Today I read
that in 2006 there were 7,000 published e-books and in 2011 there were 87,000
authors publishing their own e-books. Wow. The technology of book publishing
for the e-reader has democratized the anxious need to tell a story. Authors no
longer have to wait months on end for a word, encouraging or devastating, from
a big publishing house where busy “readers” plow through endless manuscripts in
the “slush pile”. When the word is rejecting, the author tries another
publishing house and waits again for months in the same game. Theodore
Geisel, Dr. Seuss, reportedly endured 27 rejections before his wildly wonderful
To Think That It Happened on Mulberry
Street was finally accepted. The first criteria of acceptance by the big
publishers has been money; how much of the market share will a book provide?
But most writers just want to share an instruction or tell a good story.
Those who were brave enough, or
financially able to by-pass the publisher and print their own book had to also
endure the public stigma of not passing the literary judgment of the big houses
indicating the work is not really worthy reading. The century old power of the
publishing industry controlled the market for stories until this fantastic
digital revolution.
We are humans, after all, and telling
stories is as much a part of us as preparing a meal. As we get older we have a
big collection of stories including favorites that we like to tell as often as
possible, or so my kids tell me. Not all of us write our story, however,
which reaches a wider audience and gives a sense of permanency.
The e-book
format not only allows a much greater number of authors the opportunity to
share their work, but readers experience a much easier way to read more stories
(or personally reject undesirable work instead of depending on a distant
editor). The e-book is cheaper to publish and should be cheaper to read, though
some publishers still grip e-book sales with higher prices. The books are
environmentally friendly, no trees are sacrificed, much less oil is consumed in
delivery, and storage/discard is minimal. The reading itself can be managed to
the comfort of tired eyes. Both publishing and purchasing are incredibly fast.
Literally speaking, we are living in exciting times.
I published AHomestead Decade, How Crunchy Granola Changed My Life based on encouragement from those who listened to our
“back-to-the-land” stories. We chose the e-book format because producing was
made easy by Kindle Direct Publishing, we could keep the price low ($2.99), and
readers could get the book instantly through Amazon. So far we are very
satisfied. We do have some folks who want a printed copy and we are working on
that, which has also been easier through the new publishing of print on demand.
If you
haven’t had a chance to read the Crunchy Granola book please check out a sample
copy for free at Amazon.com. You can read any of the e-books on a great
electronic reader like Kindle or on most tablets, cell phones, computers, one
friend even read hers on a tiny little MP3 player. My, my. I appreciate all the
reviews and personal comments. Thanks for sharing and don’t forget to eat your
granola.
Love,
Helene
