While there are any number of ways to enrich an ebook, I always envisioned them with rough drafts (so the reader can see how the story evolved), outlines, interviews, alternate endings and more.

Bestselling novelist David Baldacci has done just that with his new book Deliver Us from Evil (aff link). According to Galley Cat, he’s offering an enriched ebook with a smorgasbord of features including a video tour of his office (I love seeing author’s working spaces), audio Q & A about the book, research material, deleted scenes (including the original ending) and other goodies that will enhance the reading experience.

Why did he choose to create an enriched ebook?

“They [the reader] want to look behind the curtain and learn more about a writer whose work they love. To get into the head of the person who creates the stories that keep them enthralled. It gives you several entertainment experiences, and provides more than what you would get from simply reading the book. It allows the writer to connect with the reader in new and fascinating ways. It’s aptly named because it really does enrich the experience.”

He continues by saying:

“People want to be informed and entertained. The enriched E-book does both. Bottom line is the content should drive this industry, not the delivery system. An eBook by itself is not enthralling; what’s on it is. And we have the technology that allows us to do all of this. So why not use it?”

Yes, yes and yes! Finally, an established, bestselling, traditionally published author who really gets ebooks and their potential for the future of publishing. Furthermore, it’s innovation like this that will keep the publishing industry alive. Hopefully other authors (and publishers) will catch on and give readers a choice to either just read the book, or dive a little deeper and catch a glimpse behind the text.

What do you think about David Baldacci’s enriched ebook experiment? Would you pay more for all these extra goodies? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

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After years of literary investigation, a professor at the University of Nottingham said Tuesday he’s certain “Double Falsehood, or the Distressed Lovers” was born out of “Cardenio,” a play Shakespeare scholars believe existed…”There is definitely Shakespearean DNA,” said English literature professor Brean Hammond, who has worked since 2002 to determine if “Double Falsehood” has Shakespearean roots.

As the article mentions, there is not enough proof with 100% certainty that “Double Falsehood” is based off of this mysterious “Cardenio” play.

However, there is more evidence for the existence of another Shakespeare play than just speculation about Shakespearean DNA found in another drama:

There is strong evidence “Cardenio” existed: records showed the actors in Shakespeare’s company were paid for acting in it. And Hammond said Theobald claimed he had used three of the Bard’s manuscripts when he wrote “Double Falsehood,” which opened to positive reviews in London’s West End.

As someone who enjoys Shakespeare (although I’m no scholar), it’s fascinating to think that there could be one more play to add to his folio.

Of course, there’s also the age-old controversy about whether or not Shakespeare wrote anything at all, or if his plays were written by someone else. I’m not going to get into this debate on this post because I’ve written about it here The verdict is in: Shakespeare is a fraud and Was Shakespeare a fraud?.

The possibility of another Shakespeare play is just another fascinating chapter in the ongoing research of the most famous writer in the English-speaking world.

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I’ll admit that I didn’t start reading Dick’s work until the last year or so. I became interested in him while I was exploring the boundaries of science fiction in my own writing, and began seeking out other sci-fi writers. I was also especially drawn to him as a person because of his the tragic life he lead.

Dick suffered from mental illness, drug addiction and lived in near-poverty for most of his life. Perhaps the most tragic part of his life was that his works received more attention and fame after his death than while he was living.

If you’ve never read any of Dick’s writing, your in luck. A selection of his early works are in the public domain. You can easily download them from the Project Gutenberg website.

Are you a fan of Philip K. Dick? If so, what is your favorite novel and/or short story? Share your comments below.

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The feud between Amazon and Macmillan has seemed to settle down, at least for now. Macmillan titles are again being sold on the online retailer. But the ripple effect still lingers and its anyone’s guess how the ripples created by this feud will play out in the long run.

A lot of attention has been given to Amazon and Macmillan. But what about the authors? Each party claims it has the best interest of the authors in mind, although after seeing the way Amazon and Macmillan acted, that’s a little hard to believe. I think the biggest and most direct hit on authors came from Amazon’s decision to suddenly pull all Macmillan titles from their site. Not cool.

In a recent Bloggasm post Tor authors express worry over their careers because of Macmillan/Amazon dispute (Tor is an imprint of Macmillan), we get a first-hand account from author Jay Lake about how the decision by Amazon to pull Macmillan titles has affected him:

“The worry would be if I had a book released last Tuesday or this,” he said. “A significant portion of my initial sales velocity comes from the first days on Amazon. Writers like me sell relatively few books so that missing a few hundred initial sales, and the related rise in sales ranking and attention, could be damaging, quite possibly seriously.”

Another Tor author, Tobias Buckell, expresses the same concern about impact on sales:

“And for the past five or six years I’ve worked really hard to send people from my website to Amazon because it’s the dominant online book store. It has a tremendous impact because all my sales for my original Tor books will be dropping by 80% probably.”

