5 Reasons Bestselling Authors Are Going Direct

Gizmodo looks at pupblishing:

Just recently the Association of American Publishers reported that ebook sales have increased by 176 percent in 2009, while print-book sales continues to decrease. The list of benefits for ebook writers is endless, but one major upside is that the authors are taking home more of the book sale profits. Not to mention that the editing process is simplified and that ebooks are produced much, much quicker. It also helps that authors have more control during the entire book production process and access to a whole new audience.

The article is by Michael Ashley (a.k.a. “Mash”) the founder of FastPencil, Inc. “which helps authors connect, write, publish and distribute books with just a few clicks.”

For the other side of the argument (“but this isn’t an argument!”), check out Behler Blog, both her entry and the discussion in the comments.

Druids – Book Trailer of the Day

This is really two book trailers. The first minute is a trailer for a docu-drama on the History Channel. Then, finally, once we are suitably educated in the history of the period, the trailer for the novel begins — and even then, tells more than is necessary.

Now, fortunately for Josh Langston and Barbara Galler-Smith, I LOVE history, so this approach hasn’t completely lost me. I love a well-researched historical novel.

However, this book, from small but prestigious Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, would benefit from a more dynamic trailer. *cough* music *cough* I read both nonfiction and fiction, but I do like to know which I am reading at the time. Anyway, the plot of this novel, once it appeared, sounded good, and of course I am always looking for useful tips on how to deal with the cultural rot which threatens from within.

Tours, Publicity Budgets and Advances – A List

Meanwhile, back in the world of Big Publishing, “big” is a relative term. Here on this blog, I’ve been highlighting small presses, but remember, no one’s got a sure ticket to selling a blockbuster. A huge PR budget, book tour, big publisher doesn’t guarantee it. Anyway, a lot of these are from big presses, and some are from medium and small publishers.

Here’s what Publisher’s Weekly calls “sleepers” — books that someone, somewhere is apparently hoping will win a Pulitzer Prize. *cough* out of my league *cough* This list is interesting because it gives how many cities are in the tour, the number of books run in the first printing, the prestigious places the author will be reviewed or interviewed.

West of Here, Jonathan Evison, Algonquin
$24.95
50,000 first printing
15-city tour; trade show appearances at six regionals;
4,000 galley printing; 500 deluxe edition boxed galleys;
one of six books selected for the Editors Buzz panel at BEA

Life with Maxie, Diane Rehm, Gibbs Smith
$12.99
Author tour;
$50,000 advertising;
co-op; interviews on NPR and affiliates

The Instructions, Adam Levin, McSweeney’s (dist. by PGW)
$29
8,000 first printing
14-city tour; three covers in different colors; excerpt mailing
1,026-page debut novel

The Report, Jessica Francis Kane, Graywolf (dist. by FSG)
$15
12,000 first printing
A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection;
10-city tour; satellite radio tour;
special promotion with Powells.com

Safe from the Sea, Peter Geye, Unbridled
$24.95
10,000 first printing

Quiet as They Come, Angie Chau, Ig Publishing (dist. by Consortium)
$15.95
paperback original;
7,000 first printing
9-city tour

A Fistful of Rice
Vikram Akula, Harvard Business Press
$26.95
25,000 first printing
Author tour,
Named one of the world’s most influential people by Time magazine in 2006

Sleep in Me, Jon Pineda, Univ. of Nebraska Press
$21.95;
5,000 first printing
A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection;
regional tour in Norfolk, Va.

Extraordinary Renditions, Andrew Ervin, Coffee House Press (dist. by Consortium)
$14.95 paperback original;
7,000 first printing
3-city tour;
more than 1,000 galleys

Richard Yates, Tao Lin, Melville House (dist. by Random House)
$14.95
50,000 first printing
14-city tour; excerpt on Gawker

The Eden Hunter, Skip Horack, Counterpoint (dist. by PGW)
$15.95
17,000 first printing
September Indie Next pick;
5-city tour;
Hudson News and Baker & Taylor promotions;
1,500 galleys

Extra Indians, Eric Gansworth, Milkweed (dist. by PGW)
$16
5,000 first printing
Regional tour supported by a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant

Zone, Mathias Énard, trans. from the French by Charlotte Mandell, Open Letter (dist. by Longleaf Services)
$16.95 paper
U.S. tour in the spring
This 517-page novel, winner of the Prix du Livre Inter and the Prix Decembre, has an unusual conceit; it’s told in a single sentence. Author and translator Christophe Claro acclaims it as “the novel of the decade, if not the century.” [Srlsy? It’s pretty early in the century to tell, isn’t it? And you haven’t seen my 1,000 word novel written all as one word.]

