The Flinch, Newsjacking And Digital Publishing

View Comments (27)

• Hi Joanna -- I just downloaded The Flinch and am psyched to check it out. Thanks for writing about Newsjacking. The ebook only model is an exciting one. I'm still a print fan, but sometimes a quick ebook is the way to go.

  • Thanks David. I am impressed with your monitoring and instant response to this post. You are a great example of someone who does what he preaches. I love a connected author - thankyou.

• Convinced? It only took one deal by a legacy publisher to convince me there was no other option that made sense more than self-publishing. I've published 5 books in less than a year on my own. So yeah, I believe in what Julien is doing because I'm doing it too, and it's working.

  • Except that Julien is taking a traditional publishing deal for his next book right? (see video with Jonathan Fields) so this is just a one off for him, or perhaps will be something he does again in the future but not yet.

    • Or rather, what his publisher will allow him to do.

• Thanks for posting this! Seth's posts about it somehow eluded me. I usually read the Domino Project books as soon as they come out.

  Digital products are the best products in the world to sell. They are something that you create once and can sell forever in infinite quantities with zero distribution costs. Anyone with a computer can buy and use them, so the market is huge. There just is no competing with digital products.

  I think writers need to get over themselves and realize that their dream of being a paperback writer is over. The only dream worth pursuing now is being an ereader author.

  • I still think there is a tiny, tiny way to achieve success as a print author Doug. I mean, it IS still happening, and it's not dead yet. But I agree with you, the future is digital.

    • Jim, for me the future is both / and. I did Newsjacking as an ebook only. However, my print books sell well (New Rules is over a quarter million copies). So I will keep publishing in the format that makes sense.

      • "Sell well". haha, you're a monster! I keep having this same conversation with authors who don't really write books for direct sales. We all know the money is in training and speaking gigs and all that. But that's for a very select few. So of course, it makes perfect sense for you to continue to do what makes sense for you.

        I will ask you this, however, have you ever done the calculation in your head on how much money you're giving up on those quarter of a million copies sold? The average publisher to author commission is 17.5%. I'm sure you have been able to negotiate more. But most can't.

        Let's assume you got 70% like Amazon is offering instead of what you're getting now per book. That's a lot of dough to leave on the table. Instead of a few dollars per book, it would be $5 or so, assuming you priced at the 70% Amazon rate of between $2.99 and 9.99. At 9.99 even, you're taking in 70%. That's about roughly $7 per book.

        $7 x 250,000 books sold...

        I know, most of your books are sold in bookstores and to corporations for speaking gigs. Just saying.

        • Yes, I have done the calculations. And that is why I am staying with Wiley.

          They have a university salesforce (my books are used by about 500 professors). They get me global distribution (I am a bestseller in Japan, UK, and Australia to name a few). They get me foreign translations (30 languages so far from Arabic to Vietnamese). And I don't have to worry about design, editing, proof reading, and a bunch of other stuff.

          But the biggest reason is that I am a professional speaker and having my books be via a big publisher gains credibility and allows me to focus on where 75% of my income comes from.

          All that being said, if I were starting out, I would self-publish an ebook. In fact that is what I actually did do ten years ago - my first book was self-published (but it was in print).

      • David, You have the years in business and the support of a major publisher - and so I would absolutely expect you to have print books in the future :) It was just a great example of a mainstream author & publisher stepping out of what is the 'norm' for indies. I would absolutely take a big print deal if I was offered one because I can't do that myself. I have your print book & I'm one of your fans too hence why I bought Newsjacking (although nowadays I won't buy a print book unless it's a must have gorgeous edition - like Carl Jung's oversized full colour Red Book!)

• I'm definitely going the way of the digital future in books. I agree that the print book market is not dead, but the bigger slice of the pie is in digital. When it comes to non-fiction instructional books that have info I need to refer to over and over, I buy the print version, otherwise I buy for my Kindle. I will sometimes look through Amazon's lists for something new to read, but 90% of the time I buy from what I see available on facebook by authors or blogs I read.
  I'm trying to do more to build a following but find it so time consuming that I end up shorting myself the time to write. Plus I'm not very good at Twitter--finding the # that has people who would read my book and then coming up with something worth tweeting.
  I'll check out Flinch now. Thanks for sharing that.

  • Thanks Marcia - for indies, the big slice of the pie is definitely digital. One thing you can do is to have a list for interested people to sign up for your books on your blog - that doesn't take much and then have a link to it at the end of the book. I have grown a small fiction list that way and over time it will get bigger (we have time!)
    Don't worry about tweeting if you don't enjoy it - I love twitter but you have to find your niche :)

• Thanks for posting this Joanna. I'm looking forward to reading Flinch.
  I borrow printed books from the library, but now any books I purchase are almost all digital. I download the samples and if I like the sample, I buy the book. It HAS changed the way I buy books. I still like a recommendation from a friend or a blog (like you recommending Flinch), but I also see what people are reading on Goodreads, if it looks interesting download a sample. I LOVE that I can sample books because in the "old days" I bought books from the brick & mortar store and a lot of the time, I ended up not liking the book. This way I only purchase books I'm going to adore.
  Oh, and there are so many good reads under $5 from Indie authors (and astute publishers), that I never spend more than that for an e-book.

