E-Books and the Future of Publishing

**You all got enough of me last week, with my two posts in a row, so today we at MMW have a treat for you. Sit back and read all about his take on the future of e-book publishing by none other than David Farland.** ~Cheri

**IMPORTANT** The book release has been pushed back to Nov. 4th. Please stay tuned to our blog for details. Thank you!

The Role of Enhanced Books in the Future of Publishing


Right now, the publishing world is in turmoil. People are buying electronic books in huge numbers. In fact, it appears that as of today, more than fifty percent of all sales are electronic. This puts traditional paper book publishers in a bind. You see, most books earn only a modest profit. But if paper books are shipped to bookstores and then returned, they get destroyed, and thus don’t make any money at all. In fact, the publisher then goes into the hole on every book he publishes.
The losses right now are so large in the industry, that as one agent put it, “Nobody in New York wants to be in this business right now.” That’s why bookstore chains like Borders and major distributors like Anderson News have gone bankrupt.

So where do the publishers make up for those losses? By selling electronic books for the Kindle, Nook, iPad and similar devices. The problem is, so many electronic books will come out in the next year, according to Bowker’s Identifier Services (the guys who make the ISBNs that you see on the back of a book), that the market will be flooded with over three million new books.

Why? Because authors who couldn’t find agents or publishers last year are self-publishing their novels this year. I was talking to a bestseller last night who groused that in the past week, he’d run into three different “authors,” none of whom had sold more than fifty books, all of whom were self-published.
That creates a problem for readers. It means that we now have to try to figure out which of those novels are worth buying and reading and which should never have been published in the first place.

Some of those novels may look good on the outside. They might have cover quotes from the author’s friends. They might have gorgeous illustrations. But inside, maybe halfway through a book, you might find that the story falls apart.
In fact, a lot of criminals are out there right now trying to sell e-books which Tracy Hickman has labeled “Frankensteins.” These are novels stolen from bits of other novels and cobbled together in a way to look like a legitimate book. The “author” hopes to steal a couple of dollars from unwary readers. Sure, it’s not a lot of money, but in some countries, like Nigeria, a few dollars goes a long way. If there are no laws against it (and in some countries there aren’t), the thief doesn’t even have to worry about getting punished.

How are we going to combat crummy novels? How are we going to get past the Frankensteins? Ten years ago we had gatekeepers in the industry—literary agents and editors—who made sure that only the best novels got published. It’s true that the system was flawed, but at least there was a system.

So who are our new gatekeepers going to be?

The truth is that there will be new kinds of publishers. Right now, I’m starting a company with my partner Mile Romney, called East India Press. We’re going to published “enhanced novels.”

Enhanced books are text files, like regular books, but they also combine elements like film clips, music, video games, author interviews, audio files, illustrations, and animations. They’re part book, part movie, part game, perhaps. These books are then then sold electronically to be read on your iPad, phone, computer, and so on. 

Are enhanced books the real future of publishing? There is good reason to think so. You see, making a beautiful book in this market will cost tens of thousands of dollars. That’s a bar to most wannabe authors. So money alone will limit the competition.

These new publishers will still have to establish their own credibility. They’ll have to select great books, create superior products, and develop a “brand” presence. In other words, you’ll want to read the books because of who the publisher is and what they represent.

A hundred years ago, that’s the way that books were bought in the first place. If you went to the bookstore, the books were ordered by publisher. You might pick through the piles and find that a certain editor liked the same kind of “science fictional stories” that you did, and that became the place that you visited over and over again.

There will be other ways to judge a book. It might come from an author with a long list of awards, or great cover quotes from independent review agencies, or maybe the fact that the book is a bestseller will give it a lot of credibility.
So I expect enhanced books to become the dominant art form for novels in the next two years, replacing and outselling simple e-books on the bestseller lists, and even outselling hardbacks and paperbacks within a couple of years. As my agent, Russell Galen put it, “Enhanced books are the entire future of publishing.”
Now, I’ve published some fifty books in science fiction and fantasy. I’ve won a number of awards and my books have been translated into thirty languages. I worked for years as the lead judge for one of the largest writing contest in the world. I’ve trained authors like Brandon Mull, Brandon Sanderson, and Stephenie Meyer who have gone on to become #1 international bestsellers.

So I know books. I know a good story when I see one, and I know how to fix a story when it needs fixing. Given this, and my own background as a novelist, videogame designer, and movie producer, it seemed like starting a new type of publishing company was a must.

