The advancing army of ebooks

As a small publisher, just starting out on the road to bestsellerdom and Booker award dinners (because that's what it's all about, right?), one of the most important issues to address is the rise of the ebook.

I say rise, because even if the ebook's percentage of today's market today is relatively minor - research stats vary, but it's only a few per cent, if that - you can rest assured that the number is rising, and isn't likely to fall away any time soon.

Eighteen months ago, I shook my head and smiled mockingly when someone suggested I might want to buy an ebook reader and give them a whirl. No chance, says I. I'm a traditional kinda guy, and I know what I like and I like what I know.

Earlier today I was reading Peter Cox's column in The Bookseller, where he talks about the pricing of ebooks and the recent standoff between Amazon and Macmillan. As interesting as the column is, it was the comments it attracted that caught my interest. There are still those within the industry, or commentating on the industry, who continue to dismiss ebooks out of hand. It's their opinion, of course. But, having delved into the ebook phenomenen since I somewhat harshly dismissed them, I now find it hard to believe anyone connected with publishing can brush the ebook off like an irritating sprinkle of dandruff on the shoulder of their pristine suit.

We may still be a long way off the rule of the ebook, but today's younger generation will only further embrace them.

Pricing remains the key to ebooks. Sure, the technology needs to improve (and come down in cost, which it surely will), as does the quality and quantity of titles available as ebooks. But to my mind, if ebooks are pitched at the right level - be it by the publisher or the 'bookseller' - then the market will sit up and take note.

What is that price? If a new paperback costs £7.99, what would we pay for the same title as an ebook? £3.00? £3.50? Lower than a three...? I don't know, but everyone has a level at which they will be persuaded.

There are markets that Nemesis can look to tap into with ebooks. There are communities of Manx across the globe, throughout America, South Africa, Dubai, New Zealand and Australia. Having written a couple of books, I know the difficulty of selling to these communities when it costs so much to ship the book over, particularly if it's a somewhat weighty tome.

Ebooks could just be the answer. In fact, they are the answer; we just need to persuade our fine, upstanding potential customers around the globe that that is the case.

And so the research continues. Has anyone tried an ebook reader? How did you find the reading experience? What price would persuade you to ditch the hard copy and go with the ebook? And surely there are some authors, your favourites, for whom you'd be happy to fork out for the hard copy, regardless of how cheap the ebook might be...?

Thanks for reading
JohnQ

Pocket Rocket - the 1980s incarnation of Mark Cavendish

With the first issue of our Vertigo anthology set to go to the printers in the next few weeks, we're turning our attention to the next book, the autobiography of a British cycling icon of yesteryear.

If you followed British and European cycling during the 1980s, you'll remember the name Steve Joughin.

Twice British National Road Race champion and a stage winner in the Kellog Tour of Britain, what the Manxman lacked in stature he more than made up for with a fearsome sprint, and those who watched him in his pomp now look at 10-time Tour de France stage winner (and fellow Manxman) Mark Cavendish and nod their heads in recognition.

Steve was the Cav of his time. He took on and beat some of the world's best, turning pro in 1983 and enjoying eight years at the top. He became known as the Pocket Rocket, the little guy who could beat them all in a sprint.

Not only was he one hell of a cyclist, he was (and still is) a great character, with colourful tales to tell of his time racing around the globe, from dodging guerrilla fighters in New Caledonia to winning a race in Ireland and finding out that his prize came in the shape of a skutch of gas cookers, which he had to pay to have shipped home - only to discover they didn't work on Manx Gas...

Yet, as with all glory, it didn't last. Steve retired in 1991, unable to secure a ride. In a bid to help fill the huge hole that racing, and the thrill of success, had left in his life, he turned to the bottle. By 2001, he was lying in an Italian hospital bed fighting for his life. Not one to dodge a battle, Steve began the long journey towards putting his life back together.

Today, Steve is a volunteer for Alcoholics Anonymous, helping recovering alcoholics along the road he has walked. He lives in Stoke, where he runs a successful online cycling sportswear business with his son, and regularly returns to the Island to see family and friends.

Now, having turned 50, he's put his life story down on paper, with the help of author and cycling journalist Richard Allen.

When Richard approached Nemesis to publish the book, a read of the manuscript and a look at Richard's credentials, along with the knowledge of Steve's popularity within the cycling fraternity, made the decision a fairly simple one.

