Is the e-Reading Explosion as Large as We Thought?

Those who’ve been following my blog know I’ve covered a fair amount of stats that reflect the huge rise in  e-reader and e-book sales. I still think the trend is growing, however an interesting survey in publishingperspectives.com suggests that a third of e-reader owners only used them once!

The survey came from CouponCodes4u.com and polled only 2,000 people, so who knows how accurately their survey reflects what’s happening in the digital world? Having said that, I don’t think the survey is horribly off the mark. The survey also showed that 17% used their readers once a week while 29% used theirs every day.

Of those asked why they’d only used their e-readers once, 57% said they were too busy too read, 25% reported that they preferred physical books, and 22% had received the e-reader as a gift and didn’t think they were necessary. I have to wonder if these gadgets are catching on as much as Amazon and others would have us believe? Sure, Amazon sells a lot of Kindles, but is every buyer using them regularly? Are a third of consumers using the device only once or twice, then tossing it in a drawer?

My Sony was given to me as a gift. It took me three months to take it out of the box. I downloaded a few things, but I haven’t used it in months, as I too prefer physical books and have a large stack still waiting to be read. This would likely change if I downsized my home, or traveled more often.

I’m convinced more than ever that those who try e-readers and download books are reading only a fraction of them, particularly if they are free. The bottom line is that print still has its place and people are still busy, and trying to find avid readers will always be a challenge. You can find the piece at http://publishingperspectives.com/2012/11/survey-reveals-a-third-of-e-readers-only-used-once/

How long had the idea of your book been developing before you began to write the story?

Light Bringer, my most recent release from Second Wind Publishing, stewed in my brain pan for several years before I actually started to write it. It was the first book I conceived, but I couldn’t figure out who my alien characters were, where they were from, how they traveled here, and why they came, so when other stories captured my imagination, I followed my enthusiasm. In between finishing my various novels, I worked on Light Bringer, trying to develop the idea and research the specifics. If you include my research, which I’d been doing for decades before the story ever entered my mind, you could say the idea for the book had been developing for about thirty years.

Here are some other authors’ responses to the question of how long the idea had been developing before beginning to write their stories. The comments are taken from interviews posted at Pat Bertram Introduces . . .

From an interview with Jerold Last, Author of “The Ambivalent Corpse”

book. In this case “a while” spanned 12 years. The major challenges for me are finding the time to write and the discipline to edit the dialogue and descriptive passages over and over until things feel right and pass my wife’s critical evaluation. I haven’t needed to spend much time on research as yet, since I’ve lived in the locations that the books have been set in.

From an interview with Guy Harrison, author of “Agents of Change”
For over a year, if you can believe it. I originally wrote Agents of Change as a television pilot script around this time last year. As an aspiring screenwriter for many years, I finally got tired of banging my head against the wall as I attempted to sell the script.
This past October, I finally asked myself “what if I wrote a novel?” I really believed in the television pilot’s concept but knew I needed to rework it for the purposes of a book. It’s darker than the television series would have been. Truth be told, I actually like it a lot better as a novel.

From an interview with Dale Cozort, Author of “Exchange”

For this particular book, almost twenty years. I know that because I came across a notebook with dated entries from when I was in my late teens outlining some of the ideas. That’s unusual for me. Most of my stories go from concept to writing within a year or two. I had the idea for Exchange long before I had the maturity or self-discipline to write it.

From an interview with Stephen Prosapio, Author of “Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum”

Funny in that this story had to “brew” quite a while, Pat. I thought up the rough idea for GHOSTS OF ROSEWOOD ASYLUM after my first novel DREAM WAR didn’t sell to the Big Six publishers. I didn’t quite pitch it right to my agent though, and she suggested I go with another idea I had at the time (a vampire novel). Unfortunately, I got blocked with that idea and came back to the TV Paranormal Investigator angle. Pitching it a second time to my agent went much better. She gave me some great advice. Thus, GHOSTS OF ROSEWOOD ASYLUM (GoRA) was the easiest novel to write thus far. I wrote the first draft within 3 months.

From an interview with Ellis Vidler, Author of “Cold Comfort”

Cold Comfort took about a year to write and five more to revise till I felt it was right. The first one, Haunting Refrain, took eight years to complete. I’m getting better.

