Category Archives: Publishing

Bookselling, Publishing

Amazon: “Lower Prices!” Hachette: “Profit Margin!”

1 Comment

The Amazon.com dispute with Hachette continues with full page ads in the New York Times and emails aplenty. Hachette’s Michael Pietsch writes, “This dispute started because Amazon is seeking a lot more profit and even more market share, at the expense of authors, bricks and mortar bookstores, and ourselves.

“Both Hachette and Amazon are big businesses and neither should claim a monopoly on enlightenment, but we do believe in a book industry where talent is respected and choice continues to be offered to the reading public.”

Many authors are throwing their weight into the fray. “As writers–most of us not published by Hachette–we feel strongly that no bookseller should block the sale of books or otherwise prevent or discourage customers from ordering or receiving the books they want.” Amazon argues that when paperbacks came out, publishers hated them just like cheap ebooks.

In related news, Amazon is disputing its contract with Disney and withholding pre-orders on select movies.

You know, when you find everyone around you acts like a jerk, the reason could be the common denominator–you.

Bookselling, Publishing

eBooks Projected to Outsell Print/Audiobooks by 2017

2 Comments

Amazon owes 2/3 of the eBook market in part because they have followed their dreams to reach the unreachable star. Now we all may get burned.

Fantasy author Brent Weeks says the reality for many readers is that if they don’t see a book on Amazon, they assume it isn’t available. With eBooks, they may not know where to else to go to buy them. Amazon is also attracting authors as a publisher, not just a distributor. with promises of high royalty percentages. This and other factors are hurting big and small publishers alike.

“We’re at the point now where the publishing houses are being undercut by the river of indie publishing, and at some point in time the front porch is going to drop in the river. At that point maybe they’ll have to acknowledge it, but right now they just don’t want to,” attorney David Vandagriff said.

Authors, Coffee, Tea, Drinks, Publishing

Alton Brown, Media Mogul

Leave a comment

At least twice on my current list of regrets is that I have not learn enough from Alton Brown. The man is the mad scientist of culinary delight. Grade school kids should have classes based on Good Eats. Here’s a recent morning interview he did that briefly mentions his many media products.

Bookselling, Publishing

The Changing World of Publishing

Leave a comment

Philip Yancey writes about this many years of experience in publishing.

I had an enlightening experience with e-books in 2013. In April I finished the book The Question That Never Goes Away, based on my visits to three places of great tragedy. My traditional publisher wanted at least nine months lead time to publish it, the typical schedule for a new book, yet new tragedies such as the Boston Marathon bombings, tornadoes, and school shootings were occurring almost weekly, the very situations my book addressed. So I signed on for an Amazon-exclusive program to publish an e-book for 90 days before the hard copy book came out. Leaning on my friends for email lists, I managed to sell about 3,000 copies. On September 11 and Thanksgiving weekend I offered free downloads and 40,000 people downloaded the book! The moral of the story, as many have learned: things can quickly go viral on the Internet but it’s a tough place to generate income.

Publishing, Religion

How Orthodox Must a Christian Publisher Be?

Leave a comment

The National Religious Broadcasters has pressed WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, to resign from its organization over the publishing of a book under a new sister imprint, Convergent Books (for more on that book: “‘Biblically Based’ Author Argues Against Biblical Morality”). Convergent is a little more than a year old. I could care less about this, because I’ve been ramping up to lead the Lars Walker’s Awesomest World Publishing Group for the last few months. Soon that will be the only label you’ll want to watch for. You heard it here first.

But seriously, NRB President Jerry Johnson explained the problem in a letter to his board. According to Christianity Today:

“Unfortunately, while the Multnomah Publishing Group is separate from Convergent, as a legal and business entity, the staff of the Multnomah and Convergent operations are substantially the same,” Johnson wrote. “Most notably, Steven W. Cobb serves as the chief publishing executive for both groups. … Other Christian workers do so as well. … This issue comes down to NRB members producing unbiblical material, regardless of the label under which they do it.”

I understand how the book in question is unbiblical, but what about other books? For years, thoughtful Christians have criticized Christian bookstores for selling pablum and heresy. Are these publishers accepted in the NRB? It’s one thing to sell The Prayer of Jabez; it’s another to sell Joel Osteen’s Break Out. Jabez was a mid-90s book from Multnomah. Osteen is published by Faithwords, a division of Hachette.

The publisher’s About page shows its diversity: “Based near Nashville, Tennessee, FaithWords has grown dramatically by acquiring a solid list of faith-building fiction and high-profile authors with edifying messages, including bestselling authors Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, John Eldredge, and David Jeremiah. Several FaithWords titles have appeared on national bestseller lists, most recently Every Day a Friday, by Joel Osteen, Living Beyond Your Feelings, by Joyce Meyer, and I Never Thought I’d See the Day!, by David Jeremiah.”

Two sister imprints to Faithwords target mainline and “uplifting” divisions in the broadly based spiritual book market, and none of them are members of NRB.

Authors, Publishing, Writing

A Debut Novelist: ‘Subject Matter Matters’

1 Comment

Ted Thompson, author of The Land of Steady Habits, talks about his business in ways that make him uncomfortable. “I feel like I’m bordering on saying something sacrilegious here, but here it goes: There’s a common strain of thinking among writers, particularly literary writers and the institutions that foster them (conference/colonies/workshops), that insists a book is only as good as its writing.”

Although he still believes in the preeminence of good writing, he know believes subject is very, very, and also very important. “Once a manuscript leaves your desk, subject matter is the primary (and often only) way it is discussed. So if you haven’t figured out a quick way to answer that cringe-inducing question ‘What’s your book about?’ in a way that interests other people, somebody else will. And that will be how the book is sold…”

He goes on to say how surprised he was that people in publishing actually want to love your book and that the slowness of the whole process is understandable.

Publishing

Rediscovering the Excitement of Reading the Bible

Leave a comment

“I remember, as a teenager, reading through the books of Samuel and, upon finishing, thinking to myself, ‘This story is as invigorating as any story I’ve ever read, seen, or heard.’ What is strange to me now is how surprising a revelation that was. Having grown up with the literature, why didn’t I already think of it as engaging?”

Mark Bertrand interviews Adam Lewis Greene on his plan for an alternative reading experience for the Bible. Bibliotheca will be a four volume edition of the Bible made for readers with beautiful book design.

Authors, Publishing

Tolkien Had Words To Say to Nazis

Leave a comment

When The Hobbit was to be published in Germany, the publisher asked for Tolkien’s Aryan street cred. Tolkien’s personal reply to this English publisher began like this: “I must say the enclosed letter from Rütten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries?”

By way of accommodation though, the author wrote two letters which could be sent to the German publishers, one a bit more harsh than the other. That letter, marked July 25, 1938, began:

“I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.”

Authors, Publishing, Religion

Publisher Put a Hold on Mark Driscoll’s Next Book

2 Comments

“Tyndale House confirmed to The Daily Beast that it does not plan to reprint Driscoll’s 2013 book, A Call to Resurgence, and have put his forthcoming book, The Problem with Christianity, on hold. Once slated to be released this fall, The Problem with Christianity now has no publication date scheduled.” (via Prufrock)

Publishing

Hachette Buys Perseus, More Clout Against Amazon

Leave a comment

Hachette, one of five largest U.S. publishers, has acquired the imprints of Perseus Books Group, giving it more clout in its dispute with Amazon, though that’s not the reason they made the deal. It follows the pattern of a major merger 2011 of Random House and Penguin. The new publishing megagroup is said to have the most bargaining ability with Amazon, which controls a third of bookselling market.