C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

05/30/2011 • 4:35 AM 7

Writing Conference Cataclysm: Ebooks versus the Amish

The room was packed with authors who were traditionally published. When the bookseller was talking, they were clapping. She told them what they wanted to hear. She insulted lovers of ebooks, told them to unplug, told them they needed to “get a life.” Her world is divided between ebooks and “real” books, nostalgia for what was and contempt for what is and will be.

Her emotional appeal worked well on that crowd. No one was paying near as much attention to the other guy on the panel. Formerly of Booknet and now with Kobo, Mark Tamblyn knew the numbers. The reality he knew and could quantify didn’t get any applause there so here are some highlights from his trip on the Reality Train:

1. Ebook lovers do love books, they just love them on ereaders. They do not fetishize the package. They read for love, enjoyment, entertainment and ideas, just like traditional readers claim to do…except:

2. Ebook lovers buy more books. Twice as much as people who love so-called “real” books.

3. Ebook readers are not 20 and 30-somethings. They are typically 45-55.

4. Ebook readers are not easily distracted. They do engage in deep reading and are not flighty cyber-ADD sufferers, after all.

One author asked how many people in the room owned an ereader. Only a handful of us raised our hands and he looked quite pleased with himself for a moment. Then someone pointed out the demographic in the room: the crowd skewed old and were, after all, a bunch of traditionally published authors. (And by the way, a couple of those older authors expressed excitement at fleeing to publish their own books so they can get off the mid-list and get paid 70% instead of 25% from a legacy publisher. I’m sure there will be many more to follow.)

So here’s another break from the illusions of The Matrix: Last year Kobo had a party to celebrate their one-millionth customer. A week later they held a party for their two-millionth customer. The month was December and that, my friends, is one major and measurable difference made by Jesus’s birthday. Clearly Jesus wants you all to buy ereaders.

It’s gauche, but since I predicted the ever-increasing appetite for ereaders last year and since I’m in a foul mood I will point out: I informed you thusly! I so informed you thusly! (Inside joke for Sheldon Cooper fans.)

And by the way, since I’m so damnably cranky: Last week I noticed someone saying the indie revolution was a good thing for creators but wasn’t any good for readers. Hey! I’m indie but I was a reader first and will always be a reader. I read ten books at a time. I’m more voracious for reading material than I am fudge. I’ve got a stack of pbooks by my bed, a huge library we call a house and a whack of ebooks loaded in my ereader. I relish more choice, even the stuff that isn’t particularly close to grammatically pure. So knock off that BS, thanks very much.

And have a day. Make it real.

Which is Better, Kobo or Nook? (brighthub.com)
Kobo launches new e-Reader Touch edition (gizmag.com)
Kobo eReader Claims 10% Of American Market (huffingtonpost.com)
Ebook reader help. (ask.metafilter.com)
eReaders & Library eBooks (librarianbrain.wordpress.com)
That Was Fast: Amazon’s Kindle Ebook Sales Surpass Print (It Only Took Four Years) (techcrunch.com)
eBooks Are Surging (vgiordano.wordpress.com)

Filed under: e-reader, ebooks, Rant, self-publishing, Writers, Writing Conferences, book, E-book, ebooks, Kobo, Kobo eReader, publishing, self-publishing, TWUC, writing conference

12/28/2010 • 8:55 AM 1

Writers: Books versus Internet

The delicious irony is, you aren’t going to see this video in a book. You’re watching it on your computer. While I don’t wholly agree with the sentiment, it is an entertaining video (via Books for Everyone) and you know me. I’m all about the yuks.

Just to be clear on the ebook versus tree book thing, I’m enthusiastic about books no matter what form they take. In fact, a book’s form is beside the point.

(Besides, today is my birthday, so I’m posting this and then running off to goof off for the rest of the day.)

As Kurt Vonnegut said,

“We’re here to fart around. Don’t let anyone tell you anything different.”

Enjoy!

Filed under: Intentionally Hilarious, books, books versus Internet, ebooks, kurtvonnegut

12/25/2010 • 9:13 AM 6

Merry Christmas from Chazz!

Wherever you are, I hope Santa brought you the perfect gift

that you didn’t think you needed

and would never have bought

for yourself but it turned out to be amazing!