Hiroshima in the Morning, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, Feminist Press at CUNY (dist. by Consortium)
$16.95
4,500 first printing
8-city tour

A Novel Bookstore
Laurence Cossé, trans. by Alison Anderson
Europa (dist. by Penguin)
$15 paperback
Winner of a Prix Drouot

The Wilding
Benjamin Percy
Graywolf (dist. by FSG)
$23; 12,000 first printing
10-city tour, including PNBA Author Feast

Vestments
John Reimringer
Milkweed (dist. by PGW)
Sept., $25; 10,000 first printing

The Still Point
Amy Sackville
Counterpoint (dist. by PGW)
Jan., $25; 8,000 first printing
Longlisted for the Orange Prize

Vida
Patricia Engel
Black Cat (dist. by PGW)
$14
9,000 first printing
East Coast tour, including an appearance at SIBA

Habit of a Foreign Sky
Xu Xi
$15
Haven Books Publishing (dist. by NBN)
World launch with appearances in Iowa City, Iowa; New York; Singapore; Hong Kong; Beijing; and the Philippines.

Jealous yet? Just remember. If someone did a print run of 50,000 of your books, and you only sold 49,000, you will be considered a failure. Whereas if they only printed 10,000 of your books but you sold 20,000, you’d be a success.

Therefore, all I have to do is sell 10 of my books before I’ve printed any, and I too will be a success! Sign up in the comments section if you’re interested. 😉

Dragon Hunters – Book Trailer of the Day

This trailer uses standard tours of the book cover and unspecialized stock footage. It’s also too long — in my opinion, one minute or under is best — and throws a bit too many plot points at you. After I watched this once, if you quizzed me, I wouldn’t be able to say much more than “Dragon Hunters have to stop Dragon King’s daughter from destroying world with the magic dohicky. And something about a desert.” So do the other plot points merely detract? Weeeeeeell. I’m not sure. They do convey that there will be a lot of action and adventure and various nere’do’wells. Who is the mysterious woman? The assassin?

The music and pacing are good, moreover, and that is so critical to making a book trailer worth re-watching. The more times I watched it, the more I picked up about the book.

Silly Headlines

There are many story-starters. Even standing in the line at the grocery store.

Ventriloquist is in coma — but his dummy’s still talking!

Girl Frozen in Ice in 1939 Alive!

Britney stole my body! Shocking phots of the “real” pop star inside

3 Die in rampage of Killer Sheep

Bat boy foils Nuclear Bomb plot

Phone Psychic’s head explodes

Robot Priests — Pope’s Secret Plan to stop sex scandals

I keep mom’s ashes in the vacuum cleaner

Amelia Earhart’s Plane Lands — with skeleton at the controls

Wife Sells Hubby’s Body Parts on Internet

Al Queda Breeding Killer Mosquitoes

3000 Year Old Mummy Pregnant — Janitor admits, “I’m the father”

Iraqi Sub Prowling Lake Michigan

Three New Commandments Found

Saddam Challenges Bush to a Duel

Jap Sub still fighting WWII

Duck Hunters shot Angel!

Saddam Feeds Christians to Lions!

Viking frozen in block of ice

Merman caught in South Pacific

Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons found in Cuba!

3000 year old priestess revived in Libya

Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction — Killer Dinosaurs!

Actual headlines from the tabloids

The Fairy Lore of Ghost Horse Hollow – Book Trailer of the Day

Part I of the First Triad of The Holly King, The Fairy Lore of Ghost Horse Hollow. A bit of a mouthful, but epcis often are. It has fairies and it has horses, what more da’ya want? Self-published through Trafford by Anne Severn Williamson. If that makes you nervous, check it out on Google, and you will see that it is not only an intriguing, well-written tale but marvelously illustrated.