Author Earnings looks beyond Kindle

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by tomsem

That is correct, I just looked it up. The deeper levels are frozen.

This idiom seems to originate in early 20th century, and presumably reflects a popularized 'folk' version of hell, which involves eternal fire and such. So it becomes a metaphor for 'it will never happen'.

I would call it the "protestant" version. As a group not a specific religion.
Been awhile since I have read Dante. I forgot about the frozen levels. I think the hypocrite was on the first frozen level.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by CRussel

To confirm the basic premise of this thread, a favourite author (Nathan Lowell) has just released his latest book, and chose to release it to Amazon Select because, as he says on [URL=" blog[/URL]:

I'm going to have to look into this. I really enjoyed his Quarter Share/Half Share/Full Share novels and also his Tanyth Fairport series.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by tomsem

That is correct, I just looked it up. The deeper levels are frozen.

This idiom seems to originate in early 20th century, and presumably reflects a popularized 'folk' version of hell, which involves eternal fire and such. So it becomes a metaphor for 'it will never happen'.

It was bringing Dante into it that was the "mistake", since his version of Hell is partly frozen over. I put "mistake" in quotes because I'd be greatly surprised if the board members weren't aware of the publishers' general marketing strategies. In fact, I'd be greatly surprised if they weren't driving the strategies, which smell of the "my way or the highway" attitude of the big money behind Intellectual Property. So, saying that the board will be aware when there's ice in Dante's Hell seems spot on to me.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by conan50

If publishers and these other ebook stores do not get their heads out of the sand, Amazon will own ebooks--it almost does now--and "Kindle" will be as synonymous with "Ebook" as "Xerox" is to a paper copy of something. I think it may already be too late for them, and higher ebook prices from the big publishers was the final nail in their own coffin.

The BPHs certainly aren't doing them any favors given how dependent they are on BPH ebook sales for their revenue:

Apple: 74% BPH
Nook: 69% BPH
Kobo: 64% BPH
Google: 57% BPH*
Amazon: 46% BPH

Point to remember: Google has had a (reportedly) large problem with pirates using Google's unpoliced Indie channel to sell tradpub titles (mostly big name BPH authors) side by side with the legal editions so some portion of Google "indie" sales may be BPH titles, which might explain their relatively low BPH revenue.

Add in Amazon's aggressive discounting of BPH hardcovers and strength among Indies abd Agency 2.0 is looking to be the best thing to happen to Amazon bookselling since...
Well, since Agency 1.0.

[conan50]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Point to remember: Google has had a (reportedly) large problem with pirates using Google's unpoliced Indie channel to sell tradpub titles (mostly big name BPH authors) side by side with the legal editions so some portion of Google "indie" sales may be BPH titles, which might explain their relatively low BPH revenue.

Add in Amazon's aggressive discounting of BPH hardcovers and strength among Indies abd Agency 2.0 is looking to be the best thing to happen to Amazon bookselling since...
Well, since Agency 1.0.

At one time Google seemed very passionate about books, making digital copies of books. But for awhile now Books have seemed like yet another neglected Google product. They have a pitiful catalog of modern authors and mid-list authors. Google Books has looked like a huge missed opportunity for quite awhile now.
Amazon's print book prices, as compared to ebook prices, has rekindled my interest in buying print books, and I didn't think that would happen. But the same price, or $2 more for a hardcover book than an ebook--who can say no to that?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by conan50

But the same price, or $2 more for a hardcover book than an ebook--who can say no to that?

Somebody witb no desire to give money to the BPHs?

(Five years,7 months, BPH-free here.)

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Anybody notice that Data Guy had to modify the spider to adapt to non-responsive web pages at Nook?

B&N's terrible website has had issues with non-responsive web pages for at least a year, and it didn't improve after their "website upgrade". I am quite surprised at how poorly it runs, I doubt that they've been seeing any traffic increases for years.

[GeoffR]

Any chance we'll see this kind of data collected for sales outside the US? Less than 5% of people live in the US after all.

[fjtorres]

Data Guy just dropped another batch of interesting numbers in a discussion of KKR's latest column:

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/10/20...comment-329190

408 million / 802 million = 51% of all fiction books of any format sold in the US in 2014 were EBOOKS

499 million / 802 million = 62% of all fiction books of any format sold in the US in 2014 were sold online

139 million / 802 million = 17.5% of all fiction books of any format sold in the US in 2014 were indie fiction EBOOKS (add another 1% for print)

But don’t forget that a lot of that print fiction is children’s fiction… board books, early chapter books, and the like.

For ADULT fiction, specifically, the 2014 mix skewed even more “e”:

355 million / 528 million = 67% of all adult fiction books of any format sold in the US in 2014 were EBOOKS

411 million / 528 million = 78% of all adult fiction books of any format sold in the US in 2014 were sold online

127 million / 528 million = 24% of all adult fiction books of any format sold in the US in 2014 were indie adult fiction EBOOKS

ETA: all in units, not dollars.

[conan50]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Somebody witb no desire to give money to the BPHs?

(Five years,7 months, BPH-free here.)

Good for you, seriously.
I still need the occasional book from them, and when I do, they are insane to think I will pay the same price for a locked down ebook as for a hardcover book.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Any chance we'll see this kind of data collected for sales outside the US? Less than 5% of people live in the US after all.

It is the most developed commercial ebook market.
That 5% buys a majority of the ebooks sold on the planet; almost 500M ebooks and $3B dollars worth in 2014, even more this year.

Population doesn't define market importance in the business world; consumption does.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by conan50

I still need the occasional book from them, and when I do, they are insane to think I will pay the same price for a locked down ebook as for a hardcover book.

Oh, their delusions go deeper than that.
They think they are indispensable.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Somebody witb no desire to give money to the BPHs?

(Five years,7 months, BPH-free here.)

Congrats.
I am usually cheap but I do on occasion pick up BPH ebooks for $1.99.
Now I did buy 1 hardback BPH, but the co-author is a hybrid.
Actually I bought it for my mother.
The co-author is one of two authors I will pay full price for.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Any chance we'll see this kind of data collected for sales outside the US? Less than 5% of people live in the US after all.

Haven't you heard? The universe revolves around the US

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Haven't you heard? The universe revolves around the US

Specifically, downtown Seattle.
(At least the ebook universe does.)