Amazon Sued Again
Authors United (AU) and the American Booksellers Association (ABA) have partnered in a lawsuit charging Amazon with monopolizing book sales. Did the authors and book sellers just now realize that selling Kindles and ebooks at a loss just might have been the key to monopolizing the ebook market?
Audio Editions Continue Growth

Forget eBooks. Revenues for 2014 showed audio books climbed 13.5% over the previous year while eBook revenues rose just 3.8%.
Facebook Wants In
Now that various Facebook pages have sold millions of books, Facebook wants a cut of the action and is working on providing book specific retailing pages.
Publishing Thresholds
That this is causing such a stir up north surprises me. A successful American publisher told me 15 years ago that he didn't want to develop books that couldn't support a 25,000 copy first printing.
Print Gremlins Still Run Loose
The digital revolution in book production seems not to have been successful in eradicating the fiendish print gremlins. The UK edition of Harper Lee's new title shipped with text missing from six pages. Eye-witness accounts of the gremlins have yielded these renderings.
Following Literary Footsteps
Is there a book in your past that left you with new insights about America seen with fresh eyes? Follow the paths of Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck and ten other novelists (whose stories were published from 1872 to 2012) with routes from this map of their literary travels.
NYC Library Confronts Illiteracy
For a variety of reasons the availability of ebooks hasn't affected illiteracy rates for the poor, a problem the NYC library is addressing.
Sorry, This Just Sounds Stupid
New Zealand start-up Booktrack has just secured another $5 million in funding. It sells apps that play music while you read your ebook, presumably for folks that worry their iPod doesn't have just the right tunes for serious reading.
Roald Dahl Apps Available

When my children were young they found Roald Dahl stories strange, funny and sometimes frightening. If you have Roald Dahl fans in your family, Penguin's new apps feature Dahl's characters the Twits (e.g. Don't Wake Up Mrs. Twit!) and are available for both Android and Apple devices.
Social Media for Writers
The premise behind this infographic seems disheartening to me, but for the self-promoters among us there may be some worthwhile tips.
B&N's Nook Circling the Drain?

B&N's new CEO, Ron Boire, may feel some pressure to kill the unpopular Nook ereader, despite the fact that B&N stockholders believe in it. B&N has spent over $1 billion developing the Nook and an updated version will be introduced in early fall, just as Boire assumes control.
The Problems (and Joys) of Moving
As my son begins moving into his first house, I'm reminded of one of the sweatiest, yet most enjoyable aspects of a move.
eBooks Allow Better Editing
Can ebooks rushed to print allow authors to edit more carefully before committing to print?
Final Thought
For a moment I was distracted. Books always did that to me... I liked the creamy pages, the smell of ink, all the secrets locked inside.” Elizabeth C. Bunce
*********************************************************Archived Newsletters are available at http://grubstreetnews.blogspot.com/

Grub Street Printing Newsletter #75, July 2015

The New Kindle Royalty System
Beginning this month, self published Kindle ebook authors will be paid not for the “sale” of their ebook, but for the total number of pages readers have actually read of their title. Apparently books sold by regular ebook publishers will retain the traditional payment based on sales system.
Top Cities for Books (even eBooks!)

Using Amazon data, a list of the top five book buying cities in America showed that Washington DC bought the most ink and paper books while Seattle the most books (conventional and eBook). The data was for cities of 500,000 people or more.
Amazon Most Trusted Retailer
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has always focused on keeping the customer satisfied. Apparently he's doing a good job as Amazon tops the list of reputable retailers for the third consecutive year.
Another Survey Favors Ink and Paper
After working in the book industry for so long I often wonder if my prejudice blinds me to the world of pixels, but survey after survey reports people comprehend information better and are more relaxed reading ink on paper material.
Kickstarter Funds Bath Books
Bibliobath raised over $10,000 to refine and market their bath-time friendly books made with waterproof (no trees) paper, ink and binding, filling a need I wasn't even aware of.
Greenpeace Re-engages

The Asia Pulp and Paper Group has announced that Greenpeace will resume its role of enabling APP to enact and maintain its Forest Conservation Policy. APP operates in Indonesia and China and produces over 19 million tons of paper annually.
Independent vs Publisher Issued in $ and ¢
The playing field has changed quickly in the last decade and many of the truisms I believed in no longer apply when deciding to go through a publisher or producing your title independently.
Inkjet Book Production
Apparently this decade old technology may be about to take off. Book manufacturers believe digital inkjet economies have the potential to replace toner based POD book production.
Blockbuster Dies While Indies Thrive
Debunking the logic that reasons printed media outlets (ie. Bookstores) will go the way of the video media rental outlets (ie. Blockbuster), the current trend is a resurgence in book sales and new book sellers.
More On Adult Coloring Books
As reported in May's newsletter, coloring books for grown-ups are taking off. Now Marvel is releasing three coloring books featuring their super heroes, such as Captain America and Iron Man squaring off on opposite sides of the Civil War. Try to stay inside the lines, okay?
No Blues for the Greys
The new Grey title, which tells Christian's (of Fifty Shades fame) side of events, followed the success of the trilogy by selling 1.1 million copies out of the gate and has locked in plans for its third, fourth and fifth printings.
What Millenials Buy
A 2015 survey taken in the UK shows millenials the least likely generation to read eBooks. For the general population, dedicated eReaders are owned by just 41% of the population, but considering all devices on which an eBook can be read, 83% of those surveyed had a smartphone and 71% owned a tablet.
Final Thought
Please, no matter how we advance technologically, please don't abandon the book. There is nothing in our material world more beautiful than the book." Patti Smith
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Archived Newsletters are at http://grubstreetnews.blogspot.com/

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