The internet and the eBook…
I have made some noise in this blog about the fact that I’m going all eBook. I have a list of reasons, but there is always that alter-ego of mine called “buyer’s remorse” who is telling me that I’m killing myself. Read on, Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath, and console me.
Let’s enumerate the reasons again. The top one is that I can’t afford to keep on paying for POD. Even though prices have come down and service has gone up (I have no complaints about Infinity Publishing’s production of trade paperbacks, for example), for the same price I can produce multiple eBooks. I have many stories I want to tell. If this paradigm shift to digital publishing continues, eBook media is my most economical route.
It’s a toss-up which media, eBook or trade paperback, is most effective for marketing, something I’m forced to do on my own. I can’t afford even a small ad in the NY Times Book Review section, let alone a trailer that is shown on TV, but that’s true whether I’m marketing an eBook or a trade paperback. As for book signings and/or discussions in more traditional venues (bookstores, libraries, book groups, and eclectic coffee shops), I’d say the eBook is at a distinct disadvantage. It’s also hard to put an eBook in someone’s stocking at Christmas.
The eBook has an important marketing advantage that counts more for me: It’s easy to get an eBook to a reviewer. An author doesn’t sell that many books in the traditional venues, especially if you take into account that indie authors are seldom invited to present in these venues. Mary Higgins Clark or Stephen King can sell a few more, I suppose, because they already have name recognition—an adoring public wants to attend so they can say they saw the famous author up close and in person. (To Mary’s credit, she recently appeared in our Montclair Public Library, but she was reading to children. At least the adoration was second hand, through the parents. The kids didn’t get there by Star Trek transporter.)
A reviewer that wants a hardcover or trade paperback to review won’t get it as fast as one that will receive an eBook. In my case, if it’s a recent book of mine, he or she won’t ever get it because there’s only an eBook version. On the other hand, if he or she accepts an eBook, I can gift it immediately (assuming they have an internet address). I review for Bookpleasures.com. I prefer to review eBooks and will ask for the eBook version, if it exists, for precisely this reason. Snail mail is so passé, costly, and inefficient.
But there’s the conundrum. The digital revolution in general, and eBooks in particular, exist due to the internet. The monster lurking in the closet is that not everyone has a fast internet connection. These connections are more or less limited to heavily populated areas. My brother, bless his soul, lived in rural Ohio for many years. In spite of the close proximity to Cleveland, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati, he struggled with slow internet connections for most of those years. It’s a fact of life in rural areas.
There is the fact that these rural areas are falling behind in the information revolution. The N.Y. Times last Sunday had a good article about this. The Times sees this as a blow against equal opportunities for all Americans. I’m not sure people in rural areas see it that way. Nevertheless, it presents a real problem for eBooks and the digital paradigm shift in book publishing.
Even in a cabin in the backwoods of the Sierra Nevada, I can sit down and read—maybe by lantern light, but I can still read. But I probably can’t have an internet hookup, even a slow one. That means that if I’m reading my Kindle, I can’t download a new book to read in situ. Of course, I can’t order a new trade paperback either. But, if I had that internet connection, I could download and be reading my new acquisition within minutes before the snail mail person can even start thinking about how to get through the snow to deliver the paperback to the nearest general store.
Do you see my point? By restricting myself to eBook publication, I’m also restricting my potential audience. Not only is there the chance that no one in rural areas will read my eBook (what are the chances that the local library has it on loan?). There are also many people who just aren’t into eBooks. They can’t get past that pleasure of turning the page, dog-earing pages with pithy prose, jotting down notes in the margins, etc. I know. I thought I was one of them. Now I can’t imagine life without my Kindle.
So, Barry and Joe, what kind words of consolation do you offer? I don’t know how the demographics work. Maybe those rural areas don’t count for much, population-wise, but I know that if lived there I would be even more prone to entertain myself with a good book. The nearest movie theater and ethnic restaurant might be many, many miles away (I don’t count overcooked Chinese vegetables in Utah or molasses-consistency chili con carne in Iowa as good ethnic food). A nice provolone and salami sandwich on rye, my one-fingered glass of Jameson’s, and a good book sounds like the way to go.
I guess I must accept that there are many readers that I just can’t reach. I don’t reach many now anyway, even with the wonderful internet at my disposal. Barry and Joe have name recognition. I don’t. Apparently many people read this blog but don’t buy my books. Maybe you just don’t like paying for stuff. Sorry. My eBooks are bargains (I don’t charge by the hour). Nevertheless, I need to recover expenses, even if I’m choosing a media, eBooks, that offers the least expensive way to put my stories before the public.
In libris libertas…
