Book Marketing Blogs

The publishing world is never dull, sit back, and enjoy: whether it’s growth in e-book sales, a new digital e-reader device entering the market, an upgrade to an existing digital reader, a longtime holdout to digital books agreeing to offer his work as e-books, hardly a day goes by without more news on the digital front. Oh, and there’s a lot of non e-book/digital device related news too!

Image by myuibe via Flickr

* E-book sales jumped 252% in the first quarter of 2010, the biggest growth in the market: http://ht.ly/1Pxbw

* Smart idea: British children’s writer sells e-stories for Nintendo DS: http://ht.ly/1P9ag

* With Apple’s iPad getting a lot of buzz in the book world, here are 5 killer iPad apps for authors: http://ht.ly/1Pxaf

* It’s only been a 100-year wait, but Mark Twain’s autobiography is finally on its way: http://ht.ly/1PxhU

* Color Kindle `still a long way out,’ says Amazon CEO: http://ht.ly/1Q3Gk – and Amazon will launch a thinner, sharper Kindle to compete with iPad: http://ht.ly/1SiFa. Also, the Kindle is for sale in Target stores.

* Parties are planned this summer for the 50th anniversary of the classic To Kill a Mockingbird: http://ht.ly/1Q3Ir

Image via Wikipedia

* Test your knowledge of hard times in literature with this Guardian UK quiz: http://ht.ly/1Q4ei

* Time to start a summer reading list, and USA Today has some recommendations: http://ht.ly/1QIdK

* 12 great overlooked books by famous authors: http://ht.ly/1R8Cd

* Novel promo’s a laugh riot (clever promotional idea): http://ht.ly/1RgBX

* Not an overnight success story: Bestselling author David Baldacci discusses his 15 years of rejections: http://ht.ly/1SiDT

* Report: Texas Attorney General probes agency model and Apple – is it price fixing? http://ht.ly/1T1yd

* Bookshelf Porn: A collection of all the best bookshelf photos for people that *heart* bookshelves: http://bookshelfporn.com/

* Why cell phone novels are part of publishing’s future: http://ht.ly/1T1Ai

* Amazon vs. Apple be damned: publishers pine for universal e-book format: http://ht.ly/1T1C0

Image via Wikipedia

* What is Kitty up to? Cats can now tweet with a new liveblogging device (hint: at least 75% of the time he or she will be sleeping): http://ht.ly/1T1NR

* Borders adds a $120 e-reader to its shelves: http://ht.ly/1T1Qg

* Apple launches self-publishing iBooks program: http://ht.ly/1T1TF

* Another holdout relents: Larry McMurtry joins the e-book rush: http://ht.ly/1TvH6

* Digital sales will overtake print sales in five years, not ten, says president of Sony’s digital reading business division: http://ht.ly/1TvP3

* The Fast Company Guide to E-Readers (which one is best?) http://ht.ly/1TvXg

* Hyperion teams up with Glamour magazine for a series of books: http://ht.ly/1U4GC

* The New Yorker has chosen its “20 Under 40″ list of fiction writers worth watching: http://ht.ly/1U4SI

Cover of Lonesome Dove

* Bloomberg’s Top 50 Business Books (published since Jan. ’09): http://ht.ly/1U50f

* 10 great summer books from O magazine – reviews and reading guides: http://ht.ly/1UcUP

* Twenty successful self-published authors: http://ht.ly/1SiEF

Related articles by Zemanta

• ‘Vanity’ Press Goes Digital (online.wsj.com)
• eReader happenings – particularly around the globe (ireaderreview.com)
• Texas AG questions e-book publishers (news.cnet.com)

This past week brought Book Expo America, the publishing industry’s annual gathering. The show was a two-day affair although word is next year’s event will be extended to three days.

Aside from new book buzz – which is always a show highlight – topics included the future of the industry, digital books and their impact on publishing and social media.

Suggested BEA reading includes:

Image via Wikipedia

* CEOs debate e-books, piracy, and the value of the book http://ht.ly/1PF4d

* Online communities meet the real world http://ht.ly/1Q9hD

* Global e-books and the agency model at IDPF’s Digital Book 2010 http://ht.ly/1Q9jq

* Publishing for the age of abundance, http://ht.ly/1QmMm

* Technochondria http://ht.ly/1QmNq

* Designing e-strategy for authors http://ht.ly/1QIBb

* Which books are getting big buzz at BEA? PW takes a look: http://ht.ly/1QIHE

Random tips from BEA:

* Authors should own their own e-mail lists! Do not rely on publisher, empower yourself, grow readership

* New term being bandied about at BEA: authorpreneur

* Bowker: Computer is still biggest e-reading device (37%); then Kindle (32%), iPhone (10%), iPad (3% after 3 weeks in market!)

* 9% of the US adult population bought an ebook in 2009. 56% bought actual books.

* SavvyAunty: it’s ok to repeat yourself across different platforms. Goal is to create higher number of impressions and consistency

* Cell phone books were 4 of 5 top titles in Japan last year. All are free online (w/ writer-reader interaction), millions sold in print.

* Solid advice: publishers need to be training authors on social media, starting with goals & philosophy, not specific platforms

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And… be sure to tune into Publishing Insiders on Tuesday, June 1, 4 p.m. Pacific where we’ll talk about the hottest genre around – Erotica: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/06/01/its-getting-hot-in-here–erotica-equals-hot-books:

Steamy novels and cover boy hunks have given publishing a much-needed shot in the arm. Learn how the Erotic Romance genre is just exploding. Learn about the skyrocketing sales and the methods erotica authors and publishers use to find their audience. And – wonder how those handsome hunks end up on the cover? We’ll find out how they get there and what it’s like to be on the cover of one of the hottest selling books around! Our guests include author Jayne Rylon, http://jaynerylon.com/, Tina Engler Keen, founder of Elora’s Cave Publishing, http://www.jasminejade.com/ and cover model CJ Hollenbach, http://www.cjcovermodel.com/.

