The fruits of the ebook revolution?

Simon & Schuster has admitted that profits on e-books are higher than the original estimates:

http://www.bradsreader.com/2011/05/publisher-credits-low-production-costs-to-high-ebook-profitability/?rss_cid=5251

I'm glad they're profitable. Maybe it really isn't The End Of The Road for publishers.

Of course it isn't. It might take a while, but when the tide shifts, they will shift with it. They just have to figure a way to maintain market share,and they'll try different things until it works.

On a tangent, the other day I did a search for humor books on Amazon. The first page of hits was self-published stuff. I don't want to see that. Online retailers are going to have to figure out a way to filter this out, just as Google changes its algorithm to weed out junk sites that get high hits.

When I was mining the wealth of agents and publishers on line, I looked at the kinds of books each of them would and would not consider. Most would not represent or publish humor books. You'd almost have to self-publish.

Imagine the anguish involved reading a slush pile full of unsolicited humor books. Even people who are funny in social situations find it difficult to write funny narrative. Comedy writing and humorous prose are the hardest kinds of writing there are.

(This is my 1000th post on this forum. I need a life.)

Congrats! Shelagh needs to bring out the symbols and the brass band. I have a very demanding life; posting here is a healthy diversion (most times!).

Al Stevens wrote:

(This is my 1000th post on this forum. I need a life.)

Dear Al,
Life is moments that add up to minutes. The time I spend writing here is almost trancendental. Moments that my mind floats out of daily routine and cares and off into connections with other minds that I would not have a slight chance of connecting to here in this wilderland that I live. I look upon this message board as a spark of intelligent human life in the vastness of internet space.

Happy to know you. Five stars are hardly ever bad.


Love,
Betty

Congratulations Al. When I reached that point I tried not to think about the time spent on the forum, but the benefits of doing so. Betty and Diane express my feelings about benefits.

As writers, we sometimes want a break from work and would like someone to talk to, just to bounce things around. We have such a place.

Well done Al that's another star on your lapel. Your in Hilton territory now.
My 1000th went by covertly I never noticed it until one day when it was too late to party, so Enjoy!

"...people still want to read, but it's difficult to know who to trust here, because the self published doesn't actually mean that it is bad, any more than officially published means that it is good either..." mentioned the goblin, continuing "...no, I feel that things are going to go in the way of youtube does with music now, in that one follows the link from the "what are you listening to" thread to some unknown artist, so word of mouth from forums is going to be big I feel...", where, to add fuel to everyone's opinion of "that goblin's off his rocker" here, his bet was that the publishers will go big onto writing forums soon, but perhaps keeping a low profile of themselves just making it look genuinely like posters where promoting their books

I prefer 'real' books to e-books. However, I am glad for e-books.

I belong to a (non-writer) Yahoo group and one of the members wanted to check out my novels. She downloaded the first two and then couldn't stop reading them. Within two days she had downloaded the last two. And then she posted to the group how much she enjoyed them.

Of course I would have made more from the royalties from the hardcover or paperback books, but I am simply happy that SHE was able to enjoy the story right away and not have to wait for two shipments of books instead.

And the nice review was a pleasant bonus.

Congratulations, Al. You add oodles to the magic of this forum.