What Does 2016 Hold for Digital Publishing? - PW

Panzer made a trip into the Catosphere today. Our intrepid kitty traveler doesn't mind spending his time there where he won't become snowbound. He stopped in at the Publishers' Weekly site. Digging around he found a post by Andrew Richard Albanese about what's in the future for ebooks in 2016.

According to Mr. Albanese and the people he quotes in the post, 2016 will be an interesting year. To begin with ebook sales were down 11.1 percent from August 2014 to August 2015 and dead tree (print) book sales were up 2.5 percent. However, the interviewees for the post say there's no need to worry. The market is simply in a state of finding a stabilization point. When new e-reading devices come on the market, owners fill them with ebooks. Since there are currently no new e-reading devices in the pipeline, the market is bound to slow down. Also, the all you can read for one payment subscription services caused the market to slow down too. Many more points and much more information is covered in the post.

Follow me for the answers.

Panzer says, "Hmmm ... So ebook sales are going to remain flat or decline even more in 2016? So ... Maybe it's not a good time to write another ebook? No ... Readers will always look for their favorite author's books."

Note: This is a h-u-g-e post. Bring a thermos of milk, your lunch, and a muffin for dessert.

To read the post, tootle over to 2016 digital

Setting The Price Of Your Novel

Just resting before my nap.

Panzer was tootling around the Catosphere just enjoying his Saturday afternoon. Our lazy little kitty made a leisurely visit to The Blog at the Huffington Post site.

Doing a little rolling around in the posts there, he found one by author Kristen Houghton about pricing your novel. There's information in her post for Dead Tree book authors as well as ebook authors. Of course, determining the price for a Dead Tree book is more complicated than for an ebook. For example, the printing costs and discounts for volume purchasers must be taken into account for DT books, but not ebooks.

Panzer says, "I'm glad I don't have to worry about all that extra stuff for my ebooks."

To read the post, tootle over to pricing your novel

Importance of Book Spine Design

Maybe it has a spine.

Panzer spent some time exploring the Catosphere today.   My big kitty explorer is still catching up on the news he missed last week. Over at Publisehers' Weekly he found a post by retired bookstore owner, Carol D. Chittenden.

According to Ms. Chittenden, designers and art directors should put as much time into designing a book's spine as they do the cover. In bookstores most books are on shelves. They're displayed with the spine out ... not the beautifully designed cover. When the book browser, and hopefully book buyer, is walking along the shelves, the spine needs to grab their attention. The book's spine design will get the book browser to pull the book from the shelf and see that well-designed book cover.

Panzer says, "Makes sense for dead tree books ... but do my ebooks have spines?"

To read the post, tootle over to book spine

100% Author Royalties At Gatekeeper Press?

Always check your sales numbers.

Panzer was out taking a leisurely trip in the Catosphere today. Our big bad kitty pilot found that while he was managing the cleanup from the water disaster at home, he missed some important news.

According to a press release over at the PRNewswire site, a new self-publishing platform called Gatekeeper Press has entered the market with Amazon and Smashwords for indie authors' business.

Gatekeeper Press offers 100% royalties to authors on the sales of their ebooks and dead tree books.

How can they do that?

Simple. They charge for their services. They offer four packages for which the author pays upfront: 1) ebook coversion and distribution, 2) paperback design and distribution, 3) cover design, and 4) editing. Since they make their money from the packages of services they offer authors, they can then give the author 100% royalties.

Panzer says, "Interesting concept. But how many copies of my ebooks would I have to sell to break even on  the cost of the ebook package?"

Note: The press release includes costs and, if you read all the way to the end, a link to the Gatekeeper Press site.

To read the post, tootle over to Gatekeeper Press

New Author Publishing Platform Booktrope

Let's look into this.

Panzer was out at the GeekWire site today.

Our big. bad, inquiring kitty found a post by Frank Catalano there. Mr. Catalano is writing about a new platform for ebook and dead tree authors called Booktrope. The platform has an interesting premise. The author submits a book to Booktrope for evaluation. If accepted, a "team" is formed to create and publish the book. The team then splits the money from sales.

Panzer says, "I have my own team already. It's Mom and What's His Name. I don't need anybody else on my team."

Note: The post includes a link to the Booktrope site so you can read about the company.

To read the post, tootle over to Booktrope

Stephen King Says Dead Tree Books Are Here to Stay

You've got to watch this!

Panzer is a big admirer of Stephen King and his writing.

