Self-Publishing News You Can Use: Changes

POSTED ON Apr 16, 2011

Joel Friedlander

Written by Joel Friedlander

Home > Blog > Book Production, E-Books & Readers, Self-Publishing > Self-Publishing News You Can Use: Changes

Goodbye Flip

Cisco Systems discontinued sales of the Flip camera, the tool that revolutionized mobile video. Was Flip being rendered obsolete by the iPhone and Android phones with their always-ready HD video? We’ll never know, but it’s the end of an era for those who used and loved—or tolerated—it’s stripped-down approach to video.

Hello Matte!

Lightning Source, the dominant provider of print on demand (POD) books to the book industry, announced it will for the first time supply covers with matte lamination. It will be available on perfectbound paperbacks, casebound books and jacketed hardcovers in many trim sizes. Here’s the Matte Lam Factsheet.

This is of particular interest to self-publishers. Until now the major suppliers of POD have only offered gloss lamination, and “POD books” are sometimes recognized as such by the covers. I’ve had clients specify that they “don’t want those shiny POD covers” but there hasn’t been much choice.

I haven’t seen a sample of the new lamination yet, but matte lam is a favorite for many books I print offset, so I’m excited to have a look.

The 800-Pound e-Gorilla

A rather stunning report came out from the Publishing industry trade group, the Association of American Publishers (AAP).

First, they reported that in February of this year, for the first time, e-books had more sales than any other format in trade publishing. E-books grew 169% while all printed trade books sales fell by 24%.

Worst hit? Adult Trade categories including hardcover, paperback and mass market books were down 34.4% That’s a bloodbath. Many businesses could not survive a drop in sales of 35%. No wonder the bookstores are closing.

The good news about e-books extends even further:

“Many publishers report that e-Book readers who enjoy a newly-released book will frequently buy an author’s full backlist.”—Association of American Publishers

So e-books are actually stimulating readership, but moving those readers farther into the e-backlist, which is good news for authors with books that have become available in e-book formats. There are still lots of books unavailable in e-formats.

Add to this picture the fact that it’s likely none of the self-published books have been included in these statistics. These figures come from trade publishers.

What this means is that there are probably a lot more e-books being sold than the AAP knows about.

I remain convinced that this is the best time in history to be an independent author, a content creator, someone who can ship. The Golden Age of self-publishing means publishing power is in the hands of the creators. It will change everything. In fact, it already has; reality just has to catch up.


A Self-Publishing Companion by Joel FriedlanderTo take advantage of these opportunities, you need to be educated and prepared. I wrote A Self-Publisher’s Companion to explain the world of self-publishing to authors thinking about getting into print or e-books. With the rise of print on demand technology and the coming of e-books, it’s time for every author to consider taking control of their publishing destiny. There’s no reason for writers to postpone their writing career any more.

Tom Evans, The Bookwright, who generously hosted me on his Barefoot Book radio show, said: “This is an amazing book which, in my opinion, is the new bible for both authors and publishers who want to get in print and share their message with the world.”

A Self-Publisher’s Companion is now available in:

paperback from Amazon
or from Barnes & Noble
as a Kindle e-book, and
as a Nook Book.

You can use the links to find out more. Thanks!

resources for self-publishers

Photo by Matt from London

Joel Friedlander

Written by
Joel Friedlander

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