Hello Everyone! I’d like to introduce Diana Quincy. She’s got a wonderful entry in the ‘Writing with the Stars’ contest. I wanted to offer her my slot on this blog this week and I think she wrote a great blog! Enjoy and don’t forget to go and vote for one of the entrys!
Mary Wine…MaryWine.com
E-Book Sales Sizzle
My thanks to Mary Wine for generously letting me visit today. I’m thrilled to be in such great company here on the Brava Authors’ blog. Having Mary as my mentor is one of the best things about participating in Writing with the Stars. Her advice and insight are invaluable.
When I first learned my Regency romance was one of 10 finalists in Kensington Brava’s Writing with the Stars contest, giddy visions of Seducing Charlotte adorning bookstore shelves danced in my head.
Then reality set in. After all, there is no guarantee — even if I do win — that Seducing Charlotte will hit bookstores bound in a traditional glossy cover bearing that unique new-book smell. It could be published solely in e-book form. The idea of not having a sparkling new physical book to hold in my hands was a bit disappointing.
However, I’ve come to realize just how retro and backward-thinking that attitude is.
According to a recent New York Times article, romance is the fastest-growing segment of the e-reading market, ahead of general fiction, mystery and science fiction. Sales are so robust that Barnes & Noble expects its e-book sales in romance to surpass its print sales sometime next year. And publishers are rushing to make their backlists available in e-book form. The latest evidence that e-books are wading into the mainstream comes from the Association of American Publishers (AAP) which reports a 112 percent increase in e-book sales in October 2010 as compared to the same time last year. There was a 190 percent increase in the first nine months of 2010 from the same period in 2009. E-books currently account for almost nine percent of all trade book sales.
Even the venerable New York Times is giving its nod to paperless tomes. The newspaper will begin including e-book bestseller lists for fiction and non-fiction titles in its Sunday Book Review next year.
Add to that, Amazon’s latest announcement that Kindle sales are skyrocketing. In a letter to Kindle customers posted on its discussion boards, Amazon reports it has sold more of the newest version of its e-reader in the last 73 days than in ALL of 2009. While not releasing exact numbers, Amazon says the Kindle is far and away its bestselling gift item. I happen to be one of those readers who acquired a Kindle in the last couple of months. My husband bought me one for my birthday in November.
With all of those millions and millions of Kindles being sold this holiday season, it stands to reason that more e-books than ever will be purchased for those e-readers. I’ve bought eight e-books since receiving my Kindle. All of this suggests romance e-books are not only hot, but as the New York Times article suggests, they’re sizzling!
These latest developments have prompted me to reconsider my opinion of e-books. In fact, I quite like them, especially now that I’ve become so well acquainted with my Kindle (with its snazzy apple-green cover). I’d be ecstatic to be published in any format, especially in e-book form.
Of course, I’m getting way ahead of myself.
I still need to garner enough online votes to advance to the next round – and one step closer to publication. Check out the entries for Round Three of Writing with the Stars here. My entry is a back cover blurb for Seducing Charlotte, which is set against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution. The story pits social reformer Charlotte Livingston against Arthur Stanhope, Marquess of Camryn, an industrialist who utilizes the new machines which put the very people Charlotte champions out of work. Cam vows to destroy the marauding, machine-breaking Luddites, unaware that Charlotte has a shocking, secret connection to one of the rebel leaders. My mentor, the incomparable Mary Wine, really helped make this entry shine. I hope you’ll take a moment to check it out.
By the way, that front-page New York Times article by Julie Bosman suggests romance readers are partly attracted to the fact that e-books provide an escape from covers that some might find too racy or somewhat embarrassing. What do you think? Do you get a little red faced when people see the covers of the latest romance that you are reading? Does that tempt you to read your romances in e-book form?
Links:
Writing with the Stars: http://www.rtbookreviews.com/content/writing-stars-vote-best-back-cover-blurb