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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Economics » Page 3

Economics

2015 – A Year in Review

By Steve Laubeon January 4, 2016
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I like to take a look at the past year as an exercise in measuring success and failure – all while counting God’s blessings. (If you’d like to look at previous annual reports they can be found here: 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2009.)

The Agency Thrives

The agency continues to thrive in the midst of some tough economic challenges. It was exciting to secure contracts for over 130 forthcoming books. Twelve contracts were for debut authors!

It is a privilege to be working with such great authors and with fellow agents Tamela Hancock Murray, Karen Ball, and Dan Balow. We make a great team (a really great team) and are poised for growth in the new year. We added a number of new clients and now have 118 novelists and 122 non-fiction authors under our management. We try to keep busy. (!)

The Industry

Oh my, what a year. The major event was the bankruptcy of Family Christian Stores and their eventual return to business “as usual.” I blogged about it many times because of their significance as a retail outlet in our industry. We felt the economic speedbump in sales and royalty earnings throughout the year. We hope the worst is past and that next year will see a return to normalcy.

It was disappointing to lose yet another publishing company as a place to sell new fiction (Abingdon chose to focus solely on non-fiction). The winnowing of outlets to sell new fiction has been a challenge for the last few years. Hopefully we have reached the end of that journey and new opportunities will present themselves in the new year.

The fiction space continues to be a challenge for all writers. “Discoverability” is an elusive secret. But there is no lack of trying! Many novelists have dipped into the Indie waters with a wide range of success.

Oddly enough, there wasn’t a new “blockbuster” title in either fiction or non-fiction that carried the industry. At least not one that dominated the sales charts. Instead the Adult Coloring Book phenomenon startled everyone with the volume of units sold. (One company sold 400,000 units in the month of May alone!) In response you will see dozens and dozens of new products coming on the market in an attempt to feed the voracious buyers. Unfortunately, as Jane Friedman and Porter Anderson said, “Adult coloring books don’t deliver readers: they deliver colorers.“

Enclave Publishing Grows

Year two of owning and running Enclave Publishing has been fun. We released 12 new titles and sales for the year were double what they were in 2014. It is good to see the new stories resonate with our readers. We debuted two first time authors and contracted four other debut authors whose books will start appearing in 2016.

With the continued resurgence in interest in Fantasy and Science Fiction in the mainstream market the need for stories coming from authors with a Christian worldview continues to be an important part of what we do.

What’s Next?

If I knew what the next big thing would be I’d be tempted to keep that secret for myself! The coloring book surge is a perfect example of something that caught fire for no single reason. While publishers try to anticipate interest the practice is often reactionary to what is happening.

I continue to look for fresh voices with exciting ideas or concepts. And continue to encourage our existing clients in their pursuit of excellence.

It is indeed a golden era of written content. The ability to get your stories and your message out has never been so viable. It is a privilege to be a part of a community of writers who are seeking to change the world word by word.

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Category: Agency, Book Business, Career, Communication, EconomicsTag: 2015, Agency, Year in Review

Switching or Grinding Gears?

By Dan Balowon September 8, 2015
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Each year in the U.S. more titles are published indie/self-pub than by all traditional publishers combined. Some authors publish only indie or traditional, but some entrepreneurial folks are known as “hybrid” and use whatever model works best for the situation at the moment. Many clients of the Steve Laube Agency are hybrid authors and it works just fine. There are some things you do for an indie …

Read moreSwitching or Grinding Gears?
Category: Book Business, Career, E-Books, Economics, Editing, Marketing, The Publishing LifeTag: Hybrid Authors, Indie Publishing, The Publishing Life, Traditional Publishing

Book Sales Continue to Rise

By Steve Laubeon August 24, 2015
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Despite the rumors concerning of the demise of Christian books, bookstores, and especially Christian fiction  there is news that tells a different story. There were a couple statistics released this past week that show signs of encouragement! General market sales: According to the U.S. Census Bureau. Bookstore sales hit $698 million in the month of June 2015 compared to $672 million last June. …

Read moreBook Sales Continue to Rise
Category: Book Business, Book Sales, Career, Economics, TrendsTag: Book Sales

A $100,000 Threshold for a Worthy Book?

By Steve Laubeon July 20, 2015
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Recently Brad Martin, the President and CEO of Penguin Random House Canada, was quoted as saying the following: “I’m not interested in a book that is going to generate less than $100,000 in revenue unless the editor or publisher [division] has a compelling vision for the book and/or the author…If the person that’s championing that book in the acquisitions meeting doesn’t have a compelling view of …

Read moreA $100,000 Threshold for a Worthy Book?
Category: Book Business, Book Business, Economics, MoneyTag: Book Business, Economics, Money

2015 A.D. (Amazon Domination)

By Dan Balowon July 14, 2015
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July 16, 1995 – Amazon.com began operation. To get there, you clicked on a computer icon, heard the weird dialup modem sounds, the hissing, and you were on your way to the World Wide Web. Type in www.amazon.com and there it was. It will never catch on. People need to hold something in their hands before they buy it. According to several sources, the first book ever sold on Amazon was this: Fluid …

Read more2015 A.D. (Amazon Domination)
Category: Book Business, Economics, TrendsTag: Amazon, Book Business, Trends

Christian Fiction is Not Dead

By Steve Laubeon July 13, 2015
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Last week’s news of Abingdon Press deciding to no longer acquire new Christian fiction has created another clamor of claims regarding the demise of Christian fiction. The articles, emails, and comments range from glee (“it needs to die”) to consternation (“woe is me of ever getting a book deal”). Fewer Publishers There is no question that there has been considerable shrinkage in the …

Read moreChristian Fiction is Not Dead
Category: Book Business, Economics, TrendsTag: Book Business, Christian Fiction, Trends

Bidding Completed for Bankrupt Family Christian Stores

By Steve Laubeon June 1, 2015
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This past week a complex and long auction process was completed and a winning bid has been chosen to purchase the bankrupt Family Christian Stores (FCS). If this final bid is approved by the court the FCS will emerge from bankruptcy and resume business as usual. If you have been following this ordeal (our blog #1 and blog #2) you know how complicated it had become. The end game is no less …

Read moreBidding Completed for Bankrupt Family Christian Stores
Category: Book Business, Economics, Legal IssuesTag: Book Business, family christian stores, Legal

Happy Birthday iTunes Store! Thanks for the Warning…

By Steve Laubeon April 27, 2015
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Twelve years ago this week (April 28, 2003) Apple announced the launch of a new way to buy digital music. The iTunes Store. (Click for the original press release.) It started with 200,000 songs available for purchase. (Today there are more than 26 million songs available for sale.) The iTunes software had been introduced a couple years earlier, but now it became a commercial venture. A place where …

Read moreHappy Birthday iTunes Store! Thanks for the Warning…
Category: Book Business, Economics, TrendsTag: Book Business, Digital Books, Economics, iTunes

It’s a Flat World After All

By Dan Balowon April 21, 2015
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As a preface to this post, let it be known that I really enjoy hitting my thumb with a hammer, pushing forks into electric toasters and tripping over things in my bare feet in the dark. It is that very masochistic tendency that prompted me to write this blog. _____ A favorite book for me in the last decade was Tom Friedman’s The World Is Flat, published in 2005. It simply made me think differently …

Read moreIt’s a Flat World After All
Category: Book Business, Economics, Marketing, The Publishing LifeTag: Economics, The Publishing Life
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