In fact, I believe in this new medium so much, I’m even putting out my next novel through this publishing company. It’s called Nightingale, and tells the story of Bron Jones, a young man abandoned at birth and raised in foster care. He discovers that he’s not quite human, and suddenly finds himself at the center of international intrigue.

This is a model for the new publishing industry. I think it’s a great book, and I could have sold it through normal channels. But this is the best way to go. So we’re offering the book on our site at www.nightingalenovel.com. You can buy it in hard cover, for your e-reader, or in enhanced mode for the more advanced e-readers, or we even have an emulator so that you can run it in enhanced mode on any computer. It also has a forty-five minute soundtrack, lots of art, optional notes from the author and other features. In the future we may add a game or trailers. I believe this is the way books--good books--will be done in the future. I invite you to check it out, and check out our new company, East India Press.

If you’re a writer, look into our short story writing contest while you’re there. You could win $1000. You can find out about more about the East India Press or the writing contest at www.EastIndiaPress.com as well.

More ebook stuff

To sort of follow the discussion started on yesterday's POST, I wanted to talk a little more about the price vs. quality of e-books. Now, mind you, I don't want people to assume I think my e-books are of the highest quality--after all, I know I'm just getting started and I'm not going to be a perfect formatter right out of the gate. However, I do have some standards when it comes to the quality of books I read.

I did take a chance on an e-book by an author who's getting a lot of attention selling them for only 99 cents. I try not to be a book snob, but I found the quality lacking. She could have done another edit on the book and had a much better quality story--or paid a freelance editor to do it for her. I read the sample, and wasn't interested in reading on. But again, it's hard to argue with the success she's having. What she's doing seems to be working for her.

Originally, I priced The Wild Queen at $4.99 because I'm trying to raise enough money in book sales to help out my friend. Even then, I knew when my fund-raising summer was over, I'd lower the price to $2.99. Last week, I went ahead and lowered the price anyway, hoping that it would lead to more sales, and, by default, more revenue. So far, all I've gotten out of it is a negative review by someone who missed the underlying plots of the story and misinterpreted the ending. Oh, well. If you want to read the review, it's on Amazon.

The authors who are selling tons of e-books usually have more than one out there. I realize that. And I'm still building my name, my brand, if you will. There's still a huge number of people who have no idea I even exist. Funny, I used to crave anonymity. Still trying to sort out when that all changed. :)

And, almost as if he knew I needed it, my brother sent me a text today: was just thinking of you. just occurred to me how natural it seemed to see you sitting at a book signing.

There's a Contest, Remember???

Okay, peoples. It's May 11th. AFTER Storymakers. BEFORE our deadline of May 31. And we want entries!!! We want this ebook to be filled with your fabulous writing--so send it in!!!

As part of this kick in the pants, I wanted to update you on the fabulous ebooks that are being offered as prizes, along with gift cards and the joy of seeing your work in digital print.

First is the amazing Marsha Ward! She donated a copy of her fabulous book, The Man From Shenandoah.
 Here's her author's bio:

Marsha Ward was born in the sleepy little town of Phoenix, Arizona, and

grew up with chickens, citrus trees, and lots of room to roam. She began

telling stories at a very early age, regaling neighborhood chums with her

tales over homemade sugar cookies and milk. Her love of 19th Century Western

history was reinforced by visits to her cousins on their ranch and listening

to her father's stories of homesteading in Old Mexico and in the Tucson

area.

Over the years, Marsha became an award-winning poet, writer and editor,

with over 900 pieces of published work. She is the founder of American Night

Writers Association and a member of Western Writers of America, Women
Writing the West, and Rim Country Writers. She makes her home in a tiny
forest hamlet in Arizona. When she is not writing, she loves to spoil her
grandchildren, travel, give talks, meet readers, and sign books.

Also, our very own Cheri Chesley is offering her great book, Wild Queen as well. It will be available for purchase on Friday, May 13th, but here's a tantalizing glimpse of what you'll see inside:

Roweena is the crown princess of Norvallen, a tiny kingdom with only one thing of value—the Healers' Grove. The trees in this small section of forest are enchanted, giving a sap that can be mixed into potions or salves to heal almost any wound.

And it’s in high demand.

Lucien, the young king of neighboring Demarde, comes to Roweena’s father seeking an alliance, but comes away with a marriage contract for young Roweena’s hand. Furious and stubborn, this untamed beauty vows he will never conquer her. But the contract purposely gives her time to come to terms with her fate.

