I Still Prefer Print by Mickey J Corrigan!

I Still Prefer Print

Mickey J. Corrigan

In 2012, I discovered the joys of writing romance books for the small digital presses. How fun! I could write the novella length books I liked to read, and publish them with a variety of cool little presses. The publishers were welcoming, my editors inspiring, and the cover artists awesome. Even though I preferred to read print books, it was a blast to write and release digital books.

Before this, publishing books had been a long, arduous process for me. My early books were all nonfiction, mostly textbooks and educational books for readers of all ages. Sometimes a publisher took more than a year to produce the final book after accepting a manuscript. Editing was done through the mail. Things moved very slowly. When each book was released, I helped with promotion. This meant I paid for boxes of books to be delivered to my house. Then I lugged them down to the post office to send out for reviews. This cost money. But it usually worked quite well.

How much faster and easier it is with digital books. You edit online with your editors and work with cover artists via email, so the book is done and ready to go within a matter of months. Then you send out your new book for review…instantly and at no cost. From your desk. Wow.

I couldn't believe how fast and easy it was to publish and promote books in 2012, and in 2013.

Then, in 2014, things seemed to slow down. Book review blogs had stacks waiting for review and had to restrict their reading to paid blog tours. Reviewers quit or became authors themselves. It became harder for authors to get reviews, and therefore more difficult to find new readers.

Was it me, or was the industry changing?

A little research revealed the facts: e-book sales had slowed. Growth had been wild in the early years, but by 2014 the market share had dropped. Print books continued to outsell e-books by a large margin.

This trend does not seem to be changing in 2015.

Today I got an email from one of my publishers. They are thinking about making big changes. Here's what the company spokesperson said:

Just over a year ago, Amazon changed how they sell eBooks and they too got into the eBook publishing market. This caused a big upset in the publishing industry. Independent publisher sales started to drop across the board. Two years ago, we were pulling in around $6000 a month from Amazon. This has dropped down to around $200 in sales per month. There was also a steady decline from other book stores such as All Romance eBooks, Sony (which closed), Kobo, and Lightning Source (which distributes to approximately 150 stores). The only increase we saw was through Smashwords which I assume is because they sell primarily to Barnes & Noble (which has started to decline as well).

E-books are still popular, and there are plenty of authors making money from sales. But it's more difficult now. Nooks and Kindles are full of free books. Readers don't even get to all of their books. And the big publishers send out hundreds of freebies for review. How can we small authors working on our own or with indie publishers compete with that?

Recently I read a few articles about how reading a digital book differs from reading print. It's startling. In fact, the research on digital reading comprehension is unsettling. Studies have indicated that print books allow for deeper reading with stronger understanding and better memory for content. Researchers think digital reading may negatively impact both the cognitive and the emotional aspects of reading. With e-books, readers don't remember the plot accurately, they are not as immersed in the story, they don't care as much about the characters.

That's not what I want for my readers.

So I plan to go in another direction. Not sure what that is yet, but my newest book is just long enough (198 pages) to earn a paperback printing. There's an e-book version too, of course. But I'm going to send out a bunch of review copies through the US mail. How nostalgic.

How about you? Do you read digital books or print books?

***

Originally from Boston, Mickey J. Corrigan lives and writes and gets into trouble in South Florida, where the men run guns and the women run after them. The tropics provide a lush, steamy setting for hot Florida pulp. Books include the edgy novellas in The Hard Stuff series from the Wild Rose Press (Whiskey Sour Noir, Vodka Warrior, Tequila Dirty, and RealLife Rum); the spoofy Geekus Interruptus and F*ck Normal from Australia's Bottom Drawer Publications; and the thriller Sugar Babies from Champagne Books. Her urban crime novel, Songs of the Maniacs, was released by Salt Publications in the UK.

Visit at:

www.mickeyjcorrigan.com

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5828647.Mickey_J_Corrigan

http://mickeyjcorrigan.tumblr.com/

New Release by Mickey J Corrigan

THE BLOW OFF

One long, hard night of working the streets is more than enough for twenty-five-year-old Shea O'Grady, a Boston-based grad student. She just doesn't have the stomach for it. Or the lips. So she comes up with a better way to use her youthful sexiness to pay off her debts. When she shares her plan to seduce and rob johns with her nasty tempered pimp, he agrees to fence her take for a generous cut. So Shea puts together a team of girls to work with her and convinces her downstairs neighbor, a hunky Rastafarian dealer dude, to help with the knockout drugs. But picking up rich guys and relieving them of their excess bling is not as easy as it seems. Sometimes it's even more dangerous than a job on the street. 

The Blow Off is a cautionary tale, a romantic black comedy, and a satirical look at student debt, prostitution, woman on man crime, and the things we do for love.


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