By denying the value of e-books, S&S, Hatchette and HarperCollins will make it harder for their power-readers to buy from them, to champion their books, to spread literary joy quickly and easily.
I've put together this new list of Twitter tips for book publishers, made each tip tweetable, and posted here for all the (publishing) world to enjoy and discuss.
I would wager that consumers of small press books are more aware of who published the work than those of corporate presses, which makes it easier for an independent publisher to sell brand merchandise.
From many years of promoting books online, the one thing I know for sure is that each book has its own sales trajectory. Some start selling right out of the gate and reach great heights, others take the scenic route...
Many familiar independent booksellers are gone, and they've been replaced by big-box retailers with far sharper elbows. At the moment, they -- not the publishers -- appear to be controlling the book business.
"The Polar Express" is a book about hope and joy and how kids can possess a more unfettered wisdom than adults, and it is the summation of all that is great about the holiday season.
It seems apparent that, at least as to Lethal Logic, the Amazon customer views function more as a forum for the gun control debate than a forum for a debate about the book.
We had no idea, after transposing the "u" and the 'g" in the title of "Going Rogue" for our own Sarah Palin anthology "Going Rouge", that the mix ups between the two books would spread so far and with such persistence.
The major publishers are in a difficult position: they are service companies that function like manufacturing companies -- 20th century businesses in a 21st century economy.
Imagine taking the guesswork out of publishing. Imagine a publisher printing only to fulfill orders, and with a minimum of waste; imagine further a system that sidesteps warehouses and wholesalers.
With unemployment skyrocketing, the city facing a $5 billion gap, with fewer cops on the streets and more people needing to do whatever it takes to survive, New York City is a powder keg.
These are the humbling moments in the debut author journey. The ones that remind you to hang onto that day job.
With newspapers and magazines folding left and right, book coverage has been severely impacted. Luckily, book bloggers have come to the rescue, often without the credit they deserve.
You can mourn the death of publishing or you can start bushwhacking a new book trail. These women certainly have.
"Do you think we can get Oprah?" Generally asked by an author whose book is wildly inappropriate for Oprah and who has never actually seen Oprah, but who's heard that Oprah sells books.
Editors want to take authors to the next level or make a splash with a debut. Publishers want to gain traction with new electronic formats. Sales and marketing teams want to make a splash. Everyone is desperate for a hit.
There is a word that publicists love almost as much as "yes." And it's "no." Seems counterintuitive, right? But it's true. There is little I love more than a solid "no."
A reader spends a lot of time with a book. Ads will have time to sink in. That makes the medium valuable. Google isn't getting into the book business for charity.
It may be more productive to consider the changes roiling the publishing industry evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
I've asked six of the most renowned crime fiction critics in the country to weigh in with their thoughts on the state of the crime novel. I hope you find their responses as interesting as I did.
Lance Armstrong said, "Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."
