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eBook Publishing

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The eBook Industry

By now, most folks know what an eBook is. For those who don't, you can go to what is an eBook where we've written a fairly short introduction to this new breed.

The industry is young and has yet to reach the "breakout point" (sometimes called the "tipping point"). There are several reasons for this, but the main ones are:

1. Comfort Level: Most people aren't comfortable reading a story on a computer screen or a hand held screen. It's still psychologically easier to curl up with a paperback books than to grab a "reader", Star Trek episodes notwithstanding.

2. Equipment: Some things being used as "readers" aren't really well-adapted to eBooks. The screen on your gee-whiz cellular telephone is nice for icons, but a page of text looks awfully small -- even unreadable if you have old eyes or other vision problems.Pocket PC

3. The e-readers that ARE designed for eBooks do a fairly good job of presenting pages, but the price is much too high. This, in my opinion, is the main problem the industry has to face. Not many people are willing to shell out $350 for an eBook reader, even if the price of the books is a lot lower that paper. You'd have to buy a LOT of books to make up for the cost.

The VCR industry and later on the DVD industry had the same problems. Sales of equipment and content were slow until the cost of the equipment went below $100 per unit. Then sales took off and just about every movie ever made was made into a VCR tape and then again into a DVD. Blue Ray is currently going through that cycle.

The Taiwanese government has made a commitment to dominate the Asian eBook market. If Taiwan starts making a sub $100 reader that has the necessary quality and features, the industry should take off quickly. The demand is there, especially among younger people, it just needs the attraction of price to set it in motion.

Table of Contents

  1. Reader Feedback on the State of the Industry
  2. That Which is Human
  3. KGB in High Heels
  4. eBooks and the iPad
  5. The iPad - eBook connection
  6. Star Marine
  7. Random House Reports eBook growth
  8. eBook of the Year for 2010

Reader Feedback on the State of the Industry

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  • Reply
    LindaJM Mar 17, 2010 @ 3:33 pm | delete
    Great information! I'd love for the price of e-book readers to go down.
  • Reply
    wolftyrs Mar 17, 2010 @ 8:03 am | delete
    Very interesting and insightful. I'm looking forward to the prices settling. I read quite a bit on my desktop computer, but you really can't cuddle up with that for a comfortable read.
  • Reply
    akwbooks Mar 17, 2010 @ 4:01 pm | delete
    The least expensive way to get "into" eBooks is to use your computer, but like you say wolfyrs, you can't cuddle up to it.

    There are free software apps you can download to make your eBook behave more like a book (remember where you left off, insert comments, even change the font size except for PDF). Go to http://bit.ly/dgOwgj to see what works with what and where to get your free downloads.
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That Which is Human

An eBook by Bruce Davis

That Which is HumanThe war with the Rilz is pushing humanity to its limits and Intruder pilot Lt. Alan 'Mac' McAllister and his flying partner 'Ivan' Ivchenko are in the thick of the fighting. Battling the Lizards is bad enough, but fighting a planet full of rebel humans tests their friendship and Mac's integrity as a Naval pilot. But the biggest test for Mac is maintaining his own sanity in the face of a creeping dependence on the electronic link that allows him to fly the most advanced combat spacecraft ever devised. When a vicious counter attack by the Rilz places the lives of his ex-wife and her new family in harms way, he must set aside that which is still human within him in a final showdown with mankind's most implacable enemy.

Named 2009 Fiction Novel of the Year.


414 pages in PDF format. Available in several eBook formats


Available at AKW Books. $4.95 DRM free.

KGB in High Heels

Best seller in Russia and Israel now available in colloqial English

KGB in High Heels by Valentina MaltsevaValentina Maltseva is the head of the Arts and Literature Section of a Communist Youth Newspaper in the old Soviet Union. When her boss and lover showed her a KGB directory of agents she had no idea her view of it would cause her to be blackmailed into a KGB project in Argentina by none other than Yuri Andropov himself.

Nothing seems to go right and Valentina's curiosity plunges her deeper into the sordid and dangerous world of espionage and murder.

As the body count mounts and spies from 3 agencies chase her, Valentina wonders if she will survive.

A best seller (600,000 copies) in Russia and Israel! Made into a popular mini series!

