E-Book Sales X3=iPad?
I'd hoped to have leaking news of Apple's announcement for this post, but found none credible. First, I refer you to Richard Curtis' E-Reads news that November 09 E-Book Sales Triple Over 09. This seems a remarkable growth pace, even if e-book sales are only 5% of total book sales.
* FLASH: It's called iPad and sounds like a souped-up media-oriented "smart phone." But does it have telephony capability, too? Sounds like Apple's view is that no one talks to anyone anymore. We'll all text. I want a netbook phone! And what about e-books. Or i-books, if you please?
According to a PublishersMarketPlace story reported by Mike Shatzkin the other day, Apple’s disruption of the ebook market has nothing to do with the tablet (iPad). PMP's Calder said that Apple is forcing the book publishing industry to move to an "agency" model for e-book sales. It is quite complex, and PMP is a subscription service, so no link. Shatzkin's story is long and worth readiing even though he admits it provokes even more questions. He explains:
The “agency” model is based on the idea that the publisher is selling to the consumer and, therefore, setting the price, and any “agent”, which would usually be a retailer but wouldn’t have to be, that creates that sale would get a “commission” from the publisher for doing so. Since Apple’s normal “take” at the App Store is 30% and discounts from publishers have normally been 50% off the established retail price, publishers can claw back margin even if they don’t get Apple to concede anything from the 30%.From Twitter, I said, "Oy! #iPad *IS* a phone. Oh, I am maybe hooked. Just blogging "I want a netbook phone" has been my plea for years. Well, laptop with phone." And now from Engadget streaming report by Joshua Topolsky:
Showing reading book on the iPad. Called iBooks. Displays virtual book shelf, with new iBook store, fully integrated with iBook app. Can discover books, best seller lists. 5 publishers support at start. Penguin, Harper Collins, others. Easy to download books. Flip through books with finger. Can include video, color, black and white photos. Can change font size of the font. Also will be targeting textbooks.Calder had said that Apple was in discussion with Big Six (Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, and Macmillan.) I keep wondering what effect, if any, this will have on Amazon's recently-announced 70% commission for Kindle publication sales? (It remains 30% until June.) Or If this agency model propelled Amazon into upping the royalties?
Labels: books, business, Self-Publishing, technology
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Want to be sure yours is read by the publication's audience? Paul J. Krupin of 

I looked into
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Anyone who hopes to have a book published, and everyone who considers self-publishing, will benefit by reading Rachael Donadio's essay on the NY Times website, 
I don't mean to scare you, but publishing a book yourself takes you out of the realm of writer and into a new business as fraught with dangers as a war zone. One such minefield concerns what appears on your book's cover. No, I'm not talking about the front of the cover this time as previously. I've hit that topic every year: 


