Ebooks Sales Slowing? Yes and No

Am I the only one who noticed this from Publishers Weekly?

"Facing some harder comparisons, e-book sales posted their slowest growth rates in 2010 in October. Still, sales jumped 112.4%, to $40.7 million, from the 14 publishers who reported results to the AAP’s monthly sales program."

The article is HERE.

Now, a few things struck me when I read this.

First, probably because I'm a writer and have an overactive imagination, I pictured editors in NY clinking champagne glasses with the toast, "The ebook bubble is bursting, thank Gutenberg, and soon we'll be able to get back to what we do best; selling paper."

I realize that reporters and writers of the news have to attribute meaning to numbers, and that hooks and spin are necessary to make facts interesting. But the way PW prefaced these numbers, and called the article "E-Book Growth Slows" gives me a pretty good idea what their focus is. PW serves the publishing industry. The publishing industry is very uncomfortable about ebooks. Here's a nice fact to ease the publishing industry's collective mind.

Except it's a myopic, self-absorbed, and flat-out misleading fact.

This shows that ebook growth has slowed for 14 REPORTING PUBLISHERS.

That doesn't mean ebook growth is slowing for Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, or the tens of thousands of indie authors self-publishing.

My numbers have been steadily climbing for 21 months, and in the last six weeks I made $26,000.

Yesterday, I mentioned Amanda Hocking, who is selling 1200 ebooks a day.

In the past, this blog has mentioned Zoe Winters, Karen McQuestion, and Selena Kitt. Selena Kitt made $120,000 this year on her Kindle ebooks.

But these are all outliers, right?

No, they're not.

Mark Coker, who runs Smashwords, recently interviewed his star author Brian Pratt on HuffPo. Brian has earned $25,000 in three months.

If you check over on Kindleboards, Michael Sullivan sold 7500 ebooks in November. The thread also lists 14 other authors who sold more than 1000 ebooks last month.

Here are the names of these authors. Keep an eye on them. I only expect their sales to go up.

David McAfee
Nathan Lowell
Ellen Fisher
Valmore Daniels
David Dalglish
Terri Reid
Victorine Lieske
Richard Jackson
Karen Cantwell
Margaret Lake
HP Mallory
KA Thompson
Beth Orsoff
Lexi Revellian
Tina Folsom
Bella Andre
Ty Johnson
Vicki Tyley
Marilyn Lee
Felicity Heaton
LJ Sellers
Jeremy Bishop

PW or AAP didn't poll any of these writers and ask if their growth was slowing down. They certainly didn't ask me.

And these authors I listed aren't the only ones with growing sales--I'm just too lazy to gather more info. If you're an indie author who sold more than 1000 ebooks in November, post in the comments section and I'll add you to the list.

But then, indie sales don't amount to much, right? After all, 1000 ebooks a month isn't a lot. Not compared to what Big NY Publishing does.

Actually...

Whiskey Sour, by all counts my highest selling and most successful books, has sold 60,000 copies since 2004. That means it has averaged 770 copies a month since its debut.

1000 copies a month seems pretty damn good to me.

But then, these are indie authors. It's not like there are any professional authors jumping on this Kindle bandwagon. Except for maybe:

Robert W. Walker
David Morrell
Raymond Benson
Libby Fischer Hellmann
Blake Crouch
F. Paul Wilson
Marcus Sakey
James Swain
Paul Levine
William Meikle
Scott Nicholson
Simon Wood
Parnell Hall
Joseph Nassise
Tom Schreck
Henry Perez
Jeff Strand
Lee Goldberg
Mark Terry
Harry Shannon
Richard S. Wheeler
Ruth Harris
Don Pendleton
Jeremy Robinson

There are many more, but I'm tired off adding all the links.

However, I do want to post this final one, because I think it's pretty damn cool.

This is the latest book by bestselling author LA Banks.

I met Leslie at a writing convention in New Orleans, and we traded stories about how we'd gotten screwed in our careers, which lead to me talking about ebooks.

If you look at the cover (designed by my cover artist, Carl Graves at Extended Imagery), you'd think this is her newest Big NY Print Release.

Nope. Ms. Banks is self-pubbing this one, just in time for Xmas, for $3.99. You can buy it on Kindle HERE.

So... perhaps there is a reason ebook sales are slowing for those 14 publishers mentioned in PW.

Perhaps sales are slowing because more readers are buying indie books. Or because more professional writers are going indie. Or because publishers are too self-absorbed to notice anything happening outside of the insular world they've built for themselves.

But what do I know? I'm an outlier.

Here's a fun game, though. You know the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon meme? We can also play the Six Degrees of JA Konrath with self-pubbed Kindle authors.

Of the names I listed in the blog, I'm one degree of separation from at least 80% of them. The rest, I'm probably second degree.

You hear that, NY Publishing? You truly want to slow the growth of ebooks?

Shut me up.

I'm willing to be bought off. Pass around a collection envelope, like you do for employee birthdays. For a million bucks, I promise I'll never blog about ebooks, or help another writer, ever again.

Here's my Paypal button. Maybe we can do business.

The Bestseller Shift

In just a week, Amanda Hocking has sold over 10,000 ebooks.

Who is Amanda Hocking?

She's a self-published paranormal romance author. Check out her blog.

Not counting sales of Shaken, Afraid, or my Jack Daniels ebooks, I've sold about 2200 ebooks this week. And I've got about three times as many titles for sale as Amanda does.

Now, this isn't a competition, and writers should never compare their numbers, but I'm bringing Amanda's numbers up because I think it's indicative of a paradigm shift within the industry.

In the traditional publishing model, the most important factor in how many books sell is distribution.