From an interview with Joylene Nowell Butler, Author of “Broken but not Dead”

Too long. Someone asked me the other day about my mother and it occurred to me then that the day she died I’d written the first four pages of “Broken but not Dead”. I gave them to her to read, then retired for the night. When I got up the next morning the pages were on the dining room table with spelling corrections and a note that said she liked it very much. I didn’t realize then that she’d passed. That was October 16, 1999. It takes me a long time to write, and I don’t think it’s because I’m slow. I work on so many different projects at the same time and I like to take breaks and distance myself often.

So, How long had the idea of your book been developing before you began to write the story?

(If you’d like me to interview you, please check out my author questionnaire http://patbertram.wordpress.com/author-questionnaire/ and follow the instruction.)

Got 'Starving Writer Syndrome'? Want to free up money in your home?

As a writer and published author, I know how difficult our industry can be, and how uncertain a writer's income can be. I've had my ups and downs, suffered from what I call "Starving Writer Syndrome" (akin to Starving Artist Syndrome). I've experienced many years where I spent more than I earned. It's not fun, and it places a huge amount of stress on a writer's self-confidence, financial situation and family.

For years, I've made it my mission to help other writers when I can, and therefore I'd like to introduce you, my fellow writers, to my brother, Derek Kaye. He's a financial advisor, and he has a plan for you to free up money in your home--even if you think there's nothing available.

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What's Old is New Again, and Still Sparks Debate

There have been a number of articles and blogs over recent months about how self-publishers are destroying the publishing world. There have probably been almost as many responses convinced that indie authors are saving the industry. An interesting guest blog by Ed Robertson comes down on the saving side, focusing mainly on book pricing. Robertson provides some interesting stats which does appear to show that the publishing industry has shot itself in the foot by charging far more for books than one might perceive reasonable.

The other interesting aspect to his blog is that this is not the first time people have cried “publishing is dying!” Robertson notes that it also happened back in 1939 when Robert De Graff of Pocket Books began selling paperbacks for twenty-five cents. At that time, hard covers were between $2.50 and $3.00. In 2012 terms, this means a hard cover would be $40 to $50 and the mass market paperback version would be $4.16. A big difference! Pocket Books’ strategy sparked a lot of debate. Some authors weren’t interested in selling their books for twenty-five cents, while genre authors were happy that their books were selling in greater numbers than ever. Furthermore, the quality of the covers was hotly disputed. The thing was that within five years Pocket Books sold 100 million copies. Is any of this sounding familiar yet?

As Robertson points out, for a number of reasons, publishers didn’t keep the price of their books affordable and thus sales began to drop. I won’t recap the whole blog here, but suggest you give it a read. He also provides other links to more of a historical view of the publishing industry. You know, someone (if they haven’t already) ought to write a book about the publishing industry of the last 150 years. I’d buy a copy. To read his blog (he’s guesting on David Gaughran’s blog), go to http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/self-publishers-arent-killing-the-industry-theyre-saving-it/

Did Writing Your Book Change Your Life?

I wish I could say writing my latest novel Light Bringer changed my life, it would make a good story, but the fact is, it made little difference outside of bringing to a close a lifetime of research. It was the fourth novel I wrote. I’d already experienced the joy and sense of accomplishment completing a novel gives one, and I’d already experienced the disappointment that comes from having a novel rejected. I’d already experienced the joy of getting published and the disappointment of lackluster sales. Now, if Light Bringer would go viral, that would change my life!

Writing Grief: The Great Yearning, my non-fiction book about surviving grief, didn't change my life, either. In fact, my life had changed first. Writing was how I coped with the changes.

Here are some responses from fellow Second Wind Publishing authors about how writing their book changed their lives. The comments are taken from interviews posted at Pat Bertram Introduces . . .

From an interview with: J J Dare, Author of False Positive and False World

Writing my first book a few years ago gave me confidence. I believe it was an exercise to prepare me for the challenges I would shortly face in my personal life.

From an interview with: Noah Baird, Author of Donations to Clarity

I think people thought I was pretty weird before the book. They still think I’m weird, but I think I get a pass now because I’m a writer.

