As I was looking over the CNN’s mobile site, as I frequently do throughout the day, I found an article about Amazon’s newest Kindle. For authors like my self the success of the e-reader is a really good thing.
E-readers have become more and more popular over the last couple of years and there is now no question of digital books having a stable market. Every major book distributer are now creating their own version of an e-reader, Amazon’s Kindle, B&N’s Nook, Sony’s Reader, Border’s Kobo, Mac’s Ipad, and a number of others.
According to the author of CNN’s article, Julianne Pepitone, “Data from Simba Information show only 9% of American adults bought at least one e-book last year, a small increase from 8% in 2008.”
Obviously the 9% is a small number when compared to the other 91% of America, but out of a 2009 population of 307+ million citizens, roughly 27,630,000 potential readers is a decent number. The fact that any writer can access that potential market by self publishing through Kindle or other e-platforms has done a great deal with removing the hassle and worries of traditional publishing. After all... a manuscript sitting on some agent’s or publisher’s slush pile is not getting read and is not making any money!
I believe the issue now for authors is marketing. Getting noticed in such a large market is a little like trying to be seen in the open ocean by waiving a life jacket at the Coast Guard plane flying over at 200 mph... it can be done but a few tricks and tools will make your odds better.
For me, I write because I enjoy telling the story and sharing my imagination, the money comes second if I’m lucky. I’ll continue to self publish and if a traditional contract comes my way then I’ll gladly accept, but I don’t plan on leaving my work in the slush piles of America!
Children’s Lit:
I just published a fun little book for young readers who enjoy sports. It’s available on Lulu.com .
I Play Sports! ISBN: 978-0-557-58067-5
This was one of those projects that got into my head and just had to be completed to move on.
