Authors Selling E-Books Direct

[jjochwat]

Article quotes an e-bookseller exec noting that "a large increase in reputable authors releasing e-books themselves versus going through their publishers."

http://www.tbiresearch.com/bad-news-for ... ect-2010-1

The article is interested in the fact that authors can make more pricing their books lower if they keep a bigger cut. What I find more interesting is how quickly this indicates that publishing houses don't have control of e-book distribution, unless they aggressively negotiate for long-term rights.

[casnow]

Joe Konrath (jakonrath.blogspot.com) lays out his sales numbers for e-Books on his novels. He writes the "Jack Daniels" detective series, which is own it's 8th or 9th book right now. For books in that series that have gone out of print (so he now owns the digital writes), he has released them for $1.99 each, and they are selling much better than the $9.99 new releases (in terms of eBooks). We're not talking best-selling numbers, but it is very eye-opening.

However, it should be noted that all of those books were ones that were traditionally published and then came back to him when the rights reverted. So they were definitely professionally edited books - something different than many other eBooks. It will be interesting to see if other authors can capitalize on their out of print books like that.

I think there is something that publishing companies can learn from these authors, which is that it's better to make something than nothing.

[RebeccaKnight]

This will be something to keep an eye on for sure. Thanks for the link! :)