Thoughts on Ebooks, Questions Mostly

A.P.M.

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I've been wondering about Ebooks for some time. Most E book publishers seem to focus on two things-Romance and Erotica.

Is this the current state of Ebook publishing? I have seen people here mention that the big Ebook publishers are Loose Id, Samhain and Ellora's Cave-all (primarily) romance publishers. Is romance the only way to break into Epublishing for unpublished authors? Does getting a novel published via Epublishing improve your chances at future success with larger publishers, or does it pidgeonhole an author into a certain genre (romance, in this case)? Is it seen as fundamentally different than the traditional route of finding an agent?

I understand that Epublishing is thought to be the future, but dedicated Epublishers still seem to be in their infancy. Perhaps I'm confused or misinformed on this? I'd love other people's thoughts.
 

nkkingston

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ePublishing is still relatively new. Romance has a history of being the first genre to break into new markets, simply because romance readers are voracious. If you got through three books a week wouldn't you be willing to try out something that didn't make moving house a living hell? :)

However, there's evidence that 2011 is going to be the year other niche genres start breaking into the mainstream. Carina (owned by Harlequin) is seeking non-Romance manuscripts, and one of the big ePubs is rumoured to be on the verge of announcing a whole new genre for acquisitions.

Several authors here who started with ePublishers have moved to the big print houses. If you're with a reputable epublisher it's considered a professional credit. I don't know about cross-genre publishing, though there's always space for pseudonyms. At the moment I can't think of any serious epub that only takes agented submissions, though they do receive them when it's the best fit for a manuscript. In that respect they're like small presses.
 

Anne Lyle

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I understand that Epublishing is thought to be the future, but dedicated Epublishers still seem to be in their infancy. Perhaps I'm confused or misinformed on this? I'd love other people's thoughts.

It may be the future, but readers live in the present, so a combination of print and epub is still the most reliable strategy for most authors. E-only publishing isn't going to become the norm until the percentage of ebook purchases rises substantially.

Does getting a novel published via Epublishing improve your chances at future success with larger publishers, or does it pidgeonhole an author into a certain genre (romance, in this case)? Is it seen as fundamentally different than the traditional route of finding an agent?

It depends on the size and selectivity of the epublisher - they range from tiny startups to imprints of major houses. Getting a book epublished with Carina is a whole lot more impressive than having it published by an outfit that's little better than Smashwords :)

As for pigeonholing, if you write romance, you're a romance author; if you want to branch out into a new genre, you may need to use a pseudonym to establish your new "brand". The medium doesn't make a difference, IMHO.
 

Dee Carney

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...and one of the big ePubs is rumoured to be on the verge of announcing a whole new genre for acquisitions.

No longer a rumor. Samhain is getting ready to start acquiring horror. It's been posted on the author loop as well on other (horror) boards. Don D'Auria will be heading the line.
 

mscelina

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I started out in e-publishing writing only fantasy and was very successful as a spec fic writer in a primarily romance dominated medium. My first fantasy novel hit #1 on the bestseller list for Fantasy at Fictionwise and there was nary an erotic scene to be found. My e-credits are professional credits, the awards I was nominated for or won and the reviews I garnered were all considered by my agent as 'real' when she was considering her offer of representation.

Last year when I attended the agents' panel at the RT convention, I asked almost the very same question. Every agent on the panel equated getting published with a reputable e-publisher with getting published with a small independent press.

And there are numerous reputable e-publishers that do not focus upon romance or erotica. I'm the head editor at an imprint that focuses exclusively upon historical fiction, romance not required.
 

Daniel A. Roberts

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A majority of the market, paperback or not, is in the romance genre. Last time I looked at the stats, romance sales was 57% of the market. That's not why I write Romance, though.

You can go to Kobo, Deisel, Sony, even an ebook retailer like Smashwords and find all kinds of titles that aren't romance related. Not by the dozens either. Hundreds if not thousands.
 

veinglory

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Half of fiction sold is romance, so romance being anearlier coloniser of digital publishing is not so surprising.

But writing a genre to get into a format seems pretty much like putting the cart before the horse to me.