A bestseller, by definition, has to sell a lot of books. In order to sell a lot of books, the book has to be available in a lot of places.

There's a chicken/egg thing happening here. Do authors become bestsellers, and then get huge distribution? Or is the huge distribution the reason they are bestsellers?

James Patterson is available in every airport, big box store, drugstore, supermarket, and non-bookstore outlet. Within the bookstores, his books get coop so they are available in mass quantities, for a discount.

Of course he sells a lot. If you're looking to read a thriller, often he's one of the only choices you have. The more places you are for sale, the more places you'll sell.

Some folks may say that Patterson sells well because he's an established brand. People know him, and that's why they buy him.

The multi-billion dollar advertising industry would like you to believe that it is essential to become a brand name, and for your product to become recognizable. Certainly Patterson has ad revenue behind him. He has TV commercials, for heaven's sake. It isn't difficult to draw a connection between how much he sells, and how well known he is, and advertising plays a part in how well known he is.

So let's get back to Ms. Hocking.

She has no name-recognition. If you look at her blog, she only has a few comments per post. She has no traditional publishing background, either.

Compare that to me, who has some name recognition, and a prior platform in the print world. I've been doing this longer than she has by years, have a large installed fanbase, have a blog that gets a million hits a year, and it's tough to find a discussion about self-pubbing or Kindle that doesn't mention me.

Yet Amanda is creaming me in sales.

So what's happening here?

What's happening, I believe, is a shift in how readers decide what to read.

The old distribution method of print books isn't valid in the ebook world. While Patterson can get into tens of thousands of retail locations with his books, his ebooks and Amanda's ebooks (and my ebooks) only have a few sales venues; Amazon, Apple, B&N, etc.

The playing field is even. On an even playing field, anyone can win.

While Patterson no doubt sells a good number of ebooks based on brand recognition, Hocking is a perfect reminder that a lot of things influence why people by things, not just a famous name.

Many items that aren't name brands can still sell very well. In fact, for every Sam Adams, there are dozens of popular microbrews who would perhaps give Sam a run for the money if they had wider distribution.

As ebooks take over as the dominant format for fiction, we're going to see a shift. Those who succeeded in the old print model will no doubt carry some of their fans along with them, but they'll see a drop in sales and profits, simply because their publishers price their books too high, give them too little in royalties, and because there is now a lot more choice for readers.

It's no longer a question of going to Walgreens and only having fifteen books to pick from.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, authors like Amanda Hocking, and Zoe Winters, and Karen McQuestion, and Selena Kitt, and Lorelei James, are making big money without the brand recognition, advertising, or distribution of James Patterson.

Years ago, publishers used to "grow" authors. They'd build them up, year after year, until they had a sizeable backlist, and then take a shot at the bestseller list by having a big print run and a big marketing campaign. Many of the authors you see on the NYT list got there through this method.

These days, authors can grow themselves. By writing good books with good covers, and pricing them low, readers can discover them.

No widespread distribution, advertising, coop, brand recognition, or famous name needed.

In the future, the bestseller lists won't be dominated by name authors.

They'll be dominated by good books.

Konrath Self-Pubbed Sales

I haven't posted my numbers in a while, so here they are.

In the past six weeks, my twenty self-pubbed titles on Amazon Kindle have earned over $26,000.

In November, I sold over 9000 ebooks on Kindle. That averages out to 300 a day.

In November, I also sold 266 print copies of nine self-published titles, earning royalties of $1000. This number is skewed, since most of the titles weren't available until the middle of the month.

I'm not allowed to disclose sales of Shaken, which was published by Amazon Encore. But I'll say that it puts my self-pubbed sales for November to shame.

I attribute the boost I've gotten on my self-pubbed titles to Shaken's success. It hung out in the Amazon Top 100 for a month, and is now ranked at #148.

So is this as good as it gets? is the ebook bubble about to burst?

Not even close.

Amazon put their Kindle 2 on sale for $89 on Black Friday. It sold out in four seconds.

I predict in 2011, the Kindle 3 will be under $99. The market will begin to shift from early adopters to mainstream consumers. Millions of ereaders will be sold this holiday season, and next season will be even bigger.

In 2010, my January sales had a nice bump, from new Kindle owners trying out their new gadgets. 2011 will begin the same way.

I've also noted before how ebooks are like a pyramid scheme. Once they're live, they keep earning money, and more people review them and tell others about them, growing their fanbase. As an author, I add fuel to this fire by writing even more titles, biggering my potential for discovery and for new readers.

In 2011 my two Timecaster sci-fi books will be released. So will Stirred, the last Jack Daniels thriller, that I'm writing with Blake Crouch. I'm also doing a follow up to Serial Uncut called Killers Uncut with Crouch, and a spy thriller with another writer friend. Plus I'm still working on that secret project that will land me on the NYT list for the first time.

All of this new material will keep my backlist viable. In the past 20 months, I've sold over 100,000 self-pubbed ebooks. I bet I can sell more in 2011.

Now lots of folks are quick to point out that I'm an anomaly, an outlier. I believe this label is premature. With every new trend, someone has to be first. But others will follow.

I've mentioned many authors, newbies and seasoned pros, who are self-publishing with some success. In 2011 watch how many pros begin to release their backlists, and their shelf-novels, on Kindle. Also watch to see if any write specifically for Kindle, bypassing traditional publishing completely.

Right now, the profit margin for traditional publishing is slim. If enough authors strike out on their own, it will cause an industry-wide collapse. Fewer books published means fewer sales, which means bookstores close, which means publishers close.

Now let's take a few questions.

Q: You really believe gigantic publishing companies won't survive?

