Newspaper Publishing in the US Industry Market Research Report Now Available ...
PR Web (press release)
For these reasons, industry research firm IBISWorld has added a report on the Newspaper Publishing industry to its growing industry report collection. The Newspaper Publishing industry faces escalating competition from other forms of media, ...

and more »

PMI Creates Its First Ebook for Kindle in Association with Upside Learning
PR.com (press release)
Pune, India, May 19, 2012 --(PR.com)-- A leader in business improvement consultancy and training, Process Management International (PMI) has been publishing books and other resources on various topics. Keeping in line with the increasing global trend ...

District Publishing Video of Superintendent Meet and Greets Saturday Morning
Patch.com
In addition to the videos, school officials will allow public comment on the candidates at their regular School Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday night at 7 in the Shorewood High School Library. By Adam W. McCoy Video of meetings held this week ...

DeAgostini Publishing Tackles the US Market
Publishers Weekly
By Jim Milliot Italy's DeAgostini Publishing is one of the largest illustrated book and magazine publishers in the world, with its titles available in 46 countries and 21 languages, generating revenue of over $650 million annually.

MB Publishing Releases Middle-Grade Adventure Novel 'Celtic Run' by Sean Vogel
Sacramento Bee
By MB Publishing, LLC BETHESDA, Md., May 18, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- MB Publishing is delighted to announce the release of Celtic Run: A Jake McGreevy Novel. With summer adventures around the corner, Celtic Run is just the ticket for added fun.

and more »

Valley authors going digital with indie publishing
Arizona Republic
18, 2012 11:09 AM As more and more book lovers make the shift from printed books to e-reader devices, many authors are noting the trend and testing the waters of the e-book self-publishing industry. Statistics suggest they are on the right track.

and more »

Publisher Settles in E-book Price Fixing Case
PCWorld
By John P. Mello Jr., PCWorld May 18, 2012 8:39 AM Another publisher has settled with the states in a case involving e-book price fixing. Simon & Schuster has agreed to work out a settlement (PDF) with 29 states, the District of Columbia, ...
Simon & Schuster settles e-book antitrust suit with state AGsCNET
Simon & Schuster Reaches Antitrust Settlement with StatesLibrary Journal
Briefly: Simon & Schuster settles; 9M Galaxy S III preorders; 10.1" Kindle FireApple Insider
ZDNet Australia -The Verge
all 16 news articles »

Quebecor Media Strikes New ebook Partnership
MarketWatch (press release)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, May 18, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Quebecor Media Inc. is happy to announce a new partnership with ReadBooks SAS, a France and Quebec-based company specializing in multi-language ebook libraries, software and consulting services.

and more »

Ebook for Tech Travelers Compares US Airport Amenities
PCWorld
By Mark Sullivan, PCWorld PCWorld has released a new ebook detailing the various tech amenities available to tech-using travelers in the nation's largest airports. The ebook grew from a major feature that PCWorld published earlier this year called "The ...

and more »

A memory trick will help you remember the difference.

Brill and Publishing Technology Celebrate Launch of Brill Online
What They Think
Publishing Technology, the largest provider of software and services to the publishing industry, along with Dutch publisher and long-term partner BRILL, announce the launch of the new aggregated scholarly portal, Brill Online Books and Journals.
Brill and Publishing Technology Launch Brill OnlineEContent (press release)

all 3 news articles »

EBSCO Publishing Releases Nine New Audiobook Collections
Houston Chronicle
Highlighting its growing audiobook collection, EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) has released nine new audiobook collections in popular genres, providing public libraries with a quick and convenient way to begin or expand their audiobook offerings.
EBSCO Publishing Wins Silver in Best in Biz Awards 2012 EMEABeaumont Enterprise

all 8 news articles »

