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What was on Your Bestseller List?

By Steve Laubeon January 11, 2011

What was the bestselling novel or non-fiction book the week you were born? Follow this link to a delightful search engine on Biblioz, an Australian company. Make sure you type the date first (not the month).

It is a bit startling to see how fleeting the popularity of books can be. They were the most popular in the country at the time! But I have to admit that I don’t recognize most of the novelists.

My #1 novel was Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver.

My #1 non-fiction was Masters of Deceit by J. Edgar Hoover.

What was the bestselling book on your birth date?

Now check out the titles for your children’s birth dates. Here are the #1’s for our kids:

Fiction:
The Man from St. Petersburg – Ken Follet
If Tomorrow Never Comes – Sydney Sheldon
Zoya – Danielle Steel

Non-fiction:
Living, Loving, and Learning – Leo Buscaglia
Iacocca: An Autobiography – Lee Iacocca
Moonwalk – Michael Jackson

HT: GalleyCat

Book Tour Lesson: Listen to Publisher

By Steve Laubeon January 10, 2011

Melanie Benjamin, author of Alice I Have Been, reflects on book tours, in an article for the Huffington Post. Especially the difference between the one she put together herself several years ago and the one she is currently doing with the help of her publisher.
"I've also learned to listen to my publisher. When a bookstore contacts me personally about an appearance, I pass the request on to my …

Category: Book Business, Career, MarketingTag: book tours, Marketing, publisher

Someone Hacked My Website

By Steve Laubeon December 22, 2010

And a "Merry Christmas" to me... (sarcasm dripping).

In the last 24 hours someone hacked my web site by utilizing a security hole in my host server. They didn't need even my password! They were able to piggyback on these blog posts and added 853 scripts to my web site redirecting visitors to malicious sites. These little beasts are also known as Malware.

Category: AgencyTag: Agency, Hacked, Website

Lawsuit over Hyperlink?

By Steve Laubeon December 20, 2010

In Canada a man is suing another person for linking to allegedly damaging web content on a web site (the suit is currently before the Canadian Supreme Court). A big "thank you" to Mac Slolcum for writing about this issue last week. In his article Mac asks the pertinent question, "Is a link on your web site equivalent to an endorsement of that content?" Think about it for a second. If you click …

Category: Book Business, Legal IssuesTag: Endorsements, Facebook, Internet Usage, Marketing

All About E

By Steve Laubeon December 17, 2010

This was the year of the E word. "E-Books." The topic replaced the other "e" word...the Economy...as the number one topic among authors, editors, publishers and agents. And the news media reported every nuance with breathless excitement. The iPad, the iPhone4, the Droid, the avalanche of tablets, the Kindle, the Nook, and a deluge of e-reading devices, all commanded our time and attention.

But …

Category: Book Business, E-Books, Get Published, TrendsTag: Book Business, Digital Books, E-Books, Get Published, Trends

E-Book Buyers Buy More Books

By Steve Laubeon November 18, 2010

New research by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) has made some interesting discoveries.

E-book consumers say they are buying more books overall, but fewer in print, and are decreasing their total dollars spent
More than 40% of e-book readers have reduced the number and dollars spent on hardcovers and paperbacks.
Retailers are becoming more important than publishers as a source of …

Category: Book Business, E-Books, TrendsTag: Book Business, E-Books, Trends

Harris Poll Surprises Authors

By Steve Laubeon October 7, 2010

Today the Harris Poll released the results of a survey of America's Reading Habits. Every writer should read the article and think about the big picture.

The Harris Poll Article

I normally eschew poll results. The sampling is always so small to proclaim far reaching pronouncements about whatever topic is at hand. In this case there were only 2,775 participants.

Regardless, I found it …

Category: Publishing A-Z, TrendsTag: Authors, Publishing A-Z, readers, Trends

E-Books Redux: Behind the Stats

By Steve Laubeon July 21, 2010

I had hoped to let yesterday's post put much of my thoughts to rest on the issue of e-books...at least for a while.

But today I came across this article "What Amazon Didn't Say About E-Books" by David Carnoy for CNET. In the article he makes some very strong statements regarding Amazon's claim of reaching a "tipping point" with regard to Kindle sales and its impact on e-book sales.

Do …

Category: E-Books, Publishing A-Z, TrendsTag: Digital Books, E-Books, Trends

More E-Book News: Behind the Stats

By Steve Laubeon July 20, 2010

Today's Wall Street Journal online quotes Amazon.com as saying that ebooks have outsold hardcover books over the last three months.

Additional statistics from that article include: "Amazon sought to suggest that Amazon remains the leading retailer for e-books. The company said that of the 1.14 million James Patterson e-books sold as of July 6, nearly 868,000 were from Amazon." Also, …

Category: E-Books, Publishing A-Z, TrendsTag: E-Books, Trends

E-Book Sales: Behind the Stats

By Steve Laubeon July 19, 2010

There is mixed news with regard to book sales in May of this year. Store sales were down 2.6% but publisher sales were up by 9.8%. Read all the various stats here. Remember these are simply comparison of 2010 monthly numbers with 2009.

The biggest area of growth, percentage-wise, is in e-books (up 162.8%).

But lets look at actual dollars, not percentages.

Publisher sales (according to the …

Category: E-Books, Publishing A-Z, TrendsTag: Bookselling, E-Books, Get Published, Trends