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bea (yodiwan.wordpress.com)
• At BookExpo America, Anxiety Amid The Chatter (huffingtonpost.com)
• Sony Will Release Rival eReader In Japan One Day Before iPad Launch (huffingtonpost.com)
• Publish Your Own Book On Apple’s iBooks (huffingtonpost.com)
• Penguin, Amazon Reach eBook Deal At Last (huffingtonpost.com)

I wondered at first if this was a joke. PublishAmerica sending your book to Random House? While this may seem like a good idea to some, the truth is it’s likely a scam. Here’s the deal. Random House has enough unsolicited submissions to last them a lifetime and unless PublishAmerica has gotten into some special arrangement with RH (which I doubt) – then this major NY house won’t give PublishAmerica’s books the time of day, especially if they’re submitted en masse as it seems to indicate from this blog post.

Here’s the truth: do your homework authors. Don’t buy into something just because someone is throwing a “big name” at you. If it looks too good to be true, it likely is.

And frankly, this is the kind of thing that gives self-publishing a bad name.

Here is the stream on Twitter

Today, 100 bloggers, who review books on a regular basis, will simultaneously publish their book reviews of a “green” book of their choice. This unique campaign, organized by Eco-Libris (www.ecolibris.net), aims to encourage both publishers and readers to get greener and make sure books are printed responsibly.

“Although there’s so much hype around e-books, books printed on paper dominate the book market, and we want them to be as environmentally sound as possible,” explains Raz Godelnik, co-founder and CEO of Eco-Libris. “Very few books are currently printed responsibly and we hope this initiative will bring more exposure to “green” books. Through this campaign we want to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.”

We were pleased to participate by submitting for review one of the green books we toured online earlier this year: The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget by Josh Dorfman. Not only is the book chock full of easy to implement green ideas, the book was published using green practices.

Publishers big and small are represented, and the books themselves cover a variety of topics, including cooking, poetry, travel and more.

The review sponsor, Eco-Libris, is an interesting organization. Eco-Libris attempts to balance out books by planting trees and to date, according to its press release, has balanced out over 110,000 books by planting more than 120,000 trees.

The links to all participating blogs is available at Eco-Libris website (http://www.ecolibris.net/greenbookscampaign.asp).

After “Black Wednesday” as it’s being called many publishing insiders have spoken out about what’s wrong in the industry. This is probably one of the best blog posts I’ve seen on this: http://www.ereads.com/2008/12/behind-publishings-wednesday-of-long.html

In light of the dim outlook for sales this year in publishing, the AME team has decided that instead of giving holiday gift baskets of chocolates and goodies to clients that we’re going to give books instead. But it doesn’t really make a lot of sense to send books to publishers (hmmm) so instead we’re going to buy books and give them to organizations. This is where we’d like your help. We’d love to gift books to children, soldiers, and seniors and we’re looking for organizations that need them the most. Got any ideas? Please post them on the blog or email me at penny@amarketingexpert.com.

Let’s all go out and buy an extra book this year and support the industry we all love so much!

It’s true, Simon & Schuster announced today it was releasing a follow-up to The Secret just in time for holiday shopping. With an advance print of 750,000 they are hoping all readers of The Secret will flock to this new book…

Sunday’s New York Times had a very interesting (albeit depressing) article on the state of the New York book publishing market.

Of the many points they made one really jumped out at me and that’s this: there are no magic bullets, there’s no quick and easy way to become famous. There is, however, one strategy that works. It’s not glamorous but it does require work and that’s this: repeated exposure. Don’t believe me? See for yourself. There’s a lesson here for all of us, get out there and stay out there. Keep marketing, even when you don’t think the market is listening.

Technorati Tags:

new york times, publishing, kindle, amazon, books, book marketing

Eric Kampmann who took on the OJ book (If I Did It) is now taking an even more controversial book to task: The Jewel of Medina, a novel about the wife of the prophet Muhammad. Here’s the AP story, we’re working on getting an interview with Kampmann now.

Technorati Tags:

the jewel of Medina, sherry jones, muhammad, beaufort, kampmann

As a voice in the print-on-demand industry there was no one stronger than Susan Driscoll. I met her years ago when I needed to interview the new CEO of iUniverse for my book: Get Published Today. Susan had just moved to iUniverse and relocated her family from the bustling streets of New York to the quieter life of Lincoln, Nebraska. I admired her decision to do this and admired her belief that independent publishing was the future. After our interview we remained in touch and she invited me to visit their Lincoln, Nebraska offices to discuss the future of print-on-demand. I found Susan to be bright, eager to learn, and most of all, a fantastic leader and voice in publishing. We have been friends ever since.

Through the years I’ve seen her brilliantly form iUniverse into the brand it is today. Susan led the company in a new and exciting direction and her vision for a print-on-demand company that was more than “just a printer” led iUniverse to be the leader in the marketplace. She did this through her tireless commitment to the company, the authors they served and the future of print-on-demand. I have the greatest respect for her work, and I know her voice will be missed in POD.

Thank you, Susan, for all you did for the industry and your authors. Thank you for believing in the independent voices, it’s because of you that so many of them were heard.

Read Susan’s blog post here

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