Stephen King, who is perhaps one of the bestselling authors of all time and was one of the first to publish his novels in digital format, has decided to publish his new book in paperback format (and audiobook).
"I love crime, I love mysteries, and I love ghosts. That combo made Hard Case Crime the perfect venue for this book, which is one of my favorites. I also loved the paperbacks I grew up with as a kid, and for that reason, we’re going to hold off on e-publishing this one for the time being. Joyland will be coming out in paperback, and folks who want to read it will have to buy the actual book." – Stephen King
But this decision has apparently disturbed some writers, such as Darleen Hartley, asking,
"Can Stephen King Impact eBooks' Future?" for
bsn:
The question is, will his fans flock to the local bookstore to thumb through a physical book, a format considered cumbersome and pricey by some. If they do, what does that say about eBooks’ future? Will other authors follow suit, returning to hold-it-in-your-hand paper formats? There, writer’s may stand to glean a greater reward than what they can pocket from sales of lower priced eBook versions.
And manages to ignore the fact that 10 to 15% of a $25 book does not produce greater income than 70% of a $10 ebook that is self published. And 10% of a $10 paperback is a heck of a lot less than 70% of the self published ebook. Any writer of Stephen King's stature can easily self publish an ebook as he hardly needs the publicity that a publisher is supposed to provide.
There is also speculation that King is doing this to increase traffic to brick and mortar stores even though it is available through the big internet book sellers.
But what they all seem to be missing is that this work is simply perfectly suited to a paperback format, due to its setting in time, subject matter and genre. It is a throw back to an earlier era in mystery publication, back when it was considered pulp fiction for an actual, physical reason.
It will not be issued in a hardback format either, and I doubt that that fact will have much impact on the future of hardback books. King wanted to publish this book in paperback format and that is the format in which I have pre-ordered it for the Monday Murder Mystery series.
More ebook news below the fold.
Apple, the only remaining defendant in the DOJ price fixing lawsuit, has responded that they negotiated with each publisher independently and did not collude with them to set up an agency model. According to an article published by Reuters on May 14, 2013:
U.S. authorities have termed Apple a go-between among several publishing houses who had long wanted to break Amazon.com Inc's grip on the low-cost digital book market, which had kept publishers' prices low.
The Justice Department accused Apple in April 2012 of colluding with five publishers to push up prices as the Silicon Valley giant prepared to launch its iPad in early 2010. It has since settled with the publishers.
On Apple's side is the fact that it has been known to dictate terms to its iPad content providers, including the 30% commission that it demanded from the publishers for its iBookstore. OTOH:
In a filing released on Tuesday, the Justice Department said that Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO at the time, "conceded the price-fixing conspiracy" when he told his biographer that Apple had "told the publishers, 'We'll go to the agency model, where you set the price, and we get our 30 percent, and yes, the customer pays a little more, but that's what you want anyway.'"
This sounds like
a cool way to spend a weekend:
The first ever digital publishing hackathon took place over the weekend at The Alley in New York. Organized by Perseus Books Group and Librify, the event transpired over 32 consecutive hours and was attended by 200 people. Over 30 different teams sought to develop new ideas for digital book discovery.
“It was exciting to watch 200 people come together at one time in one space and grapple with the challenge of digital book discovery,” said Rick Joyce, CMO of Perseus and one of the judges. “Not only were fascinating solutions developed, but there was a lot for a publishing person to learn about the ways content is connected and discovered digitally from these talented designers and coders.”
This was an
interesting article from the UK Telegraph which acknowledges the increase in the number of children reading ebooks.
However, according to research done by the National Literacy Trust, it could be potentially detrimental to their reading ability.
The study found those who read only electronic books daily are significantly less likely to be strong readers than those who read daily in print, and are much less likely to enjoy reading.
The research, which surveyed 34,910 young people aged eight to 16, also revealed that fewer students who read from devices reported having a favourite book.
More here from
digitalbookworld.com
Also from dbw (digital book world) we learn that ebooks have increased book trade sales by close to a billion dollars.
Accounting for $995 million in net new dollars, ebooks single-handedly drove trade sales in 2012, according to the first data to come out the AAP and BISG BookStats report this morning at the Making Information Pay conference in New York City. Total U.S. net book sales for the year were $27.1 billion.
Ebooks made up 20% of trade publishing net sales in 2012. That’s an increase from 2011 when ebooks were only 15% of trade net sales.
First Microsoft was going to buy the Nook from Barnes & Noble and then it wasn't.
The Motley Fool at the Inside Monkey website suggested a unique solution for Microsoft:
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s current position in the Nook is just as an investor and a minority partner with Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS). There was a rumor that Microsoft wanted to buy the Nook business outright for $1 billion. Now, the story is that Microsoft has no intention of buying the Nook.
Good. Why pay one billion dollars for just the Nook when the total market cap of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) is only $1.25 billion? Just buy the whole company!
Sounds a bit silly? Well it isn’t. Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) has 639 stores that are destination shopping locations. With a very small amount of planning and some redesign, Microsoft could have 639 micro stores in malls across America. Connect these micro stores with a special display area attached to the children’s section which features the new Windows RT Nook and begin the indoctrination at an early age!
Makes me wonder if Apple should consider adding coffee bars and paper books to their stores...
Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule