Are eBooks held to a different standard?

I had the opportunity this weekend to spend another day with the fantastic members of The Space Coast Writer's Guild. I always enjoy spending time with a group of writer's that really "gets" it.

As I boarded my plane back to Chicago yesterday morning, I was busy downloading a couple of books to keep me company during my flight home. I was thrilled to see a favorite author of mine had two more books available on Kindle. Yay for me!

Or so I thought....

For the first time in the 18 months that I've owned my Kindle  (And, in fact, for the first time in the more than 12 years I've worked in the publishing industry), I am planning to spend my afternoon working on....

The Letter

The Letter often arrives at a publishing house on ripped up and worn paper. It's occasionally typed but often hand written. Sometimes it's legible, and sometimes it's not.

Usually, The Letter addresses the disappointment a reader feels about a book. Sometimes it's a valid argument. Oftentimes, it's a rant that gets stuck up on a bulletin board or read among colleagues as entertainment. Depending on the publisher, it's taken seriously or it's discarded along with the day's trash.

I have never written The Letter.

Today, that changes. The Letter will be sent to both the Publisher and the Author. If I can find the name, The Letter will also go to the agent of record for this favorite author of mine.

You see, after spending my $7.00 to download a fun novel, I found myself with a product that I couldn't enjoy. I found myself with a product that I couldn't read. I found myself with a product that was unpublishable.

And yes, I'm with all of you who believe a book is a book....not a product. Yesterday, however, I bought a product....and a defective one at that.

My new eBook is so riddled with typos, that I can't even get in to the story. Every four or five words is spelled wrong. In fact, throughout the first three chapters of the book, the word "the" is spelled "die" and that includes the word "them", now spelled "diem". Every Time!

How am I supposed to enjoy the building suspense? How am I supposed to get lost in the story? Several times, the misspellings created words that make no sense. And, in fact, made the story impossible to read.

And so, I will spend my afternoon writing The Letter.

I will include chapter numbers and page numbers. I will include specific examples. But, I'm afraid The Letter will fall on deaf ears at a publishing house so big that it apparently doesn't care about the quality of its eBook program.

This is not the first eBook that I've encountered with spelling, spacing and layout problems. In fact, it's the exception rather than the rule to download an (almost) perfect eBook. But this is by far the worst.

And so I must ask:

Are eBooks held to a different standard?

Has the ease of upload made publishers lazy about quality?

Show Daily at BEA

Hi Publishing Friends!

We're taking a survey and we'd love your feedback.

If you attend, or have attended BEA, do you read Show Daily?

If so, do you read it at the show?

Or, do you pack it in your suitcase and bring it home to read after the show?

Do you read the ads? Or do you read the stories?

What's your favorite part?

If you don't read Show Daily, why not?

There's not trick question or right answer here, we promise!

We're enjoying a lively debate among friends on our end and would love to get your tiebreaker vote!

Bookstore Feedback - Part One

A couple of weeks ago, we blogged about our research in to bookstore events. We also indicated that the results would be coming soon. We'll most likely separate our many findings in to several posts.

First is the results of an extensive telemarketing campaign that our team put together. I think you might be as surprised as we were....

Over the past six months, The Cadence Group called 1034 bookstores and asked following question:

“Do you host author events?”

We called a wide range of stores. We called independent bookstores. We called chain bookstore. We called gift shops. We called institutional bookstores. The answers we received were varied and surprising.

“I don’t do events anymore.” “I can’t afford the extra staff, time and effort that book signings entail.” “Will the author bring their own books?” “We don’t do well with author signings.” “We only book events from large publishers.” “We’re too small for events.” “We only book local authors for signings.” “Our customers don’t come out for events.”

This small sampling drove home how deeply the struggling economy is affecting retailers everywhere. It also highlighted the many ways that the face of event marketing in the publishing industry is changing.

When our marketing team started our calls, we expected an enthusiastic and positive response from retailers. We thought we knew that bookstores were ready, able, and excited to host local and regional authors. We thought we knew that retailers were looking for ways to draw people to their stores and that author events would be near the top of the list of how to do so.

We thought wrong. We'll let the numbers tell the tale...

Out of the 1034 stores we contacted:

• 825 were Chain or Institutional Stores
• 209 were Independents and Gift Stores
• 254 stores told us that they did not do events because they were too small or did not have the staff
• 117 stores told us that they did not do signings because no one came
• 21 stores told us that they were not booking events because they were not sure if they were going out of business or had recently closed their store fronts.
• 18 hung up on us
• 4 yelled and then hung up on us
• 620 stores did events and booked authors for readings, signings, story times or workshops

Out of 1034 stores, only 620 indicated that they do events. That's roughly 60% (according to my trusty calculator).

While that may seem like a high percentage, you then need to factor in location, region and genre. How many were children's bookstores? How many were category-specific? How many were located in smaller regions around the country?

When you start asking these questions and reviewing the results, you realize that 60% is not that high of a percentage at all.

So now the question is.....if fewer and fewer bookstores are hosting author events, what's the next "big thing" for marketing a new book?

And, if authors and events don't draw people to bookstores, than what, if anything, does?

Educated by the Audience

Last weekend I had the pleasure of traveling to sunny Florida to conduct a workshop for the Space Coast Writers' Guild. While I may have been the presenter, I also learned a lot from this really fantastic group of writers.

