What If The Uncontrolled Acceleration Car Crashes Were No Accident?

Oct. 24, 2011 - PRLog -- Los Angeles, CA
   E-Books run circles around paper.  From both a reader’s and an author’s standpoint, e-Books provide a platform delivering more robust content, easier, faster and in a more organized manner than ever before.  For example, grab an iPad, Kindle e-reader or if you like reading from your desktop computer use Kindle for PC.  Pull up any e-Book.  Now, mouse over to highlight any word.  Up pops the most useful menu.  First, there’s the New Oxford Dictionary bearing the precise meaning of the word.  But beneath that lies the real gold:  Highlight, Add note, Copy, and a whole raft of other options under Other.  
   It is this functionality that drives authors and their readers to the digital arena.  The novel, Car Wars, is a good example.  This is fiction on a global scale that deals with the realities of industrial terrorism.  Like most working writers, Chris Malburg labors rather quickly at his craft.  In the case of Car Wars, the novel took just two months to draft and copy edit after exhaustive research and outlining beforehand.  Then, like so many other projects, the completed manuscript would normally have sat while the literary agents and publishers mull over how best to present it to the reading public.  That time lag is the bane of all commercial writers.
   Car Wars was an exciting, time sensitive experiment for Chris Malburg.  He ripped its plot from the headlines.  Therefore, he decided to give digital publishing a try.  He chose Smashwords as his digital publisher.  It took less than two weeks to convert the Car Wars manuscript to the e-Book format and gain distribution by Smashwords, Amazon, iBooks, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Sony and all the other digital book distribution platforms.  That’s two weeks compared to the year it often takes traditional publishers to get their books on bookstore shelves.  
   This rapid turnaround left Malburg with the time needed for marketing Car Wars.  There have been radio interviews, fan interaction in Twitter (#CarWarsEbook and @ChrisMalburg), Facebook (chris.malburg), Linkedin (ChrisMalburg), Smashwords (ChrisMalburg).  Malburg even created the comprehensive Car Wars Website (http://www.CarWarsEbook.com) himself.  
   Why would a busy working author dedicate this kind of time to an experimental book?  According to Chris Malburg, digital publishing will totally eclipse traditional publishing in the next ten years.  The train is leaving the station.  The digital market will leave behind those authors who fail to gain a presence.  Besides, that, he says, it’s really fun.  Malburg enjoys the interaction with readers that almost never occurs from hardcopy books.  He calls his readers some of the most intelligent, thoughtful people he has met in the publishing world.  They pose questions and postulate new theories for the cast of Car Wars characters.  

Economics of digital publishing
   For Chris Malburg, as with most successful writers, this is his business.  He is always looking for new and more lucrative markets.  He believes he has found it in digital publishing.  E-books published through Smashwords or LuLu allows the writer to retain between 55%-85% of the retail price.  The difference depends on the platforms selling the book.  If Amazon makes the sale, authors pay an automatic 30% haircut on the retail price to Amazon.  Then, the e-Book publisher takes their cut--usually 15%.  Most authors--Malburg included--are happy to pay the haircut.
           That’s a whole lot better than when Simon & Schuster or Putnam publishes one of Malburg’s books.  Hardcopy sales traditionally turn over 15% of the retail price to the author.  Publishers typically withhold up to 20% of all royalties to cover returns.  They hold this retainage (interest free to the publisher) for six months or more before final settlement.  From the royalties, most authors pay 15% to their literary agents.

The private economics of Car Wars
           Let’s say Car Wars sold in hard copy for $20.  Malburg’s payment would go like this:
• Gross royalty due author:                     $3.00
• Less 20% return retainage:                 (   .60)
• Less 15% paid to agent                       (   .45)
• Net royalty due author                         $1.95 less 20% holdback retained for 6 months.

The publisher would remit the payment twice annually.        
Now when Amazon sells Car Wars as an e-Book, the price drops to $5.99.  Here’s how Malburg’s compensation shakes out:

• Gross royalty due author (30% fee):   $4.19
• Less 15% paid to e-Book publisher:    ( .90)
• Net royalty due author                            $3.29

           The book buying public receives a 70% discount by buying an e-Book and putting it on their electronic reader of choice.  Malburg, as the author, receives 41% more in royalty revenue.  The author can do even better if readers buy the book directly from his e-Book publisher’s store, such as Smashwords.com.  
           Of course, the literary agent is out of this revenue loop.  The book bypassed the hardcopy publisher and the author went directly to the e-Book publisher, making agency representation unnecessary.  

           Chris Malburg has over 4 million words in print spread over 12 books and 100 magazine articles.  He is the CEO of Writers Resource Group (http://www.WritersResourceGroup.com), providing outsourced literary services to corporate enterprises.  Access Car Wars’ Website by http://www.CarWarsEbook.com.  Chris Malburg’s blog about the digital publishing industry is linked in the Car Wars site as well.  Contact Chris directly at CRM@WritersResourceGroup.com.

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Writers Resource Group provides outsourced financial writing services to all types and sizes of companies. Industry specialties include financial services, manufacturing, industrial, health care and professional services.