Yes, I’m saying I hope you got an e-reader for Christmas.

Have a happy and a merry!

And thanks for reading.

See you Monday.

Filed under: ebooks, Christmas, e-readers, ebooks, IPad, Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Sony Reader

12/14/2010 • 8:22 AM 2

Bookstores are disappearing. Time to sell my book collection.

Image via Wikipedia

I came to two realizations about books today:

1. We aren’t being brave enough.

and

2. It’s time to sell my book collection.

Two film directors (Kevin Smith and the guy behind Donny Darko) talked on a podcast about cross-promotion with their movies and how five years from now there will be no bookstores. Though they are both authors as well, their main focus is film so they could be dispassionate about our sick industry. Contrary to what you may have heard, that’s a reason to take their assessment of bookstore extinction more seriously, not less. People inside the publishing industry often have their judgment clouded.

When confronted with such dim prospects for bookstores, many inside the book industry answer:

1. Nonsense! Horrors! Unthinkable!

or

2. It won’t happen that fast. We still have lots of time to bleed the old paradigm dry.

But five bookstores a day are closing across the United States. E-book sales are growing faster than most publishers anticipated. It won’t be long before even your Grammy is buying her books in an electronic format. At first she’ll hold back on buying in, but when the variety of large print books diminishes—they always were a marginal asset—those electronic readers that allow her to easily bump up the text size will push her over the edge. The rise in e-book reading tells me we’re already past the time when digital book consumption is only about the early adopters. That goes double once Christmas morning hits.

Sure, there will still be specialty bookstores, or rather, premium collectibles bookstores. You’ll come for the books, but it’s the coffee they sell which will make the serious money.

I write this without glee. I love bookstores. They are my last retreat. Where else besides my office, will I go willingly? Bookstores and libraries are to me what graveyards and remote girls’ schools with lax curfews are to vampires.

I hope many bookstores find a way to survive. A bunch of them may do it, but those will be digital books on the shelves, mocked up to look like tree books. Yes, grandfather, there will still be tree books, but you’ll pay substantially more for them. Big print runs keep the unit price low by producing large volumes. Those print runs are about to be cut (further) so that paper book you’re so attached to will be a specialty item. (Have you noticed the rise in the prices of buggy whips lately? It’s crazy.)

Then I listened to another podcast. Blowhard’s Malcolm Ingram was speaking with a porn actor/director. Ingram observed that the skills are transferable to mainstream film. (Insert your own joke here.) But he was talking about technical skills. Then he mentioned that it’s never been easier to make a film. It’s true. The cameras come fancier and cheaper than ever. YouTube is a young filmmaker’s playground (search Nigahiga and you’ll see what I mean.) Technology has democratized filmmaking. “I’ve directed two documentaries,” Ingram said, “and I’m borderline retarded.”

That, ladies and germs, is indie spirit.It’s brave. It’s what we’re lacking.

What’s true for film is also true for publishing. Becoming an independent publisher has never been easier and the technology to make a book and market it is only getting better. People have done it. A bunch of industry experts with their own agendas are holding with opinions which were once valid. They get less valid each day (and another five more bookstores go extinct.) They have their reasons to mistrust self-publishing, but if they’re still confusing self-publishing with vanity publishing…frankly, now those people are boring me.

We’ve already hit the iceberg so stop wringing your hands about whether we’ll make it to New York harbor. Honestly, your obstinacy is titanic.

Oh. That other dire conclusion? Paper books are on the way out. I have thousands of them.

It’s time for me to sell them while someone’s still interested in buying them.