A: Hardcovers sales are down 40% from last year. Ebook sales are up 158%. But publishers are screwing authors on ebook royalties, and charging too much for ebooks. If they change tactics, they'll survive. If they don't, more and more authors will leave tradtitional publishers to make more money on their own.

Q: Don't they realize that will happen?

A: Some of the smartest people I know work in the publishing business. These are motivated, savvy people who love books. But it is notoriously difficult to change a business plan in a large corporation, and history shows that new technology leaves massive casualties. I'm sure the average NY editor has ideas on how to fix things, but their hands may be tied.

Part of the problem is precedent. For over a hundred years, authors had no choice but to deal with publishers. Publishers had all of the power, and they've taken it for granted that they always will. Now the balance of power has truly shifted, but rather than realize their ENTIRE product line comes from artists, publishers instead continue to treat them in the same old way, and expect them to be grateful for the attention.

That won't fly anymore.

Q: How do libraries fit into this future?

A: Libraries are adapting better than bookstores are. Many already have ebook lending available, and more will follow.

Q: How about bookstores?

A: Chapters in Canada is a bookstore chain doing well while others are struggling. If I ran a bookstore, I'd diversify by not only selling non-book items, but by selling used books, POD books (with an Espresso Book Machine on site), and figure out how to sell ebooks in-store and host ebook authors for signings.

Bookstores should also be selling online, both print and ebooks. But their online presence should be community-oriented with lots of user-aggregated content. BN.com and Borders.com are places to shop. Amazon.com is a place to hang out.

Q: I'm an author with ebooks for sale, and I'm hardly selling any.

A: What are you doing to sell your ebooks? Do you participate in any ebook forums online? Have you tried changing your cover/price/product description? Do you actively promote your ebooks? Are you sure they're properly formatted? Is everything you have available for sale? And, finally, are the books any good?

I know authors who are sitting on books, holding out hope for a print deal. I know authors who insist their covers are good when they are really sub par. I know authors who charge too much, and authors who have formatting errors on the first page, and authors who haven't updated their website in two years.

Ebooks aren't a Hail Mary pass that win the ball game at the last second. Ebooks are a career. All careers mean hard work.

Q: You're really making $620 a day?

A: That's just on Kindle. If we include other ebook venues, Createspace, my print deals, and royalties and subsidiary rights, I'm probably one of the better-paid authors working today. Who woulda thunk that you can actually make decent money writing?

Black Friday Sale

Happy Day-After-Thanksgiving!

The wife says I have too many copies of my books around the house, so I'm having a sale.

I've been selling books on my website for years. Hardcovers are $24. Trade paperbacks are $14. Shipping averages about $4 per book.

But in the interest of clearing out some inventory, I'm selling autographed copies at near cost, and the shipping is on me.

By clicking on a button, you'll be taken to a Paypal cart. Paypal, of course, is 100% safe and free to use, and you can pay via check, credit card, or with your bank account.

Package #1 - The Jack Daniels Collection

$119.95

This set includes signed, hardcover copies of Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, Fuzzy Navel, and Cherry Bomb, for $119.95. This includes shipping.

The cover price for these is $144, plus $18 shipping. So this is a savings of of $42, plus I'll include a signed, numbered limited edition paperback copy of Serial by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch.

Seven books in all, some of them out of print, all autographed.

Package #2 - The Self Pub Collection

$99.95

This set includes eight of my recently self-published trade paperbacks: Origin, The List, Shot of Tequila, Disturb and Others, Trapped, Endurance, Jack Daniels Stories, and Horror Stories. All are professional formatted, 9"x6", about 300 pages each, autographed by me. I'm also including a hardcover copy of These Guns For Hire, a hitman anthology I edited, featuring stories by David Morrell, Lawrence Block, me, and 28 others.

The cover price for these is $140, plus $18 shipping. So this is a savings of $58.

That's nine books in all.

Package #3 - Everything

$219.95

Have you ever had the desire to own everything I've ever published, all at once? Has someone on your holiday list had that desire?

Now is your golden opportunity to get signed copies of EVERYTHING.

This includes hardcover copies of Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, Fuzzy Navel, Cherry Bomb, and These Guns For Hire, and trade paper copies of Origin, The List, Shot of Tequila, Disturb and Others, Trapped, Endurance, Jack Daniels Stories, and Horror Stories. Plus a signed, numbered copy of Serial, and a signed copy of Draculas.

That's seventeen autographed books, and shipping is included.

I've seen signed copies of some of my hardcovers sell for more than seventy bucks. This is a great opportunity to get my entire print catalog, everything autographed, and save over $80 off cover price, plus save the $28 shipping cost.

Of course, if you already have some of my books, you can order the others one at a time on my www.jakonrath.com/store.htm page. Buy any five books, get a sixth for free. The sixth book has to be the lowest price. Just contact me to let me know which one you want for free by putting FREE BOOK in the heading of your email.

Or, if you've been waiting for ereaders to become cheap enough to buy, on Black Friday Amazon.com begins selling their remaining stock of Kindle 2 readers for $89. Hmm... I recall someone saying that was going to happen eventually.

Happy holidays! This sale will continue until I take down the links for it.

Monetize It

I just updated my website, www.JAKonrath.com, with links. Lots of links, which all lead to my books.

Since writing in my sole source of income, it's in my best interest to make as much money from it as possible. And since I'm keeping the rights to the majority of my work, it makes sense to exploit those rights for all they're worth.

Here's what you can do squeeze the most revenue from your intellectual properties.

Kindle - The Kindle accounts for the overwhelming majority of my current income, and I'm selling over 350 ebooks per day. If you're new to the Digital Text Platform program that Amazon runs, you can get started by visiting dtp.amazon.com.

