One of the most controversial and most discussed topics in the publishing world is what the future holds for bookstores, as well as physical books. J. and Zach discuss the future of bookstores and more:
- Some of the issues with running a news segment on The Career Author Podcast
- The importance of developing systems to increase your productivity and build a successful author career
- The new opening segment, J. and Zach’s Hacks, opens with a Google Calendar productivity tip
- Zach and J. take a close look at the article Can Barnes and Noble Survive?
- Why Amazon isn’t to blame for the potential closure of Barnes and Noble
- How the failure of Barnes and Noble echoes what we’ve seen with brick-and-mortar stores in other industries
- What this means for the future of bookstores as a whole + how independent bookstores can thrive in an increasingly digital world
- Is traditional publishing still advantageous for authors in a world without Barnes and Noble?
- What it takes to build an author career in today’s complicated marketplace
- J.’s cynicism of the so-called paper resurgence
- Take-home lessons for authors
The Career Author Podcast is a podcast where co-authors J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon share their struggles and successes as full-time authors, advice for improving your writing craft, and honest discussions of what it takes to build a successful career as an author.
Get exclusive bonus content by supporting The Career Author Podcast on Patreon at www.patreon.com/thecareerauthor
Links:
Can Barnes and Noble Survive? – http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/can-barnes-noble-survive/
Sell More Book Show Summit 2019 – http://www.sellmorebooksshow.com/summit
Night of the Writing Dead – http://www.nightofthewritingdead.com Authors on a Train – http://www.authorsonatrain.com
Comments
2 responses to “The Career Author Podcast: Episode 24 – The Future of Bookstores”
It’s always interesting to hear the different perspectives on paper versus ebook. In this podcast, it’s framed around Barnes ‘n Noble. For me, my amazon ads convert to paperbacks fairly often, and hardcovers are what gave me my first 4 figure months when starting out. (Based on Yasiv results, creature fantasy with a cover focusing on the mythical creature has a paper following, so I’m not unique there.)
But I don’t think of paperbacks or hardcovers as a Barnes ‘n Noble thing. I’ve also heard some authors talking about how much effort they have to put in to do special hardcover editions, but it’s literally a button on Vellum. It doesn’t take any more effort than doing paperbacks.
Mal Cooper was saying that she doesn’t do paperbacks because she calculated that spending an hour per book on paperbacks didn’t have a positive ROI for her, which makes sense considering her incredible output, but for most of us, we can afford to take an hour to listen to the Career Author Podcast, sip our coffee, and put up hardcovers, large print (Joanna Penn’s favorite), and paperback editions =]
That said, I don’t think they scale up as well. I know the 6 Figure Author podcast had Lindsay and Jo talking about how affordably-priced paperbacks do really well for them ($9.99 KDP Print), so maybe paperbacks do scale. But I’ll be surprised if I start getting 5 figure months because of hardcovers. Then again, I’ve noticed that some readers will see a new series and reach out to order every hardcover in the series signed when book 3 or 4 comes out, so maybe I’ll be surprised.
I guess I’m with JD Barker on that one. I do hardcovers specifically to respect the reader.
Good points. I’ve got to start doing hardcovers. It’s on my lists 😉