It’s interesting to follow trends when one has a book published. Last month, with the holiday gift lists being filled, it was print versions by far. The ratio was about 2:1. However, this month it is most definitely the eBooks in the lead. Today is only the 6th day of the month and there are many new readers, but the e-readers are in the lead by 2:1.
I suspect that all those new Kindles , Ipads, Sony readers and other devices are the reason. That, and THREE HUNDRED ZEROES has just showed up in Smashwords.com, and Nook. Smashwords.com distributes to Apple’s Ipad, Sony, Diesel, and other readers, but the distribution takes a few weeks and as far as I know, that has not completed the cycle yet. If you have just about any eBook reader, check out Smashwords.com, they have 25,000 books available and offer something for just about everyone. There are even a number of free books. Some number are novels or non-fiction and so on that are part of a series; read the first one for free and if you like the author’s work you know what to expect in the other volumes.
If you are an author be certain to look into the Smashwords.com program. Getting a book into the system is reasonably painless and your book can be online in just a few hours.
The printing industry is in the doldrums lately, especially for hard cover books, but soft cover and eBooks are doing well. As an “old fashioned” fellow I somehow experience more of a thrill when I see the print version sales numbers, I can identify with print books: I grew up with them. Still, I can appreciate the convenience and carrying capability of the e-readers and I would be very foolish to ignore such a large population of readers.
About half of my reader emails are now coming from folks that have read THREE HUNDRED ZEROES electronically and it appears that they are thrilled with the experience. Looks like I’ll have to get a reader myself, may you can help me decide on which one? (hint: it will have to be rugged enough to haul around on a bicycle and long distance hikes)
Dennis “K1” Blanchard