If, like me, you need some help formatting your manuscripts to make them Kindle-friendly, I suggest Rob Siders at www.52novels.com. He's fast, reasonably priced, and a true professional who will work with you to make your book look terrific on Kindle, and other ebook formats.

Smashwords - Once your ebook is up on Kindle, you should explore other ebook retailers. www.Smashwords.com allows you to list your ebooks on various formats, including Sony, Barnes & Noble, Kobo (which links to Borders), the Apple iBookstore, and Diesel.

B&N is the most promising so far, and now that Books-A-Million have begun selling Nooks (along with Walmart, Best Buy, and other brick and mortar retailers) I predict a nice holiday bump in sales.

As far as money goes, you can make slightly more, and get paid faster (with faster sales updates) if you deal with each of these companies directly. But I like the one-stop-shopping aspect of Smashwords. It makes things easier.

IndiaNIC - This company turns your ebooks into apps for sale on iTunes and the Android store. You have to contact them at www.indianic.com to set up a free account, and the money so far is underwhelming (I'm making maybe $50 a month) but it's a good idea to make your books available for the giant smartphone market.

Amazon Associates - This program is a bit labor-intensive to set up, but once it's finished, you can make 4% - 6% from every Amazon item you sell through your website. I have over fifty books, ebooks, and audiobooks available on Amazon, and my site gets a fair amount of traffic, so it made sense to implement this. Get started at affiliate-program.amazon.com.

Paypal - I began selling signed copies of my books off my website years ago, as a courtesy to fans who wanted my autograph but missed me during my various tours. It was a break-even venture.

But now, since I'm printing my own books, I can now function as a bookstore and make a few bucks. Paypal makes it easy to set up a website account and add a shopping cart and buttons to your site, as evidenced HERE.

Createspace - Ever since I began to earn money with ebooks, I've gotten requests from fans who want the print versions. During BEA, I met with many folks on the Createspace team, and also talked with a few authors who used the service. Recently, I took the plunge and made nine of my ebooks available in print through Amazon.com.

They're priced around $13.95 each, for 6" x 9" trade paperbacks, though Amazon has begun discounting a few. On each Amazon sale, I make about $3 - $4 in royalties.

While the basic version of Createspace is free to use, the Pro Plan costs $39 per title. For this extra cost, you get expanded distribution, better royalties, and cheaper author copies. I pay less than $5 per book--that's less than it would cost getting a Xerox at Kinko's, and the books are quality.

Since I'm no better at formatting fro print than I am formatting for Kindle, I hired someone. Her name is Cheryl Perez, and she's professional, reasonable, and easy to work with. You can reach her at yourepublished(at)gmail.com. Tell her I sent you.

Cheryl also took my cover art and created spines and back covers, perfectly sized for Createspace printing--yet another thing I couldn't do on my own.

My Agent - I often get asked what my literary agent thinks of all of my self-pubbing, since she doesn't get a commission from it.

I'm lucky that my agent is forward-thinking, because she helps me make even more money from these properties. Recently, she sold audio rights to my ebooks, and she's currently working on the foreign rights.

Conclusion - The Ron Popeil axiom "Set it and forget it" is pretty appropriate for all of the methods I've discussed here. Though there are time and monetary costs involved in setting these up, once they're live you can pretty much ignore them.

Including my website, I'll be selling books through ten different retailers. Createspace also works with a distributor, so bookstores can order the books. If you add audio and foreign markets, a property can be sold dozens of times.

Never before has it been so easy for an author to reach so many potential readers. I'm pretty excited by the possibilities here. The biggest enemy of self-publishers has always been distribution. Not anymore.

What's the new biggest enemy? Obscurity. But that's a blog topic for another day...

Guest Blogger James Swain

Joe sez: James Swain is an accomplished magician, gambler, and the bestselling author of fourteen thriller novels. I talked to him at a conference in Florida several months ago. He had a few questions about ebooks, and I was more than happy to answer them. As with all authors who ask (and even those that don't ask) I iterated that the keys to Kindle success are:

1. A good book with good formatting.

2. Good covers.

3. Good product descriptions.

4. A low price

Recently, he self-published four new ebooks on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and they're doing exceedingly well. His covers were done by my cover artist, Carl Graves at Extended Imagery. He had them professionally formatted by my formatter, Rob Siders. And he priced them to sell, at $2.99.

I asked Jim to answer a few questions about ebooks, and he kindly responded.

Joe: What prompted your move to self-publish your ebooks on Kindle?

Jim: It was actual a series of events that led me to this decision. My publisher, Random House, had two books which they'd paid me to write in the Tony Valentine series that were in their catalog to be published. RH decided to release two other novels I'd written instead, and after two years of nothing happening, those books got kicked back to me. I'd been thinking about self-publishing them, and actually had orders for 5,000 of each title. Then I looked at the cost and flipped. It was going to run me over $50,000 to do this! The eBook route seemed much less expensive the more I looked at it. I had two other novels which my agent was shopping (The Program & The Man Who Cheated Death) which I decided to release as eBooks as well.

Joe: Have you been pleased with your results so far?

Jim: Ecstatic! I've sold over 1,400 books and also got renewed interest in a TV series that's in development in Hollywood for the Valentine series. I also enjoyed the process of self-publishing digitally, which is radically different than self-publishing in print. Back in the 1990s, I self-published two hardcover books on magic. Each book took 18 months to complete from start to finish. This process took 10 weeks from start to finish. Talk about a difference.

Joe: How easy was it to get your ebooks published? Did you get some help?

