Top 25 ebook publishers (or so)

Why would you not seek traditional publishers first?

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Nitemare said:

Despite the fact that I have been hanging around the Cooler for a while, I felt that the Newbie Forum would be the best place get attention and pose this question (moderators hanging around and all that). The Cooler seems to be geared toward traditional publishing, which is fine, except that ePublishing is taking off, and bookstore sales have been falling. I was disappointed with a recent news article "The top 10 things that you do should not buy new" reported that buying a book was number 8 on their list. People are still reading, just not as many books in hand any more.

The Question: Is there a compiled list of the Top 25 (or so) eBook Publishers, by sales, anywhere to be had? There are many ebook publishers, but who is on top?

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Well, seeing that this is a question about ebook publishers, I'd have thought the best place to ask the question would be in the E-Publishing forum. I'm going to move it over there for you.

I think you can go out to Fictionwise and look at their publisher's list for a start - it will filter out the start ups. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine, though "Elora's Cave" is up there for Romance and "Double Dragon" for fantasy.

And to answer the person who asked "Why not go with the traditional publishers"?

Simple answer, really. The author doesn't want to wait ten years to get published. Okay, that was a bit snarky (grin). Some very good stories don't fit the current market demand as perceived by agents, so a small press is an excellent option.

Kerry

It really depends on what you write. Veinglory has a great resource for erotica writers: http://www.erecsite.com/SALES.html, and I like Piers's resource list: http://www.hipiers.com/publishing.html

As for why you wouldn't go traditional - I wrote an erotic novella with a parallel universe plot. Exactly where would that go with a traditional publisher?

There's a discussion elsewhere in this forum about romances set in WW2 - trad publishers won't buy those because they define historical as pre-1900 and contemporary as now.

Digital publishing is the way to go for those of us who write stuff that defies categorization.

But the speed thing is also a real factor. I can finish my science fiction novel, and wait a YEAR to hear back from the slush piles... or I can send it to an e-pub and hear back in six weeks. I don't want writing to be my hobby anymore. I want it to be my job. Digital publishing is not "lesser" any more than selling through iTunes instead of a record store is lesser.

Many of the current bestselling ebook pubs are in the romance and erotica trade. Veinglory has a nice list of current average ebook pub sales on her website. It's a few months out of date, but might give you a start.

I understand the niche-market reasoning for submitting to a small publisher (and I've certainly done that myself with stories that wouldn't fit with larger publishers), but response time shouldn't be a major factor in the choice of publisher, unless all of the potential publishers offer the same compensation.

At the moment -- and for the foreseeable future -- the turn-around time is generally proportional to the potential return on investment (the longer the wait, the higher the potential payment, and the shorter the wait, the lower the potential payment).

Would you rather wait a year for a response from a publisher who routinely offers a 5-figure (or higher) advance, with the potential of reaching thousands of readers; or wait just one month for a response from a publisher who routinely offers no advance, a total pay-out of a grand or less, and an average readership number in the tens?

Admittedly, receiving a hundred bucks in a short time is appealing, but don't forget the "cost" of getting that hundred bucks -- you've sold a product to the LOWEST bidder, instead of the highest.

JD

It depends on the genre, honestly. There are quite a few good e-publishers with established writers and reader pools, but some focus primarily on erotica/romance while others concentrate on sci fi/fantasy--there are a lot of choices.

Do you mean Smashwords? Because they are not a publisher, just a vendor. You need to either sell to an epublisher or self-publish and then you can sell your ebook via Smashwords. I suspect the top ebook sellers would be Amazon, Fictionwise and then Smashwords? In all honesty epublishing as not a great fit with sci fi IMHO (as opposed to romance, erotica or self-help) -- with sci fi I would suggest looking at conventional small presses.

JanDarby said:

I understand the niche-market reasoning for submitting to a small publisher (and I've certainly done that myself with stories that wouldn't fit with larger publishers), but response time shouldn't be a major factor in the choice of publisher, unless all of the potential publishers offer the same compensation.

At the moment -- and for the foreseeable future -- the turn-around time is generally proportional to the potential return on investment (the longer the wait, the higher the potential payment, and the shorter the wait, the lower the potential payment).

Would you rather wait a year for a response from a publisher who routinely offers a 5-figure (or higher) advance, with the potential of reaching thousands of readers; or wait just one month for a response from a publisher who routinely offers no advance, a total pay-out of a grand or less, and an average readership number in the tens?

Admittedly, receiving a hundred bucks in a short time is appealing, but don't forget the "cost" of getting that hundred bucks -- you've sold a product to the LOWEST bidder, instead of the highest.
JD

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I agree!

If you write erotica, or books that really don't fit commercial publishing schedules, then go with a POD or E-Pub that does. But if you want writing to be your day-job, then you should really start writing the types of books that the big guys want. An E-Publisher might get your book on the market quick, but your sales for a year won't be half as much as the advance you get from a commercial publisher.

Book Sales Trends (thru 2009) nice graphs.
http://www.fonerbooks.com/booksale.htm

eBook Trends. Click on the chart to zoom it.
http://ereads.com/2010/03/january-10-e-book-sales-almost.html

Didn't double check the sources. Take it for what its worth.

Here's another list http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/epublishers.html
http://www.dowse.com/e-book-publishers.html
http://www.publishersglobal.com/directory/publishers-by-media.asp?publishers-of=E-Book

@Jan and Syde - I absolutely agree. If I ever write something that might be a good fit for a conventional publishing house, I would start the agent slog and submit that way. But even my sci-fi so far keeps turning out to be either too quirky or too short or too erotic. None of my finished work would get me an advance of any kind, and it would be silly to try when I can sell it right now and establish a reputation.

Epub is my first choice, not my last, until I produce a manuscript that could be treated conventionally. And should that day ever arrive, I'll have a track record.

KathleenD said:

It really depends on what you write. Veinglory has a great resource for erotica writers: http://www.erecsite.com/SALES.html, and I like Piers's resource list: http://www.hipiers.com/publishing.html

As for why you wouldn't go traditional - I wrote an erotic novella with a parallel universe plot. Exactly where would that go with a traditional publisher?

There's a discussion elsewhere in this forum about romances set in WW2 - trad publishers won't buy those because they define historical as pre-1900 and contemporary as now.

Digital publishing is the way to go for those of us who write stuff that defies categorization.

But the speed thing is also a real factor. I can finish my science fiction novel, and wait a YEAR to hear back from the slush piles... or I can send it to an e-pub and hear back in six weeks. I don't want writing to be my hobby anymore. I want it to be my job. Digital publishing is not "lesser" any more than selling through iTunes instead of a record store is lesser.

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Thanks for linking veinglory's post on this. Exactly what i have been looking for!!

Sydewinder said:

I agree!

If you write erotica, or books that really don't fit commercial publishing schedules, then go with a POD or E-Pub that does. But if you want writing to be your day-job, then you should really start writing the types of books that the big guys want. An E-Publisher might get your book on the market quick, but your sales for a year won't be half as much as the advance you get from a commercial publisher.

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There are many e-published authors who have writing as their day job.

Satori1977 said:

Thanks for linking veinglory's post on this. Exactly what i have been looking for!!

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Keep in mind tha my figures are for erotic romance epublishers only, and I have fairly limited data on only a few presses (until authors send me more).

Keep in mind that a fair number of consumer publishers, including all six of the Big Six do ebook editions.