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Thoughts on books, publicity, and the media from our Cave Henricks staff.

Biggest Change in Books?

Biggest Change in Books?   The Way they Come to Market.

In the not so distant past, most of the books you bought either on the shelf of a local bookstore (although these are fast diminishing with the death of Borders this year) or with a click on Amazon, made a fairly similar path to publication.  Author conceives of an idea, writes a proposal and a chapter or two, finds an agent, who sells the book to a traditional publishing house.  9 to 12 months later, said book arrives in stores as a fully born “child”, with an artfully designed cover, some informational copy on the flaps and down the back, and an author photo with some bio information thrown in for good measure.

Now, take above conventional path and throw it away.

many e-readersAuthors with fresh ideas are moving in large numbers to different modes of getting books into the market.  Amazon snapped up high profile literary agent and one time publisher of Warner Books, Larry Kirshbaum, to head their publishing program.  And, just to prove this is no longer the path for those who can’t get a big name publisher interested in their work, Kirshbaum went out and lured bestselling author Tim Ferriss (The Four Hour Work WeekThe Four Hour Body)  to join Seth Godin (Purple Cow, Tribes) as high profile authors willing to publishing outside of the conventional process.  The creation of the ebook-only or digital first models seems to have created a tipping point, taking alternative options to the mainstream.

Meantime, others have been using different methods and models for years.   Barrett-Koehler, for instance, offers lower advances in exchange for a greater percentage of a book’s royalties as it sells with author’s retaining the rights to their works. Bard Press here in Austin offers a similar approach and boasts a track record of having just about half or one of every two books the company publishes, become a national bestseller.  E-book companies have adopted low advances in exchange for a 50/50 split in revenue as an electronic book sells.  They can also bring speed to the table, releasing a title far quicker than their traditional publishing counterparts.  Those who read exclusively on iPads, Kindles, Nooks, or Kobos have the advantage of getting material that may not be out in written form.

For authors, change in the industry means great choice in how they wish to sell and market their book.

Tomorrow we’ll feature a Q/A with founder and CEO of Greenleaf Book Group, a publishing company with a discerning eye that has grown to an Inc 500 company at the same time many were predicting the death of the industry all together.  Stay tuned.