Jim: I didn't find it easy at all. If I hadn't heard you speak at the Mysteries to Die For conference in Sarasota, I don't think I would have done this. Your talk answered a lot of nagging questions, and empowered me to try this. Rob Siders, the gentleman who formatted my books, also helped a great deal.

Joe: Would you consider ever writing a novel specifically for Kindle?

Jim: Absolutely. I love to write stories, and have been doing so since I was a kid. Writing is my passion, and I can certainly see myself writing a book for Kindle. I think eBooks are the greatest thing since sliced bread for people who love to read, and there's no reason not to write something just for this audience.

Joe: Are you going to list your ebooks on Smashwords (and through them, on Apple, Sony, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Borders, etc.)?

Jim: My eBooks were listed with Smashwords, but I was forced to take them down. Let me explain why. I got complaints from readers who didn't like the way Smashwords formatted my books, which was upsetting to me. I didn't want a product in the marketplace that didn't look professional, and readers were telling me that the books on Smashwords weren't up to snuff.

The second reason was B&N. At the time my books were released, Smashwords was the only way to get onto B&N's site. As you know, Smashwords doesn't put every author on B&N, just those they want to. While I was waiting for them to make up their mind, B&N launched their own platform called Pubit, which allows authors to list books on their site. I put my books on Pubit, and they went live in two days. Then a strange thing happened. Smashwords put their versions of my books on B&N's site, and undercut my price by 10%. I had no choice but to end my relationship with Smashwords.

Since then, I've listed my books on the iBookstore through Lulu, and am listing my books on Kobo and Borders as well, which I think covers all the bases.

I hope people won't take this comments as a slam of Smashwords. I think it's a good site that offers a good service, and Mark Coker, the founder, is a brilliant guy. It just didn't work for me.

(Joe sez: Just an FYI, the issues Smashwords have been having are the results of the retailers they're dealing with, not because of any problems on the Smashwords site. B&N, Sony, and Kobo take a long time to implement SW ebooks into their catalogs, and then they discount those ebooks. Smashwords is currently working to stop the discounting, and to make uploading books and reporting sales more timely, which is why I've stuck with them.)

Joe: Any predictions about the future of publishing?

Jim: I have been making a living from the publishing business my entire adult life, and could go on about this topic for days. Here's the Reader's Digest version: Those who embrace ebooks and the new technology will do just fine. Those who don't, won't.

Joe: I've been preaching about ebooks for over a year now. Have you been evangelizing this to your peers as well?

Jim: Yes, I have. The mainstream media has done a wonderful job of demonizing ebooks, and blaming them for publishing's current dire straits. As a result, many writers are avoiding the topic like the plague. They need to wake up, and look at the reality of what's happening. The publishing industry's downward spiral began in the summer of 2008, and had nothing to do with eBooks, and everything to do with a financial crisis that was out of control. Ebooks are the best thing that's happened to the business since the popularization of the paperback. They will eventually be the industry's salvation.

Joe: Thanks, Jim, for stopping by. I love it when "name" authors jump on this bandwagon, because it echoes what I've been saying all along: this is the future.

I'm not sure ebooks will be the industry's salvation, as much as they'll be authors' salvation. Making 70% royalties is a Very Big Deal, especially for pros who have accepted 8% for years.

But just as important is the time issue. After Jim and I spoke in Florida, he had four novels up on Amazon, fully formatted and with killer covers, within two months. There are no Big 6 publishers that could have accomplished that. Nor would any Big 6 publisher release four novels by the same author at the same time, worrying they would cannibalize each other's sales.

Which brings me to a point I often harp about. In an ebook world, there is no shelf life for books. Ebooks are forever. Which means that every day your ebook isn't live on Amazon is a day you aren't getting paid.

There is no longer any need to stagger book releases, or subscribe to the "one book a year" ethic that publishers seem to love. If you've got something ready to go, then sooner is better.

It's also worth noting, if you're a professional author with a backlist, that new Kindle books give your backlist a boost in sales. Previously this year, I'd been selling about 200 ebooks a day. Since November 1st I've been selling 350 self-pubbed ebooks a day. This is due to the launches of Shaken and Draculas in October.

This doesn't count the sales of Shaken, which I'm not allowed to specifically disclose because AmazonEncore likes to keep their numbers close to their chest. But I can say, if I include my backlist Jack Daniels ebooks with my self-pubbed ebooks, I was selling over 1000 ebooks a day not including Shaken.

That's a lot of ebooks.

Elsewhere on the interwebs, a lot of folks have been making predictions about how big this ebook market is going to get. While my belief that ebooks will replace print as the dominant format is based on precedent for other media technologies, my own sales, and my experience with the publishing world, it is still just a guess on my part. But ebook sales will increase quite a bit this holiday season. And they'll increase even more next year, now that color is possible with E Ink.

And print? It's dying. Check the latest stats on Publisher's Weekly. In a nutshell: ebooks up 151%, hardcovers down 40%. The same thing is happening with audiobooks. Downloads up 74%, CD sales down 40%.

This is the future. Get in on it as soon as you can.

With A Little Help

This isn't a competition.

It never was, really. Very few readers only read one author. The vast majority like several authors, and the more a person likes to read, the more authors they wind up discovering, and following.

In some cases, price may be a bit prohibitive. If your book budget is $40 a month, you might have to choose between two new hardcovers, or five paperbacks. But, by and large, readers don't pick one book over another book. If they want to read them both, they eventually will.

Which brings us to authors helping authors.

If we're not in competition with one another, then it makes perfect sense to help each other out. After all, we're all in the same boat.

I do this a lot. Anyone who has ever done a booksigning with me knows that I spend a lot of time pimping my peers' books--often moreso than I pimp my own.

That said, here are some writers I'd like to share with you.

