A Paradigm Shift in the Wind

Sniff the wind. Can you smell it? It is very faint, but it is there. It is the odor of a completely new change coming to the publishing industry. More succinctly, the slight smell on the wind is the fear of the large publishing houses.

And can you hear the sound? It, too, is very quiet, almost no more than a whisper. It is the sound of all the small, independent publishers. They are talking in low voices, making plans. They are also licking their lips. They know. Their time is coming; as the large publishers are certain to die off over the next couple of years, tens of thousands of small companies are poised to take their business, and their place.

The month of February 2011 was a very significant month in the publishing industry. It marked the first time in the history of the business that e-book sales outstripped sales of paperbacks–both in physical number of books sold, and in monetary income as well.

One interesting story coming out the first of this year is the story of one well-established author whose publishing house wanted his latest novel. They wanted it bad. They offered him a higher than standard royalty schedule–and–a half million dollar advance.

He turned them down flat.

Since the start if the e-book revolution, there are other interesting anecdotal accounts of authors, unknown authors, writing and doing well in e-books. Some have even purchased their first homes with proceeds from e-book sales. That’s purchased–as in cash–for the full amount of their house.

It turns out this paradigm shift wafting on the wind is good for the independent author-publisher, too. As well as small publishing concerns.

The real winner, of course, is the consumer.

Clients can read e-books on a variety of devices, from personal computers, to IPads, to SmartPhones. One of the most popular of the devices is the Kindle Wireless Reading Device.

For as little as $139, anyone can purchase a Kindle and have access to hundreds of free publications as well the latest novels and non-fiction titles. Anyone can buy books or other reading material instantly; with an account on file at Amazon.com, readers can browse and download titles wirelessly anywhere they have access to a Wifi network. Or for another $50, you can opt for a 3G account for which Amazon picks up the tab.

We are actively engaged in converting our titles to e-book format as quickly as we can. If you own a Kindle or other wireless device, we invite you to check out some of our titles:

Papa’s Problem by Patrick Kendrick