Adult eBook Sales are Up
From
Publishers Weekly:
Sales of adult e-books rose 13.6% in the first quarter of 2013 helping to offset sluggish sales of print books in the period, resulting in a 3.3% increase in adult trade sales at companies that report to AAP’s StatShot program. Sales in the children’s/YA segment fell 24.6% in the quarter with declines of 35.6% in hardcover and 30.1% in e-books due to extremely strong sales in those formats last year of The Hunger Games trilogy.
They also noted that digital audiobooks are up over 14% while sales of physical audiobooks (CDs) are down 7.5%. Personally, I credit
scilicet for the increase in sales.
The Benefits of Being a Bookworm
As a recent convert to audio books, I was disturbed to learn that reading books "gives our brains a workout because comprehending text requires more mental energy than, for example, processing an image on a television screen." (Does that mean I must return to reading the actual words with my own actual eyes?) This month's online blog at
Smithsonian.com covers the findings of a recent study on the impact of a lifetime of reading and writing on memory and brain function:
Using information from the questionnaire and autopsy results, the researchers found that any reading and writing is better than none at all. Remaining a bookworm into old age reduced the rate of memory decline by 32 percent compared to engaging in average mental activity. Those who didn’t read or write often later in life did even worse: their memory decline was 48 percent faster than people who spent an average amount of time on these activities.
So tonight, after dinner, put down the remote and pick up that book. Or even better, that paper and pencil.
Self Publish on Kobo
According to Pocket Lint, Kobo has a new website service that allows writers to self-publish their work in five easy steps.
It has launched Kobo Writing Life, a website service that you can use to get your eBook carried in the Kobo store. The online WYSIWYG editor allows you to upload your manuscript, add a book cover, edit the automatically formatted text, choose a price and publish. The steps are easy to follow and should take no more than a few minutes if the text file doesn't require much editing. The final books will be published from 24 to 72 hours later.
On Kobo's self-publishing platform, authors earn 70 per cent on books priced between $1.99 and $12.99, you can also set the price of your book to free with no penalty or hidden costs. For any books that cost more or less than the accepted price range, authors will earn 45 per cent of each sale.
Kobo readers and books are sold at independent bookstores and online. Like its competitors, Kindle and Nook, apps for use on mobile devices and computers are available at no cost on
Kobo's website.
College eBook texts
Reuters says that textbook publishers are not happy with how students save "a ton of cash" by buying and selling used textbooks. Their answer is to use ebooks in a variety of innovative ways that include creating "online versions of their texts, often loaded with interactive features, and selling students access codes that expire at semester's end." Currently less than a quarter of all college students use digital texts, but over the next ten years that is expected to rise to 75%. Publishers are at work now trying to find ways to enhance the learning experience through the use of digital books.
Some digital texts embed links to videos, articles and clips from a professor's lectures, while others will monitor a student's progress and draw up personalized study plans to keep them on track.
"We can even predict what you're most likely to forget...and when you're most likely to forget it," said Jeff Livingston, a senior vice president at McGraw-Hill Education.
Low Brow Lit
Apparently downloading erotica onto an e-reader is the 21st century's brown paper wrapper. And it is a growing segment of the e-book business thanks in large part to the commercial success of the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy. But it is not getting any respect from the booksellers in terms of its fair share of their best seller listings.
According to an erotica writer with the pen name Selena Kitt, both Amazon and Barnes & Noble continue to keep many erotic titles out of the best-sellers lists through a number of mechanisms. "Adults don't need nannies, but in a post 50 Shades world, Amazon and BN are playing nanny, not to children, but to adults," she wrote in an e-mail.
While the conflicts in erotica are most obvious, the industry as a whole has long considered other categories of books as lesser. Even though such genre types as mysteries, science fiction, horror and romance can hit the best-sellers lists, titles are usually placed in specialty divisions or publishers rather than be allowed to mix within the broader fiction category. Self-published books have long been snubbed by the literati.
And yet, genre and self-publishing have been mainstays in publishing economics and have proven to be the true powerhouses in e-books.
CBS News Money Watch
Oh well.
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