Simon Wood is a guy I've known for years. I really liked his book Working Stiffs, and you can get it now on Kindle for $2.39. But even better, if you buy this ebook, or any of Simon's ebooks, until the end of the week, he's donating all of the proceeds to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Simon obviously understands this "helping others" thing.

Tom Schreck is a friend, and we wrote a story together called Planter's Punch featuring Jack Daniels and his series character, boxer/social worker Duffy Dombrowski. The Kindle version has been out for a while, but Tom has just released the story, along with his other terrific Duffy stories, in print. Duffy to the Rescue is a great collection for those who still like dead tree books, and all proceeds go toward Basset Hound rescue.

Parnell Hall is a funny guy, and a good writer, and a singer of dubious talent. But his songs are pretty damn funny. Check out his video for King of Kindle, which features cameos by a whole slew of famous mystery authors. (You might also check out the King of Kindle Bouchercon Edition, which features a fat, bearded blogger you might recognize.) His books are even better than his videos. Try Suspense, which is only $2.99 on Kindle. Hmm, I wonder why he chose that price...

Next week I'm doing a blog interview with the multi-talented James Swain, who is burning up the Kindle charts with his thrillers. Until then, check out Jackpot, the cover art done by my guy Carl Graves, and priced on Kindle at $2.99.

Marie Simas is a friend of this blog, and her ebook Do Tampons Take Your Virginity is a memoir about what happens when you grow up in an insane Catholic family. My wife just finished reading it, and loved it. It's a bargain at $2.99. I'll be interviewing the author sometime this month.

Dating My Vibrator by Suzanne Tyrpak was terrific, and even though it isn't the type of thing I normally read (online dating disasters?) I really enjoyed it. And for 99 cents, so will you.

Blake Crouch and I go way back. We're currently working together on two projects. One is the eighth and final Jack Daniels thriller, Stirred (the sequel to Shaken.) We're also working on a follow up to Serial Uncut called Killers Uncut, which ties up loose ends while showcasing a few bad guys from Jack Daniels's past. Both Stirred and Killers Uncut (along with Shaken and Serial Uncut) feature Blake's serial killer Luther Kite, who appeared in his terrific thrillers Desert Places and Locked Doors--both now $2.99 on Kindle.

When Draculas was released two weeks ago, Blake and I went on Kindle Boards and offered to buy people's ebooks if they bought ours, as a quid pro quo gesture. Quite a few authors took us up on this. Here's a list of them all. If you're looking for new writers, these folks are the future. And they're all $3.99 or less.

Stars Rain Down by Chris J. Randolph - $2.99 - After a devastating alien invasion, the last scattered survivors are forced to employ savage and unthinkable tactics in the battle for their future. Even if they win, can humanity ever be the same?

Down the Drain by Daniel Pyle - 99 cents - Bruce has lost everyone he ever cared about—even his cat. Now, when he thinks he’s finally alone in the house, something will come clawing its way out of the plumbing to prove him wrong.

Take the Monkeys and Run by Karen Cantwell - 99 cents - When film loving suburban housewife Barbara Marr talks her two friends into some seemingly innocent Charlie’s Angels-like sleuthing, they stumble upon way more than they bargained for and uncover a piece of neighborhood history that certain people would kill to keep on the cutting room floor.

No Good Deed by Mary McDonald - 99 cents - Mark Taylor, a photographer in Chicago, discovers first hand that no good deed goes unpunished when the old camera he found during a freelance job in an Afghanistan bazaar gives him more than great photos. It triggers dreams of disasters. Tragedies that happen exactly as he envisions them.

Wishful Thinking by K. Crumley - $1.59 - One stormy night Maevis Etherwood came home and found her husband in bed with another woman... What exactly transpired afterward remained a mystery, even to Maevis herself.

Camille by Tess Oliver - 99 cents - At a time when society conforms to the strictest rules and most proper etiquette, sixteen-year-old Camille Kennecott and her guardian, Dr. Bennett, live a most unconventional life. They hunt werewolves.

Gone by Karen Fenech - 99 cents - FBI Special Agent Clare Marshall was separated from her sister Beth in childhood when their mother tried to kill them. Now Clare learns that Beth lives in the small town of Farley, South Carolina, but when she goes there to reunite with Beth, Clare discovers her sister is missing and that someone in the town is responsible for her disappearance.

Empath by Frank Zubex - 99 cents - After being shot in the cemetery, Detective Nick Crowell encounters ghosts and people with paranormal problems. In this collection of nine stories, five of which were originally published in DemonMinds from 2007 to 2008, you'll read about people who's lives have changed so drastically that they seek out Detective Crowell for help.

Blood Spring by Erik Williams - 89 cents - A husband and wife lost in the woods... A feral family that worships an ancient god... Who will make it out alive?

Love Lust and Petty Crime by Harclubs Bartag- $2.84 - Emmet Storch was an unemployed sponger who thought he had no calling in life. All that changed when he landed a job in the call centre at the monolithic Star Insurance where, from the very first day, he was magnificent.

Pain by Harry Shannon - $2.99 - A Top Secret virus infects the water supply of a mountain town. Two mercenary soldiers, a retiring doctor and a handful of terrified patients struggle to defend a remote ER against a mob of the living dead. Through one long, harrowing night the living will learn there are many different kinds of... PAIN.

Failing Test by J.M. Pierce - 99 cents - You know him, but you can't remember his name. He is the one that is always there, in the background, all but invisible to those roaming the hallways. What if he had a secret? What if it was a secret that even he didn't know?

