Digital Books Sales Continue Apace . . .

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Although the numbers are not in the same universe (yet), here are two disparate bits of information that have a nexus of commonality.

First, bestselling author Michael Connelly has now sold more than 1,000,000 Amazon's Kindle books. That is quite impressive. Click here to read more. He is just the 7th author to join this elite club.

Just yesterday I received a quick-hit email from one of our editors. Let's call him Robert. Here is what he wrote:

Ted --

Thought you might be interested to know the following, given the tenor of some of the recent posts on your blog: I just finished reading Hans Gobeler's Steel Boat, Iron Hearts, about U-505; am now reading Hunt and Kill, edited by some guy named Savas; and next intend to read Gary Moore's Playing with the Enemy. All on Kindle.

I never intended to get one. But when I retired from the CG, that's the gift my group of neighbors decided to give me, along with some Amazon credit. I didn't use it for the first couple of months, but then I found that for commuting back and forth to work on the train, it was more convenient than a print book. Often I have both a Kindle and print book (because I still have a lot of those...) going at the same time, and I read one or the other depending on the circumstances. Anyway, I thought you'd like to know, as an individual case study . . .
--Robert

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eBooks are here to stay.

--tps

Amazon Sells More Kindle Books than Hardcovers.**

This came sooner than I was expecting, but I was expecting it.

We are seeing a real spike in e-sales over the past three months--very strong and broad. What is more interesting to me than the steady uptick in e-sales is that we are not experiencing a concurrent drop in print sales. Many people in the industry were sure a rise on one side of the ledger meant a drop on the other. I wasn't convinced, and the data thus far suggest solid or increased print sales might be a beneficiary of the e-sale future. One indicator is that our strongest seller in both categories (print and e-book) for the past two months is the same title. The future looks bright for those ahead of the tidal wave. And we are ahead of that wave and riding it nicely.

For those of you who noticed the asterisks in the main title, there is a small "however" in that shout line. Amazon didn't disclose how Kindle e-book sales compare to its entire bookstore sales. With most Kindle books priced at $9.99, those e-books are often less expensive than the same title in hardcover, especially for popular new releases. But less-expensive paperbacks make up the vast majority of Amazon's book sales.

Hmm.

Click here to read the full article in Money Magazine.

--tps

JAXX--WINNER of 2011 Sacramento Jammies!!!

 

Jaxx playing the Crest Theater with a Jumbo-tron behind them.

 

(SCROLL DOWN FOR SOME GREAT PHOTOS)

JAXX, in which my nephew and God son Nikkos shares lead guitar duties, placed first out of 30 or so acts from the greater Sacramento region last night in front of a packed Crest Theater in downtown Sac.

After weeks of competition, the grand evening featured the final ten bands. Jaxx played second. The competition was fierce, and frankly I was worried after hearing the last four bands.

JAXX was tight and as on the money last night as I have ever seen them--especially considering the large audience and pressure-filled performance. Nikkos pulled out his bright yellow Ibanez and shredded on their final original "Tongues" before meeting guitarist Alan in the middle to finish with a dual lead. Alan played one of his leads behind his back while bassist Kyle Maxwell ran the stage and often jammed next to the drum kit being hammered by Alan's younger brother John Bonham--sorry, Jack Petterle.

Another big step in the progression of a great band and wonderful group of young men.

Alan Petterle ("I am so glad I gave up football.") Lead guitar. Age 16.

Jack Petterle ("Don't let me near a microphone. Ever") Drums. Age 14.

Kyle Maxwell ("This Ampeg stack sounds awesome.") Bass. Age 15.

Nikkos Savas ("I could do this forever.") Lead guitar. Age 16.

Nikkos shredding on "Tongues."

Nikkos on the opening song--Mean Machine.

Finale: Nikkos and Alan performing a dual guitar lead while Kyle rocks on. Jack (not in the photo) was busy eyeing a young groupie hanging off stage left.

Here are a few more earlier posts on JAXX.

JAXX at the Legendary Rock Club Boardwalk in Orangevale

JAXX at Blacksheep: Back-to-Back Gigs

Sunday Jam Session

For more photos and information on the band jump over to their Facebook page.

Congrats, guys. Like anything in life, you make your own luck through hard work.

