Breaking News for Publishers and Authors

I thought I'd let you know that this information will be in my next SharingwithWriters newsletter. I thought you might want to know about it before the issue's August release.

In the News:  The LA Times reports on that Amazon.com may be testing a new feature based on Scribd’s subscription model. For $9.99 a month what once showed up on the site as “Kindle Unlimited” would allow those who sign up to choose an unlimited supply of books including some well-known ones like Water for Elephants—a full 600,000 choices (many from smaller publishers) as well as thousands of audio books. It appears this program is still being tested. The LA Times does not say  how authors would be paid their royalties, presumably because “Amazon…did not return a call seeking comment.”  (See the flash below posted on 7/18 am.)

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FLASH! In my next day's e-mail box came this notice directly from Amazon: "KDP Select authors and publishers will earn a share of the KDP Select global fund each time a customer accesses their book from Kindle Unlimited and reads more than 10% of their book-–about the length of reading the free sample available in Kindle books-–as opposed to a payout when the book is simply downloaded. Only the first time a customer reads a book past 10% will be counted."

FLASH #2: If your e-book is already on Kindle's Select program, it will automatically be part of Kindle Unlimited. And, yes, it may feel a bit chintzy not to pay authors upon download, but I get that it's a hedge against cheating.  And, yes, I still think this is a coup for authors selling e-books on Kindle!

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .

How Does Indiana Jones Compare with Publish America?

It's amazing but it appears that alternative publishing models have influenced other industries.

On April 21 the front page of the business section of the LA Times noted that Harrison Ford, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg will take their money on the backend of the new Indiana Jones sequel, rather than the front.

That's like an author not taking an advance but putting it off in favor of profits to be made later. In fact their model reminds me of that pioneered by Publish America years ago. PA takes on all the expenses of production (just like Paramount will in this contract that protects them from giving out huge salaries/advances).

In other words, in both cases the artists/authors are sharing some of the risks. That encourages everyone to give the project their all in terms of marketing. The difference, as I see it, and it IS a big difference, is that on the backend, these powerhouse names will reap even larger percentages that they would have doing it the old way.

You say, "Yes, but these are big names and most of the PA authors are pretty much unknown." Still, if PA upped the discount they give to authors on their books (after they'd made back their expenses), they'd be looking like leaders in not only the publishing industry but others as well. They already do offer a slightly larger royalty after so many books are sold. (Of course, that is nothing new. Publishers have done that for eons.)

And about that marketing? Do Hollywood names need a nudge to partner as marketers? Sure they do. It's probably not an occasional scenario that big stars take their money and then try to duck out of the talk show tours, which--we all know--are lots of work.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author THIS IS THE PLACE; HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED; TRACINGS, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T; and THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS.
Her other blogs include TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.

Publishers Scramble to Fit Their Catalogs to New, Depressing Times

In the News:

The L A Times reports that publishers are scrambling to keep up with the new economic (and accompanying political) scene. Books like Michael Corbett's Find it, Fix It, Flip It!: Make Millions in Real Estate -- One House at a Time are just so last year they won't cut it, they think. They want books that tell people how to survive in a recession. Like Stephen Leeb's Game Over: How the Collapsing Economy Will Shrink Your Wealth by 50% Unless You Know Wht to Do.

And as a contrarian I'm thinking, maybe this is a good time to buy real estate, in a down market -- rather like my husband's uncle did in LA during the Great Depression. I'm also thinking, Oh, books on frugality like the HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers? But mine are already published. Lucky me!

That's how getting publicity works.You find what's in your book already that fits with today's news. Unlike publishers who must scramble, we must just make what already exists in our books fit. If we write only what we think will be needed next year, we just might be wrong. Find the article by Josh Getlin in Thursday's March 28 paper.

So, if I were consulting with Michael, I'd suggest he pitch the buy low and hold theory that worked so well in the 30s and 40s to radio shows. Stephen's path is obvious. What about yours? Not just in terms of the market but everything else you find on the front pages (and inside pages!) of your paper. To do this well, you need to take a fresh look at your book -- yes, even a novel, and rethink what's in it.

Look at:

1. What are the professions of your main characters? Journalist? Fireman? Writer who plagiarizes? There are lots of big stories that involve them.

2. Is the town where your book is set in the news or of special interest? (This Is the Place is set in Salt Lake City which was the home of the 2002 Winter Olympics. I managed to put that to very good use.)