In fact, I came home with a smart list of questions about the market and industry that I thought needed some extra research. These writers are really on top of their game.

We talked about marketing, positioning, platforms and social networking. They wanted to know category sales trends, competition and how to differentiate themselves from other books on the shelf. They asked smart questions about self-publishing, e-books and grass roots publicity.

While we spend a lot of time talking about the changing landscape of what's happening with publishers, this group taught me another important lesson.

Savvy writers are learning to navigate our industry just as well....if not better...than the rest of us.

The Power of an Apology

Last month I messed up. I mean REALLY messed up. Never mind what I did, but suffice it to say... It was bad. It was an error, not an omission, but should not have happened and it impacted a client's book launch.

My client (let's call her Rebecca) called to let me know that she was beside herself and she rightfully let me have it. She wanted her money back. She wanted my head on a platter. And then she wanted me to really suffer.

Today Rebecca is my happiest client and has just signed up for another 6 months of service.

What happened?

I apologized.

When Rebecca called up last week yelling, my first instinct was to defend myself. I wanted to explain that there were extenuating circumstances. Iwanted to remind her that she was just as much to blame.

But I bit back the urge to interrupt and fight back. I ignored the voice in my head telling me that it was not FAIR to be blamed. I listened to what she had to say and then I completely copped to it. No excuses, no defense. I took full responsibility and promised to do everything in my power to make it right.

As I apologized and made a commitment to fix what I could, I gave Rebecca the only thing I could at that moment... I honored her by admitting she was right to be upset without a defensive tone or throwing around passive-aggressive blame. In an instant, I was once again her partner and would work with her to make things right.

There is strength in admitting that we are wrong. No one is perfect. Admitting we are wrong without justification can help us lose our fear of imperfection. No matter how unfair we think it may be or what other circumstances are to blame, when something goes wrong, it is best to take a deep breath, look at the situation honestly and take responsibility for the parts of which you are responsible.

.... and then not do it again.

Bookstores as the new Top 40 radio station?

It seems that each day brings another industry bulletin about how a bookstore has closed or how a chain will be reducing the number of titles it will carry. Brick and mortar stores are having to make hard choices; limiting their selection.

High retail rents, gasoline for delivery trucks, the economy, and unemployment can all be blamed, but not for long. Yes, it is time for consumers to tighten their budgets, but that is not the driving force behind the reduction in titles on bookstore shelves.

As a culture, we have become used to "shortcuts" and "hot-keys" in our work and home life. Our radios offer the same 100 songs each day with only a smirking nod to "independent" music. Technology does more than entertain and assist us; it often makes our choices for us. As we sink more deeply into our dependence upon technology, we lose our willingness to work for our pleasure.

Gone are the days when we slowly browsed a library or bookstore shelf looking for the perfect book to fit our mood. Those of us who find the time to read a book no longer have the time to search for one. We reach for the review section, listen to the latest NPR praise and ask our friends what their bookclubs are reading.

Armed with a vetted list, we can log on line or run into a bookshop and make a beeline for the front table. Chances are, the 11 books we have heard good things about are stacked there.

It is not that America does not have time for books, we don't have time for bookstores. That is bad news for both parties. We want a quick hit, a guaranteed success, a sure thing. There is nothing wrong with that, but it will forever rob us of that one amazing "find" that could have altered our thinking; the hidden gem that could touch us so personally and deeply.

I understand the America is asking for fewer choices and that the bookstores have to do what is best for their business... I guess I was just hoping for more time before the book industry became what radio degenerated into 30 years ago.... a place for the masses to be told what to enjoy.

Your Book's Journey

It is every writer’s dream to see his or her book in the front window of the local bookstore. It is fun to imagine tall, colorful stacks of your books surrounded by throngs of curious readers flipping through the pages as others rush to the cash register. Feel free to continue this fantasy as you pound the keyboard, but if you’re interested in turning the vision into reality, then suspend the writing and read on.

In order to make that dream come true, you have to stop thinking like a writer and start thinking like a publisher. For publishers, the dream location is not the bookstore shelf; that shelf is simply a short stop on the way to the real destination … a reader’s bookshelf. The only bookshelf that truly counts is the consumer’s. This blog has been created to guide your book into (and then out of) the hands of people who actually paid money to read it.

If you’re truly serious about publishing your book, then you need to shake off the fantasy and take a good, hard look at the challenge ahead. This isn’t meant to discourage you. The better prepared you are, the more successful you will be in reaching your goal.

The path a writer’s work takes through the publishing process, into the retail market, and then onto a consumer’s beside table is arduous. On this journey you will encounter misleading signposts, paths damaged by overuse, and rough road from underuse. But you will also experience a number of wondrous sights and resting places. The sweeps and turns of the publishing path can be fascinating—but even more rewarding if you know the lay of the land ahead of time.

As a writer on the verge of publishing, you are enthusiastic about your work and determined to see it through to book form. While these are certainly helpful qualities in battling the challenges ahead, there is one tool that will help you to overcome the obstacles and push forward during the final stretch: knowledge.

The best way to start a journey is to learn as much about your destination as possible. Once you know where you’re going, you’ll be able to plan your route to get there. So set your writing aside for the moment as we explore the book industry and the oh-so-important destination: the reader.

To be continued...