Why Google is a pain to work with, and why most authors would be better off just ignoring Google Books

Please also check the News & Analysis section of WriteZero for the latest News and Analysis of the eBook and Publishing business for Authors & Publishers This News & Analysis post is from March 13th, 2020 Indies Unlimited has a post on 'Should Authors give up selling Books through Google?' The way it is structured it instantly gives you the answer - No! However, perhaps the question...

Why IngramSpark’s new Quality Control Measures for its Print on Demand Service are great for Authors and Publishing

Please also check the News & Analysis section of WriteZero for the latest News and Analysis of the eBook and Publishing business for Authors & Publishers This News & Analysis post is from March 13th, 2020 Here is an Ingram Spark Service Alert which raises the quality bar for what IngramSpark will accept. You can also download the PDF with additional details about what Ingram Spark...

Amazon offering 2 to 3 months free Kindle Unlimited Subscriptions to SELECT new and returning customers

A few weeks back we wrote about how the Kindle Unlimited Fund (payments to Kindle Unlimited authors) is growing at a slower and slower pace Payments grew only 10.55% in 2019 Payments grew 55.95% in Dec 2016 to Dec 2019 While those numbers seem 'not so bad', they are positively scary compared to the overall growth of 10 times in July 2014 to Dec 2019 And 5 times in July 2014 to Nov 2015 To put it...

Baltimore Mayor sentenced to 3 years in jail for fraud with her Healthy Holly book series

From The Baltimore Sun and the Can't Make This Stuff Up department and Memeorandum, we have some crazy news Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh has been sentenced to THREE years in jail for a children's book fraud scheme The links worth perusing are Baltimore Sun - 3 years in jail for fraud with Healthy Holly children's book fraud scheme National Review - The Mayor sold $500,000 in copies of...

Sales drop 90% in China’s bookstores

Covid19 Coronavirus has really put a dent in book sales in China Thanks to The Passive Voice for sharing the news The South China Morning Post for reporting on it What is The South China Morning Post reporting? China's seventy thousand bookstores are taking a hit from the Coronavirus Many cities in China have closed down shops Book shops were already under pressure from ebooks For stores that...

Coronavirus Covid19 & Books & Publishing – In What Ways might Coronavirus affect Books & Publishing?

Firstly, let's consider the three scenarios Best Case - Covid19 dies out pretty quickly. China, Korea, Japan, and Italy's attempts to control it are successful. It doesn't reach and spread in high risk places like India and Africa. A vaccine is developed by summer. Most of the people of the world get vaccinated against it. Covid19 does not mutate Bad Case - Covid19 keeps spreading and we have a...

The War on eBooks, by Market Incumbents

There is a brutal war being waged on eBooks. It is being carried out by the Market Incumbents (the people who currently control the Books & Publishing Ecosystem) To better understand this War on eBooks, it's first important to understand some Historical Context and to understand the motivations of the people attacking eBooks Historical Context - Why the people who first started pushing for...

Macmillan dispute with Libraries over eBooks

There is a big dispute going on between Macmillan, one of the Big 5 Publishers, and Libraries What is the Macmillan ebook dispute with Libraries? In Nov 2019, Macmillan introduced a peculiar new policy Libraries are now restricted to buying just a single ebook copy of a newly launch book from Macmillan for the first eight weeks after the book is released Macmillan CEO John Sargent says this is...

Why is the Kindle Unlimited Fund growing at a slower and slower pace?

Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service. Readers pay $10 per month (lower in countries outside the US and Europe) to get 'unlimited' reading. They can borrow and read any book that has been included in the Kindle Unlimited program by the author or the publisher. Each month, Amazon pays out money to the Authors and Publishers enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited program. Money is paid out from a...

What could reignite the Rise of eBooks?

eBooks, when the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook first started taking off, in 2008 and 2009, were growing very fast Within a few years they had captured 20% to 30% of the market However, in the decade since then, in 2010 to 2019, eBooks have hardly grown They have been stuck at roughly 30% market share What is worrying is that it has been An Entire Decade ebooks have not increased...