Ah, that Walmart!

It has been a busy week here at eMoon. More authors are choosing to publish with us, and more readers are finding the convenience of downloading books to read on Kindles, iPhones and iPods. I have been so busy with all this fun stuff that I have not had time to post on this blog all week. Please, I beg your forgiveness.

Another reason for my lack of an update is that the world of publishing is changing at such a frantic, breakneck pace that it is hard to keep up with--even during one day. If I post about a new device in the morning, three more are announced at noon. Fun, but the pacing could slow a bit. (But I know it won't for some time.)

So I thought I would vary from the topic of publishing for just a moment. I found something today I thought you might find, well, interesting. It was shared with me by my friend Michael Spencer, better known as the Internet Monk.

Walmart is now selling caskets.

Yes, now you can buy a casket online from America's favorite retailer. How about a Lovely In All Ways Stainless Steel casket? Or a Dad Remembered casket? The Pieta and Last Supper casket is my favorite.

I can't wait to see the UPS truck pull up in front of my neighbor's house and wheel an long, rectangular box up to their front door. Hopefully, if they're not home, UPS will ask to leave it with me. Naptime, anyone?

Before you click on the "Purchase Now" button, be very sure this is the casket you want to lie in for all time. (Theological discussions can commence now.) They are non-refundable, not even, as the iMonk says, if you wash it out really good.

Returns. Ah--now I see the connection with publishing. When traditional print publishers send books to retailers, they have already calculated that anywhere from 25-40 percent will be returned. Can you imagine any other industry preplanning for 40 percent waste? With eBooks, there are no returns. Readers can download samples of the books to read before they decide to buy. That way they know they have just book they want.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have some decisions to make. Stainless steel or bronze. Crepe or velvet interior. So many choices...

At War

Last week we witnessed "the shot heard 'round the world." Only this time it wasn't at Lexington and Concord, but at Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart.com announced its intention to take on Amazon by lowering the price of ten bestselling hardcover books to $8.98. That means you can buy Sarah Palin's forthcoming autobiography, list price $28.99, for just $8.98. (This price is only good when ordering online--Walmart says the discount will not be available in stores.)

Target then announced they, too, would price their top ten bestselling hardcovers at under nine dollars. Amazon, of course, matched these prices on the same books. So now is the time to pre-order Stephen King's Under The Dome or Breathless by Dean Koontz. These books, with list price of nearly $30.00 each, can be yours for the price of a movie ticket. Great news, you say. Who could complain about lower prices?

Well, publishers for one. Yesterday the board of directors for the American Booksellers Association (ABA) sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting an investigation of what they call "illegal predatory pricing policies" put in place by these retailers. The ABA's letter said that if not addressed, these prices "will devastate not only the book industry, but our collective ability to remain a society where the widest range of ideas are always made available to the public."

It's nice to think that the world's largest publishers are concerned with our ability to remain a society. They aren't rushing off to ask the Justice Department to stop Walmart and the others from selling books below their cost because the publishers are afraid of lowered profits. No. They are concerned for the future of our culture.

Or not.

I don't blame the ABA for being concerned about this. Their bottom lines are being threatened. But they have to realize that we are in a time of massive transition in the way we consume media. Retailers are lowering prices because they see consumers buying new releases as eBooks instead of printed books. Target wants people shopping on their site--and until they can start offering digital downloads of books, this is their way to capture a buying consumer. Publishers also see the impact eBooks are making on the sales of printed books. HarperCollins will not release the eBook version of Palin's book at the same time they release the printed book. The eBook will follow about six weeks later. Will that drive people to buy the printed book, or will consumers wait and buy the digital version? That we will have to wait and see, but it is my contention the publishers are fighting a losing battle.

Amazon knows the value of eBooks to their bottom line. Here is a look at just how much the Kindle eBook reader matters to Amazon, thanks to Publisher's Weekly:

Judging by Amazon’s third quarter results, the e-tailer can carry on its price war with Wal Mart and others for a long time. Total sales for the company rose 28%, to $5.45 billion, in the quarter ended September 30, (and increased 29% excluding exchange rates). Operating income jumped 62% (69% excluding exchange rates), to $251 million. The results appear to have been driven by the Kindle. Although no sales figures were released, Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos said in a statement that the e-reader “has become the #1 bestselling item by both unit sales and dollars – not just in our electronics store but across all product categories on Amazon.com. It’s also the most wished for and the most gifted.”

So if eBooks are becoming such a big part of retailing, why are publishers fighting against this transition? Imagine a record label releasing a new album by a popular group only as a plastic CD, saying the iTunes download would not be available for another six weeks. How well would that go over? Much better for those music companies who realized that the consumers are now buying and listening to music in a new way, and go where those consumers are spending their money. Readers are changing their habits--much more quickly than most of us in the publishing industry thought they would. Readers are becoming accustomed to downloading a sample of a book to their eReader, then deciding if they want to buy the whole book. If publishers don't make that option available, who is to blame for a downturn in sales?