Before Lucien can return, Roweena’s home is attacked and her parents are murdered. The Healer’s Grove is also attacked—burned to the ground. With nothing more than her horse and the clothes on her back, Roweena goes to the only person she knows can help her. Lucien. But he can do nothing with no legal claim to Norvallen, so they marry.

Lucien and his army destroy the invaders and rescue what remains of Roweena’s people. He then makes Norvallen a part of his kingdom, but separate, ruled by a man Lucien trusts who answers only to him.

Roweena tries to carve a piece of life out for herself in Demarde, but her wild ways often clash with Lucien’s calm, reasoning manner. They have a son, Gregory, and then a daughter, Falina. When Roweena is pregnant for the third time, she vanishes. Speculation runs rampant. Was she kidnapped, fallen victim to a mysterious enemy? Or did she run away?

And last, but certainly not least, is the glorious Jenni James, offering her great new book, Eternity, cowritten by AJ Cole. Here's their info:

AJ Cole is from Nottingham, England; he is married with two young children and a stubborn Weimaraner dog. When he's not writing, toddler wrangling or dog wrestling, he enjoys practising martial arts, meditating and cooking south-east Asian cuisine.

Jenni James lives in Utah, is married to a totally hot red-headed Air Force recruiter and has seven children. When she’s not busy chasing them around the house (the hubby too!), she likes to paint, dance, cook and write.

Jenni and AJ are offering something else: They will give a copy of Eternity to everyone who even ENTERS the contest. Plus, if you're interested in doing a book club with their book, they have offered to SKYPE with your book club, and hear AJ all the way from England as they answer questions. Wouldn't that be awesome!!??!!
 
So there you have it, folks! An amazing basket of goodies...if only you'll try! We want to rejoice with you as we see your writing in print. And for the record...we're probably not nearly as tough as you think we are, 'cause we're just like you, writers struggling to get their books written and their voices heard. So LET'S HEAR YOU!!!

Power To The People

I have watched the tumultuous upheaval of the publishing industry with a bit of distance and a lot of interest. Interest because I hope to be among the published masses someday, and distance because I don't think it's going to be any time soon. (At least if my struggles with my WIP continue unabated.) It'll be a year or two or ten before I will be able to call myself published. But by then, what will the industry look like? More knowledgeable people than me talk about this endlessly, and I'm not here really to add what little I know to the conversation.

What I do want to bring, however, is a little perspective. I tend to think in analogies, so here's one for you.

Once phones looked like this:

 And it was amazing! People couldn't conceive of such a remarkable thing. Some people even called it the Devil box, they were so sure it was evil inspired. You could pick it up and have to tell the operator who you wanted to call, and wait for them to direct your call to the appropriate place.

After a few years the phone grew to this:

You could dial the place you wanted to call yourself. And for 70 years or so, this was the standard, with slight variations.

Then along came mobile phones, phones you could actually walk around with, instead of being tied with a cord to a base and telephone line.

Once cell phones looked like this:

And we poor peons who couldn't afford to even think about such a luxury oohed and ahhed over it.

Fast forward to today:

This generation 4 iPhone can do more than several 1980s computers put together could. And that's besides being a mobile phone.

My point is when the technology began, we looked at it in wonder. How could it possibly get better than this, we said. And yet it did. Again and again and again. And it will continue to evolve as consumers demand different things from the phone industry.

This is happening in the publishing industry. We had a standard, a framework that everyone recognized as the only possibility. And yet times change. People's demands change. All sorts of factors go into this force for evolution.

 In my mind we are at the equivalent of the 1980s cell phone revolution in terms of publishing. There are things going on now that we never thought would happen. But they are. Do we know where they'll end up? We can guess and conjecture, but like watching an old episode of the Jetsons, we won't know if our ideas are too tied to our present experience, or if they're truly revolutionary. (Watch an episode, and see if you don't see things that we already to better or differently than they thought when they made the show. Cash money vs. a card? Or just scanning something in your phone?)

That doesn't mean don't write or publish or submit or self-publish e-books. Life still has to be lived. And without that demand for the industry, it would die out. I just think it'll be fascinating to see in 10, 20, 50 years where the publishing/writing industry has gone. I hope you'll all be along on the ride with me.

Any comments on this post will count toward our mini contest!

Multiple Channels and Piercing Questions

It's the home stretch! We've reached the end of this little series of posts about the different types of self-publishing out there. Let's discuss Multiple Channels and then I'll walk you through some things to consider when self publishing.

