So! Here's what I'm thinking in terms of the order, ladies and gentlebros, and please let me know if you'd like me to touch on additional topics or address the below in a slightly different order.
Monday, November 1st: It may be a new month, but we'll be returning to an old topic: e-books. Sales, distribution, and the effect the new(ish) format will have on the market as it reaches parity with physical books. Also, I'll cover what you can do to help sell your e-books that differs from what you'd do to sell physical copies.
Tuesday, November 2nd: Self-publishing returns! Will the stigma of auto-publication wear off as we progress further into the twenty-first century?
Wednesday, November 3rd: The future of the traditional publishing house: the changing roles of agents, editors, and publishers, who will subsume/merge with whom, and who will have shrunk, grown, or even be left standing in a decade or two.
Thursday, November 4th: The indie renaissance: will the advent of the digital marketplace lead to a resurgence of independent and used book stores? This guy thinks so.
I may also work some kind of summary into Thursday's post.
Questions? Comments? Conspiracy theories?
I'll be back for Monday's topic - anything I can do online as opposed to in the real world sounds good to me.
ReplyDeleteMy only comment is that I come here every day during my alloted "internet" time and I learn something new everyday.
ReplyDeleteDo what you will, maestro and let the games begin.
Looking forward to these posts!
ReplyDeleteConspiracy theories? I'm glad you asked! See, your discussion of the future of publishing will be comprised of four parts, which bears remarkable similarity to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ...
ReplyDeleteSeriously, though, I'm looking forward to all the info.
I'm loving the line-up!
ReplyDeleteI would also love some sort of discussion around the wisdom of going out with an easy sale versus a more difficult sale to test the self-publishing waters.
In essence, should you experiment first with a book that has more limited market appeal and that you would expect lower sales on so you can figure out best practices that you can then later apply to a work with more mass market appeal?
Or do you really only get one self-pubbing shot with friends, family and social network groupies so better to lead off with the book that will have more mass appeal and not worry about promotional mistakes and dead ends?
This list is a "what I always wanted to know and then some" list. I'm looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteOh, the return of the indie bookstore!
ReplyDeleteI used to own a bookstore and I know my clients loved it. Unfortunately, meeting the deep discounts made the going pretty tough and the used books we carried in the back may have been a distraction. Next time, I'll add a coffee shop and hope one balances the other.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to Thursday's indie bookstore discussion.