THE STORY BEHIND GERMANY’S SCANT EBOOK SALES
Ebooks last year accounted for 20.2 percent of all books sold in the U.S., up from
7.3 percent in 2010. But that mass adoption of the digital word is still far off in
one of Europe’s most-literate nations, Germany, where ebooks account for only 1
percent of all books sales.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-19/the-story-behind-germanysscant-

ebook-sales
GLOBAL

Repost from Dan Poynter

She can set up her title through Lightning Source herself for “.com distribution only” and guess what, she might actually start to make some profit.

I don’t know why these companies make it sound like such a big deal to get on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Baker & Taylor and Ingram.  It can be done easily for around $150 and then every month you get a statement of sales and your commissions go right into your bank account.  You don’t have to sell all that many books to re-coup that initial set-up fee.  Then it becomes free money, other than the $12/year you have to pay LSI to keep your book files on their server.  So when someone orders your books from any of those four companies, the order goes to LSI, they print the book and ship it out in 48 hrs.  Oh, and there are hundreds of other .com book sellers out there that pick up the feeds from Amazon and if anyone orders from their website the order also goes through LSI, so no telling how much visibility you really have.  It can be done by YOU!

Please, DO NOT PAY TO PUBLISH.  Talk to everyone about the book you are writing and someone will know or have access to an expert that can HONESTLY give you good advice!

These stories go on and on, I’ve helped people through so many of these nightmares that I have nightmares myself.  It just hurts my heart to see these companies take advantage of people.  I have seen many nightmares much worse than this!  Help spread the word, PLEASE!!!  (Sorry if this is a rant, I just want to get this information out there, feel free to re-post) ~ Penny

From Dan Poynter’s eNewsletter

(I am currently in the process of helping a customer trying to obtain her release from iUniverse, so far it is ridiculous, they are charging her for the release of her files and they will only give her her original Word files back, she paid them to do the layout of the text, so if she paid for the work, shouldn’t it belong to her?  To date, they are still giving her the run around)

SUBSIDY OR PAY–TO–PUBLISH PUBLISHERS
–Rick Frishman – Publisher- Morgan James Publishing

http://www.morganjamespublishing.com

Subsidy or Pay–to–Publish Publishers
Also known as pay-to-publish, there are several companies that take upfront
money to publish your book. Subsidy publishers throw into the
package, interior and cover design (don’t expect miracles—most will use
their formula templates). The author then gets to buy the book at a preset
cost for resale. Most subsidy type of publishing uses a POD format—
print-on-demand—for book ordering. You can buy one copy for resale or
hundreds. The entry fee is usually less than $1,000 to enter into a
contract … but, and it’s a big but, the cost can be quite extensive per book unit;
author/publisher discounting deals are pro-publisher, always; and getting out of a
contract if things are not going well, can be difficult, if not impossible.

http://bit.ly/zg035o

https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23publishingeuphemism

From Dan Poynter’s eNewletter 3/6/12

Should You Self-Publish? How to Make the Decision

–Rick Frishman, publisher Morgan James Publishing

http://www.MorganJamesPublishing.com

From the vanity presentation that could never find its way to a shelf in a bookstore (most likely a LuLu type of book) to a slick presentation that a buyer at first glance assumes is from a traditional publisher, the self and independently published books from small presses have prospered.

Self-publishers range from those who only envision selling a few books to those who sell thousands of them. Many New York Times bestsellers began their publishing journeys via the self-publishing route. The usual reason is that they couldn’t get a publisher to pick it up and/ or get an agent to become their champion, thus never getting it to a publisher’s doorstep. Self-publishing’s Hall of Fame includes mega seller John Grisham. His first book, A Time to Kill, started out published by the author after multiple rejection notices and was later sold to Fleming H. Revell for a few thousand dollars. Revell in turn sold it for over a million dollars for much needed cash.

Management guru Tom Peters rolled out In Search of Excellence in self- published format before it was bought by New York; and Ken Blanchard started his One-Minute series from the kitchen table as did What Color is Your Parachute? author, Richard Nelson Bolles. Betty J. Eadie birthed Embraced by the Light on the self-publishing route along with Sandra Haldeman Martz with her When I Am an Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple and Richard Evans with his The Christmas Box. Then, there are a couple of reference gems that started the self- publishing route. Consider Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Martyn Robert and the all-time classic, The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. and EB White. To date, over 10 million copies of those tomes have been sold. All were rejected by traditional publishing the first go around. The authors had their vision and did it themselves. By the time New York came to the party, the checks written were quite hefty.

There is a difference between self-publishing and independent publishing. Most people put the two in the same pot. Don’t. Self-publishing is certainly on your own. So is independent. Within the self-publishing category is what we call the “hobbyist” or “casual” publisher. Making money isn’t the key factor. Just having a book is. Most selfpublished books look, well, self-published. Money isn’t dedicated to quality, although the content may be good. If you plan on selling fewer than 300 copies, this is a reasonable route to take.

MORE TIPS AT http://www.rickfrishman.com

http://bit.ly/qXuQsU