DIGITAL BOOK WORLD vs My World (Part II)

“Anecdata” was a  very large word at DPW. Not sure if it was meant to be derisive, but I loved it. I’m going to define it here, not as trying to prove something with anecdotes, but as learning from stories. Boy, did I pick up  some great anecdata.

My favorite story’s probably the one told by agent Steven Axelrod about his client, Amanda Hocking,  a 26-year-old from Minnesota who recently self-published her first ebook, promptly sold 45 copies in two weeks, then sent out some ARCS and sold 42,800 the next month. In six months she’s sold 250,000 ebooks.

You’ve gotta love Amanda. Smart cookie!

Then there’s Grammar Girl Mignon Fogarty, who started her five-minute podcasts about run-on sentences and dangling modifiers as a hobby, and went from there to bestsellerdom. She even has her own app.

This one was kind of between-the-lines, but I remember looking at Jane Friedman’s plucky start-up website when the publishing giant formed her company, Open Road Integrated Media. I looked again yesterday and wow! Tons of books; TV and film deals; hot professional team. Very impressive.

So that’s the exciting world of digital books! Here’s my world:

Author:  I'm upset.  My book didn’t get any local coverage.

Me: Well, it’s far from over. It’s not like we’re competing for shelf space

here. Besides, the main book reviewer in town doesn’t read ebooks. Pretty hard sell there. But here’s the main thing—local coverage isn’t that important for you. Most of our marketing will be online.

Author:  Online?

Me: Well, it IS an ebook.

Author:  Really? ONLINE?

And it’s not like it’s only other people who haven't yet connected the dots. I’m wondering what, exactly, Amanda sent.  eARCS?  Sounds right, but that word “ARCs” just seems so…bricks-and- mortar. Maybe she had some printed up? Naaah. Couldn’t be. It WAS an ebook.