Reining In by Dawn Judd - 99 cents - Khalida is a five thousand year old vampire. As technology and national security become more prominent, it becomes harder and harder for her to hide her secret from the world. In order to remain undetected by humans, she creates a network of people whose only job is to hide her identity.

The Usurper by Cliff Ball - $2.39 - Ever wonder what would happen if our worst fears were realized and we elected someone who was willing to destroy the USA, even if he was destroyed himself? The Usurper is that novel. It is a fictional account of what would happen if the Soviet Union and KGB were given the chance to take down the United States from within.

Gnelfs by Sidney Williams - $2.99 - Cries in the night from her daughter, Heaven, are just the beginning for Gabrielle Harris. What seem to be nightmares about Heaven's favorite cartoon characters soon lead Gab to a stranger paranormal conspiracy focused on revenge.

The Knight of Death by Brendan Carroll - $2.99 - An apparent kidnapping and rape become the first steps in a mystical journey for the Chevalier du Morte when a routine mission precipitates a spiritual fall from grace. As the tables turn on the abductors, the immortal Knight sinks in a corrupt quagmire of sin while fighting to recover his lost purpose and identity.

Space Junque by L.K. Rigel - 99 cents - Char Meadowlark accepts an invitation to visit the Imperial Space Station from Mike Augustine, her dead sister's fiancé. While she's in orbit eco-terrorists start a planet-wide war.

Fruitbasket From Hell by Jason Krumbine - $2.39 - My name’s Alex Cheradon. I’m a private investigator. I do NOT slay vampires, battle demons, fight zombies or vanquish evil spirits. In fact, you know what? Let’s just strike a line through the whole supernatural genre and call it a big no-no for me, okay?

Daughters by Consuelo Saah Baehr - $2.99 - In this sweeping, uncommonly stirring narrative spanning 1883 to 1957, Baehr chronicles the lives of three Palestinian Christian women: Miriam Mishwe, her daughter Nadia and Nadia's adopted child, Nijmeheach fated to struggle with the competing claims of loyalty to family and love for a man.

The Fall: An Undead Apocalypse by Robert J. Duperre - $2.99 - An ancient evil, trapped in the ruins of a lost Mayan temple for centuries, has been unleashed. It takes the form of a deadly virus, one that causes violent insanity in the living and the recently departed to rise and walk.

Top Ten by Ryne Douglas Pearson - 99 cents - A killer who believes himself an artist of unmatched talent is incensed when he is placed last on the FBI's most wanted list, and begins killing off those fugitives above him, each in a twisted manner that serves his creative vision.

Swallow by Tonya Plank - 89 cents - Sophie Hegel is a shy New York lawyer from small-town Florence Arizona, known not for the Renaissance but for housing a large prison. She's just graduated from Yale Law School and landed her first job when, one evening she feels a fist-like ball form at the base of her throat.

A Dance of Cloaks by David Dalglish - $2.99 - Thren Felhorn is the greatest assassin of his time. Marshalling the thieves' guilds under his control, he declares war against the Trifect, an allegiance of wealthy and powerful nobles. Aaron Felhorn has been groomed since birth to be Thren’s heir. Sent to kill the daughter of a priest, Aaron instead risks his own life to protect her from the wrath of his guild. In doing so, he glimpses a world beyond poison, daggers, and the iron control of his father.

Not What She Seems by Victorine E. Lieske - 99 cents - Steven Ashton, a billionaire from New York, and Emily Grant, on the run from the law... and when they meet he can’t help falling for her. What he doesn’t know is that interfering in her life will put his own life in danger.

Need to Know by Christine Merrill - $2.39 - The new man in Liz Monahan’s life is a rogue secret agent who’s trying to kill her. But at least he’s single.

The Heretic by Joseph Nassise - $2.99 - In this internationally bestselling series from Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild Award nominee Joseph Nassise, the ancient Templar Order has been resurrected as a secret combat arm of the Vatican, charged with defending mankind from the supernatural enemies that threaten them at every turn.

The Ways of Khrem by D. Nathan Hilliard - $3.99 - Cargill the Bookseller lives a quiet life, in a modest house, overlooking the vast city of Khrem...a magical metropolis of cavernous streets, lofty spires, and dark secrets. His life is turned upside down when Captain Wilhelm Drayton of the City Watch arrives at Cargill's doorstep and confronts him with his criminal past.

Powerless by Jason Letts - 99 cents - Mira Ipswich couldn't have ever known the startling difference that separates her from the rest of humanity. But when she discovers a strange anomaly in the midst of her seclusion, her parents are forced to reveal she exists in a world where everyone is imbued with a wondrous natural gift. Everyone except herself that is.

Asylum by Erik Lynd - $2.99 - Forced into a psychiatric hospital by uncaring parents, a teenage boy must master the strange power within himself to overcome the horror gathering in the shadows.

Broken Wings by Sandra Edwards - 99 cents - Rio Laraquette thought the legend was nothing more than an enchanted tale about star-crossed lovers who left behind a fortune. That is, until she figures out that she—in a past life—was the culprit who stole a shipment of gold and silver and buried it somewhere in the hills of northern Nevada.

Courtesan by D.A. Boulter - $2.99 - She needed a ship to escape pursuers; he a companion on a trip to the stars. The deal seemed straight-forward, but neither told the other everything.

eBully by Dave Conifer - 99 cents - Vice Principal Steve Lukather is desperate. Just like last year, an internet bully is terrorizing one of his students at Lakeland Middle School.

Cameo the Assassin by Dawn McCullough-White- 99 cents - Cameo, an alias for Gwen, "the thrall of a vampire," has two masters to serve. One is Wick, the aging, spell-casting head of the Association of Assassins, who assigns missions to the battle-scarred Cameo. The other is Haffef, Cameo's vampire "Master," who years ago rescued her from certain death after her vicious rape and beating and a deadly attack upon her younger sister.

