Tag Archives: ebooks
Protect Yourself: Sample ebooks before you buy!

Protect Yourself: Sample ebooks before you buy!

I spend a lot of time writing and talking about electronic publishing. One of the issues that comes up from both writers and readers is this: With everyone publishing out there, how do I know what is good? (The author version of that question is, “With everyone publishing out there, how can I make my […]

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Ebook Golden Age: Diversity Returns

Ebook Golden Age: Diversity Returns

The response to my last series of posts has been fantastic. One of the subjects a number of folks have asked me to talk about is how ebooks will change the nature of what we write. I think it will have a huge impact, and a wonderful one. It’s this aspect of the Golden Age […]

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Writing in the Golden Age of Ebooks

Writing in the Golden Age of Ebooks

My last post painted a gloom-and-doom scenario for the publishing industry. I wasn’t trying to be hyperbolic. I believe everything I wrote, and I wrote it in the vain hope that some folks in traditional publishing might read the warning and act to negate my vision of the future. Like most folks, I love books […]

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Publishing: Coughing Up Blood

Publishing: Coughing Up Blood

Publishing is dying—publishing as we know it anyway. In the past couple of days I’ve tried to show how dysfunctional traditional publishing is with its accounting practices. Traditional publishing has always lagged behind the technology curve, and as the rate of technological change accelerates, there’s little or no chance of traditional publishers ever getting caught […]

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Ebooks: How Many Are We Really Selling?

Ebooks: How Many Are We Really Selling?

It’s no secret that I have been a strong proponent of ebooks. I’ve encouraged every author I know to convert their backlists into ebooks to be sold via their own websites, via Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and any other site that makes a reasonable offer. In one post here, I even lined-out the Nine […]

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Book Returns—Insanity Incarnate

Book Returns—Insanity Incarnate

Yesterday I mentioned two things in my discussion of royalty statements that I wanted to talk a bit more about today. One was returns: Returns are a crucial part of the current book publishing model; and are one of the reasons it’s collapsing in on itself. Back during the Great Depression, book publishers started making […]

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The X-wing Books are Out of Print

The X-wing Books are Out of Print

Usually when an envelope arrives from your publisher during royalty time, it’s a happy event. This time, not so much. A quick glance at the statements revealed that Bantam Spectra chose, during the second half of 2010, to let my Star Wars™ X-wing novels go out of print. Getting the news that such a decision […]

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