Last week Penguin Random House announced the sale of beleaguered Author Solutions, the large (but seemingly getting smaller) vanity press that is known by several imprint names in the publishing industry including Xlibris, AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford and WestBow Press. Some of these are independent, some are private label publishing imprints for other publishers. For example, Balboa Press on behalf of Hay House. As noted here by author and observer David Gaughran, PRH is not cutting ties … [Read more...]
Is Amazon Ripping Me Off?
12 FAQs about the business of selling and promoting independently published books on Amazon Amazon is so synonymous with books in the mind of the public that many see them as a public utility when it comes to bookselling. It is the first, and sometimes only book retailing outlet new publishers and self-publishing authors use to sell books and Kindle eBooks. So when it comes to the business of selling and promoting books, many indie publishers are aghast at what they consider “unfair” or … [Read more...]
Audiobooks Case Study: How-to Indie Publishing Tips from Annette Leach
Audiobook sales continue to be on fire, far outpacing eBook sales, the next fastest growing format according to the American Association of Publishers as reported by The Digital Reader. But the complexity! Uploading a Word doc to KDP is like child’s play compared to producing a quality audiobook. That’s where advanced planning can help and Annette Leach shares crucial insights to help you understand the process and key decisions. In today’s interview Leach walks you through all the … [Read more...]
My 7 Favorite Posts of 2014
This past year I wrote 50 blog posts on authorimprints.com, just about 1 per week. It is a practice I began at the end of 2012 when I decided to see for myself if regular blogging could deliver results. Here they are: In 2013, revenue from customers that said they found authorimprints.com via an Internet search accounted for 15% of total revenue. (I call this revenue from SEO.) In 2014 this number tripled to 45% of revenue attributed to SEO. What’s interesting is that I wrote half as … [Read more...]
Bowker Reports Amazon CreateSpace Published 62% of All Self-Published Print Books in 2013
In just two years Amazon’s print-on-demand unit CreateSpace has increased its market share of self-published print books to 62% in 2013 from 37% in 2011. These percentages are based on the number of ISBNs issued by Bowker and outlined in the October 2014 press release, Self-Publishing Continues to Grow in the U.S., Says Bowker. (Full report here.) Here is a snapshot of the top issuers of ISBNs and the percentage change from the prior year. What about ISBNs and eBooks? As reported last … [Read more...]
Canaries in the Coalmine: Lessons and Insights for Book Publishers from Digital Music, Video and Content Marketing
For the last four years I have presented an annual address on eBooks to the Publishers and Writers of San Diego, a 300+ member organization focused on the business of publishing and an affiliate of IBPA. This year I choose to highlight events, trends and techniques in digital video, music and online marketing and how they apply to eBook publishing and book marketing. As one attendee put it: “You not only presented the material in an approachable manner, but you drilled down to specifics and … [Read more...]
Searches for Free eBooks Down 28% from December 2010 Peak
According to Google Trends, searches for the term free ebooks doubled between December 2009 and December 2010 but has since dropped by nearly 75%. Searches for the term "free ebooks" during the last five holiday seasons What got me interested in looking at the trend of searching for free eBooks was the Pew Research Internet Project report released January 16, 2014: E-Reading Rises as Device Ownership Jumps. According to the report: 50% of Americans now have a dedicated handheld … [Read more...]
Bing Finds Barnes & Noble Book Listings Better Than Google
This weekend I was using my new Kindle Fire HD to do some web surfing and I made a surprising (and welcome) discovery: my print book is for sale on Barnes & Noble. I guess with all the rivalry talk about Amazon and B&N, and the fact that I use CreateSpace, not to mention the book’s title, I never expected this. I did not realize that the CreateSpace Expanded Distribution would automatically place my title into the online Barnes & Noble book store. An accidental discovery The … [Read more...]
2013 Highlights and 2014 Outlook
Since it’s the start of the year I thought it would be the ideal time to share some stats from this past year and talk about my plans for AuthorImprints in 2014. First a recap of our top 5 2013 accomplishments and lessons learned: 1. authorimprints.com Alexa ranking drops from 1.4 million to below 300,000 One simple, measureable goal for I had for 2013 was to get authorimprints.com ranked below 1,000,000 in the worldwide Alexa ranking. At the time authorimprints.com ranked 1.4 million and … [Read more...]
Book Related Results from Amazon’s 2013 Holiday Highlights
Buried under the headlines about its Prime membership growth (one million new subscribers in one week) I dug out some facts about book selling and related activities. (No, this is not a photo of a Baby Bezos!) Prime members. This is an important number for self-publishers because Prime members that own a Kindle device can borrow eBooks for free. With the hoopla over new eBook subscription plans people forget that Amazon currently has the largest eBook subscription plan. Amazon doesn’t … [Read more...]
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