Digital Publishers Riding E-book Wave
by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly,06/22/2009
The “new mass market” is how Holly Schmidt describes her core business, e-books. Schmidt’s year-old e-publishing company, Ravenous Romance, is one of several small publishers that have found a way to make independent publishing work digitally. Among the handful of the growing independent digital publishers, some of which have been around for nearly a decade—“romantica” publisher Ellora’s Cave launched in 2000—business appears to be brisk. Although indie e-publishers are not immune to the hardships that face small enterprises everywhere, business has been picking up as the popularity of the Kindle increases and more reading apps crop up for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The business model of most e-publishers also includes publishing print books in varying ways.
Christina Brashear, at Samhain Publishing in Macon, Ga., said she saw sales double from one month to the next after the Kindle iPhone app appeared. Brashear, who worked at Ellora’s Cave before launching Samhain in 2005, has 31 employees and an annual list of about 300 digital and 200 print titles a year. Samhain usually releases print titles 10 months after the e-book is published, focusing on titles longer than 200 pages; the company prints through Lightning Source and has distribution through Ingram Publisher Services.
Samhain focuses on romance, and its authors receive no advance but are paid royalties that range from 30% to 40% for e-books and 8% on print books. Samhain’s staff includes 12 editors, and Brashear estimates that the company receives roughly 30 to 50 submissions a month. What attracts both new writers and established ones, Brashear said, is the allure that Samhain can, unlike the major New York houses, “take more risks on avant-garde content. And content that [New York editors] might deem to be out of synch with the buying public.”
Schmidt, who worked at Rodale and other houses before starting Ravenous Romance (a sister company to the book packager Holland Publishing), said many of her authors—she has about 250—may only get to write one or two titles with their New York publisher, even though they want to do 10 or 12 titles in a year. Others want to branch out into subgenres. “We have some bestselling authors who came to us from other genres. Apparently everyone wants to write erotic romance.” Still, Schmidt said, she would like to branch out into other genres.
Lori Perkins, an agent who deals with a lot of romance writers, has sent many clients to Schmidt. (Schmidt said that of the roughly 300 submissions she gets per month, 90% are rejected.) With plans to ramp up its audio offerings—Ravenous currently has an annual output of 300 digital titles and 40 audio titles—Schmidt is also “experimenting” with print on demand, but is looking more at partnerships for print offerings. To that end, she’s talking to New York houses about print licensing deals, with one already in place with Alyson Books.
Mundania Press LLC, in Cincinnati, Ohio, houses a number of imprints that publish romance, sci-fi, mystery and YA, among other genres, and has some 600 authors on its list, many of whom, said president and publisher Daniel J. Reitz, were onetime print bestsellers. “We have several authors who were once on the Times bestseller list and dropped off and/or fell out of print,” Reitz said, citing names like Robert Adams, the late sci-fi writer whose 18-book Horseclans series was a bestseller when it was released in the late ’70s through the mid ’80s. Other authors simply don’t get traction from the New York houses. Reitz said the e-book business has “picked up exponentially in the last couple of years,” and predicted it will grow faster once the prices for e-readers start dropping. “I think we need a $99 e-book reader before e-books really become mainstream,” noted Schmidt.
Reitz said that his house’s e-books sell, on average, 100 to 200 copies in their first month. There are exceptions, however. Marie Rochelle, one of Mundania’s biggest sellers, who specializes in interracial romances, moved 4,000 to 5,000 copies in her first month in the e-book format and several thousand print copies.
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| Submitted by: | J. Neil Schulman (jneil@pulpless.com) 6/29/2009 9:19:52 PM PT |
| Location: | Pahrump, NV |
| Occupation: | Author / Filmmaker / Publisher |
As the founder of both SoftServ Publishing in 1989 and Pulpless.com in 1995 -- described by the Wall Street Journal as a pioneer of the eBook -- I have argued for years that the correct business model for eBook publishing is either commercial broadcast TV or forced-distribution magazine publishing: give the eBook away for free and make money on advertising. On June 13, 1009 Pulpless.Com began testing my theory by releasing as a free PDF download the 30th Anniversary Edition of my 1979 novel, Alongside Night -- with 24 pages of full-page display advertising embedded in between chapters. The results? Over 22,000 eBooks downloaded in the first two weeks from our website at alongsidenight.net -- and more copies from an Australian mirror site and a Torrent. Welcome to the future of book distribution. Psst! Alongside Night. Pass it On!