VGrevolution
Activision Publishing and Eutechnyx Announce NASCAR® The Game™: Inside Line
Sacramento Bee
By Activision Publishing, Inc. SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 17, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Hop in the driver's seat, buckle up and start your engines because Activision Publishing, Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) and ...
Activision Publishing and Eutechnyx Announce NASCAR® The Game(TM): Inside LineMarketWatch (press release)
Activision & Eutechnyx announce new NASCAR video gameNews10.net

all 19 news articles »

Amazon Goes Nuclear on Publishing Industry
Huffington Post (satire)
Amazon.com, the online retailing behemoth that recently sent a shockwave through the publishing world by signing several prominent authors to publishing contracts, has radically upped the ante. In a deal described by one industry expert as ...

Thursday Sector Leaders: Precious Metals, Publishing Stocks
Forbes
Also showing relative strength are publishing shares, up on the day by about 1.2% as a group, led by Media General (MEG), trading higher by about 40.1% and Innerworkings (INWK), trading up by about 3.2% on Thursday. Forbes writers have the ability to ...

and more »

Sun-Maid Introduces Free 100th Anniversary eBook
MarketWatch (press release)
KINGSBURG, Calif., May 17, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Now celebrating its 100th Anniversary, Sun-Maid, the world's largest processor of raisins and dried fruits, announced the release of its new eBook, Sun-Maid Raisins & Dried Fruits: Serving ...

and more »

Scholastic Names Jenny Frost Senior Vice President, E-Publisher And E-Book ...
Sacramento Bee
Throughout her career, Jenny has consistently demonstrated an ability to enter new markets in publishing with a strategic and creative business focus that drives revenue and profit. She will be a great addition to our e-book and e-commerce teams as we ...

and more »

Moneycontrol.com
Berkshire To Buy Most Media General Papers, Continuing Investment In Publishing
Wall Street Journal
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA, BRKB) agreed to buy almost all the newspapers owned by Media General Inc. (MEG) for $142 million while also offering financing to the company, the Oracle of Omaha's latest investment in the US newspaper ...
Waynesboro newspaper part of Buffett's $142M purchaseStaunton News Leader

all 1,204 news articles »

E-book shows agents in a different light
This is Kent
NATIONAL estate agent Strutt & Parker, which has a branch in Sevenoaks, has been immortalised in e-print, with several agents featured in a new book, Confessions of an Estate Agent. Estate agents, along with politicians and used car salesman, ...

There are books that seem to come out of nowhere and storm the Amazon charts, ranking highly and selling well. The truth is that they get to the top through word of mouth which can be boosted by strategic marketing. Rachel Abbott wrote a brilliant guest post about making #1 on Amazon a while back and so I asked her on the podcast to talk more about it. This interview will give you some great marketing tips [video at the bottom of the page]

Rachel Abbott is the author of suspense thriller ‘Only the Innocent’ which reached #1 on Amazon.co.uk and continues to remain in the Top 100 books on Kindle in multiple categories 5 months after launch. Rachel is British but lives in Italy and she shares her knowledge about book marketing generously on her blog.

• How Rachel got started with writing. She used to be a business writer for proposals in a media company, also writing scripts for products. She sold the business and eventually moved to Italy, renovating and renting property. Rachel is a business woman so always has to have a business to run! She had the idea for a novel for a long time and finally, one winter, got down to writing.

• Rachel did try to get an agent and publisher, but had no luck, putting it aside for a couple of years. Then she heard about Amazon Kindle publishing but at the time it was closed to non-US citizens. Once it opened up, she decided to have a go and self-published ‘Only The Innocent’ just as an idea.

• On ‘Only The Innocent’. The book opens with a man murdered by a woman, and Rachel wanted to come up with a scenario where killing him would be the only option out of a terrible situation. The mystery is which woman does the killing and why – the motivations behind. On hinting about violence and leaving it up to the imagination vs/ graphic violence. Rachel and I both prefer the former.

