Posts Tagged ‘digital publishing’
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
My journey deeper into understanding digital publishing, marketing and promotion ramped to another level this week as Secret Legacy was introduced to the sci-fi/fantasy genre as a featured book on NetGalley.
A site that (from their FAQ page) is a service for people who read and recommend books. Publishers upload their galleys, plus any marketing and promotional information; then invite contacts to view their title on NetGalley. Readers can also find new titles through NetGalley’s Public Catalog, and request to review those titles from the publisher.
“Is this just another way to push books that don’t have a traditional publishing path ?” you say. Browse the Buzz for NetGalley Titles link on their homepage , like I did. Look at the national media tours and blurbs and reviews of the featured books to see the projects that are generating NetGalley buzz. Traditionally marketed or not, it’s pretty impressive stuff.
“But are ‘real’ publishers using NetGalley?” Check out the Browse Catelog by Publisher link and look for the print publisher of your choice. At first glance, I see Avon, Grand Central, HarperCollins, Penquin, and William Morrow, top print publishers, all, amongst digital and eBook pioneers and leaders.
“How is this going to help you establish your series as sci-fi/fantasy?” Under Browse Catalog by Genre, choose Science Fiction & Fantasy. You’ll find Carina Press, Harlequin, Harper Collins, Red Sage (Ooo! Angela Knight, I LOVE her), and, on Page Two, me. There Secret Legacy is, waiting for anyone who loves sci-fi/fantasy to dive into and fall in love with, right next to authors from Hatchette Books, too, and Thomas Nelson, and on and on. Not bad company at all.
To tell us more about what publishers are all about on the site–we have a Dorchester PR specialist with us today, the person who’s worked hard behind the scenes to position my Legacy series on NetGalley.
Everyone, welcome Hannah Wolfson to PIFS– (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, digital promotion, digital publishing, Dorchester Publishing, ebooks, ePublishing, gallies, indie publishing, Legacy Series, promotion, reviews, writer, writer resource, writing, writing articles
Posted in Publishing Isn't for Sissies | 10 Comments »
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
Jenni’s talking plot today over on her blog. Or, more to the point, she’s sharing how often I have no plot when I first start writing because I spend so much time researching my characters (which you can hear more than you ever wanted to about, in our last month of HoWW posts).
She’s being gentle, pointing her “YOU NEED HELP WITH YOUR STORY, GIRL” finger at me–for now. I suspect that won’t last as we get deeper into things in March. You thought our shoe confrontations got aggressive–just WAIT until we start bantering turning points, and I’m not allowed to use internal character motivation or emotion in my debate…
Seriously, it’s a great post. You should all dive in, contemplate her sage advice and experience, ignore any pot shots she takes at sick little me (cough, cough, sniffle), and come back next Wednesday when I take my revenge turn at the story structure wheel.
Oh, and tomorrow. Come back here tomorrow, when I’ll kick off a Publishing Isn’t For Sissies series on online/digital/viral promotion,beginning with an in depth look at NetGalley, where Dorchester’s just launched their presence, including a feature of my to-be-released-in-May Secret Legacy.
Take a look at the link–Dark Legacy and Secret Legacy are both up there, in all their new sci-fi/fantasy glory, which is really cool, since I’m starting brand new in that genre and we need reviews and industry exposure to draw a whole new segment of readers to my metaphysical/parapsychological/psychic world ;o) Come back tomorrow and the next few Thursdays to hear more.
As for me, I’m taking my coughing self back to bed the rest of this morning, so I’ve got a shot at kicking this flu’s ass before I fly out Friday to teach and network and wear amazing shoes at the DFWcon in Fort Worth. I can’t wait to meet many of you there!
Take it away, Jenni!
Tags: Anna DeStefano, brainstorming, critiquing, digital promotion, digital publishing, Dorchester Publishing, fiction, fiction writer, Legacy Series, narrative structure, novel, novel structure, plot, plotting, publishing, Secret Legacy, writing, writing articles, writing coach, writing craft, writing resources
Posted in How You Write | 2 Comments »
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
This week’s Borders bankruptcy restructuring announcement was expected. Dorchester’s financial difficulties–people in the “know” saw a huge change coming, though not necessarily the business model transformation the publisher adopted rather than filing Chapter 11 themselves. Are you saying–Whew! Glad it isn’t me? Are you sure about that?
I’ve been writing this weekly column on my blog regularly for over a month, and the hits each Thursday are rising exponentially as each week passes. Because I’m so witty and relevant? I’m not buying it. The reason, I suspect, is a lot of folks coming to the conclusion I did last fall–that these “signs of the times” are coming for all of us, happening to all of us one way or another, so what the heck are we ALL going to do about it?
I’ve looked back a lot in previous posts, so check them out if you’re interested in my view of what was before and what is “most likely” now. Starting this Thursday, PIFS is going to be focused on the “will bes,” as I race toward the May digital/trade sci-fi/fantasy release that wasn’t even on my radar six months ago.
What should be my (and maybe your) focus in this rapidly changing market?