White Seed by Paul Clayton - $2.39 - White Seed hews closely to the record of Sir Walter Raleigh's second doomed attempt to plant the British flag in Virginia. The depiction of the colony's physical and moral disintegration between 1587 and 159o evokes a harrowing sense of human fallibility. Readers will find this saga, which soon achieves page-turner velocity, to be both a dandy diversion and an entertaining education.

Bound by Blood by Kimberly Hoyt & Danielle Bourdon - $2.99 - He was willing to give up eternity to have her, but would he die to keep her?

October Breezes by Martia Rachel Hooley - $2.99 - Skye Williams knows everything there is to know about mistrust: Dad skipped out when she was five, leaving Mom with an angry daughter and an upside-down mortgage.

One Insular Tahiti by Thea Atkinson - $2.99 - Luke MacIsaac is dead, but not restfully so. In his watery afterlife he takes notice of an infant girl struggling to survive her birth. He feels a peculiar attachment to this girl and revisits her birth over and over again knowing she can survive if she is given a purpose. He wills her to be his mother in his next incarnation.

The Summoning Fire by David Michael - $3.99 - All Reese Howard has left is pain. Pain and a pump-action shotgun.

Cries in the Dark by P.A. Woodburn - $2.99 - Two prostitutes vanish. Chimps are mysteriously missing from a primate sign lab. Is there a possible link to a biomedical research facility? While premed student Alex Buchanan confronts her new-found ability to communicate telepathically with animals, the body toll mounts.

The Kinshield Legacy by K.C. May - $2.99 - A mysterious stone tablet with five magical gems has sat abandoned in a cave for two hundred years. The kingdom is in ruins, with only warrant knights to keep the peace. But then, the gems in the tablet, one by one, disappear.

We Interrupt This Date by L.C. Evans - $2.39 - Since her divorce a year ago, Susan Caraway has gone through the motions of life, feeling at best mildly depressed. Now she is finally coming out of her shell. Just when she decides on a makeover and a new career, her family members call on her for crisis assistance.

Forbidden The Stars by Valmore Daniels - $2.99 - At the end of the 21st century, a catastrophic accident in the asteroid belt has left two surveyors dead. There is no trace of their young son, Alex Manez, or of the asteroid itself.

The White Hairs by Noah K. Mullette-Gillman - $2.99 -The White Hairs is a work of spiritual mythology. Somewhere on a white and snowy mountain, is a young creature learning how to leave his body and travel the world inside of the wind.

Jenny Pox by J.L. Bryan - $2.39 - Jenny Morton is a quiet small-town girl from South Carolina whose touch spreads a deadly supernatural plague--she can't touch anyone for long without killing them.

Monster Mashup by M.J.A. Ware - $2.99 - Monsters, magic, goblins, zombies, and more. Be prepared to sleep with the lights on. This collection of nine short stories will have you looking over your shoulder, avoiding mirrors. and jumping at the slightest sound.

Out of Time by Monique Martin - $2.99 - When a mysterious accident sends Professor Simon Cross and his assistant, Elizabeth West, back in time to 1920s New York, they find it's more than a the world of Prohibition and speakeasies. It's a world where the underground is run by the underworld, and where vampires and mobsters vie for power in the seedy underbelly of Jazz Age Manhattan.

A Little Girl In My Room by Claire Farrell - 99 cents - A Little Girl in my Room & Other Stories is a collection of dark flash fiction by upcoming author, Claire Farrell. This book is Rated R: Adults Only. Some may find the themes addressed disturbing.

The Book of Biff by Chris Hallbeck - 99 cents - The Book of Biff is a single panel comic about spaghetti, time travel and toast. The strip centers around a child-like mad scientist named Biff who may be part cockroach or possibly an alien.

Lonely is the Soldier by Jeffry S. Hepple - $2.84 - Follow the career of 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta officer R.A. Lincoln from Delta selection through the start of the War on Terror.

Night Touch by John C. Hamilton - $2.99 - Christopher Price roams the dark streets of Manhattan, terrified of his past, searching for a future. Dr. Willard Pull: dentist and concerned citizen. Blood lust sends them on a collision course. One of them is a serial killer. The other is a vampire.

Northwoods Deep by Joel Arnold - $2.99 - Deep in the north woods, two sisters become lost; one stalked by a murderous ex-husband, the other unable to rid herself of the leeches that appear mysteriously on her skin. All are drawn to an old, dilapidated cabin. Inside lives an old man with awful urges, accompanied by a Rottweiler possessed by something…unnatural. But it’s what resides beneath the cabin that they should really be worried about.

In the Mood by Ellen Fisher - 99 cents - Jude Patterson is a sexy but shy romance novelist who discovers the flowery language he's always used in historical love scenes doesn't translate well to contemporary romances. Alyssa Stone is a beautiful fan who offers to help him learn to write better love scenes. Jude is fascinated by Alyssa, whose confident and sensual demeanor conceals a very vulnerable interior. Before long, he's the one showing her how to write love scenes... and maybe even how to write happy endings.

The Adventures of Whatley Tupper A Choose Your Own Adventure by Rudolf Kerkhoven & Daniel Pitts - $2.99 - Whatley Tupper is an A-grade janitor at a B-grade university about to become entwined in C-grade fiction! Yes, there is something in the air tonight... Adventure! Romance! Carbon Monoxide!

So there you are. Quid pro quo in action.

And to the authors I've listed here, I encourage you to link to this blog on your blogs (or on Twitter, Facebook, or wherever.) We're all in the same boat, so we all should be rowing.