I’m sure there are many more authors that express the same concerns as Jay and Tobias. It was downright un-ethical for Amazon to stop selling Macmillan titles because it hurts the authors the most.

I know readers can retaliate by not buying anything from Amazon. What recourse do the authors have? I guess they could take their titles elsewhere, although I’m not sure how easy it would be for them to bail on their current publishing contract. I think most authors could do a lot better (sales-wise) selling their books directly to consumers – as print and ebooks.

Another option for authors would be to take legal action against Amazon. Since the e-retailer is so big and dominates online book sales, there’s a lawsuit in there somewhere. If any lawyers out there want to weigh in on this, please feel free to do so in the comments below.

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Today the Author’s Guild released a statement that pretty much supports Macmillan in the feud. There’s really nothing surprising about that since the Guild usually supports the large publishers and higher ebook prices. The Author’s Guild believes that if Macmillan succeeds in having more control over ebook prices, it will be good for the industry as a whole:

Yet if Macmillan prevails, the eventual payoff for its authors (and all authors, if a successful result ripples through the industry) is likely to be significant and lasting.

It has been well-documented (on this blog and others) that what Macmillan seeks, and what the Guild supports, simply does not work. Authors don’t make more in royalties because higher ebook prices turn off a lot of consumers, leading to more piracy. Publishers still have a long way to go in learning about the economics of ebooks.

Macmillan wants to set higher ebook prices

Bad idea. The demand for ebooks dictate the consumers are unlikely to pay much more than $9.99 for ebooks (the price Amazon uses as a standard). Macmillan’s reasoning is that higher ebook prices will increase author royalties and not “devalue” the books sold on Amazon.

However, as I said before, it has been shown that just the opposite is true – lower ebook prices equals more sales and more revenue for the author and publisher. A great example of this is author Joe Konrath, who has been published through traditional routes, and self-publishes his novels as ebooks on the Amazon Kindle. His blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing chronicles his experience. He makes more money selling his ebooks at low prices than he does in royalties from his traditional publisher. Other authors have had similar experiences.

Use of “Windowing” as a tactic to increase print sales

“Windowing” is the practice of waiting until a particular edition of a new book has been on the market for a while before making cheaper editions available.

The Author’s Guild statement continues:

Windowing e-books is similarly believed to help protect a publisher’s sales channels for physical books. The risk with windowing is that some owners of e-book devices are angered that low-priced e-book editions aren’t available as soon as books are released in hardcover form.

The risk of delaying the release of the ebook version is more than just “angering” ebook device owners. The real risk is piracy. In fact most of the book piracy is scanning print books and converting them to ebooks. This is often done when the ebook is not available due to windowing or because the author/publisher refuses the ebook option. I wrote a recent post What can we learn from a book pirate that details this from one who actually pirates books.

The irony, of course, is that authors/publishers trying to prevent piracy through such tactics only encourage the practice.

Amazon also to blame

While it’s easy to demonize Macmillan for their demands, Amazon is by no means in the clear either. The largest online retailer has been criticized all around for everything from DRM, high ebook prices (a lot of consumers, myself included, think even $9.99 is too much for most ebooks), to prices not being high enough (from publishers), remotely deleting titles off the Kindle, forcing POD publishers to use Amazon’s own service, and the list goes on. So I’m not giving Amazon a free pass here. There is plenty of criticism to go around.

The ebook industry is still in its infancy and there are no ‘industry standards’ in place yet. Amazon is trying to set those standards and publishers still think ebooks should be sold and priced like print books. I hope that publishers don’t repeat what happened to record labels (who continue to self-destruct).

What do you think of this Amazon-Macmillan feud? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

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He bragged in college about his literary talent and ambitions, and wrote swaggering letters to Whit Burnett, the editor of Story magazine. But success, once it arrived, paled quickly for him. He told the editors of Saturday Review that he was “good and sick” of seeing his photograph on the dust jacket of “The Catcher in the Rye” and demanded that it be removed from subsequent editions. He ordered his agent to burn any fan mail.

My thoughts are with his family and friends.

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However, being a mega-selling superstar author, James Patterson is someone all struggling novelists should pay attention to and learn a thing or two.

Recently the New York Times wrote a lengthy article about the author called James Patterson Inc.. Instead of rehashing the entire article, I decided to pick out a few important bits that all of us budding writers can learn from.

Be 100% devoted to the publishing process

It doesn’t matter if you are a self-published indie author or have an agent and a contract with a large publishing house – authors cannot afford to take a backseat to the publishing and/or advertising process for their novel. Even James Patterson, who has sold more books than Stephen King, John Grisham and Dan Brown combined, is very involved in the publishing process:

…he handles all of his own advertising and closely monitors just about every other step of the publication process, from the design of his jackets to the timing of his books’ release to their placement in stores.