So, when he found a post by Maryann Yin at GalleyCAT about Mr. King, he did the happy cat dance. Then my big bad boy jumped in the Panzermobile and rushed back from the Catosphere.

Although the post is about Mr. King's views on the future of dead tree books, there's another link near the end of the post to a long video interview at The Huffington Post site that contains much more.

To read the post and watch the video, tootle over to Stephen King Predicts That Physical Books Are Here to Stay - GalleyCat

Dead Tree Bookless Library, Only Ebooks Allowed

I see what's coming. Do you?

Panzer stopped in at The Guardian site today.  My little black kitty found a post by Alison Flood there about a new university in Florida.

The new Florida Polytechnic University will have 500 students when it opens this fall. It has a huge library building. 11,000 square feet to be exact!

But there are no dead tree books in that library building.

Instead there are computer terminals for the students to log-on and read their ebooks. Everything in the library is digital.

Panzer says, "Is our future here today?"

To read the whole post, tootle over to bookless library

E-readers and Mystery Books

Dead tree books?

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere and found the Poe's Deadly Daughters blog.

Sandra Parshall has an interesting post about e-readers and today's mystery market. She quotes statistics that show while ebook sales for mystery books have increased those for tradition (dead tree) books have declined. So ... the question is: Are ebooks killing dead tree books?

If you want to know about the state of the current mystery market (and what are you doing at Cats and Crime if you don't?), tootle over and read The Smoking E-book

Simon Sez: Shelf Life: Enough Already (Guest Post)

No more!

Panzer stopped in at Simon Wood's blog today. There's a guest post up by Michelle Gagnon concerning the incivility between dead tree writers and ebook writers. It's true there has been a lot of sniping over the last couple of years between the two groups. So much of it that there are some blogs Panzer won't even visit any more. You know what my bad boy says, "More purring and less hissing."

If you've had enough of this arguing, tootle on over to Simon Sez: Shelf Life: Enough Already (Guest Post): I don't always do guest posts, but I wanted to share a very nicely written piece on the topic of bickering between traditionally and self ...

Book Marketing Made Easy Q & A

Panzer and I attended Dvorah Lansky's  teleseminar, Book Marketing Q&A.

Panzer subscribes to Lansky's enewsletter.  She solicited questions from her readers and then put the teleseminar together using those questions and their answers. The questions cover marketing for ebooks, dead tree books, PDF's,  KDP, Amazon and more.

If you're interested in marketing information, you can attend a replay of the seminar at Welcome to the Event

Anne R. Allen's Blog: How a 91-year-old Author's Debut Mystery Hit the B...

Panzer loves this post at Anne R. Allen's blog! The post is about Anne's 91-year-old mother's marketing plan for her cozy mystery ebook that sent her sales over the top. 10,500 in just three days!

And what was that plan?

It's the same plan Panzer and I have been talking about for months: free ebooks to get the sales rolling after the giveaway. The plan even helped with the dead tree edition of her book.

Panzer says tootle on over to  Anne R. Allen's Blog: How a 91-year-old Author's Debut Mystery Hit the B...: NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS! Recently, my publisher, MWiDP, relaunched Shirley S. Allen’s cozy mystery, ACADEMIC BODY as an ebook. Sal...

Free ARCs Contest at Lesa's Book Critiques

Okay, everybody knows how Panzer loves free stuff, right? Well, he found a contest at Lesa's Book Critiques blog where you can win free ARCs (Author's Review Copies)! Dead Tree books? Are they talking about Dead Tree books? Yes, yes, I know. But, you will love these books. And they are free!

To enter, all you have to do is email your name and mailing address and which book you want. How simple is that?

Go to Lesa's Book Critiques  blog right now. Time is short to get your entries in. The contest ends May 3.

Amazon Dead Tree Cat Books

Panzer and I were over at the Amazon store looking for a cat book for our next book review.

Were we ever surprised at what came up in our search.

I know. I know. I never talk about Dead Tree Books here; but, these two I can't resist. And ... I swear ... I am not making this up! These are real.

We found Knit Your Own Cat by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne and Crafting with Cat Hair by Kaori Tsutaya.

You read that right.

If you aren't brave enough to be owned by a cat, Knit Your Own Cat has 16 knitting patterns for different breeds of cats.  

If you are already owned by one of our furry masters, Crafting with Cat Hair has instructions for making handicrafts like finger puppets, cat toys, picture frames, and more from cat hair.

Both books are available from the Amazon store, but not for the Kindle. Neither Panzer nor I have read either, so we're not making any recommendations. Just the observation that it's one strange world we live in today.