Posts
In the world of tweets, hashtags and Instagram, it’s easy to think attention spans are only shrinking
and that consumers are only interested in reading the news or article summaries told in 140 characters.
Some researchers find hope that 3 in 10 questioned read one ebook last year.
Only one!
Wow, how many ebooks were published last year? That is not cause for celebration but lamentations.
Those same researchers found cause for hope in that 5 of those 10 owned an ereader.
But only 3 of those 5 actually read a book through on it!
Technology is a harsh mistress:
Whatever happened to newspapers?
They used to be an area of growth and a cash machine. Today, the industry is written about as a patient on life support.
Magazines are in the neighboring hospital bed to newspapers.
Television is suffering from the twin ailments of piracy and new competition from its streaming partners (Hulu, Netflix).
The music industry? What music industry? It’s half of what it was a decade ago.
Have you been checking your kdp account for the number of normalized pages read?
Just today DEATH IN THE HOUSE OF LIFE was only read to page 24 before returned.
GHOST WRITERS IN THE SKY was worse: only read to page 8 before returned.
And poor Hibbs. THE BEAR WITH TWO SHADOWS was returned promptly no pages read.
KDP Select authors will earn 0.58 cents per Kindle Edition Normalized Page (KENP) read.
A little more than half a penny per page.
Or $1.00 for every 173 pages read. I am not going to quit my day job. How about you?
We live in the age of short attention spans, as those on the social media networks strive to flood the market with messages. Sorry about the poor return on some of your books, but it also indicates the lack of reading prowess that several decades of technology has produced.
ReplyDeleteI've now moved, Roland and will try to visit my blogger friends more often. I'm still arranging and sorting, but I'm going to try to join in the WEP revival that Denise and Yolanda are championing. Hope you can too!
Sadly, yes we do. :-( Which makes it odd that Amazon makes it only profitable for authors if they write larger books!
DeleteI'm glad your move is over. I will try to participate in the WEP revival, but life is being contrary of late!!
It's sad Amazon felt the need to do this. For anyone who writes novellas or even 200 page novels, the payment for the lending library stinks.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't it though? Sorry for the late reply-- I've been working all day and most of the night! Whew!!
DeleteI want to quit my evil day job, too. But, daydreaming at work is where I get a lot of great ideas. I'm conflicted.
ReplyDeleteAnd I need to pay the rent!! More conflict! :-)
DeleteAttention spans are most definitely diminishing, so a couple readers not reading your stories doesn't signify much. What you write is solid and so very good and has heart, and that's what matters.
ReplyDeleteI know that until digital books came along self-published writers usually succeeded by concentrating on local sales in local bookshops. I might look into that option. Would you be interested?
Always interested in another door upon which to knock -- that is why I am slowly putting my line of books into paperbacks. Only 5 so far. I hope to have at least 10 to sell at my table at the local Sci Fi Convention next April. Cross your fingers!
DeleteThe only local bookshop here is Booksamillion and they will not sell a book unless it is in their national warehouse. And that lets me out. Sigh.
Hi Roland ... attention span is very limited. I know the way I read the one newspaper I read a week is scanned ... and I get The Week - where the news is curated, but I enjoy the range of articles. I don't get mags - except membership ones - eg National Trust ... again I scan read.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me about my Kindle!! Books I've read a few recently ...
I did enjoy very much the Louis L'Amour "Walking the Drum" book ... got it from the library, but have bought a copy .. .and have recommended it to a couple of people. I'll get it onto my blog at some stage ...
Yup - very sadly don't give up the day job ... good luck though to you .. cheers Hilary
I am glad you enjoyed THE WALKING DRUM, Hilary. :-)
DeleteI am considering buying the hardcover of MEANWHILE THERE ARE LETTERS: the correspondence of Eudora Welty and Ross MacDonald. The Kindle book is only a dollar less than the hardcover! Imagine that?
Yes, the day job pays all the bills and my books nourishes my soul.:-) Thanks for visiting and your comments!