J.L. Jarvis

Self-published titles make up 12% of all e-book sales, according to new findings from Bowker Market Research.

The popularity of self-published titles rises when looking at certain categories, with the self-published share of e-book volume sales more than 20% in areas such as crime, science fiction and fantasy, romance and humour.

The research is based on Bowker’s regular Books & Consumers survey, which holds monthly interviews with book buyers, questioning around 3,000 consumers each month. The findings were unveiled today (June 7th) at The Literary Consultancy Conference by Steve Bohme, UK research director at Bowker.

He said: “It’s one of the first times we have looked at self-publishing in this depth to find out what part it plays. It’s interesting to have this data, as it allows self-published writers to understand more about the market they are operating in.”

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No: the problem isn’t ebooks. They’re just the malevolent familiars of two dark and ancient gods: the internet, and big business. People have been buying more and more of their reading material from Amazon and other online retailers, and less and less from small shops; before that, they were buying from Waterstones or W H Smith or some other high-street chain.

So, if Mr King really wants to fight back against the evil, to pour a metaphorical bucket of pig’s blood over the head of the telekinetic prom queen – sorry, I’m running out of King references here – he’s not going far enough. If he wants people to “stir their sticks” and get down the bookshop, he should ban his latest from being sold online at all.

In fact, he should insist that it’s only sold at independent booksellers: preferably dusty ones that smell of leather, run by kindly old men, with wooden shelves and ancient first editions and a bell that rings when you open the door.

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He may not save bookstores, but he’ll have fewer bootlegged copies swarming the internet.

By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG

Don’t expect to see an e-book edition any time soon of Stephen King’s new novel, “Joyland,” which will be published next month.

Digital books pioneer Stephen King is holding onto the e-book rights to his upcoming novel “Joyland” in hopes of driving people to bookstores. Jeffrey Trachtenberg reports on Lunch Break.

Mr. King, an e-book pioneer, held on to the novel’s digital rights in hopes of spurring his fans to buy the print edition in bookstores. He said it is unclear when he will make the coming-of-age tale available digitally.

“I have no plans for a digital version,” Mr. King said. “Maybe at some point, but in the meantime, let people stir their sticks and go to an actual bookstore rather than a digital one.”

OverDrive Announces Availability of Hachette Book Group eBooks

Bestselling Hachette Book Group Titles Will Be Available for Library and School Lending via OverDrive

CLEVELAND, OH—(Marketwired - May 1, 2013) - Hachette Book Group, one of the largest and most successful publishers in the world, will make its entire digital catalog of more than 5,000 eBooks available to libraries and schools via OverDrive. Beginning May 8, loyal readers at OverDrive-powered libraries and schools in the U.S. and Canada will have access to popular and award-winning authors such as David Baldacci, Sara Zarr, Sandra Brown, James Patterson, David Sedaris and Kate Atkinson. OverDrive supplies Next Generation digital library services for more than 22,000 libraries and schools worldwide, with support for all major eReading devices, including iPad(R) , Nook(R) and Kindle(R) .

The addition of the entire Hachette Book Group eBook catalog to OverDrive — which already carries Hachette Book Group audiobooks on the same lending platform — enhances the largest catalog for libraries and schools of more than 1 million eBook, audiobook, music and video titles.

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I love librarians!

There’s a tightrope across the digital divide that nearly 7,000 librarians meeting this week in Fort Worth are crossing, but some aren’t tiptoeing. They’re leaping across the gap and looking for ways to stay at the forefront of a new age in reading.

Electronic books and digital devices have altered the reading landscape but for the most part America’s six largest publishing houses have tried to keep libraries on the sidelines of the reformation.

Big publishers have limited releases of digital titles to libraries, charged them much more for e-books than printed ones and restricted the number of times that digital books can be checked out before forcing libraries to buy another copy.

Some librarians aren’t willing to let publishers control the revolution.

They are looking to compete by forming their own publishing arms to capitalize on new content streams that have blossomed alongside the e-book tsunami, said Jamie LaRue, director of the Douglas County Library system in Colorado and one of the speakers today at the 100th annual meeting of the Texas Library Association being held at the Fort Worth Convention Center.  

I don’t have the best of memories, but ever since I was young, I prided myself on a particular talent with respect to reading. Occasionally I’d be near the end of a book, and would recall a passage near the beginning that I wanted to revisit. I wouldn’t remember the page or chapter, but almost without fail, I would recall the location on the page where the passage in question was. I knew that that wondeful description of Mr. Pumblechook appeared on the bottom half of a right-hand page, perhaps 10 lines from the bottom, and a few lines after a paragraph break.

I never knew what to make of this talent–how common it was, or whether it indicated I read more closely than others–but one thing I do know: it doesn’t have an analog in e-reading. I recall the sense of dismay I felt upon learning that e-books didn’t have pages per se, but “locations.” There was no such thing anymore as the description near the top of the page, since the location of text varied depending on the size of the text. The Kindle has extinguished my talent.

Scientific American takes a look this week at the differences between reading on paper versus reading electronically, from a scientific standpoint. When we move from dead trees to ones and zeroes, do we retain the same amount of information?

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By ALEXANDRA ALTER

Serialized fiction, an all-but-lost art form that was practiced by such literary giants as Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy and Joseph Conrad, is rebounding in the digital era. The growing use of tablets, smartphones and e-ink devices has created a vibrant new market for short fiction as readers flock to stories they can digest in one sitting.

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By Terri Giuliano Long for IndieReader.com

Not too long ago, traditional publishers held all the cards.

If publishing houses rejected a book, its author had two choices: self-publish and bear the stigma, or put the manuscript in a drawer, forfeiting years of hard work, all the while hoping the next book would be “the one.” A plethora of legitimate publishing options—ranging from DIY self-publishing platforms to assisted self-publishing partnerships—has eliminated this total reliance on traditional houses, in effect changing the publishing dynamic. Today, empowered authors are asserting greater control over their career—and driving revolutionary changes within the industry.

Rita Rosenkranz, among the first literary agents to work with indie authors, says that in the past “because of the stigma of self-publishing very good stuff was locked out by mainstream publishers.” Literary agentSteven Axelrod, who represents self-publishing rock starAmanda Hocking, credits readers for opening new opportunities for independent authors. Readers no longer see a huge difference between self- and traditionally published books, Axelrod says. By buying books, adds Rosenkranz, and increasing their rank in the marketplace, readers vote on which books are worthy of publishing. As a result, traditional publishers are finding themselves in bidding wars for the rights to republish the very books they once spurned.

With their meteoric rise, self-published authors no longer face a categorical stigma. Many traditional publishers now view self-publishing as a great way to discover new writers, Axelrod says. A quick search of Publisher’s Marketplace, using the keywords “self publish,” turned up 40 deals in the past twelve months, many ranked “significant,” $250K to $499K, or “major,” meaning over $500K. 

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As Penguin CEO John Makinson said: “Self-publishing has moved into the mainstream of our industry”. It’s hard to overstate what a radical change this is for publishing…

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Jessica Yadegaran, Contra Costa Times

Gone is the stigma associated with self-publishing. Best-seller lists now are jammed with self-published titles, and traditional publishers hunt online for the next E.L. James (“Fifty Shades of Grey”) or Amanda Hocking (“Trylle Trilogy”). Therefore, many independent authors are no longer interested in signing with traditional publishers, particularly if they have a fan base and pocket most of their cash. It is an appealing prospect, even if, like the majority of self-published authors, you aren’t a breakout success and only sell a few hundred or thousand copies.