And this is a guy who has a full-time staff from his publisher assigned only to him. No detail is too small for Patterson. His name alone could sell a lot of books, yet he chooses to oversee the whole process to get the most exposure for each book released.

I’ve heard many writers say that once they land a book contract with a publisher, they will let the publisher worry about the marketing. Big mistake. Every writer, whether new to publishing or a veteran needs to be active in marketing his/her novel. Don’t fall into the trap that you’re just lucky to be published:

“A lot of authors are just grateful to be published,” Holly Parmelee, Patterson’s publicist from 1992 to 2002, told me several weeks earlier. “Not Jim. His attitude was that we were in business together, and he wanted us both to succeed, but it was not going to be fun and games.”

The relationship between publisher and author should be like a partnership because each party needs the other to succeed.

Believe in your own writing

Before the release of “Along Came a Spider”, Patterson wanted his publisher to produce and run a commercial spot to drum up interest in the new book. They refused. I’m guessing it was because the publisher didn’t want to pick up the tab of a costly commercial for a book. What did Patterson do? He put his own money behind his book and took control:

Patterson wrote, produced and paid for a commercial himself. It opened with a spider dropping down the screen and closed with a voice-over: “You can stop waiting for the next ‘Silence of the Lambs.’ ” Once Little, Brown saw the ad, it agreed to share the cost of rolling it out over the course of several weeks in three particularly strong thriller markets — New York, Chicago and Washington.

The article continues:

“Along Came a Spider” made its debut at No. 9 on the New York Times hardcover best-seller list, ensuring it favorable placement near the entrance of bookstores, probably the single biggest driver of book sales.

The initial success of “Along Came a Spider” was possible because Patterson took the initiative and his own money to get a commercial on the air in critical markets. The result of that commercial gave his novel the momentum to become a bestseller, thus getting his novel the best spots in the bookstores. Success breeds success. But first, you have to believe in your own writing.

Start small and build your fan base slowly

Nothing in life comes overnight, and this goes double for success. A lot of writers want their first novel to hit the bestseller list and make it big right out of the gate. While this does happen, it’s very rare. Patterson took a very methodical approach when he was first starting off and concentrated his marketing efforts in cities where he knew his books would sell the best:

Patterson built his fan following methodically. Instead of simply going to the biggest book-buying markets, he focused his early tours and advertising efforts on cities where his books were selling best: like a politician aspiring to higher office, he was shoring up his base.

Knowing who you are writing for is critical, especially in the early days of your writing career. Know your audience! For example, I know most people who read this blog are writers, those interested in ebooks and publishing. I stick with that group. I don’t write posts geared towards sports enthusiasts or fishermen (for example). I might not have the most popular blog out there, but Brad’s Reader has a steady following, and that thrills me!

Persistence pays off

If you’re one of those authors who is constantly rejected by publisher after publisher, don’t despair. Even bestselling author James Patterson had to pay his dues in the slush pile:

More than a dozen publishers rejected Patterson’s manuscript before his agent, whom Patterson found in a newspaper article, finally sold it to Little, Brown for $8,500.

After more than a dozen publishers rejected his manuscript, Patterson only got $8500 when it was finally purchased. While this is a lot for a first time author getting published, it’s probably not enough to quite your day job over. But Patterson persisted by writing more books and kept his head in the game with marketing. Today, he’s a one-man cottage industry.

Embrace your fans, shrug off critics

Not everyone is going to like your writing. It’s a fact of life. Everyone will have different reasons for not liking your writing, but it still can sting. Once your writing is out there and you start getting feedback, you’ll hear the positive and negative. Embrace those who like your writing and use that as momentum to keep going.

“Thousands of people don’t like what I do,” Patterson told me, shrugging off his detractors. “Fortunately, millions do.”

If Patterson let it bother him that “thousands of people” don’t like his books, then he would’ve quite a long time ago. Instead, he pushes on and is thankful for those who do like and appreciate his books.

I guess I’m in the category of the thousands that don’t like Patterson’s novels. It’s nothing personal, they’re just not for me. The NYT article details how Patterson produces his novels. He writes an outline than someone else writes the draft and he revises and edits as he sees fit. I’m actually a little horrified by this kind of stale, assembly-line approach he takes. But who am I to judge?

Patterson doesn’t claim to be a literary great, or even a man of letters. He calls himself an entertainer. If a reader enjoyed reading his novel for the action and adventure, then Patterson is happy.

Whatever you think of James Patterson’s books, you can learn a lot from the man himself. I sure have.

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I began reading Parker’s novels in high school, and for a time, appeared to be addicted to them. The plots seemed simple enough, yet had an undercurrent of complex twists and turns. In fact, all those novels I read (which seemed to be a perfect escape from the angst of high school) inspired me to write my own mystery stories.