Richard is the co-author of Elite Cycling Performance and is a regular freelance contributor to Cycling Weekly, the UK's biggest-selling cycling magazine. He's followed Cav during the Tour de France, and there aren't too many names in the world of cycling media that he doesn't know.
As far as author platforms go, Richard's is firmly established - plus he has Cav lined up to write the foreword.

All being well, Pocket Rocket will be published in mid-to-late June, just before the 2010 Tour de France gets underway in Rotterdam, and we'll be blogging regularly in the build-up to publication.

This book is a major step for Nemesis - it is only our third publication, and we didn't expect to have a book with such a strong platform quite so soon, and this in turn has meant a bigger print run than we would have anticipated.

Of course, with book three in the works, we're looking for book four, which we would like to be a novel. We're reading through submissions now, on the lookout for 'the one'. You'll be the first to know when we find it.

Small but perfectly formed...?

A writer got in touch recently to ask if we would accept a novella as a submission - in fact, not just one, but two very loosely linked novellas.

Why not, says I. A bonus of being a new kid on the publishing block is that we're not receiving 300 submissions a week and can afford the time to indulge our whims somewhat. Naturally, we'd love to be in a position where we are receiving those kind of numbers. Of course, we'd then just complain about being too busy...

The submission arrived yesterday, and I'm hoping to read it over the next few days, along with clearing a backlog of other submissions and assorted pieces. But it got me thinking. I like a good novella. There have been some fine books published over the years that were, in truth, novellas masquerading as full-length works, or that are widely thought of as novels, largely because of their reputation. Stories such as I Am Legend - Matheson's 1954 creation had just 160 pages - and Conrad's Heart of Darkness topped the scales at just over 51,000 words.

Yet, by and large, most acclaimed novellas are old works. They don't seem to be in favour in today's publishing world, although they are still around, often as part of an anthology of shorter stories. One such example is The Reflecting Eye, John Connolly's brilliant chiller featuring Charlie Parker, the central figure in his long-running series of novels. It closes the author's Nocturnes collection, and there is barely a wasted word in his 110 pages. It also introduces readers to The Collector, an ambiguous stranger who has quickly become one of Connolly's finest creations. Surely something as beautifully-formed as The Reflecting Eye can't be all bad?

Think about it - how many epics door-stops do you see produced these days? Not that many. What time do folk these days have to commit to reading books, particularly when they're catching up on blogs/twitter/facebook? Spare time is a scarce commodity in today's society. Books, generally, have contracted in size in recent years, and maybe novellas are the way to go. Certainly ease production costs for publishers, that's for sure.

But maybe I'm biased. Do other readers enjoy novellas? Are they long enough to truly develop a story and characters? And how much cash would you be prepared to fork out for a 100 to 150-page book?

Cheers
JQ

Down, down, you bring me down...

Trying to get a small indie publishing house off the ground in today's publishing climate often feels like hurtling headlong in a burning car with no brakes towards the edge of the Abyss. And I don't just mean a long drop, I mean The Abyss. You know, demons and stuff.

There's so much doom and gloom around. Whether it's traditionalists panicking about the appearance of the army of ebooks cresting the top of the mountain, supported by legions of Kindles and iPads, the Google book settlement and what it means for authors, book stores struggling to turn a profit or large publishing houses shedding jobs quicker than James Patterson churns out books, I often wonder if we're not completely off our rockers to be getting ourselves into this, if indeed we know what this is.

Yet I can't help but feel we're at the start of someting, if not beautiful, then bloody exciting. Sure, it's a period of uncertainty for the publishing industry; and those who claim to know how things will pan out over the next five to ten are speculators at best, deluded at worst. But it is reassuring when respected voices such as agents Peter Cox, with this column in The Bookseller, and Nathan Bransford, with this blog post, say it how I see it.

Cynics will say it's a natural reaction from agents - to try and put a positive spin on events, given that they make their living by representing authors, and trying to find The Next Big Name, and a positive, optimistic unpublished writer will (generally) produce a better manuscript than one who's depressed because they think the world that they so desperately want to conquer is crumbling before their eyes.

I don't know Nathan, but I do know Peter through Litopia, and I don't believe he's bigging the future of publishing up because, well, it's his job. The impression I get is one of true excitement, and Peter is doing everything he can, both for his authors and the members of Litopia, to be at the cutting edge of publishing. It's a similar emotion that radiates from Nathan's blog; these guys love publishing, writing and, yes, even unpublished authors.

And that enthusiam is infectious. I feel sorry for anyone who can't share in it.