Translated into colloquial English from the original Russian

65,000 words

Rated PG

345 pages in PDF format. Available in several eBook formats

Available at AKW Books. $4.45 DRM free.

eBooks and the iPad

What effect will the iPad have on the industry?

Apple's iPadWell, the iPad is now "real". It sold out on the first day and there are a lot of people waiting for more to hit the shelves.

Now, let me admit that I don't own an iPad, nor have I even seen one up close. With that in mind, what will this do for the digital publishing industry? Here's my take (guess):

Not much



Okay, the iPad allows you to read books in full color. Nice if there are color illustrations and that snazzy book cover will show up great.

  • It's cool.

  • It has the neat touch screen and the nifty aps that respond to a gesture.

  • It's almost a portable computer (missing a few things)


But



  • It's too blasted expensive for just reading eBooks. Of course, it can do more.

  • It's bulky for carrying around. You need at least a portfolio sized case or backpack.


People who already buy eBooks for their laptop computer will buy them for their iPad and jetison some weight along with the laptop. But I don't see a lot of new customers coming out of the woodwork for eBooks. I'm still waiting for the pocketbook-size reader with a price below $100.


One thing Apple has done. Their iBookStore (which I can't seem to find anywhere) is putting pressure on competitors to lower their prices and give back a larger percentage of sales to the publishers and authors (Amazon has traditionally kept 65% of Kindle book revenues). Other than that, Apple is competition for Amazon, but may not boost sales all that much in the near term.


I'd like to hear from someone who actually has one of these new toys. What do you think?

The iPad - eBook connection

What do you think will be iPad's effect on the eBook market?

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  • Reply
    akwbooks Oct 15, 2010 @ 12:59 pm | delete
    So far, the iPad has sold well, but reports indicate that the iBookstore is not performing as expected. This could change, but there seem to be a number of problems Apple needs to overcome first.
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Star Marine

The first book in the Fighter Queen saga

The Fighter KingOliver Lincoln III is a walking contradiction - he sells combat fighters for his dad's defense plant, but he is a dedicated pacifist.

During a sales trip to the Sirian Confederacy, Oliver's sister, a holonews reporter, tells him a disturbing secret. When his sister is later murdered by the Sirian secret police, the KK, it doesn't take Oliver long to put the squares together — Sirius is about to invade a peaceful world, using the combat fighters he sold them!


Oliver can't prevent the invasion, but in a desperate race against time he travels to Vega 3, hoping to arm them with Lincoln fighters so they can at least defend themselves. But the timetable is shorter than he thought, and he finds himself trapped in a global war with a difficult choice to make.


The Fighter King is a novel about the clash of civilization, personal choices, and coming of age. Before The Fighter Queen, there was The Fighter King. It all starts here.



139,000 words (roughly equivalent to 424 pages in mass market paperback format)

Available in eBook from from AKW Books


Rated "R".

Random House Reports eBook growth

8% this year

According to Random House CEO Markus Dohle, ... currently, e-book sales account for eight percent of total sales, and Dohle expects that number to jump to 10 percent next year.

This in spite of the fact that Random House, which owns around 30 imprints, has not been able to come to terms with Apple's iBookstore and isn't selling any of their titles to iPad users through that outlet.

Amazon reported a few months ago that Kindle book sales eclipsed their hard cover book sales, but that doesn't say much since they don't say how many hard cover sales they have, nor how Kindle sales compare to the more numerous paperback sales.

Personal prediction: I expect eBook sales to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 30% of all book sales in 5 years (2015). I also expect that paper will never go away for a variety of reasons. Paper book sales will suffer somewhat and due to some bad decisions by the big New York publishing houses, many walk-in bookstores will close down -- including one or two of the big chain retailers.

eBook of the Year for 2010

Vote for your choices

Every year, AKW Books awards a "Fiction Novel of the Year", and a "Non Fiction Book of the Year" award for the best new eBook published that year. This year, we've set up a poll on GoodReads which allows you to nominate and vote for your choice in both categories.

As usual, no porn or erotica.

Vote here: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7478.AKW_Books_Best_eBook_of_2010

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akwbooks

AKW Books is an imprint of Kalar/Wade Media. We publish new, top quality, eBooks (mostly novels). Think of us as a New York publishing house that does... more »

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