Multiple channels is just what it sounds like. You use one company to prep your manuscript, and they distribute it to several venues all at once. So instead of formatting it JUST for Kindle, or JUST for the Nook, you can do it for as many venues as is available through the company. It still has all the trademarks of publishing single channel but the added bonus of going lots of places all at once. There are a few out there, but two of the biggies are:

Smashwords
FastPencil (this has a small fee)

FastPencil has more in common with the POD publishers, but still has the option for doing it on the cheap.

So what questions should you be asking when deciding what avenue to take to get your work published?

1. What are my goals here? Does my work need a print edition?
2. How much help am I going to need to get the job done? Do I need to consider independent editing? Do I know how to format my manuscript?
3. Will my audience prefer digital or print?
4. Once I have a product ready, how am I going to get the word out there? (None of the 4 options I've covered the past month do any publicity for you.)

I hope this will help you get on the right path for you and your writing. Not everything we write has a place in traditional publishing. Having these options available can only be a good thing in the long run for the individual author and the publishing industry as a whole.

E-books and Editing

I'm really getting into this e-book thing.  I love being able to find free or less expensive books at the touch of a button.  What's even better is that I don't have to leave my house or search aisles and aisles of books to find what I'm looking for.  I simply click and start reading.  I didn't think I would like e-books.  I was reticent to even try them, but try them I did and now I'm in love.  Now don't get me wrong, I still love to hold a real book and see it's beautiful spine on my shelf.  But with e-books, I can read a book and then decide if it's one I want on my bookshelf at home.  I don't have an e-reader, I have an iPad.  I enjoy it because I can download the apps to all the bookstores including Borders, Nook, and Kindle.  I also discovered that Deseret Book just launched their own bookshelf app as well.  The e-store hasn't launched yet, but the bookshelf came with eight free books right off the bat!  I'm not sure how people with e-readers would access this app, but for those that don't live near any Deseret Bookstores, this new app could really be convenient. 
Now on to another train of thought.  My friend Sarah Eden has a podcast with Robison Wells and Marion Jensen called "The Appendix".  I was listening to one of their podcasts about self publishing.  And since our blog will be self publishing an anthology soon, (featuring YOU!). I thought I needed to pay special to it.  The one thing that stood out to me when they talked about self-publishing (and e-publishing) is that the editing needs to be good.  They even suggested that you may want to spend the money on professional editing services.  I'll get to that later.  But I thought about my Nanowrimo book I wrote this past November and how daunting the task of editing feels.  I'm much better at helping other people fix their books than I am at fixing my own.  It's been difficult for me to even begin.  This is where a wonderful writer's group comes in.  My local ANWA chapter had Aprilynne Pike, author of "Wings", (which is free on e-book format for a limited time!  I've seen it on both Nook and Kindle!) come talk to us about editing.  She showed us the edits her editor sends and even showed us a manuscript that had edits in the margins.  It was interesting to see that the editor first sends pages of suggestions before she ever starts with inline edits.  I asked April how I could apply this to my own edits.  She said that after working with her editors these past few years she has learned a new method for her editing process.  She writes the outline, then writes the book.  After the book is written she checks it against the outline and makes any changes.  Then she reads her book and without making a single change, she takes notes.  Hmmm, that sounds kind of easy to me.  You mean the first step is just reading my book and taking notes?  It sounds simple enough for even me!  Then she takes the notes and categorizes them by things such as voice, plot, character development, etc.  When she goes back through her story, she checks off each bullet point as she completes it, then she does it again if needed.  This system really sounds like something I can do and I dove right in.  I have already read my story while taking notes.  Now I will be writing an outline (because I'm a panster and don't start with silly things like outlines!).  I will be categorizing my bullet pointed notes as well.  For the first time ever, I'm actually excited about editing a book!  I can visualize the final product and am ready to do the work to get my book there!  I don't know yet if I want to e-publish or traditional publish, but the step of editing is necessary in both choices. 
I'm excited to edit my book and get it to a product that I will be very proud of.  Once I do that, I will have to decide if I will send it to agents or think about e-publishing.  If I do entertain e-publishing, I think I will want to pay for editing services to help me polish my book.  One such service that I know of is Precision Editing services.  Heather B. Moore is one of the founders of this service and other LDS women are part of it as well.  Do you know of any other editing services out there?  What services would you pay for if you were e-publishing?  What system do you have for editing?  I really would like to get a discussion going, for some reason I'm missing all my virtual friends and need some stimulating conversation!  So be sure to drop me a line in the comments!  Oh, and I can't wait to see all the stories you will all be submitting really soon!  Be sure to pass along the contest to all your writing friends!