Smashwords has published some findings derived analyzing the recent 11 months of sales (thrugh March 31) for 120,000 ebooks distributed by the company. Those sales represent $12 million in net receipts for authors and publishers (after Smashwords’ and retailers’ commissions; if you like math, you’ll find that means Smashwords collected about $2.2 million in distribution fees during that period). As usual, some of the prose is happy talk about the wonders of self-publishing — even though the first graph proves that a very small number of titles account for the vast amount of sales. (Their No. 1 selling title outsold […]
Self-publishing
People, Etc.
Michael Cairns is joining Publishing Technology as chief operating officer of their online solutions division, replacing Louise Russell. His responsibilities include their pub2web hosting platform and the ingentaconnect portal. Most recently Cairns has been a consultant and served as chief revenue office for SharedBook, focused on their Academic Pub platform. Greenhouse Literary Agency has hired Polly Nolan head up the UK side of their business representing children’s and YA authors. Currently associate publishing director, fiction, at Macmillan UK Children’s, she will start her new job on June 3. Amber Morley has joined Chronicle Books as marketing coordinator for their children’s division. […]
With Self Publishing At 25% of Sales, Nook Pairs with FastPencil for Revamped Nook Press Service
Barnes & Noble has revamped their PubIt! self-publishing service under the less awkward name of Nook Press. The new version includes content creation and publishing tools that let authors upload a manuscript and then continue to revise and edit it within the tool, before creating an epub file. It also offers collaboration tools that allow authors “to safely and quickly invite their network of friends and editors to read and comment on any Nook Press project in a secure environment.” The new technology is built in partnership with FastPencil. Nook says that self-published ebooks now comprise 25 percent of all […]
Launches: Digital Noir, Spanish Self-Publishing, Nielsen Consumer Data, and Ruckus Revised
Former editor-in-chief and creative director of the now-defunct LA Times Sunday magazine Nancie Clare and Rip Georges launch their new Kickstarter-backed Noir Magazine in Apple’s App store today (with additional platforms to follow). It’s an iPad magazine for the mystery, thriller, and true crime genres “in all mediums–a thoroughly modern, multi-media immersion into their books, TV, films, graphic novels, and video games.” Megan Abbott is editor at large and many other well-known authors are on the board of advisors and will contribute. The first issue includes an excerpt of Suspect by Robert Crais; Lee Child on bringing Reacher to the […]
Amazon’s Many 2012 Bestseller Lists
Amazon announced their bestselling books of the year, which always makes for some interesting analysis. The top-selling non-Fifty Shades books were Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl (the No. 2 adult print seller–and the No. 4 ebook) and Mark Owen’s No Easy Day (the No. 3 adult ebook). But those “announced” lists comprise “only first editions published in 2012.) Separate, less-publicized lists displayed on the site also show you their actual bestsellers for the year, regardless of the year in which those books were first published (e.g. the way conventional bestseller lists track books). On those lists, Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games books […]
Amazon Contest Drops Penguin, Boosts Top Prize; Curtis Brown UK to Launch Hundreds of Titles As KDP Exclusives
Amazon’s “breakthrough novel” contest returns for the sixth year, this time dropping the unlikely partnership with Penguin Group for a “new publisher”: “Amazon Publishing is the official publishing sponsor for 2013 — which means a faster publishing timeline, higher royalties, ability to launch the books in multiple formats (print, audio, ebook) and worldwide distribution.” The grand prize advance has been raised to $50,000. Given all the success that Amazon’s self-publishing programs and house imprints have brought to some authors, it’s surprising that the contest winners have such a consistently modest track record. (The fiction winners have been The Beautiful Land […]