Comments on: Feature Article by Shannon Aviles

By: Shannon Aviles

Shannon Aviles — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:01:18 +0000

Hello Cissy – sorry for the delayed response – unfortunate early afternoon family emergency has kept me away!

Your question is interesting on many levels – first and foremost: Authors should be positioning themselves to sell their own books via ebook format, even if it’s just their backlist.

This of course, means that they must own the rights to these books. This leads into the second layer of this question: Mad dashes are happening every day to grab those rights – either by Agents/Agencies, Publishing Houses, Authors and/or ePub’s springing up everywhere – and more will be coming….

Last but not least: Every Author will be forced to learn and do more self-marketing than they ever wanted to be involved in. Note: I said “Marketing” not “Publicity, Promotions, etc…” Marketing is tied to SALES – and sales as always, is the marker of success!

Best solution to this future is to quickly find and align themselves with Marketing Firms/Individuals with “real” BRAND MARKETING experience from Corporate backgrounds from the onset.

Earlier better than later – is key to the future!

By: Morgan Mandel

Morgan Mandel — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 20:30:24 +0000

We are living in exciting times. It’s getting difficult to keep abreast of the newest and best things to do. Also, unfortunately, right at this time the economy has taken a downturn. I guess the trick is to hook those who’ll go for anything new, like Apple does with their Iphone and Ipad.

Morgan Mandel
http://facebook.com/morgan.mandel

By: Carol Ann Erhardt

Carol Ann Erhardt — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 19:07:04 +0000

Authors are standing on the premise of a new and evolving publishing world. Book trailers are becoming more sophisticated and popular. People are busy, running here and there, tethered to their mobile devices. The need for quick-hitting, attention-getting promotion is becoming crucial for authors, both established and new. The question is: Are authors prepared for the expense of advertising or for learning the technological ins and outs of producing their own advertising? Word of mouth is still the most successful form of advertising, and I believe always will be. But, we do need to think outside the box to produce that edge which draws readers, who then become our word of mouth marketers.
I believe print books will always be around, and for that I’m grateful. I can’t imagine sitting on my child’s bed and reading them a story from a hand-held electronic device. We learn our love of books at an early age and it is cultivated through the years.

By: Cissy Hartley

Cissy Hartley — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:59:59 +0000

Shannon,

Thanks for a fascinating perspective. New technologies are emerging fast and with them comes new challenges and new opportunites for reaching readers. I’ve been very interested to see the shift some literary agents are making into publishing, with direct-to-ebook deals with Amazon, and others. What do you think this is going to mean for the average author? Clearly, I think they’ll need to be more in charge of their own promotion, but what changes should authors (and those who promote them) be making right now to be ready for the new marketplace?