From an interview with: Calvin Davis, Author of The Phantom Lady of Paris

After penning the Phantom Lady, I was not the same person. The actual writing of the novel took about five and a half years. During that period, I wrote and rewrote again and again, etc. That said, the truth is, it took me all my life to write the Phantom Lady. The penning of my two other novels was preparing me to write TPLOP. The production of my countless short stories was also tutoring me on how to create the Phantom Lady. And during all this time of schooling, “the lady” was inside me clamoring to be liberated, as I was clamoring to liberate her. “Free me…free me,” she screamed. When I completed the last sentence of the novel, the lady was finally liberated. “Thank you, Calvin,” she said. “Thank you.” Finally, she was free…and so was I.

From an interview with: Sherrie Hansen, Author of Merry Go Round

I think each book that I’ve written has changed my life. I remember an episode of Star Trek, Next Generation, when Jean Luc Picard was swept away to live out his life on another planet. He eventually fell in love, married, had children, and learned to play a musical instrument. When his new world came to an end, he learned that he had never left the Enterprise, and that the whole alternate life experience had occurred only in his mind, in a few days time. I feel like that every time I finish a book. It’s like I’ve visited some alternate reality and lived the life of my character from start to finish, feeling what they feel and experiencing what they experience, when in reality, I’ve just been sitting at my desk, typing away. In a very real way, I think each book makes me a richer, more multi-faceted, more understanding person because I’ve walked a mile (or a hundred) in my character’s shoes.

From an interview with: Coco Ihle, author of She Had to Know

Absolutely. In a couple of ways. My sister and I talked in detail about our lives before we met, and how we felt about all the things that happened and didn’t happen through the years. Our talks created a stronger bond between us.

Another way my life changed was, my adopted mother used to accuse me of starting projects and losing interest before finishing them. Well, I took that criticism to heart. I know she’s up there smiling down at me, because I finish projects now.

So, do you think writing your book changed your life?

Two Takes on Amazon Removing Reviews

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, I had heard that Amazon is removing reviews from their site on a fairly large scale. Author Joe Konrath discovered that some reviews he posted have also been removed, reviews he says are legitimate and have nothing to do with the sock puppetry that started this mess.

If you follow stories in the author/reviewing/publishing world, you’re likely familiar with the term, but for those who don’t know, sock puppets are authors who favorably review someone’s book in exchange for a good review of their own, among other things. Authors who’ve paid for reviews have also seen those reviews removed (this has been going on for some time). Also, as I wrote in a previous blog some authors have stooped to adopting fake identities to give themselves wonderful, 5-star reviews while trashing their competition. Honestly, it’s been a bit of a zoo in Amazon’s reviewing world, but as Konrath notes in his blog, legitimate reviewers are now being branded with the sock puppets.

Konrath wrote that Amazon’s decision to remove reviews was in response to a petition with four hundred signatures for the fake reviews to stop. Amazon listened and now, are arbitrarily (or so it seems to some) removing reviews they don’t think are legitimate. So, how do they define legitimate?

The response to Amazon’s review removal has prompted different takes on the issue and here are just two of them. First, Konrath doesn’t blame Amazon for taking these measures. As he wrote in a letter to Amazon, he still believes in the company for doing more to help authors than almost anyone else in the publishing world. He does, however, blame the petitioners. As Konrath notes, this won’t hurt him specifically as he still has thousands of posted reviews and book sales haven’t diminished. He acknowledges that this does hurt the small author who’s trying to get noticed and build a presence, and it will also make him choosier about the books he reviews in future. By the way, he has links to the sock puppet petitioners. To read more of his interesting blog, go to http://jakonrath.blogspot.ca/2012/11/amazon-removes-reviews.html

A different viewpoint from Derek Blass clearly places the blame on Amazon, and comes in the form of his own petition demanding they stop arbitrarily removing reviews. His position is that this is move is hurting independently published authors and vulnerable booksellers. He’s also asking that Amazon produce clearer, more definitive guidelines regarding what reviewers can and cannot post. You can find his petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/amazon-stop-arbitrarily-removing-customer-reviews-from-indie-author-books

I’m not completely sure if Amazon’s decisions are arbitrary, as I’ve not heard any clear explanation about how they decide which reviews to remove. Clearly, sock puppetry sparked a lot of anger, and Amazon’s response has triggered more anger, but controversy is nothing new in the publishing world.

I’ve posted 184 reviews on Amazon. I’m not sure if any of them will be removed, but I’m not planning to spend time worrying about it. There are two many other reviewing opportunities on Goodreads and elsewhere, and there are far too many books to write to lose precious time worrying about Amazon’s latest moves, at least for now.