When I was in college, students would veer off of the sidewalk and walk across the grass to a door that was closer to their classrooms. The school put up signs, ropes, barriers--anything they could to try to keep students on the sidewalk. Finally, one of the administrators ordered a sidewalk to be poured along the path the students had worn to the door. He concluded that "sidewalks need to be poured where people walk." Well, people are walking--running, in many cases--to buy books in digital form. The smart publishers will realize this and pour their sidewalks where the people are walking.

Nook and ante: Barnes and Noble in the game

Barnes and Noble jumped into the eBook reader wars in a big way today when they announced their new Nook.

Nook.

It's one of those words like "Jeep" that, after saying it a few times, feels funny in the mouth. Still, that is the name given, so that is the name we will use. Nooknooknooknook. I guess we will have to get used to it.

One thing we know already: With this introduction, eBooks are here to stay. Not that they weren't before, but now we have a second major retailer (the first being the king of the jungle, Amazon) willing to sell its products in a new form and at a lower price. With most eBooks priced under ten dollars, that is a major business shift for Barnes and Noble. By introducing the Nook and rolling out with it a load of premium services (built in WiFi; a color touch navigational screen; you can share a book you buy with a friend for 14 days; you can take your Nook into any Barnes and Noble store and read any book for up to two hours at a time, etc.), Barnes and Noble is shouting the obvious: Customers want the option to buy books and read books in a digital form. And now they can do it with a very cool eBook reader.

This is really good news for eMoon authors. More reading devices in the hands of more people mean more potential readers for your books. If you have been sitting on the edge of the pool, wondering if the wave of eBooks would diminish and fade away, well, you might as well jump in. You're going to get wet one way or another! Better to surf the wave then be buried by it. (Do you like how I stayed with the water metaphor all the way through?)

Oh, and be watching the response from Amazon. Jeff Bezos and his creative team are, I'm sure, working furiously to come up with the Next Thing. And, of course, we have Apple's Tablet supposedly coming out the first quarter of 2010. And that may swamp both the Kindle and the Nook. (Let's just hope Steve Jobs and Apple come up with a funkier name than Nook...) There is a lot happening on the eBook reader front right now. But none of these readers are anything more than a trinket without great books to read on them. Are you writing a great book right now? Do you have yours written and ready to publish with eMoon? If so, call or write to us. We are standing by to help get your book onto a Nook by hook or by crook.

You know, I think Dr. Seuss would have a great time with this one, don't you?

Remastering a master

I had traveled from Tulsa to Nashville by my preferred method: my own car. Now it was time for the trip home. I went through my pre-takeoff checklist. Gas? Check--I had just filled up. Snacks? Check. A Gala apple to go along with my favorite storebought cookies: Orange-Pineapple sandwich cookies available only at Wal-Mart. (You say they sound terrible? Great! Leave them for those of us who know better.) Only one more stop before I could hit the highway: Starbucks.

While I was waiting for my grande Sumatra (no room for cream--fill it to the top with hot, black coffee) I saw one copy of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the counter. I knew that the digitally-remastered copies of many of the Beatles' albums had been released the week before, but hadn't heard any of them yet. I am more of a Beatles admirer than a Beatles worshipper, but after all, they are the Beatles. And this was, after all, Sgt. Pepper's. So I added it to my coffee, paid, and was on my way.

After I finished listening to a book on CD (The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova--a great, fun read) I popped my new CD into the player. I was totally unprepared for what I heard. Yes, it was the same Sgt. Pepper's I had listened to countless times. It was the same order of songs as when the album was first released in 1967. There was Ringo asking me what I would do if he sang out of key. (Would I stand up and walk out on him? Well, no, because I was driving at the time.)

What was totally new and mindsmashing was the sound quality. I could hear lyrics, background remarks, even instruments I had never before heard in these songs. It was like hearing the album for the very first time. I listened straight through three complete times. Finally I was convinced: You can improve on perfection.

All that to say Welcome. Welcome to publishing for the 21st century. It is time to realize that what Gutenberg invented in 1455 is not the only way to experience the written word. What we have thought for so long to be the perfect way to communicate has been improved. And these improvements will change the way we write and read, the way we related to the written word.

Welcome to Electric Moon Publishing.

No, we did not invent the eBook. We are just making it more visible, more readily available. Starbucks did not invent the CD, nor did they do the digital remastering of a classic album. But they brought it to my attention, made it easy for me to get and enjoy. (Aren't you glad you don't have to travel with me? Imagine listening to the same songs three times--loudly! That's why I usually travel alone...) eMoon is going to do the same. We want to make it easy for, the author, to get your books published and in front of excited readers. And we want to make it easy for readers to find material that they want, writings that traditional publishers, for a variety of reasons, can't or won't make available.

Check in regularly for ideas, news, encouragement for the 21st century writer. We have only just begun (I wonder if the Carpenters' catalog of albums will be next for remastering?), and many new avenues of communicating your heart to readers are opening up. Ask questions, share ideas. We want this to be a group excercise where everyone benefits. See you again soon. Right now, I have some Beatles to listen to. Where is my coffee?