The last country house party? Ebooks and publishing’s phony war, by Peter Ginna (teleread.com)
Publisher Releases Landmark Children’s Book About Saying Thanks and Giving Back; A Tribute to Tuskegee Airmen and Military Families (prweb.com)
eBookIt.com Announced Today Their Grand Opening (prweb.com)
Alfred Introduces the World’s First Enhanced Music E-Books with Alfred’s Kid’s Guitar Course, Now Available in Apple’s iBookstore (prweb.com)
Is the Google eBookstore any different? (cnn.com)
Bookstores next chapter hard to read (theglobeandmail.com)
Hard times for bookstores (search.japantimes.co.jp)
Best Bookstores: Huffington Post Readers Pick Their 12 Favorites (PHOTOS) (huffingtonpost.com)
What impact might bookstores and sites selling ebooks have? (ireaderreview.com)
The Fundamentals of Operating a Successful Used Bookstore (bookshopblog.com)
A war of words (boston.com)
Favorite Bookstores (finebooksmagazine.com)
Why I Don’t Shop at Bookstores Any More – Barnes and Noble Needs to Learn a Few Things From Amazon (drdianehamilton.wordpress.com)
Self-Publishing: First Espresso Book Machine In Continental Europe (huffingtonpost.com)

Filed under: Books, DIY, ebooks, getting it done, Media, movies, publishing, Rant, self-publishing, Bookselling, bookstores dying, E-book, ebooks, how will bookstores survive?, Kevin Smith, Malcolm Ingram, Nigahiga, paper books, publishing, tree books

08/05/2010 • 10:34 PM 2

Kindle Review: Using the Kindle in the Real World

This isn’t a tech review. What got my attention is the reviewer tried out the Kindle in different ways to see how she might actually use it.

Filed under: ebooks, web reviews, ebooks, Kindle, Kindle review

07/22/2010 • 3:36 PM 0

Ebooks: The Inevitable Rise of the Machines

Filed under: ebooks, Publicity & Promotion, ebooks, promotion, publicity

05/13/2010 • 4:48 PM 0

Johnny Carson, ebooks and Promotion

Everybody watched Johnny on late night, largely because there wasn’t much else to watch. Yes, he was a talented entertainer, but there weren’t nearly as many channels then. Johnny had market share. Now all information and entertainment markets are fragmented. There’s lots to do. I listened to a Joe Rogan podcast while I browsed for books today (and bought a Writer’s Digest and got meta with a book of clever Twitter quotes.) I wrote 2,000 words so far today (while listening to a brainwave app to stim my creative juices.) I updated my website while listening to Defcon Radio and Stephanie Miller. Later I’ll have lunch while watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I’ll get to reading two books I’m into now, but with all the options, I can’t really say I’m concentrating on those books, can I? I’ll read fewer books this year because I have more options and demands on my time.

Ebooks and the rampant development of self-publishing is democratizing publishing, destroying publishing or reinvigorating publishing, depending on who you listened to last. All that choice. All that stimulation. We are living in an age of wonders…if getting everything for free doesn’t screw it all up. We’re seeing it most clearly with newspapers and magazines. How will we monetize to sustain the publishing industry?

The publishing industry is on the brink of the chasm the music industry fell into. Unfortunately, it’s clear an awful lot of publishers haven’t learned a darn thing from the mistakes made by others. Part of the reason is that the lessons are not transferable. Unless you’re David Sedaris, you aren’t going out on a whirlwind concert tour to read to the masses. Musicians are earning less than before from CDs (what’s a CD again?) so they tour and sell merchandise. ZZ Top made millions from selling key chains at their concerts. Musicians have made more from selling their songs as ringtones than from selling them as songs!

Some publishers are resisting guerrilla marketing tactics, like serializing books on the web. Authors are twittering more and Facebooking, using social media themselves because some pub’s publicists aren’t helpful in regard to new technology. Many publicists are doing what they always did (and as a former publicist, I can tell you press releases and review copies are not hard. Still, many authors are neglected or bumph goes out late to the media.) Increasingly, authors are expected to have their own platform first. There’s a lot more DIY involved than ever before and publishers expect you, the author, to do it all. Fine.

It’s the author’s business and they should be more involved in promotion and publicity. No writer can afford to hope publicists who work for publishers (and all their books, not just you) are going to be much help. With all your social media options, authors have to take responsibility to make sure that gets done. Yes, it will be at your expense.

Don’t think your advance on your first book is going to pay for a new dryer. Buy a clothesline and put the rest of the advance back into promotion. And DIY! At least you’ll know the publicity chores get done.

BONUS:

Hire your own publicist, one who works just for you. The publisher’s in-house publicist can coordinate with your publicist (not the other way around.)

MORE ON EBOOKS and SELF-PUBLISHING TOMORROW