For us at Nemesis, one of the most important tasks we face over the coming few months is to learn everything there is to know about ebooks, and look to position ourselves to exploit the market, where possible. There are niche markets - such as the overseas Manx - where we know ebooks will likely present a more financially attractive proposition than a hard copy, which is handicapped by delivery costs to the US and elsewhere.

Now, if I could figure out how to bottle the enthusiasm emanating from these agents, we'd be quids in.

Till next time
JQ

Here's my submission. I'm still editing it, mind you...

A submission pinged in our inbox yesterday, with synopsis and first three chapters attached. All looking good so far. Then I started reading the covering letter and had to pull hard on the reins after a couple of lines. This, the author said, was his novel. Which he wanted us to consider for publication. And then he dropped that immortal line: 'I'm in the process of editing it...'

Chaps and chapesses - given the size of our little enterprise, and the fact that we're still relatively new to this publishing malarkey, we can afford the luxury of indulging this author, at least for the time being. There will, we hope, come a time when I'm having to pull all-nighters just to keep up with emails and submissions. At that point, 'I'm still editing it' might be struggling.

No doubt there are a few agents and publishers out there who are happy to accept submissions that aren't yet polished and shiny, trusting their instinct as to whether they can work with the author to produce a knockout book. I can think of one agent who does this, and it is something that we might be prepared to do, at least while the business is growing.

But if you're a writer firing submissions out into the world, the vast majority of agents and publishers will reach for the polite rejection stamp the moment they read 'I'm still editing'. If you're not submitting work that you think is as good as it gets, then they won't want to know.

Get it polished.

Regular spot on Litopia

Thanks to literary agent Peter Cox, who runs the Redhammer agency, our antics here at Nemesis Publishing will be catalogued over the coming months on the Litopia Daily podcast.

Peter has kindly invited me, on a monthly basis, to talk all things publishing and to chart how the development of Nemesis is progressing. We recorded the first piece this evening - watch this space for details on when it will air.

As with all these things, the moment the Skype call ended, I thought of several points I didn't mention, or should have explained better, but I' ve been a semi-regular guest panellist on the Litopia After Dark podcast for a while now, and know that Peter is very skilled in editing and preventing me from sounding like a halfwit, or at least a complete halfwit.

One thing I didn't touch on, but hopefully will in future updates, is the influence Peter's Litopia writing colony has had on me during the last two years. It's fair to say that, if I hadn't stumbled across Litopia, and made a cracking bunch of friends and contacts, and digested the advice and info they impart, Nemesis wouldn't be anywhere near the stage that it is now.

So, thanks Litopia, and thanks to Peter. If you have any interest in developing yourself as a writer, you could do a lot worse with an hour or so of your time to register on Litopia and spend a while finding out whether it is the kind of place for you.

Now, back to editing....

Cool news - part two

As with all the best sequels, there's been a bit of time between our last post and this follow-up. Call it being a tease. Call it building suspense. Call it being downright slack...

But we're back now, folks, with this, our first blog post of 2010. To be honest, I've held off for a reason. The back end of last year was stupidly busy, with us publishing our first book, me finishing writing and then doing publicity for The Manx Giant, and then there was a short break away, the usual Christmas panic and mayhem. You know the sort of thing.

However, the overriding thing was this - we needed to wait for confirmation on cool news part two, and indeed, cool news part three.

Part two is now in, and here you have it. We have been approached by an acquaintance who is very supportive of what we're trying to do, which, for new readers of this here blog, is get an indie publishing house off the ground from a standing start. Absolute ground zero.

Anyway, this acquaintance/benefactor has offered to support us financially on a project by project basis - which means, in a nutshell, that as and when we need it, we can call in extra funds. This might be to secure a larger than usual print run, should we feel it warrants it; or it could be to secure a book where the design and print work is complex.

It's a good position for us - we retain full control of the business, including the decision on whether or not to publish a book, and the only proviso is an obvious one - if we put a particular project to our benefactor, and they aren't convinced, then they step away from it. No problem.

Ultimately, what this does give us is a bit of flexibility. Without it, we would have had to work from the ground up, with each book (potentially) having to do well before we could move up a grade in publishing terms.

With the benefactor in place, we can climb a couple of rungs on the ladder, which is what we are doing for our third book, which will follow the first issue of Vertigo, now set for an Easter launch.

Book three will be a biography. And that, of course, is where cool news part three comes in. But you'll have to wait for that. It won't be as long a wait as it was for this post, I promise...

And don't get me started on cool news part four. That's just too much.