Ebooks vs Pbooks

GalleyCat (which is a part of the wonderful daily media newsletter from MediaBistro) had an interesting article today about ebook and pbook sales for the first quarter of 2012.

Apparently ebook sales for the adult category (as opposed to the erotic and BSDM genre, mind you :)) have outpaced the sales of adult pbooks by about 23% (which I think is pretty significant). Ebook sales were at $282.3 mil, hardcovers at $229.6 mil

But if you take a look at the YA and children's market, ebooks are still way behind. Hardcover sales for YA/children's were $187.7 mil, while ebooks there were $64.3 mil (even though that relatively small # accounted for an amazing 233% growth over 2011. Which should give you reason for caution when hearing about the death of print books using only percentages and no real numbers for reference, or vice versa).

Why do you think this is? Are teens and adults reading YA just more interested in physical package, things like covers? Are they more sentimental? Adult readers, which side of the line are you on?

Speaking of Kickstarter...

Yesterday, I plugged Kickstarter, a crowdsourced funding platform that I think is great. What could be better than a crowdsourced funding site? Two of 'em!

Enter USA Projects, which is like Kickstarter, but specifically for the arts. One of our brilliant authors, Andromeda Romano-Lax (also writer of the wonderfully researched, surprising WWII (art) novel, THE DETOUR), is using USA Projects to fund research and writing of her next novel, THE EXPERT.

Read more and see her book trailer here.

Kickstarter Projects: Good or Bad Idea?

I saw today in my newsfeed an article saying that a whopping 40% of Kickstarter projects don't meet their funding goals. And I thought...actually, that's pretty fantastic. So, you're telling me that 60% of projects on Kickstarter do get funded?

Well, not quite, as you can see in this infographic from AppsBlogger:

BUT DO YOU SEE ALL THAT BLUE???

For those of you who don't know (scorn redacted), Kickstarter is a crowdsourcing network where ingenious people like Chuck Wendig post ideas for projects and propose a funding goal and dictate levels of monetary giving with perks attached. And it works a lot of the time. 

Is this a new chapter to the self-publishing story? Even traditional publishing story, a la Electric Literature's Recommended Reading, which was Kickstarter funded? It's pretty cool, in any event.

Soho Press at BEA!

Tomorrow, it begins. The crazy, hectic, stressful, amazing three days that is BEA. Soho has a lot going on--and you can check out all of our staff tips and what we're looking forward to this year here, on the Soho Blog.

If you're going to be around, swing by booth 3949 (sort of easy to remember, huh?) and check out all the cool stuff we're featuring! We'd love to meet you. You can also keep track of us using the #BEA2012 and #SohoSwag hashtags.


Monday 6/4
9:40 - 11 am: Juliet Grames will be on a panel for Library Journal's Day of Dialog talking about her picks as editor of the Soho Crime imprint.

Tuesday, 6/5
11:30 - 12:30: James Benn, author of the Billy Boyle WWII mystery series will be signing his latest, DEATH'S DOOR, at table 19! He'll also be signing at 1:15 at the Mystery Writers of America table.

2 - 3: Dan Josefson signs his forthcoming (amazing) debut, THAT'S NOT A FEELING, at the Soho booth. Trust me, you don't want to miss it.

All Day: We'll be giving away galleys of Thomas Maltman’s Little Wolves (January 2013) & Stuart Neville’s Ratlines (June 2013).

Wednesday 6/6
 9 - 10:20: Book Group Speed Dating! We will be giving away Juliann Garey's TOO BRIGHT TO HEAR, TOO LOUD TO SEE and INVISIBLE MURDER, the sequel to last year's New York Times bestselling BOY IN THE SUITCASE.

10:30 - 11:30: Joy Preble signs THE SWEET DEAD LIFE, coming in 2013 from Soho Teen at the Soho Press booth.

11 - 12: Soho Publisher Bronwen Hruska will be on a panel called Reader Centric Publishing.

2 - 3pm: Juliann Garey, author of Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See (December 2012), will sign at the Soho booth.

All Day: We'll be giving away galleys of Jacquelyn Mitchard’s What We Saw at Night — the first book to publish in Soho Teen (January 2013)


Thursday 6/7

 9am-10am: Sean Ferrell will sign The Man in the Empty Suit (February 2013) at the Soho booth.

11am-12pm: Ross Angelella, author of Zombie (June 2012) will sign at the Soho booth

2-3pm: Paula Bomer will sign 9 Months (August 2012) at the Soho booth.

*And* the official Soho Press BEA Party will take place at Housing Works 8-10 pm on Thursday (open bar, food, and prizes!)You're welcome to come! 

ZOMBIE Galore, Oh My!

Last night, we launched the amazing literary debut from J.R. Angelella, ZOMBIE. It comes out on Tuesday, June 5 (that's in 5 days!) and you can preorder it everywhere BUT RIGHT NOW, you can read the first 50 pages here. Many people more important than I already really like this book:

“J.R. Angelella has created a bracing tale of a fractured mind. Zombie will make you laugh, shake your head in recognition, and go for the aluminum bat in your basement.” – Ned Vizzini

“Wow!  A crazy, wicked, knock-out of a book!  Zombie is an energetic, hilarious romp through Jeremy’s world, which is full of dangers and perils both real and imagined (or are they imagined?).  A word of advice…grab the aluminum bat.  Trust me.” – Garth Stein

And last night we got to hang out with J.R. and a bunch of other very important people that like the book. Plus, J.R. told a very funny story about brainstorming starting a cult with John Waters, which I think is wonderful. Some photographic evidence!

First: could there be a more perfect chair for a reading of a book called ZOMBIE?

The swag:

The bar!

More swag:

 

Post-reading.

A great night was had by all!