THE RISE OF THE E-BOOK HAS CAST A SHADOW OVER THE FUTURE OF TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING. NIKKI BARROWCLOUGH INVESTIGATES WHETHER WE SHOULD TAKE IT AS READ THAT THE PRINTED BOOK WILL BE CONSIGNED TO THE PAGES OF HISTORY.
Guess which Aussie mystery writer got a mention? :-)
‘“When you've got your very big authors walking out the door, taking their book sales with them, there won't be the money to invest in new people,” says Hamley . “It’s going to be an interesting landscape.”
It already is. New Zealand-born Vicki Tyley, who now lives in Victoria, writes mystery and suspense novels. For years, her US-based agent, Robert Fleck, battled resistance to Australian mystery novels from American publishers. So he and Tyley decided to go the e-publishing route.
In October 2009, Tyley put up one of her novels, Thin Blood, on Smashwords, an e-publishing website. Six months later, she was chosen by an American online journal, Suspense Magazine, as its featured new author for April 2010. Then in May last year, Tyley self-released Thin Blood live on Amazon through the US-based online retailing giant’s Kindle publishing program – and by the end of June had sold in excess of 25,000 copies (at $2.99 a book, earning the author royalties of 70%).
Fleck is currently negotiating with a major print publisher to release all five of Tyley’s novels as mass-market paperbacks, although Tyley has told Good Weekend that she’s hoping to keep the electronic rights. In November, Thin Blood was named one of Amazon’s best of 2010 customer favourites.’
Unfortunately, I can't post the whole article, but if you'd like to read it online, the issue is available for US$0.99: The Sydney Morning Herald - Good Weekend online
Interesting article, and fabulous mention of YOU in a positive limelight!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the great exposure--
Cherri
Thanks, Cherri.
ReplyDeleteSadly, according to the article, ebook sales in Australia make up less than 1% of book sales. We're a bit behind the times here.