Book Marketing Newsletter for Authors
Authors, writers, maybe you already know about this wonderful and helpful newsletter, if not, I want to introduce you to this newsletter for authors. According to the writer, it is “A newsletter all about SUCCESSFUL publishing and POWERFUL promotion”.
Featured in the most recent issue:
– Note From The Editor
– What Does Amazon’s Decision Really Mean?
– Pitching Yourself to Bloggers
– Heal: Living Well After Cancer Magazine
– What’s Google Seeing When it Sees Your Site?
– 41 Blog Success Tips You Can Learn Today
– Book Bits and Bites
– Blogs Gone Wild
– Delivering a Perfect Pitch
– From the Publishing Insider:
– The Scoop on Outbound Links
– Tune in to The Publishing Insiders
– Check Out The Red Hot Blog Tour
– Create A Membership Program For Customers Who Want More Than One Item
– It’s Never Too Late to Market Your Book!
– How to Buzz Your Book!
– Get Noticed by a NY Publisher
– What is the Virtual Author Tour?
– Reader Tip!
– WHO ARE WE
Here is only part of the first article, contact Penny and visit her website (information at the end of this post) for the latest issue in full, and to sign up for the newsletter..I receive no compensation for offering this information, just found it very helpful!
What Does Amazon’s Decision Really Mean?
An interview with Jerry D. Simmons, regarding the far-reaching implications of Amazon’s announcement that any small press or print-on-demand publisher doing business with them would need to print books through their publishing arm: BookSurge. Jerry is a former Executive with the Time Warner Book Group who left there in 2003 to build one of the leading social networking sites for Independent authors, NothingBinding.com.
What’s the real outcome going to be from this Amazon decision?
The publishers impacted will follow the demands of Amazon and print their books with Book Surge. The wider implication is that Amazon strengthens their position with these publishers and creates a monster with their vertical integration. This leaves each one of those publishers vulnerable to new demands by Amazon. What’s next? Higher discounts. Right now these publishers have been forced to change vendors, it might have cost them a bit more money, but remember, they market to writers not consumers. So if they are unable to place their authors’ books on Amazon, it looks bad in the eyes of their customers, the writers. These publishers don’t have the courage to say no and take a stand. And it’s not about the fact they sell a ton of books on Amazon, it’s about their customers’ view of them and their ability to market their own books.
How do you predict the long-term effects of this as it relates to the small author and publisher?
The long-term effects for the author and publisher are devastating. With Amazon strengthening and securing their place in the distribution and sales channel, they can do anything they want. The next move will be to squeeze these small authors and publishers for placement fees, advertising fees, and eventually higher discounts. When you give in once, it never stops, this is the way of the publishing world and booksellers. It will get to the point where they start to lose money on each book sold. Only then will Amazon back off, but you can bet they are going to push authors and publishers to the wall and take every possible nickel out of the equation.
What can an author/publisher do to “fight back?”
Draw the line with this decision, pull their books from Amazon, create a new online market for selling their books, a central location for all self-published, print-on-demand books that has no alliance with any publisher or printer. Again, it’s not about selling books, it’s about how they are seen in the eyes of their customers, the writers. They are concerned about their own pipeline for new business drying up and that is much more important than giving in to Amazon’s demands. Each one of these publishers could switch all their allegiance to B&N.com today, but they haven’t, and the reason is that in the eyes of the writer, they feel they must be on Amazon to be successful. Short term it hurts business and they are more concerned about that than the longer term impact which is going to be a continual erosion of their profit margin.
What alternatives do authors and publishers have besides selling their books on Amazon?
It’s time for the self-published, print-on-demand companies and small publishers to begin creating their own marketplace, totally and completely separate from all the online platforms that sell their books. I strongly believe that the website www.NothingBinding.com is a solution, and for full disclosure, it is a site that I founded. But here is the key, if you are not part of the traditional world of big New York publishing, from which I spent 25 years, then authors must realize it is fruitless to continue to struggle to become part of something dominated and controlled by the largest publishers in the world. Amazon is clearly inside the traditional world, and they are setting restrictions on anyone outside that wants to be part of their world. This will never end! It’s time now to create your own community and establish a voice in the marketplace. I’m confident that Nothing Binding can fill that void, becoming the community and voice for Independent publishing. The name alone signifies a non-alliance with any publisher or printer. A social networking website that allows authors free placement of their books with links to outside sources is a perfect way for authors to separate themselves from the traditional world of big publishing; in fact, it’s the only way to create a market and achieve increased sales they so desperately want and need.
Do you think this was a bad decision on Amazon’s part and if so, why?
Obviously Amazon weighed the profit from the sales of all these POD books versus the additional revenue of printing AND sales. They made a calculated gamble and it appears they have been right. Now there is no stopping them on their demands. It won’t happen overnight, but they will make new rules and continue to do so until it negatively impacts their own revenue stream. Giving in is a monumental mistake for the author and publisher, if the POD companies had taken a stand against the decision and risked short-term profits, they would have been much better in the long term and more respected by their own customers in the marketplace. Why do you think Amazon did this only for the print-on-demand books and not books that are offset printed? They claim they did this so it would be easier for them to marry books with other products that customers wanted, combine the package and shipping for convenience and cost savings. What about all the other books that are offset printed? They have the same problem with marrying books and products, but they don’t own an offset printing company, yet! If I was running any company that does a substantial amount of business with Amazon and saw what they were doing with books, I’d keep a close eye on what other parts and manufacturing companies they purchase. Vertical integration in this case is good for Amazon, no, great for Amazon, but bad for the publishing business and possibly very bad for other product lines sold on Amazon…..
Contact information for this newsletter and website:
email: penny@amarketingexpert.com
web: http://www.amarketingexpert.com
my title will be the lowest, or second to lowest priced if someone has bumped me down. I also offer to send pictures by email upon request.