A lot of what I remember about these novels is how Parker wrote in great detail about Boston, where Spenser lived and worked. Parker really put Boston on the map for many readers, myself included. The streets, buildings and other landmarks are real Boston areas you can visit.

When I first read of Parker’s death, my first thought was “Oh no, no more Spenser novels.” But luckily for all of us, Parker was a very prolific writer and according to this Boston Herald article there are more Parker novels to be published.

Robert B. Parker will be missed. The mystery genre and publishing world have lost a great writer. My thoughts are with his family and friends.

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Now we can add Stephen King into the mix (yes, that Stephen King, the one who wrote an exclusive ebook for the new Kindle he helped promote). His newest novel ‘Under the Dome’ was released in ebook format several weeks after the print release of the book. Publishers didn’t want the lower ebook price to eat away at the higher hard cover price. Within days of the print release, pirated ebooks of ‘Under the Dome’ were circulating around the internet. In turn, this ate away at print and ebook sales.

You probably won’t find this to be very surprising, especially if you’ve been following Brad’s Reader or other ebook-related blogs. However, I did find something new that I thought I’d pass along. I came across this Teleread post Most Pirated Ebooks of 2009. From there, I was led to 10 most pirated ebooks from of 2009 on FreakBits. Judging by the list, publishers really have nothing to fear:

1. Kamasutra

2. Adobe Photoshop Secrets

3. The Complete Idiots Guide to Amazing Sex

4. The Lost Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci

5. Solar House: A Guide for the Solar Designer

6. Before Pornography: Erotic Writing in Early Modern England

7. Twilight – Complete Series

8. How to Get Anyone to Say Yes: The Art and the Craft

9. Nude Photography: The Art and Craft

10. Fix It – How To Do All Those Little Repair Jobs Around The Home

The theme of this list appears to be sex and nudity. Does this say anything about those who read ebooks? I’ll let you decide that for yourself. This list also tells me that publishers worrying about their ebook titles being pirated are probably worrying over nothing. The time and cost they spend to fight piracy is a waste.

Getting books in the hands of readers a bigger issue than piracy

Piracy tends to be a problem when consumers cannot get the books they want, in the format they want, when they want it. Like J.K. Rowling refusing to let her Harry Potter series be published as ebooks or Stephen King delaying the release of his novel for fear of diminishing print sales – both became targets for pirates because people wanted to read these novels as ebooks. If the publishers would have given consumers what they wanted, the piracy would have been greatly reduced.

Another part of the problem that publishers ignore (or seem to be ignoring) is that a book doesn’t already have to be in ebook format to be pirated. When the print books is released, people are using scanners and other technology to easily convert the printed page into a digital one.

There is not much stopping those who choose to pirate. It’s worth mentioning, however, that people who pirate books or download pirated ebooks are in the minority. Most prefer to buy their ebooks legally (I fall into this category) assuming it’s available at a reasonable price.

Again, the irony is killing me. The more publishers try to prevent piracy and keep print book profits up, the more those titles get ripped off. And, as the list of 10 most pirated books reveals, publishers are worrying over nothing.

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/valeriebb/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

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In this article Meet Publishers’ Enemy No. 1: Cory Doctorow from the Globe and Mail website, Doctorow takes direct aim at the traditional publishing industry:

“Right now, we have this vision of the publisher as a monolithic service entity that proves everything from typesetting and printing to distribution to sales support, marketing and PR,” he said. “But there’s no reason it has to do all those things in one go.”

Before the internet and the digital technology that has turned ebooks into a formidable force in the publishing world, traditional publishers were the gatekeepers to becoming a successful author. Cory Doctorow is changing that. He puts his money where his mouth is. Here are the many methods Doctorow uses to spread his work among readers:

• Print publishing: His books can be found in regular bookstores in traditional print format.
• Ebooks released at the same time as print books.
• Under a creative commons license he allows readers to produce derived works based on his writings, such as fan fiction (he does not allow commercial usage under the CC license, however).
• Also allows readers to circulate his ebooks freely under the CC license as long as it’s not for commercial purposes.
• Records and posts an audio version of his work on his blog, free for anyone to listen to.

And Doctorow claims his ‘free’ strategy is working. He says giving away ebooks is boosting his print book sales. Doctorow also says that the problem for writers is not piracy, it’s obscurity. I agree. If no one knows who you are or your works, then you’ll always be a living example as the cliched starving writer.

Placing Cory Doctorow’s strategy into practice

Any author should take a serious look at placing Doctorow’s strategy into practice with distributing his/her own works. I’m vigorously working on finishing up a few short stories, which I plan on giving away for free on Smashwords, as well as a free download on my blog.

Heck, if people can stand my screeching, broken record of a voice, I might just record an audio version of my fiction. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself – one step at a time.

If you’re a writer and you use the ‘free’ model to distribute your work, leave a comment below and let us know how it’s working out for you (good or bad).

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