  • Sampling so rocks! I am addicted to it - and I'm glad you said indie under $5 and not under $1 as I have just raised my price :)

• NO DOUBT, digital is the future & the future is now.
  As always, Joanna, thanks for a great post. And thanks for shining the light on Derek at Creativindie. He's working on my cover as we speak. Not sure he can do my interior. I wrote the book in Apple's Pages & not sure how that will translate. If you have any budget-friendly recommendations, I'm all ears.
  Btw, I checked with a local (Nashville, TN) designer who wanted $3,000 just for the cover. Seems a bit crazy to me, and I wonder how many newbies are getting taken for a ride... But I digress.
  Just read Flinch, so thx for that, too. About to get Newsjacking as well.
  @David Meerman Scott - Amen! I'm a speaker who's just getting cranked up & realized that POD + ebooks is exactly the way for a rookie to get started. As I've researched my heroes in the biz (I'm a "self-help wrapped in fiction" writer & motivational speaker), I've been encouraged to learn that almost 100% of them started as you did: self-published. What better way to show a publisher you can sell books than to actually SELL BOOKS, right? Then you get to decide whether to go Legacy or stay Indie if Legacy comes calling.
  ANYWAY... Here's my question: Does anyone have thoughts on buying habits of meeting attendees when you speak at a conference? My (very) informal surveys have led to the conclusion that if an attendee falls in love with you while you're speaking and can meet you/get a signed copy of your book, they'll pay for the print version on the spot. Otherwise, I envision someone listening to me on stage & literally downloading my book before I finish my talk. My book is releasing next month, so I have no experience with that yet.
  Thanks again, Joanna. You always show up at EXACTLY the right time for me.

  • Brian - another thing I do is offer totally free (no registration) ebooks (PDFs). They have been downloaded over 2 million times. This spreads my ideas. http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/products_ebooks.htm

    In my experience, about 10% - 20% of a room will buy books. But it is a massive hassle to sell them yourself what with logistics of the books and the payment side. A better way to go is to build a copy for each attendee into the price the organizer pays.

    • And this is why we love the internet. Thank you David! I will definitely build that in going forward. I'm shaking my head as I now recall the times I attended meetings & the CEO said, "Each of you is getting (the speaker's) book as my gift to you." And we all applauded wildly. Classic win/win. Who knew?

      The no registration ebooks is also intriguing. Thanks for the link. I'll dive into that right away. Dang... Isn't it fun to find out everything you didn't know AFTER you take that leap of faith!

      Seriously, thanks for sharing.

      • Hi Brian,
        I also sell digital courses when I speak. I print out the logon & password and put them in an envelope with the branding stickers on the front so there is something physical to buy. I sell those at $39.99 for the mini courses and $297 for the full course and I always sell some. I take some physical books but I just don't make enough profit on print so I focus on ecourses when I speak (but then I don't have the size of the platform like David!)

        • Very good info, Joanna. Thanks for that, too. I'm also releasing an audio program w/ a pdf workbook, and was struggling with shipping all this product everywhere I go! Thus, your envelope idea is brilliant.

          Btw all, if you haven't read David's "Real Time" download (link above), you really should. Fascinating.

          Thanks again, Joanna. You have no idea what you've meant to my budding career in the last few months.

• Love this from Konrath just now. Must read.

  http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/12/eisler-konrath-vs-hachette.html

  • Indie and digital publishing is just going off right now!

• This was an interesting and entertaining read. I have downloaded Flinch.

• Hi Joanna,

  Am delighted to have discovered you and read what you have to say. I am an Australian author published in the traditional way but several years ago I started to explore transmedia and am happy to report my first transmedia young adult book is going to be published in January. Titled Kiss Kill (www.reallybluebooks). The learning curve from an author writing a traditional prose narrative to the non-linear narrative of transmedia has not just been steep - it's been a trajectory - but the possibilities are infinite. David Varela said writers can no longer call themselves authors, they must be auteurs if they they are going to make the transition into the digital future.

  • Hi Jeni, it's fantastic that you're getting into transmedia - there are brilliant opportunities now for people who are looking for them and creating them. Wishing you all the best.

    • Thanks Joanna. All the best to you, too!

• Hi Joanna,

  I think it is important for everyone to stop and embrace the digital technology. After all, it will only keep moving forwards.