Bob Mayer states the writing is on the wall, that in the next few years sales for ebooks will surpass paperbacks and hard covers. He cites Barnes & Noble as evidence. When you walk in these days, the tables of hard covers on sale aren't there. Instead there is a Nook stand. http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/
Yup. I meet with my critique group at a Barnes & Noble [because they have a Starbucks inside with tables] and the Nook thing has been there front and center for at least a year.
So, I have to wonder ... what does this mean for us? The aspiring unknowns? I'm not really sure. What are your opinions on this? Are we going to now have to scramble for crumbs on our own in the world of self publishing, or do we still have to fight for agents? Or, is the traditional model for getting published crumbling? Will the big names make it harder for us to go indie?
I'm trying to figure out what this means for us aspirings as big names abandon their publishers. Must be making agents and publishers nervous.
Amanda Hocking got a rumored $2 million deal for her next four titles. http://amandahocking.blogspot.com/ So, she went the other way. I had to check her out and download one of her books as I try to puzzle all this out.
I know several of you have gone the self publishing route. How have you found the experience so far?
I got the leads on Eisler and Hocking off Nathan Bransford's blog. http://blog.nathanbransford.com/ He's featuring author monitization this week. A great series to familiarize yourself with the business side of publishing.
I heard of Mayer off Twitter. We're twitter buds. He's a nice guy.
Anyway, it has me thinking. What? To find a way to get into this game, especially ebooks. Seems like no matter which way we go, we still have to do a lot of our own marketing. I don't want the train to leave the station without me. I'm sure the rest of you get that. Does all this have you thinking? What are you thinking?
