Thursday, February 9, 2012

Is It Time To Abandon Print?

by C.J. West
Last week I finally made the move and enrolled three of my books in KDP Select. This weekend my new book, Addicted To Love, will be free in the Kindle Store until Valentine’s Day.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with KDP Select, it’s an Amazon program that allows authors to make their e-books free on the Amazon website. Enrolled e-books are available for Prime members to borrow free. The authors receive a fee per borrow that’s determined at the end of the month based on how many books are borrowed. The catch for authors is that the e-book must be exclusive to Amazon for 90 days.

I’ve had excellent response to free books in the past and I hope this one will be bigger than anything I’ve done on my own. The reasons that a free book on Amazon reaches so many people go well beyond the fact that Amazon is the biggest book retailer in the world. Sites like EreaderIQ, Pixel of Ink, Ereader News Today, Kindle Nation Daily and others redisplay data from Amazon’s catalog. They reach out to a wide readership and let them know about free and bargain books that look interesting and Amazon provides the platform to deliver all those free books.

These sites above have all helped me by promoting my work.
How does this compare to my bookstore experience?
On my walk today I remembered a time when I was signing in an independent bookstore and a customer came up to the owner and asked what she could recommend in suspense. I was standing about 10 feet away with 5 titles spread out in front of me. One of my books had recently been optioned into development as a feature film. I’d known the owner of the store for a few years, coming back to sign a the store with each new release.

I was stunned when she walked past me and showed the woman books by brand name, bestselling authors on the shelf off to my left. The woman walked out with four books without ever speaking with me.

It’s hard to blame the store owner  for not recommending me. She hadn’t read my work even though I’d given her a copy personally. The scenario illustrates the difference between print and electronic books. In print, the bestselling authors are not only well known, but they also have a price advantage because they print and ship so many books.

On the digital shelf I can offer readers a book that is 50% less, sometimes 90% less than offerings by more recognizable names. That’s why I sell 100 e-books for every print copy I sell.

I asked myself today if I should give up on print completely.  That would remove one more headache from my plate and wouldn’t affect my sales in any appreciable way.

I came up with two reasons to keep printing books on paper. The first is mom. She loves talking about me and my books. She carries them around in her trunk and sells them to anyone who reads. She’s almost 70 and she’s not going to open a website and start linking to Amazon. Could I take that away from mom? I think not.

The second reason to stick with print is who is buying them. I sell signed trade paperbacks from my website and ship them all over. When the orders come in I recognize most the names. These are people that I’ve never met in person for the most part, but they have been supporting me online for years. I can’t write a book and not make it available to my most loyal supporters.

From a purely business perspective, cutting print would mean one less cover to produce. A whole lot less accounting at the end of the year and no orders to place or books to ship. I could spend a bit more time writing or marketing e-books.

But this is one decision I’m not ready to make.

Are you still attached to dead tree books?

13 comments:

  1. I still read some books in print, but not many. And I'll continue to make my books available in print to readers who chose that option. It takes very little of my time, and most of my print sales are handled by CreateSpace with no effort from me.

    Yesterday, I met with a local senior book group that had read The Sex Club and invited me to join their discussion. It was great fun, and afterward, I sold a bunch of books. So people are still reading in print, and I imagine they will be for a few more years.

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  2. I agree LJ.

    One thing I didn't mention... I act in murder mystery shows and usually sell 50 books or more at the events. E-readers aren't popular enough yet for me to make an e-book part of the show, but anyone can walk away with a DTB and read it at home.

    CJ

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  3. At Murder in the Magic City, a reader remarked that her local indie store clerks don't read as widely as they used to, and are less familiar with new authors. I remembered that with your book store experience. The hand sell was her draw to the store.

    Ebooks look fun but I've never read one. For non-fiction, I like to mark and highlight sections of interest. For novels, it's an association thing... Turning pages is comforting.

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  4. At Murder in the Magic City, a reader remarked that her local indie store clerks don't read as widely as they used to, and are less familiar with new authors. I remembered that with your book store experience. The hand sell was her draw to the store.

    Ebooks look fun but I've never read one. For non-fiction, I like to mark and highlight sections of interest. For novels, it's an association thing... Turning pages is comforting.

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  5. Rachel,

    Someday I'm going to make you a convert.

    But sometimes I like turning pages, too.

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  6. I agree with Rachel. I love the feeling of a book in hand. The feel of the paper, the smell, they all add to the experience. From a financial standpoint it doesn't seem to matter much but I think C.J. is correct that some of the most loyal fans appreciate that personalized connection. Also, I think the internet will one day be destroyed by an EMP...so there's another reason :)

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  7. I read both. Sometimes, when the price of an e-book is sky-high, I'll go ahead and get the hardcover. My husband and I just converted a spare bedroom into a library, with seven seven-foot bookcases. It feels wonderful to walk in that room, I have to say.

    Not only do I have some friends and family members who are sans e-readers, I think I'd like to be able to see my own books in print, so I'll be going with CreateSpace when the time comes.

    As far as turning the pages goes . . . the motion used on the new Fire is very similar to a DTB. I have found myself fingering the side of the e-reader exactly as if I had a page to turn.

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  8. I have a Kindle, but so far I mainly just use it when I'm traveling. I like having physical books on display on my bookshelves where I can leaf through them when I want to. Since I was a librarian for a few years, I arrange them in alphabetical order by author, so it's easy to find the one I want.

    Also, I read a lot of how-to books on writing fiction, which I like to mark up and add little post-it notes sticking out.

    But more and more, I'm finding out about interesting-sounding books by indie authors, and I don't mind at all taking a chance on them when they're only $2.99 or less for my Kindle. Then if I'm hooked, I'll either buy more of their e-books for my Kindle, or look for a paperback edition by that author.

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  9. And I have a question for you and LJ and others who offer your books for free... Does that really boost actual sales signifantly? I guess it must, or you wouldn't be doing it!

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  10. Jodie,

    Free books help!

    I just blogged at CJ West Kills about that very thing.

    My first KDP Select freebie goes "on sale" tomorrow.

    I'm hoping it flies off the shelves.

    CJ

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  11. Virtually all my book my sales are now on Kindle. I do sell paper, but it's a fraction compared to the e-versions.

    Having said that, I will probably always provide paper editions of my books. For one, since I've now joined the Select program, I want to make my books available to a wider audience beyond Kindle. Another reason is that the paper books are a great marketing tool. People still want signed copies which I can distribute through giveaways. And yes, there are those holdouts who still like their paper. I'm happy to accommodate them as well. On a more personal, level, I love having paper versions of my book. It's a physical representation of my work that feels a bit more real than an ebook--and they look great on my book shelves.

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  12. I agree with Drew - I love having physical, signed copies of books I've edited on my bookshelves! And my coffee table!

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  13. I love ebooks, but I could never give up paper books. They are some of my favorite possessions. Especially the signed copies.

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