1) Distribution. How will our books find readers now, with physical bookstores in so much upheaval? (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, digital promotion, digital publishing, Dorchester Publishing, ebooks, ePublishing, indie publishing, Legacy Series, promotion, writer, writer resource, writing, writing articles
Posted in Publishing Isn't for Sissies | 8 Comments »
Thursday, February 10th, 2011
Want in on a big secret these days that traditional publishers aren’t talking about but everyone knows? Print runs and sell throughs for mid-list authors have dwindled to half, sometimes three-fourths what they were just five years ago. Even three years ago. And the successful mid-list author with formerly solid numbers and loyal fans–they’re contract options are being dropped left and right, because there’s no money in it for the publishers anymore, unless you’re a branded name who can deliver six-figure sales print numbers. And how is that supposed to happen without a five-figure marketing plan, when retail chains are racking fewer and fewer books, a large print run is required to nab shelf space in discount stores, readers have fewer and fewer outlets to buy print books, and tech-savvy readers with fewer dollars to spend on entertainment can find used books and lower-priced eBooks online cheaper as soon as (sometimes before) a print book hits a store?
This was the state of the publishing market while Dorchester was ramping up to promote Secret Legacy last summer. We were positioned to make a play at doing the best we could for a mid-list book in a lagging market. We weren’t going to throw in the towel. It’s an amazing series, vibrant characters, and there was a strong following of fans from Dark Legacy (kind of pissed, some of them, because of the cliff hanger ending ;o) dying to know what happens to my psychotic, psychic twins and (Spoiler Alert for those who haven’t bought their copy of DL yet) the secret child know one knew existed until the final pages… Dorchester believed in me and my books and they weren’t going to quit.
Well, the crashing credit market and flailing publishing industry had other ideas. My small publisher couldn’t ride out the storm like the bigger dogs. Business as usual wasn’t going to be possible any longer. At the precise moment that my book was going to print. The mass market release of Secret Legacy wasn’t going to happen. We were going back to square one, planning what was best for the book, while my publishing house completely re-invented how they do their business.
If you’ve read my PIFS posts from last August, you know already a lot of the drama of that time that I won’t repeat here. Except that, over all, my impression once the dust settled was that the shocking thing that was happening to me and my fellow Dorchester authors was, quite literally, a sign of the times. If you wanted to see the direction all of publishing was heading toward, all you had to do was look at my small press’ decision to stop paying to print, warehouse, distribute and then strip unsold mass market paperbacks in an antiquated system that everyone in the publishing industry is losing money at.
What was happening to Dorchester and its authors wasn’t a surprise. Whether or not I was happy about the turn my commercial fiction career was taking at the time, it was time to embrace the obvious facts before me as I decided what to do next.
And those facts were: (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, digital publishing, Dorchester Publishing, ebooks, ePublishing, indie publishing, Legacy Series, promotion, writer, writer resource, writing, writing articles
Posted in Publishing Isn't for Sissies | 16 Comments »
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
The author takes a hand. That’s the gist of so many blogs and articles I’ve read in just the first month of 2011.
The majority of fiction readers still hold physical books in their hands, printed by traditional publishers. BUT the rise in viable digital and alternative publishing outlets is changing the landscape of the reading and writing world more rapidly by the day.
For a brief review of the current state of traditional publishing vs. the digital wave, see the links I included in last Thrusday’s Publishing Isn’t For Sissies post.
Having had these types of industry changes affect the release of my latest contemporary fantasy (more about how my mass market paranormal romance was switched to the fantasy genre in my regular PIFS Thursday post) was only my first wake up call. I keep pretty careful track of social media discussions of publishing these days, and the flood of informed and intelligent conversation about other authors’ experiences is impressive of late.
My advice–whether you’re currently considering digital/eBook/alternative publishing avenues for your work: stay up-to-date on the waves technology is making in writing, publishing, and promoting world that controls your outlets to potential readers.
More specifically: (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, digital publishing, ebooks, ePublishing, indie publishing, writer, writer resource, writing, writing articles
Posted in Publishing Isn't for Sissies | 2 Comments »
Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
To sum up last Thursday’s publishing post: Did last fall’s Dorchester changes leave me shaken like everyone else? Of course. Did I abandon ship immediately because I refused to consider being part of their change? No. Why?
Here are a couple of recent articles about Amazon and Apple to get us started with today’s conversation:
In this link, Amazon, “…announced in the past two weeks a publishing list for the spring and early summer that includes 16 booksin its AmazonEncore imprint and eight booksin its AmazonCrossing imprint, which focuses on translations…Both imprints use Amazon’s extensive sales data and customer reviews to help inform publishing decisions…”
Read about Amazon’s push to become a publisher here: http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/889105-264/amazon_continues_its_push_into.html.csp
In this link, Appleis “…working to funnel more electronic sales of magazines, newspapers and other content through its iTunes store, an effort that is making some publishers uneasy….”
