You might have already heard the news about Borders folding under the pressure found in an industry with decreasing profits, shrinking market segments, and inflating competition. It’s unfortunate, but apparently the book industry is a bit of a difficult endeavour.
It’s not that much of a surprise that a brick and mortar book store is closing its doors. The ebook/audio book segment is growing every year – doubled in size to $69.9m in 2010. Compared to adult hardcover books (dropped to $49.1m) or paperbacks (big drop to $83.6m), the ebook/audio book is becoming a respectable part of the book industry (which brought in a respectable $805.7m in 2010).
If you want to write a book and share it with all of your friends, it’s pretty simple to do.
Step 1 – write book (hopefully edit it too, but that doesn’t seem to be as necessary as it once was)
Step 2 – share your ebook on any/all of the ebook websites: like Free-ebooks.net or GetFreeBooks.com
Step 3 – promote the heck out of it. Send it to your facebook friends, link it to your twitter bio, create a website for it – or at least a page on your current website
Then kick back and enjoy the….well, not that much, actually. Some ebooks might make their authors hundredaires, or if you’re really lucky – a thousandaire – but for the most part, they’re free. If you are writing for the sake of writing, this shouldn’t be a big deal. If you’re trying to get rich, ebooks might not be the best ROI for you, unless you are willing to create something worth reading. The ease of access into this market makes for a lot of completion. But – as a good friend of mine once told me, “Writers Write.”
Where do you buy your books? Are you part of the crowd that has embraced technology, purchasing ebooks for your iPad, downloading manuscripts on your Kindle, or forsaking the brick-and-mortar stores in favour of lower prices from online retailers like Amazon.com or Abebooks.com? Or are you of the ilk that likes to slide into a hot bath with a great book, or curl up in an overstuffed chair, a hot cup of tea on the table beside you, and the latest tome in your hand?
How do you get your read on?