J. Neil Schulman
Pulpless.com
| Submitted by: | Joy Fisk 6/24/2009 1:21:28 PM PT |
| Location: | Ohio |
| Occupation: | Secretary |
Would love to see an article on why NY Ebooks are priced so high! With a specific breakdown of the cost of making said ebook.
| Submitted by: | Marjorie Dandridge 6/24/2009 12:39:27 PM PT |
| Location: | Cincinatti |
| Occupation: | reader |
Interesting article indeed.
It amazes me that people like "Fact Checker" and "reader in michigan" read an article and make it their mission to point fingers at certain individuals. It also amazes me that these folks ALWAYS post anonmymously. Freedom of speech in this country pertains to content of the speech and not the right to publicly condemn and criticize anonymously. It is indeed a cowardly act.
Perhaps these posters are the same individuals who seem to hound ravenous romance to the point of ad nauseaum about everything from edits to content, and perhaps they just can't tolerate the success ravenous romance has achieved despite their flame wars.
They really need to get a life and quit searching for every google alert about Perkins or ravenous. The time has passed long to for them to "move on" from their personal vendetta tactics.
| Submitted by: | Jen Epaml 6/24/2009 8:36:08 AM PT |
| Location: | Des Moines Iowa |
| Occupation: | Septic Tank Engineer |
This was an interesting article. I enjoyed reading it. As a fan of the romance genre, I've been amazed at the quality novels I've read so far at ravenous romance. And I've read so many good reviews of their books I don't think I'm the only one who is looking forward to reading more.
| Submitted by: | Jane Bierce 6/24/2009 8:31:12 AM PT |
| Location: | DAndridge, TN |
| Occupation: | Author |
As an author whose career started in print, I'm proud toe be published electronically. I was first published 26 years ago in print by Harlequin, then Silhoutte and Kensington. I became interested in e-publishing in 1997 and with several ebooks published, I have been pleased with the adventurous attitude of editors outside the NY influence. They are more open to ideas and approaches than NY editors are. E-books are anything but the same-old same-old!
| Submitted by: | Just the Facts 6/24/2009 8:16:38 AM PT |
| Location: | Michigan |
| Occupation: | Reader |
Ms. Perkins is indeed one of the owners of Ravenous; which is precisely why she urges so many authors to publish with the company. An unbelievable shifty and unethical practice, in my opinion.
| Submitted by: | Brenna Lyons (president@epicauthors.com) 6/24/2009 7:32:20 AM PT |
| Location: | Boston, MA |
| Occupation: | President EPIC, indie/e/p author |
Excellent article, but I find it disheartening that a news source like PW talks about "several" small publishers making this work. In fact, the older indie/e and indie/e/p publishers are upwards of 15-17 years old now and still going strong. If you check places like the publisher list at Fictionwise (fictionwise.com/ebooks/publisherlist.htm), you're going to find nearly 500 publishers, of all sizes, listed with them, and that's not nearly all of them. Ellora's Cave, for instance, does not, though their Cerridwen line does. Several of the incarnations on the list (including Awe-Struck and Phaze) are subdivisions of Mundania.
Which brings me to...not all of the "small publishers" making it work are all that small. Most are medium-sized presses, at least.
What is hampering the industry? I'd agree that the need for a durable, low-priced reader is one. Either a universal e-book format all handhelds use (or can convert for use) or a universal reader that reads all major formats is a second. And recognition...which is coming, since NY has done so well adopting e-publishing this time around and a handful of indies have made such a tremendous splash in the media.
The pipe dream is to have a central list that shows how numerous indie/e publishers truly are, but considering the fact that Parapublishing numbers small and medium-sized publishers (which they lump with self-publishers, much to the dismay of many) in the more than 70,000 range in the US alone...and the way all small business suffers from attrition in the first 5 years, such a list would be nearly impossible to keep updated.
| Submitted by: | Fact Checker 6/23/2009 5:26:29 PM PT |
I believe this story contains an important inaccuracy. It is my understanding that Lori Perkins, who is referred to as an independent agent, is in fact the owner of Ravenous Romance. It's possible that this relationship might have colored her comments. Perhaps a fact check is in order.
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