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| The Grinch (Photo credit: Chrispy Photography) |
Digital Publishing:
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas?
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas?
So how many articles have we read about E-books and Digital
Publishing this year? For anyone who generally follows the book world (rabid
booklover, book-blogger,
industry pro or casual reader), we’re literally inundated with the amazing
numbers—“E-book sales up 125% (again) over the 175% they were up from last
year’s 225% increase!”—and equally amazing technological announcements—“Next
Fall, the new ZimWittyZoomDitty
tablet not only updates your Facebook and Goodreads friends whenever you snort
in disgust… it cooks dinner for you at the same time!”
This leads many to take at least casual stock of what’s
going on/going to happen to the “Publishing World”as we know it. And if your friends are like my friends
(hardcore print book consumers), that stock is usually pretty morbid (sharp
Greenwich Village angst not included):“Print
books are doomed, so are brick-and-mortar stores. Goodbye literary quality.Oh and some pajama-wearing techie living
in a basement with a laptop is going to be the new Sulzburger; we’ll all have to
bow down!”
If you (or that good friend of yours) fall into the mortified
category, my take (for what it’s worth) may come as positive news: E-books
are not, and will not be, the Grinch Who
Stole Christmas; in this case, the “Print World’s” bacon. Now, as the owner
of a “Digital First” publishing house (Astor + Blue Editions, www.astorandblue.com) my opinions may
easily be written off as self-serving and invalid. But bear with me for a minute… these are fact-based observations
and I might just make sense (Someone tell my mom and dad).
As someone who earns a living from publishing, I have to
follow numbers and industry trends as closely as possible. And while some see doom and gloom for Print,
I see exciting developments for both Print and E-book formats. What do the numbers show? Digital book revenue is skyrocketing, print
revenue is declining. Natural
conclusion? E-books are killing print books. But not so fast. Historically, Print revenue has always seemed to be declining (even
before E-books were invented), but that doesn’t mean the book market is
dying or shrinking.
We have to remember that in fact the book market is growing. Readership always grows because population always grows. Every year, new readers enter the vast pool
of the club that is“adult readership,” (despite Dancing with the Stars). And
every year more readers are being born and theoretically being inspired by Ms.
Crabtree’s elementary reading class.**So why the decline? Readership grows gradually, but the sheer
number of books and book vendors grow exponentially, showing an investment loss
almost every year. (Basic
statistics: the widening universe makes it look like a shrinking pie when it
isn’t).
So what does this mean?
If you look at the numbers (historically), revenue for print books may
have declined, yes, but not more than “normal,” and not significantly more
than it did when there were no E-books
around. (This is arguable of course, but the long term numbers do not show
a precipitous drop-off).The
yearly revenue decline, if there is one, can just as easily be written off to
economic conditions as to E-book
competition. Bottom line: Any drop in print revenue that may be caused
by E-books are not significantly sharp enough to declare that E-books
are destroying print book sales.(Hence
no Grinch).
What may be happening,
and what I believe is happening is that a whole new market for E-books is developing, while the
print book market growth, like Publishing as a whole, is still growing at
a historically gradual pace. (Boringly flat).
Come up with your pet anecdote here, but I believe that more new readers
are entering the market (who otherwise wouldn’t have) because of E-readers;
existing readers are consuming more books (both print and e-book) than they did before; and
while it would seem that a certain print title is losing a sale whenever readers
buy it in E-book format,
this is offset, at least somewhat,
by the fact that more print titles are being bought (that otherwise wouldn’t)
because of the extra marketing buzz and added awareness produced by the
E-book’s cyber presence. All of it
evens out in the end, and I believe, ultimately fosters growth industry-wide.
So take heart Print fans, E-books are not the dark villain
you think they are.And here, I should correct my earlier analogy—that E-books
are not the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
They may actually be the Grinch…in as much as, at the end of the story,
the pear-shaped green guy ended up not only giving all the presents back to the
singing Who-villers, he created a flash mob and started a big party as well.
Previously published in Publishers Weekly and Digital BookWorld
Previously published in Publishers Weekly and Digital BookWorld
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Season’s Greetings! To celebrate the holidays, Astor + Blue Editions is having a its first ever Holiday E-book Promotion Sale—From now until January 7th, all of our titles (our first list as a publisher) are priced between $0.99 and $1.99! So please browse our growing list of great thrillers, sexy and fun romances, thought provoking non-fiction, and powerful literary fiction. At these prices, you can find your next great read and upload new books onto that special gift tablet you’re giving away. (Each title in ourcatalog is available at every retailer–Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, Apple, Overdrive, more–for any reading device. And each retailer has a system for gifting wirelessly)
To all our readers, bloggers, fans, authors, friends and family: we wish you a safe, warm , joyful and “well-read” Holiday Season.
We look forward to bringing your more outstanding fiction and non-fiction in the New Year.
Sincerely,
Robert and Tony
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