Interesting article on the Mail website by Graham Lord, a very established and succesful author who has recently found himself obliged to go the self-publishing route via Amazon Kindle Direct:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-2196774/Author-Graham-Lord-reveals-paid-print-book.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Lord quotes some fearsome statistics: total book sales in the UK in April this year were down a quarter on the previous April, and overall UK sales of novels have crashed by 50% in the last two years. This is understandably making agents and publishing houses nervous of taking on new authors. This in turn forces authors to turn to other routes to get their work out in the big wide world.
Food for thought for all of us...much of it difficult to digest.
This is certainly a rapidly changing market, David.
ReplyDeleteOn the plus side, there is a solution, of sorts...
ReplyDeleteThe economy worldwide is horrid. Historically, there are only two things that thrive in depressed times - gambling and alcohol. Hopefully, it will change and all us authors will do better.
ReplyDeleteI think the only way to survive is to sway with the changes and try to hang on. I always think of that saying "this too shall pass."
ReplyDeleteI wonder if those statistics include e-books? I know print sales are down everywhere and I suspect people may be reading less. Most of my friends are avid readers, though many (like myself) have turned to the convenience of e-books. I'll go with what Vonnie, said, too.
ReplyDeletePrint is slowly dropping, while e-books are growing rapidly, and statistically people who read e-books read more. Independent or Indie publishing no longer carries the stigma of 'vanity' publishing and the writer gets the lion's share of the profit.
ReplyDelete