Self-Published Books on the Rise...

It's another busy busy week so light on the blogging, but I wanted to get a link up to this GalleyCat post especially for the writers who came to see me speak on Saturday at the Carnegie Center in Lexington.

We talked a lot about self publishing (there were many questions about it), so here's an interesting stat from Bowker via GalleyCat:

According to the bibliographic company Bowker, 285,394 new books were published by print-on-demand companies last year--a 132 percent increase compared to 2007. In contrast, U.S. publishers put out 275,232 new books and editions in 2008--a 3.2 percent drop compared to the year before.

In case you don't have your calculator handy, that's a total of 560,626 books published in 2008.

This was also reported on in Publishers Lunch with the headline "On Demand Books Overtake Traditional Titles for the First Time."

• Click here to read about the Writer's Digest Self-Published Competition--extended deadline is May 20th.

News on Egmont USA...


Today Publishers Lunch reports editions to the editorial staff at the recently established Egmont USA:

Egmont USA announced new hires including Greg Ferguson as editor (he was at Harper Children's) and Nico Medina as managing editor (he was at Viking Children's). The company has acquired 15 titles for their launch list, starting in fall 2009.

Below is the recently created listing with information provided by Elizabeth Law. (Egmont did not make the 2009 CWIM, but will appear in the 2010 edition):

EGMONT USA 443 Park Ave South, New York NY 10016. Estab. 2008. The Egmont Group was founded in 1878. (212)685-0102. Website: www.egmont-us.com. Acquisitions: Elizabeth Law (VP & Publisher), Regina Griffin (Executive Editor). Publishes 5 picture books/year; 5 young readers/year; 20 middle readers/year; 20 young adult/year. 25% of books by first-time authors. "Egmont USA publishes quality commercial fiction. We are committed to editorial excellence and to providing first rate care for our authors. Our motto is that we turn writers in authors and children into passionate readers."
Fiction Picture books: animal, concept, contemporary, humor, multicultural. Young Readers: adventure, animal, contemporary, humor, multicultural. Middle Readers: adventure, animal, contemporary, fantasy, humor, multicultural, problem novels, science fiction, special needs. Young Adults/Teens: adventure, animal, contemporary, humor, multicultural, problem novels, science fiction, special needs. Upcoming titles: Leaving the Belleweathers, by Kristen Venuti (Fall 09); Back, by Julia Keller (Fall 09); The Cinderella Society, (Spring 2010).
How to Contact/Writers Only interested in agented material. Fiction: Query. Responds to queries in 4 weeks; mss in 6 weeks. Publishes a book 18 months after acceptance. Will consider e-mail submissions.
Illustration Only interested in agented in material. Works with 5 illustrators/year. Uses both color and b&w. Illustrations only: Query with samples. Contact: Alison Weiss, Editorial Assistant. Responds only if interested. Samples are not returned.
Terms Pays authors royalties based on retail price. Pays illustrators royalties.

How Do People Read and Buy Books?...

Publishers Lunch reported on a Random House/Zogby survey which "explores how and where readers shop, what makes them buy, and their reading and book-buying habits." Click here to read the results. It's interesting and is making me think about my own reading and buying habits. (I particularly liked the question about what book you'd recommend to the next President if s/he called you at a 3 a.m. asking for an I-can't-sleep book suggestion.)

Here is part of the Publishers Lunch rundown:

Zogby International released results from a nationwide online survey of the reading and book-buying habits of over 8,000 representative adults, commissioned by Random House (which will publish a book with Zogby later this year). The overall portrait shows Americans as light readers and book purchasers (half buy fewer than 10 books a year; just 14 percent buy more than 20 a year for themselves) who are highly unlikely to buy an e-reading device (3 percent own one; 4 percent plan to buy); more influenced to buy a book by public radio (15 percent) than Jon Stewart (8 percent) who still rans above Oprah Winfrey (5 percent); light sellers of their books when finished with them (only 3 percent do so) and big online customers (more people buy often online, 43 percent, than anywhere else, including chains, at 32 percent) at Amazon in particular--which 66 percent named as online retailer they frequent (with the failed Booksense.com drawing an insignificant response).