I’m not one of those writers who think that e-books and Kindles are going to bring about the end of print publishing. The television didn’t do it and I don’t think e-books will either. IMO, they are simply going to become another media tool in the larger kit.
But how will this particular tool be used? How will it benefit authors? Linda Joy Singleton and Arthur Slade have recently shown us some of the possible ways.
Throughout January, Don’t Die Dragon Fly, book #1 in Singleton’s 6 book Seer series, was offered for free but only as an e-book. The first day it was offered for free, it rose from #5200 on the list of free e-books to #54 by nightfall. The top rank for the month was #13. When she posted about this, Singleton didn’t have final numbers but reported that sales for all 6 books, especially the e-books, were up.
Arthur Slade is using e-books in a slightly different way. He is using e-books as a means of bringing two out-of-print titles into availability. The first is Draugr, which is also his first novel. The second is Dust which is available as an e-book only in the US and UK because he doesn’t hold the Canadian rights.
When Slade wrote his experience up, he didn’t have huge sales, but he also reasons that some income on two books is better than no income on these same two books. Fans who read his current titles can now also buy these two books. Where Singleton worked with her publisher, Slade did this on his own, converting the texts into HTML and also commissioned the art work for his book covers.
We’ll have to keep our eyes open to see how authors make the most of the opportunities that ebooks offer.
–SueBE
One Writer's Journey 