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The eBook Revolution is in Full Swing

By Michelle Gamble

The good news: eBooks are starting to dominate the sales of fiction and nonfiction books. How do I know this? As CEO of 3L Publishing (www.3LPublishing.com) I’ve watched our sales trends shift at first gradually and then in the last year demonstrably. For example, the Amazon top-seller that went to no. #1 on Kindle and print in its categories (Chocolate Flowers) sold nine eBooks to one print book.

What does this mean for authors (we’ll start here). It means higher royalties and less overhead costs (when you use a hybrid publisher like ours). It means reduced print costs. It requires less storage space. Now authors and publishers risk less. When you print books if you don’t sell those copies you dispose of them, donate them, or (and this one is painful) destroy them (as in burn or dump). When we’ve had to destroy books it felt like literally taking dollar bills and burning them – not a good feeling – but it happens.

Overall eBook is better. Conversion is a one-time cost unlike ongoing print fees. No limitations exist on how many electronic copies are sold. A one-time cost and higher royalties, why would you not want an eBook version of your book? Updates on eBooks can be easily done. For a small re-conversion fee you can update or make corrections. The cost is still nominal compared to a reprint where you have to update it, reload it into the printer’s system, pay a change fee per page altered, and reprint and shipping costs. Conversion to eBooks and updates require none of these extra fees or services.

What is the downside? If you love print books a time may come where printed copies are either impossible to find or hard to find. Consumers can’t get author-signed copies of eBooks (although I suspect the technology companies will be coming up with something that is similar to how you electronically sign a credit-card purchase with your finger).

On the industry side, eBooks are less risky. Publishers don’t make the risky print investment. More first-time and emerging authors can be published exclusively in eBook to make it easier to see sales trends. Independent authors have a greater shot at success. Areas like “fan-fiction” and online reading can make books go viral and start a following. A following produces overall sales.

At the same time though, new and emerging authors who are inexperienced can present their work as legitimate – and this is where consumers lose. When authors present so-called professional work that is marginal then consumers invest in shoddy products. Amazon has experienced consumer backlash from readers upset over poorly written and edited material they paid money to buy. Thus, eBooks can now be returned, and Amazon has put more vetting into what is put up for sale.

In my opinion, I think eBooks are the wave of the future no matter how strongly print enthusiasts rally to save the “book”. Sales projections and current figures definitely support that assertion. All of the 3L Publishing books are trending toward increased eBook sales. As noted, many good things come from electronic versions vs. print. Now I admit I’m still not a Kindle, Nook or iBook reader. I still like paper, but more and more I am reading manuscript submissions on my Smart Phone.

If you’re a first-time or emerging author and you want your book professionally published and converted to eBook, please contact us at[masked] or send an email to [address removed]. You can submit a 100-word summary and sample chapter – in email and I will read it on my Smart Phone.