3. What about the underlying theme or premise. In This Is the Place, it's the corrosive quality of even what appears to be subtle bigotry or prejudice. Mmmmm. Unfortunately that seems to fit something in the news almost every week.

4. What about the race or ethnicities of your characters?

5. What about the time in which it is set? Does that fit with the politics of today? The economics?

You get the idea. For most of us, the trick is to write what we love and disect what we have written to fit the the way things are going on any given day. Then write articles and/or pitch those ideas to radio and TV hosts.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author THIS IS THE PLACE; HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED; TRACINGS, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T; and THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS.
Her other blogs include TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.

J. K. Rowling, the LA Times and the Deadly but Hallowed Profit Lament

I don't know who I want to scream at.

The booksellers who are bewailing that they won't make a profit on Harry Potter or the La Times (July 16, Page A1) who planted a Poor, Poor Booksellers article on their front page and didn't address any of the benefits of selling hundreds (maybe thousands!) of copies in any given store of the new Harry Potter—however discounted—until, oh, I don't know . . . maybe a thousand or two words into the copy runover on page eleven.

Later in the article we do see that there are some benefits to booksellers even if they don't make much on each copy of any specific book they sell.

As a retailer-turned-writer, here's how the benefits stack up, even if booksellers lose money on this next J. K. Rowling Book:

1. A hot item, deeply discounted, is called a loss leader. That's what Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is working itself up to be a loss leader. That means it will draw tons of traffic (you and me) to bookstores both virtual and those in our hometown whether they're made of stucco, brick or a stack of cards.

2. Loss leaders can result in tons of publicity (read that FREE) about their dear-me-plight (read that PROFITABILITY). The LA Times article is but one example. We'll talk about how readers can help fix that proceeds conundrum later for we all want bookstores to continue to be there for us.

3. Loss leaders build loyalty. Customers are grateful to businesses that offer something meaningful at a very low price now and then
4. Loss leaders offer big, . . .no, HUGE, opportunities* for promotion. Especially this loss leader. Think events. Think enticing floor displays. Think purchase with purchase or gift with purchase specials.

5. Bookstore principals who still believe they are victims should stop to consider that their own industry is responsible for the downward spiral of retail prices on Harry Potter and therefore are at least partially responsible for their own losses.

6. Competition is the brick pillar on which capitalism is based. We're stuck with it for good or bad, so let's look at #4 and figure out how to stir up a batch of lemonade from the lemons (see #5) booksellers and publishers have made for themselves.

7. It's possible that some retailers will participate in a program called ad allowances. That means that Rowlings' publisher actually may pay for or contribute to ads the stores run on TV or in the press. That doesn't just sell the HP books, it helps brand and drive traffic to the store that runs the ad. (Disclaimer: I don't know that Rowling's publisher, Scholastic, Inc., is offering this kind of program but it's often done.)

In the Times' article, Jeff Bezos is said to have warned his employees that even his Amazon might make no money on Deathly Hallows. C'mon. Amazon has no reason to sing a sad song. For ages they've been good capitalists evidenced by their offering free shipping to those who buy a second (or third) book on many purchases over $25. In that respect, Amazon is no different from the other bookstores. Even if they lose money on HP, they'll do very well, thank you.

So, let's not boo-hoo too much for booksstores on this one. Yes, we as readers and as people in the publishing industry will want to support them all by buying an item other than HP (see #2) when we're after our copy at 50% off. But mostly let's watch to see how the industry, the author, and the bookstores benefit from all this publicity and how some turn it to their advantage. We can follow their leads and utilize their cleverness in whatever business we're running whether it's ownership of a corner store in Anywhere USA or promoting the book(s) we have written.

*Book Soup, a bookstore in the LA area, offers a free copy of the new Harry Potter to those who purchase a $100. gift card. Publishers (like many vendors) do not encourage (some flat out disapprove) of such consumer-friendly and profit-friendly promotions. Sometimes I put my head in my hands and wonder . . . just wonder, you know?


RESOURCES
Don’t bother with the front page of the LA Times. Cut right to the information box on Page 11 of Monday's (July 16) edition. Oh, by the way! The Times may have grossly overestimated J.K. Rowlings' royalty at a whopping $5.25 per book. If that figure is anywhere near being true, other authors can only hope that someday they might cut such a deal.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson founded and owned a small chain of retail stories in an earlier life. Her award-winning FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER includes hundreds of ways authors can get free publicity including a chapter on utilizing the free perks at Amazon.