• The Marketing plan. Initially Rachel found her book didn’t move at all. There was no impact on sales. So she started to do a lot of research, and finally decided to put it into action. In the end, she wrote a marketing plan, allocating time for different activities to be most strategic. You want your books to be bought by people who have bought a lot of books, because then you get ‘People who also bought’ titles coming up and your book appears on other places based on the Amazon algorithms. Rachel also used Twitter strategically connecting with book readers and people in the niche. Click here for Rachel’s full blog post on her marketing plan.

• Forums worked well – Goodreads forum and also KindleBoards – interacting with readers and talking about other things. But the links to your books are in the footer of your profile. This is a time consuming process, as you need to establish relationships in here. It probably was an hour a day in the forums. You do have to be in the ‘Meet our authors’ area on the forums. Rachel gives an example of when the forums pushed her book sales up.

• Formal review requests. Rachel does professional review requests with formatted blurb and book cover. She got reviews from high level reviewers which made a difference. Click here to read Rachel’s post on how to get book reviews.

• On targeting reviewers.  Rachel spent a lot of time doing Google searches and created a comprehensive list (available on this post). You must follow the submission guidelines – don’t scattergun requests. Make it easy for people to review your book. Rachel did all this before her sales went up at all.
• This was a slow process. At Xmas, she sold 6 copies which she thought was fantastic. In January, 10 a day and then end of Jan, it went berserk and got to #1 on 18 Feb.

• On what could be improved next time. Building up a list prior to launch would be the biggest thing. Sending advance copies to reviewers in the hope of getting earlier reviews. It takes time for reviews to kick in. But the strategy can’t just be about reviews. The main thing would be setting it all up prior to launch.

• On traditional vs indie. Rachel can understand why it was difficult for agents to take ‘Only the Innocent’ as it is hard to categorize. It’s not in an obvious genre. Traditional publishers do have a lot to offer. Rachel now has an agent who is helping her to improve her writing. This kind of editing helps a lot and continues to be a stand out for traditional publishing. Even with indie, Rachel will get an editor next time, and she is still interested in having her book in a bookstore. But saying that, going indie is a great, viable option – as long as you’re prepared to do the marketing. There’s no guarantee of replicating success either.
• There are positive choices either way – it’s about the choice per book. It puts a more positive, entrepreneurial spin on the publishing experience which is great! It’s not just about the advance, it’s about how they will use the book and how it will be targeted.

• On ebook pricing. Rachel doesn’t like the 99c price but eventually used it as the book crept up the charts. She then changed it to 1.99 and sales weren’t impacted. But the low price is important when people haven’t heard of you. Publishers charge a higher price, similar to print cost, but it is difficult as ebook readers do prefer lower prices for new authors. Established authors can get away with having higher prices. We talk about our experience as readers and how we are drawn to lower prices and our justification for it.

• Go for it. Don’t be shy. It’s well worth the effort and even if you only sell a few copies, it’s better than you would have done otherwise. You have to be prepared to put some work in. Work out what works for you and what doesn’t For example, fliers on cars at the location of the setting of the book which worked for one person, but ‘live’ marketing isn’t easy for Rachel as she is in Italy. Think about what you can do in terms of marketing. Rachel gets a lot of emails about books that don’t sell, but mainly it’s because authors aren’t marketing. The bottom line is – you have to put the effort in, and making a plan will really help.

I highly recommend you check out Rachel’s blog which has fantastic articles for writers and self-publishers.She’s also on twitter @rachel__abbott

You can also check out Only The Innocent on Amazon

Related posts:

1. Amazon Bestseller: Top Ten Tips For Hitting #1 On The Amazon Store Today I’m excited to introduce Rachel Abbott, independent author of...
2. Secrets Of Amazon MetaData From #1 Amazon Bestseller Mark Edwards The runaway successes we see in the Amazon charts often...
3. Book Marketing Tips From Amazon’s Bestselling Self-Published Ebooks Of 2011 Amazon’s list of Top 10 Bestselling books of 2011 was...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.