-- Uncle Sugar Pops

Jacket Design: Five Tips for What an Author Can do to Help . . .

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I can't recall where I got these from (sorry), but here are a handful of tips authors can do to help sell their book (and by extension and implication, HURT their book sales). It centers around the jacket/cover design. At Savas Beatie, we almost always bring in the author for assistance, comment, opinion, and do our best to make him or her happy with the final product.

However . . .  Do you know what a camel is? It's a quarter horse put together by a committee. We don't want camels here. And with so many people stirring the pot, the actual book jacket may suffer from the compromises of consensus. (It doesn't here, but it does in some houses.) So if you are an author trying to influence the jacket design for your book, here are five tips:

1. Try not to assume that you know what’s best for the book, even if it’s true. Cultivate good relations with everyone at the company and maintain a position of modesty, humility, and cooperation.

2. Don’t bring in your 9-year-old child’s cute little pencil drawing of her horse for the cover, even if the book is about how to ride bareback Western Style. The only exceptions to this rule are genius-level kids with their own TV show.

3. Muster empathy for the sales and publicity people who may seem to be marching to a different drummer but have mutual interests to share. Keep in mind that they have to sell your book, and without their enthusiastic efforts, you’ll be severely handicapped.

4. Remember that in the end, this isn’t a science and we don’t always know what ultimately sells a book. Books with less than fabulous jacket designs have become huge sellers anyway. Take a book I published, The Scarlatti Inheritance, by Robert Ludlum. I thought the cover was boring and that it didn’t say anything about the book itself. Nevertheless the historical thriller was such a hit that the design was used again for subsequent titles.

5. Once the jacket is designed and chosen, put aside any regrets and do everything you can to help sell the book, including your own strenuous on-line web marketing, blogging, twittering, and other brilliant new techniques that emerge in these rapidly changing times.

--tps

Borders Said to Be Seeking at Least $50 Million in Additional Financing

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More distressing (though not surprising) news  . . .

Borders Group Inc. (BGP), the bankrupt book chain, is seeking at least $50 million in additional financing as sales trail expectations and publishers demand cash in advance, said two people who have seen the chain’s plans to reorganize.

The funds are needed to help Borders emerge from its in- court restructuring, said the people, who declined
to be identified because the process isn’t public. The retailer already has a $505 million debtor-in-possession loan, which offers sufficient capital for the next few months, the people said. The retailer may risk liquidation without further investment, easier terms from vendors or a buyer, they said.


Some publishers are spurning the reorganization the chain proposed to them privately, said a person familiar with the publishers’ strategy. At least one deems the revenue projections unrealistic because Borders no longer has enough stores to generate those sales, said the person, who declined to be identified because Borders’s presentations aren’t public.

Annual sales may drop to $1.5 billion, according to court papers, less than half what the chain generated two years ago. Borders, which is winding down about one-third of its more than 600 stores, has yet to file an outline of its reorganization plan in court.

“As a matter of ongoing company policy, we don’t comment on rumors,” said Mary Davis, a spokeswoman for Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Borders.

Company’s Origins

The book chain, which once operated more than 1,000 stores, lost business as customers switched to e-readers such as Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)’s Kindle, introduced in 2007. Larger rival Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS) invested in its own Nook device to attract customers.

Brothers Tom and Louis Borders founded the company four decades ago, building the chain to almost 20 stores before selling to Kmart Corp. in 1992. Three years later the retailer spun off the business, which had locations under the Borders, Waldenbooks and Planet Music brands.

Jefferies & Co. is a financial adviser to Borders. Josh Passman and Tom Tarrant, spokesman for Jefferies, didn’t return calls for comment.

Borders is seeking to reorganize, raise more capital, or find a buyer for all or parts of the company, according to Bruce Buechler, a lawyer for the unsecured creditors. New York-based Barnes & Noble isn’t viewed as a potential buyer for Borders, according to two people familiar with the process.

The lenders financing the bankruptcy reorganization are led by GE Capital.

This same article link can be found HERE.

Ever Wonder Why Borders is Bankrupt?

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Another author signing at Borders, another fiasco.

