THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB discussion

Ebooks have surpassed regular books in sales for the first time ever! What does that mean to the 21st century writer? It means that the future of publishing is here! It means that the stigma of reading ebooks has passed. It means a world-wide audience can download a book in seconds. It also means we will probably soon be seeing the end of traditional bookstores.

Though it has been a lifelong dream of mine to see the cover of one of my books prominently displayed on a Barnes and Noble new release shelf, I’ll gladly trade that dream for achieving thousands of sales across the globe (which I have accomplished in the last two years). However, there are some artistic drawbacks to this new digital revolution. The most significant I believe is that an author cannot sign a hardcopy of his book and personalize it for a fan.

Book signings of hard copies and author appearances may eventually disappear altogether. Author headshots on the back cover and biographical information have been easily replaced by author pages and social media pages. Authors will become recognizable faces and readers will know daily what the writer is up too, what new drafts they’re working on and so on.

I once considered myself an introvert and dreaded the one-on-one marketing and promotion it used to take to sell a book, I now welcome and embrace readers wanting to know more about me. I happily spend hours each morning personally answering all email and loving it.

Ebooks are the future of reading entertainment and I am excited to be a part of this new author revolution in publishing. It inspires me to write “outside the box” and create characters and storylines far from the mainstream without fear of what a publisher would think is WORTHY of being given a chance to show the public. It allows me to be more creative in ways that were never acceptable before.

Without ebooks and the new acceptance of indie writers, 15,000 of my books that have so far been downloaded would never have gotten into the hands of readers. Write whatever kind of story you want, get a good editor, get a good cover artist, and publish away. Let the public decide if you’ve got talent, not some corporate necktie-wearer who’s more worried about making his sales numbers than the story you’ve got to tell.

To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING

Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

Neil,

Great entry! I agree entirely.

I got my break as an author with non-fiction books released by mainstream publishers, but they wouldn't even look at my novels, so I went the self-published route with these. I have never regretted it!

Since switching to a new series set in the Middle Ages (rather than WWII or Ancient Sparta), my first class cover designer has opted out. He just didn't warm to the period and was honest enough to tell me! Do you have any tips on where to find professional cover designers?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Helena

Helena, I use Judy Bullard for all my covers. [email protected] She charges $100 and works with you until your happy.

Thanks! Sounds good.
Helena

Ebook sales have surpassed regular book sales? What does this mean? It means that when the electricity goes off, all of our hard work will go POOF!

Batteries

Batteries