The Rise Of Ebooks - Opportunities for Indie Authors and Publishers

The Rise of Ebooks A Conversation with Mark Coker of Smashwords April 11, 2009 Smashwords, Inc.  Ebook Publishing Platform and Online Bookstore 15951 Los Gatos Blvd. Ste.16  Los Gatos, California 95032  On The Web: www.smashwords.com

Why Ebooks Failed in the late 1990s
Paper reading vastly superior to screen reading
Overpriced
DRM=confusion, frustration
Limited selection

Wholesale Ebook Revenues Surpass $100 million Data: AAP http://www.publishers.org/documents/S12008Final.pdf 58% compound annual growth for 6 years vs. 1.6% all books

Annual growth rates, p- & e- Data: AAP http://www.publishers.org/documents/S12008Final.pdf

Monthly growth, y-o-y ebook vs. overall market Data: AAP http://www.publishers.org/

Do Ebooks Really Matter? $113,220,000 (ebooks)  $24,225,025,000 (all books) = 0.467%

Build it and they will come
Statistics understate results of early movers in ebooks
For books available in both e- & p-, 10% of Amazon’s sales are ebooks

Why ebooks are succeeding now
Screen reading now rivals paper
Amazon + Oprah
iPhone (Stanza 1.5 million users)
Free books are gateway drug
Greater content selection
Prices coming down
DRM on death’s doorstep

Will Ebooks Replace Print Books?

Ebooks are similar to print books and stone tablets
Each offers lovingly prepared packaged units of words
Each delivers words on a substrate medium
Each is cool
Each represents a different way to enjoy a book

Consumers may one day prefer ebooks over print
Ebooks are less expensive
Digital can enhance reading experience
Screens will become better than paper
Changeable font size
Portable
Compact
Library in the cloud
Books as both hub and spoke within richer, more immersive experience

How ebooks will impact book supply chain for publishers printer P-publisher Shipper/w/d customer bookseller E-publisher customer ebookseller E-publisher customer ebookseller E-distributor E-publisher customer

The ebook opportunity for publishers
Publishers become more important, not less important
curators of content
re-imagine the book
Digital opens worldwide market
Lower cost books
higher per unit profit
lower cost = larger available market
Digital enables frictionless discovery and sampling
may drive print sales and ebook/print bundles

How to publish in e-
Straight form narrative works best
Picture books, complex layout, more challenging
Formatting is different
goal: one book, many devices
keep it simple!
Pricing is different
Don’t use DRM
Multi-format is essential (see next slide)

Why Multi-Format Matters

Q&A
About Smashwords
Ebook publishing platform and online bookstore
Social media-enabled selling and marketing tools
Distribution to Stanza
Free Smashwords Style Guide for formatting tips
Free Smashwords Book Marketing Guide
85% net to publisher
Where to find me: Web: www.smashwords.com Blog: blog.smashwords.com Twitter: twitter.com/markcoker Email: mc at smashwords dot com

The Rise Of Ebooks - Opportunities for Indie Authors and Publishers

by Smashwords, Inc. on Apr 11, 2009

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