Comments on: In case you missed ‘em: E-book stats you’ve never seen before—documenting the shortage of e-titles from big publishers http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/03/31/in-case-you-missed-em-e-book-stats-youve-never-seen-before-documenting-the-shortage-of-e-titles-from-big-publishers/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:18:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Rob Preece http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/03/31/in-case-you-missed-em-e-book-stats-youve-never-seen-before-documenting-the-shortage-of-e-titles-from-big-publishers/#comment-750262 Rob Preece Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:39:05 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/03/31/in-case-you-missed-em-e-book-stats-youve-never-seen-before-documenting-the-shortage-of-e-titles-from-big-publishers/#comment-750262 Good point, Bob. Once a book is ePublished, it becomes perpetually available. But looking at my own statistics, most sales are still new books in their first quarter or so of availability. Two differences: 1. I do get a trickle of sales for older books. In contrast, major publishers get essentially zero (often even negative because of late returns) sales for older/out of print books. 2. When I release a new book by an author with a backlist, this generally creates a (small) flurry of sales for their backlist as new readers become aware of the author and look for more of his/her work. The point I'm trying to make is not that ePublishing isn't good for the backlist, just that, with limited time and resources, it makes sense to concentrate on new books, creating a digital backlist going forward. With unlimited resources and with clear rights (something not available on most books released in the 1990s and earlier), it would be great to release those as well. Rob Preece Publisher, www.BooksForABuck.com Good point, Bob.

Once a book is ePublished, it becomes perpetually available. But looking at my own statistics, most sales are still new books in their first quarter or so of availability. Two differences:
1. I do get a trickle of sales for older books. In contrast, major publishers get essentially zero (often even negative because of late returns) sales for older/out of print books.
2. When I release a new book by an author with a backlist, this generally creates a (small) flurry of sales for their backlist as new readers become aware of the author and look for more of his/her work.

The point I’m trying to make is not that ePublishing isn’t good for the backlist, just that, with limited time and resources, it makes sense to concentrate on new books, creating a digital backlist going forward. With unlimited resources and with clear rights (something not available on most books released in the 1990s and earlier), it would be great to release those as well.

Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com

]]> By: Bob Martinengo http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/03/31/in-case-you-missed-em-e-book-stats-youve-never-seen-before-documenting-the-shortage-of-e-titles-from-big-publishers/#comment-748729 Bob Martinengo Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:53:17 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/03/31/in-case-you-missed-em-e-book-stats-youve-never-seen-before-documenting-the-shortage-of-e-titles-from-big-publishers/#comment-748729 Rob, I thought epublishing was to be the saviour of the backlist? Rob,

I thought epublishing was to be the saviour of the backlist?

]]> By: Rob Preece http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/03/31/in-case-you-missed-em-e-book-stats-youve-never-seen-before-documenting-the-shortage-of-e-titles-from-big-publishers/#comment-748206 Rob Preece Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:55:53 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/03/31/in-case-you-missed-em-e-book-stats-youve-never-seen-before-documenting-the-shortage-of-e-titles-from-big-publishers/#comment-748206 I think the reason it looks like the big publishers aren't doing much is because they're focussing on putting up their new books. As anyone in the book business will tell you, most sales are generated in the first few months a book is available. Putting up a back-list book won't generate much revenue. Of course with a lot of the back list, rights are an issue. Since older contracts were signed before eBooks became standard, the publishers may not own digital rights. If you looked at the percentage of books sold rather than total titles, I think you'd find that there was pretty good coverage in electronic format. I know Harlequin recently moved up to 100% of their new novels coming out in electronic format. Of course smaller publishers like BooksForABuck.com are the other way around. More of our books are available electronically than in paper format. Rob Preece Publisher, www.BooksForABuck.com I think the reason it looks like the big publishers aren’t doing much is because they’re focussing on putting up their new books. As anyone in the book business will tell you, most sales are generated in the first few months a book is available. Putting up a back-list book won’t generate much revenue. Of course with a lot of the back list, rights are an issue. Since older contracts were signed before eBooks became standard, the publishers may not own digital rights.

If you looked at the percentage of books sold rather than total titles, I think you’d find that there was pretty good coverage in electronic format. I know Harlequin recently moved up to 100% of their new novels coming out in electronic format.

Of course smaller publishers like BooksForABuck.com are the other way around. More of our books are available electronically than in paper format.

Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com

]]> By: Bob Martinengo http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/03/31/in-case-you-missed-em-e-book-stats-youve-never-seen-before-documenting-the-shortage-of-e-titles-from-big-publishers/#comment-748103 Bob Martinengo Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:04:47 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/03/31/in-case-you-missed-em-e-book-stats-youve-never-seen-before-documenting-the-shortage-of-e-titles-from-big-publishers/#comment-748103 If you show all Kindle books, then sort from low price to high, you'll find all kinds of weird stuff for under $1. Oddly, they don't tell you how long the file is in pages or words, just how big it is. How hard would it be to give a word count? If you show all Kindle books, then sort from low price to high, you’ll find all kinds of weird stuff for under $1. Oddly, they don’t tell you how long the file is in pages or words, just how big it is. How hard would it be to give a word count?

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