Ebooks for download

The distant past

Writing books was once-upon-a-time a mammoth task, each copy laboriously hand-written. Errors crept in inevitably. Not many people could read.

The first known printing was done using blocks of wood or clay, and it was the Chinese who get the credit for the first movable letters made of clay around a thousand years ago.

A German, Johann Gutenberg was the next major innovator, using movable metal letters, about five-hundred-and-fifty years ago. Within fifty years, 15 million books (30 000 titles) had been printed.

Traditional publishers

Whereas Jane Austin was reputed to have edited her books 130 times, each carefully and laboriously hand-written, her identity carefully obscured, today anybody and everybody can do a rush job on the internet. No wonder Austin's books have stood the test of time!

Only 2-3 years ago, self-publishing was what you did if you couldn't find a traditional publisher to promote your books. And you were very pleased to pick up the crumbs that fell from the table. 10-15% of the selling price went to the author, if you were very lucky. 8% was more common.

In short, the author would pocket around $1 for a $10 book for his trouble. 90% went to the publisher, storage and transport, selling in a bricks-and-mortar establishment and, of course, a cut for the government, greater than the author him or herself collected.

In short, a most unsatisfactory state of affairs for authors but, despite that, they inundated publishers, on hands and knees pleading to get their work into print.

Digital - the preferred reading format?

Everyone pooh-poohed the idea of reading a book in digital format. "I like to feel a real book in my hands. How can I take a digital book to the bath or to bed?"

Enter the digital reader, and it was only a year ago that people began to speculate that perhaps the reading public might actually choose digital over paper. After all, we moved very swiftly away from the newspaper to reading the news on-line.

An astonishing 20 million plus digital readers were sold in 2010. Last year. Meanwhile, bookstores are closing their doors at an alarming rate.

Traditional publishers and eBooks

Smart publishers were quick to realise that the-times-they-are-a-changing. But the price of their eBooks remained the same, or were slightly higher, AND the author still got the same cut. 15% if s/he was lucky.

And that despite no-transport, no-storage, no-bricks-and-mortar and no high-street-rentals. More, no-returns, smaller staff overheads, working-from-home, less chopping-down-of-forests...

The nett result? Fed-up authors. But, authors now with an option, something better than crumbs from the table. Far better. The whole cake.

Who needs a publisher?

Nobody? Certainly nobody NEEDS a publisher of a paper book. Authors can get their books to the reading public, faster and cheaper than a publisher of paper books can.

For five hundred years writers NEEDED publishers. Without them they couldn't reach their readers. But suddenly, the boot's on the other foot. Suddenly publishers have realised that it's the authors who are essential, and the realisation is dawning on writers that they no longer need publishers, certainly publishers who keep the lion's share.

Advantages of digital

In a bricks-and-mortar high street bookshop, authors have only a couple of months to sell their books, unless their name is J.R. Rowlings... with over 10,000 new books per month being published in the UK alone, an unknown writer's books were soon shovelled out of the way, and returned to be pulped.

But on the virtual bookshelf, books go on selling for years. For ever. They are a legacy to be left in your will! Writer Joe Konrath tells how his book "The List" was rejected twelve years ago by numerous publishers. It sat on the back-burner for ten long years. Then two years ago, he self-published: IN TWO YEARS HE HAS SOLD AN INCREDIBLE 25,OOO COPIES, AND CURRENTLY IS SELLING 1500 COPIES A DAY! A DAY!!! And, what's more, he keeps not 10% of the royalties, but 100%!

Says he: "I'm on track to make half a mil in the next ten months. I know how lucrative self-publishing has become."

The long and the short of it: Publishers need writers more than writers need publishers. Change is at the gate, and it's happening frightingly fast. It's time to sell your shares in big companies like SAPPI. Perhaps. They'll probably find another use for paper and timber.

Are the glossy magazines next?

Ebooks Are Not True Substitutes For Real Books

So, if your want to read Clogs in bed, it's the laptop on your knees! In the bath... rather save the planet and take a shower! Ebooks are not true substitutes for Real Books ...

Fawcett's first ebook on a Kindle:

New ebooks for download … hot off the press

A personal note...

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