Hi everyone–
As you know, i’m a “digital first” writer, meaning that all the books i have published (14 as of this coming Monday) appear first in ebook format and then may, some time later, be printed. Ebooks are unquestionably the reading material of the future. In June of 2012, the sales of ebooks surpassed the sales of hardcover books for the first time and the number of sales of ebooks — over $282 million at that point YTD — was sneaking up on the sales of paperbacks at $300 million YTD (in June). Most significantly, the sales of ebooks were up over 28% from the previous year while the sale of paperbacks was down over 10%. So ebooks are it for the future
On top of that, writers make much more money on ebook sales than they do on paperback sales. Authors typically make between 25-50% of the cover price of their book in digital formats while the percent of print sales may be between 5% and 15%. And, of course, our subgenres of erotic romance sell much better in digital formats because people consume our books in huge quantities. Readers don’t want to spend print book prices except on their very favorites which they typically buy after they have read the digital edition.
All this makes ebooks the erotic romance writers best friend — and yet we still happy dance all over the place when we get our books in print. Isn’t it funny? This may change after a generation, but having those words printed on pages that you hold in your hand makes writers feel like “authors”. Being able to sit and sign your books for a reader, even if you’re making pennies, gives a person that “I’m a real writer” thrill.
For me, it’s been an amazing rush. From having no books in print at the beginning of this year, I now have eight and more on the way. This only appears as five print books since one is a three-book anthology and another is a two book omnibus.This coming weekend i’ll be signing books at an RWA meeting. That should be fun — sitting there smelling the ink on paper and smiling that real author smile!
Do you think we’ll ever cherish ebooks the same way we love paper books? Or will paper books become that much more valued as they become more rare?
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