Read about how Apple’s tightening control over it’s massive digital content offerings here: (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, digital publishing, Dorchester Publishing, ebooks, ePublishing, indie publishing, Legacy Series, writer, writer resource, writing, writing articles
Posted in Publishing Isn't for Sissies | 2 Comments »
Thursday, January 27th, 2011
In today’s volatile publishing market, an author has to listen, make difficult choices quickly, and take risks with conviction–or change will run right over you. In this series, I’ve talked a little so far about the changes in Dorchester Publishing’s direction and my author’s perspective of what’s happening–while I listened and pep-talked myself into make my own difficult choices. This post is the beginning of sharing the risks I and my agent have taken as a result , and the crazy ride we’re on now, leading to the May digital and trade release of Secret Legacy.
I’ve said enough already about the spammers and naggers and nay-sayers who aren’t personally involved in the crisis Dorchester and its authors have faced since last fall–this paragraph will be may last say. I feel tremendous empathy for all the writers who’ve been caught up in the crush of this change and have been, like me, trying to keep the air supply going to their own Dorchester careers, both past and present, or at least trying to get out of the chaos with something more than a sense of failure. I have, however, no respect for the industry “experts” and social media taunters who took public potshots at Dorchester’s management for supposedly robbing it’s authors blind and betraying its readers for years. That’s simply not what happened, and anyone who bothered to listen, really listen, could have seen that. Every author involved in Dorchester’s shift from mass market publishing to its direct-to-digital/trade format was entitled to the anger and shock and frustration they felt and expressed in those first few weeks. The rest of the rabble had no business giggling and jeering from the sidelines and passing judgement and stirring up panic that only made the authors’ circumstances more difficult to face. Shame on you. Okay, I’m done.
From now on, for me and everyone who follows Publishing Isn’t for Sissies, this blog space will be about–
- Listening to what’s happening, what intelligent people are saying about it, and what’s being predicted
- Making difficult, time-critical choices none of us wants to have to make, but them’s the breaks in the show, and
- Taking risks with conviction, because what else are you going to do but pack it in and go home?
Let’s start again at the beginning, with the simplest moment of all in this journey. Simple and wicked fast and devastating: (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, digital publishing, Dorchester Publishing, ebooks, ePublishing, writer, writer resource, writing, writing articles
Posted in Publishing Isn't for Sissies | 7 Comments »
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011
2010 was the year I–
- blew my first ever publishing deadline
- pushed finishing a novel off by four months
- finished the book while sicker than I’ve ever been
- revised, line edited and copy edited the manuscript less than a month later, over a period of only a few weeks
- watched said publisher nearly go out of business just a month before the book’s release
And that was just one of my publishers (Dorchester).
With the other (Harlequin), while I had a successful book release in the spring, by the fall (once I was feeling less like death warmed over), I was seriously contemplating switching to a new imprint/line in-house. Which meant even more change. Those proposals went in to the potential new editor in December–hoping to find a home at Harlequin Intrigue, where I’d be thrilled to write!
My point?No matter what was going on in the publishing world at large–and 2010 was BIG year for digital, small press and ePub authors and publishers, and for the rest of us as these niche markets exploded all over the scene–nothing could compare to the emotional peeks and valleys of my personal little corner of the writing world.
The end result? (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, digital publishing, Dorchester Publishing, ebooks, ePublishing, Legacy Series, writer, writer resource, writing, writing articles
Posted in Publishing Isn't for Sissies | 5 Comments »
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Almost a week from the day I heard Dorchester, the publisher for my November paranormal romantic suspense, decided to take their releases beginning Sept 1st direct-to-digital, and I’m approaching a place where I’ve worked through enough of the adjustment to think clearly about my growing list of questions.
Questions all authors immersed in this situation are facing, and non-Dorchester authors considering the growth of publishing’s interest and investment in the digital format(BTW, you’ll see these are market questions, not publisher-specific questions–as I said in earlier posts, my business with Dorchester, a publisher I respect full of editors I love to work with, has to stay my business until I’ve worked my way through the transition):
1) How long will it take mass market readers to shift to digital, the way LP and CD buyers have moved to digital music to the point that music producers by and large no longer cut albums? (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, digital publishing, Dorchester Publishing, ebooks, ePublishing, Legacy Series, writer, writer resource, writing, writing articles
Posted in Publishing Isn't for Sissies | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Let’s do some analysis today. I’m providing links to other articles out there (bloggers with interesting takes, though as you’ll see, opinions I don’t necessarily agree with).
1) Is print publishing dead, and is digital going to rule the world?
This guy (the self-appointed “king” of digital book sales) thinks so:
http://www.jimchines.com/2010/08/death-of-print/
Read the comments on this one to see a great discussion from both sides of the issue.
For me, I’m buying my first reader later this year after watching them fight each other for market position (and I’ll be buying the iPad once they work the kinks out and get the second generation going, because it offers so much more than just a reader for the same price). But I won’t be giving up my “keeper” shelves of books. Ever. We’re looking at merging markets, folks. (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, digital publishing, Dorchester Publishing, ebooks, ePublishing, Legacy Series, writer, writer resource, writing, writing articles
Posted in Publishing Isn't for Sissies | 5 Comments »