Sarah set up a book signing for Dan VanHaften, co-author of Abraham Lincoln and the Structure of Reason. As I have written elsewhere on this blog (see here for but one example), Borders is rife with problems top to bottom. Here is the author's report of the event (with light editing, and my comments inside brackets):

Today I was at Orland Park (IL) Borders for the book discussion/signing. When I arrived I didn't see any signs, nor initially any books. I spoke with Sandra, the manager. She told me their shipment of Abraham Lincoln and the Structure of Reason books had been delivered by accident to Lowes. They'd been working for a week and hadn't been able to get their hands on this shipment. [Of course, did Borders consider calling the publisher and/or author so we could bring books to the event or send a second shipment? No.] Apparently Lowes sent it back to FedEx. Thus they had only three copies of the book (which I had already signed--they were brought down from the Oakbrook Borders--they were the last three copies Oakbrook had).

I talked with various people in groups of 1 or 2, and sold the three copies. About seven or eight other people talked to me. I described the book and they showed interest. I gave them my business card. They seemed happy to have my card, and hopefully will pursue a purchase over the Internet or from another store. I told them the book was available in various eBook formats. One of them told me he just got an iPad.

It was disappointing there were no signs up and only three books. [We have seen this over and over with Borders, who have routinely greeted our authors with, "Your signing is today?] They did seem to know Orland Park Borders had been publicized on the Friday WGN TV midday news. I'm hopeful some of the discussions with people who did not buy the book at Orland Park will lead to sales. On my way back, I stopped at the Oakbrook Borders. Even though there are now no books there, the two signs are still up. The manager (John Conger) told me that they would be getting more copies of Abraham Lincoln and the Structure of Reason for my April 30th book discussion/signing, and we would have even more space on the display at the front in the store (as shown in the pictures I took) after Caroline Kennedy's April 19th book signing.

Orland Park seems slipshod compared to Oakbrook Borders.

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TED: If I ran Borders, I can guarantee you sales would increase and authors and publishers would never encounter this sort of nonsense. Alas, Borders is about to go under and the reason is obvious: the help doesn't know how to help, the management doesn't know how to manage, and the bookstore doesn't know how to sell books. What a great business model.

New investors anyone? Looks to be about as safe as buying US Treasury bonds these days.

--tps

Kindle or iBook? An Author Discusses . . .

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Kindle v. iBook

Co-authoring a book (Abraham Lincoln and the Structure of Reason, with Dan Van Haften: see http://www.thestructureofreason.com/) puts one in a unique position to evaluate Kindle v. iBook.

Abraham Lincoln and the Structure of Reason is $9.99 on Kindle. It is $16.99 as an iBook. That relative price difference seems generally within the range of other similar newly published books.

The price difference is even greater because for $9.99 one can load the Kindle version on three platforms: For instance, a free Kindle reader on a Mac desktop, a free Kindle reader on an iPhone, and a free Kindle reader on an iPad. I don’t own a Kindle machine but one could substitute the Kindle machine for an iPad.

There is no desktop iBook reader. So forget about displaying an iBook on a Macbook or a PC.

iBooks can be used on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, and can be synched to all iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches you own. But most people do not need more than one cell phone; and if you have an iPhone you don't need an iPod touch. Nor does one normally need more than one tablet. But, it is useful (for limited purposes) to be able to view a book on a desktop computer. So, in my view, Kindle’s three loads that work on three different kinds of hardware (small cell phone, a book-sized reader, and a full-sized computer) are more valuable than iBooks’ infinite loadability on an infinite number of iPhones, iPads, or iPod touches. You probably have no more than two of those three that you use, and you are restricted to Apple hardware (nice as it is).

But what about features.

Kindle sparkles on Apple hardware. However, as one might expect, there are some little touch, look, and feel aspects to iBooks that make iBooks marginally superior to Kindle. Except for one such feature, most of these pluses, though real, are trivial. But there is one iBook feature that to me is significantly more than trivial. Both iBook and Kindle have a slider on the bottom of the screen to quickly move through a book. But the Kindle slider is kind of like the old UNIX command line game of "Find the Wumpus," being blind in a maze of caves. An iBook shows chapter names as you slide. This is a huge plus.

If Apple wanted to improve that advantage, it would be great if there were a click when the slider reached the first page of any chapter. Usually that is where you want to go when you use the slider. Then, even better, would be a human factor automatically going to that chapter’s first page if one’s finger is lifted within the appropriate fraction of a second (since one is nearly always going to go just past that click).


David Hirsch