Posted on 2013-Jun-26
Wait and See?
Communication with a potential audience in digital publishing has reached exciting new levels. Long gone is the era when you had to wait for years and see whether your books would find its audience and be successfully sold. For fiction authors, they can hone their crafted writing skills by addressing topics that directly impress their fans. Best Sellers in Kindle Store represents the flourishing state of fiction that readers contribute to authors’ success.
Non-Fiction eBook in Top 100 Paid Chart
For non-fiction eBooks, based on the same list, The New York Times retains the 30th rank at the time of writing. Despite the fact that it is currently not in the Top Ten, its highest rank was #1 on the chart. Overall, the said newspaper in Kindle Edition has stayed in the Top 100 for 1865 days.
Advantages vs. Disadvantages
Looking at its page description, readers generally have mixed feelings about the content and the quality of the New York Times Kindle Edition. What is good about the digital publication is readers do not worry about pagination. They can keep browsing to the next page, focus on reading, and thus spend more time on their reading material unconsciously. They can also store interested news on the SD card and search it quickly and more efficiently. Apparently, the digital format sets them free from limitations in portability; they can travel with their newspapers and read them unstoppably anywhere whenever they wish. Yet, nothing is perfect. The downside of the New York Times Kindle edition is the image display that pushes the text out of the screen. Jon Shemitz complains that browsing image files is underwhelming, stating that one image almost takes up the entire screen and is hard to see. The omission of certain articles as opposed to the print’s fuller presentation is another issue that readers are trying to raise their concern given the circumstance that they are not well aware of that issue as Reader Gail reveals.
Competition in eBook Sales
For what it is worth, The New York Times is just one tiny example of non-fiction eBooks that stays afloat in the massive ocean of fiction. But this is not the end of the world for non-fiction authors. On Goodreads, there is a discussion board set up by David Lafferty to investigate whether there is a place for his non-fiction eBook to compete in eBook sales. The answer is yes and authors should pay more attention to it. Evidently, best sellers strictly belong to fiction, but his work on An Introduction to Dante Alighieri’s Inferno has satisfactory success on Kindle Store. In sub-genres, its highest entry is currently #4 in the Italian category.
New Prospects and Opportunities
In the comment section, commenters state several opportunities how non-fiction eBooks can drive higher volume of sales. Sharon responds that the success of non-fiction eBooks depends on its topic. For instance, her music business memoir eBook is “popular” in Australia. Amy further adds thoughts from agents at the conferences that non-fiction eBooks can be a big phenomenon once the majority of eReaders can better display images. She has published 7 backlist books herself with lots of pictures. Additionally, she points out its higher price tag compared to a fiction eBook. Not only can non-fiction eBooks have a great future, they may also open doors to sell your books in other channels you may never think of (e.g. seminars, talks, conferences, business meetings., coaching sessions, etc.) Joseph simply highlights that.
Our Managing Director, Paul Salvette, will be giving a talk to the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand about the digital publishing industry. His topic will touch upon how an SME company can provide a low-cost way to establish themselves as a leader in the industry and an opportunity to conduct content marketing about niche business. By releasing their business content, have it published in eBook format, and selling it or giving it away for free, businessmen can reach more new perspective clients with their knowledge-based information. Earlier this year, he wrote an eBook about eBook Design and Development Guide that has decent sales despite a very niche audience.
Best Selling Device-specific eBook
To expand your vision beyond the Top 100 Paid list, check out this Best Seller chart in non-fiction and see the variety of topics being the center of attention. While the eBooks in Top Ten are mostly in the self-help and memoir genres, #16 might surprise you a little. A how-to eBook, Mastering the Galaxy S4, signifies the hype around the featured smartphone. In the Top 20, this is the only book designed for technology-crazed geeks.
Contact Us
If you are not quite sure how you can market your products with eBook, you can send your query to BB eBooks to inquire how our home-grown technology can enhance your business, concretize your services, and advertise your products cost-effectively. In the previous blog, we mentioned how you can digitally produce internal documents for easier storage and access. Nevertheless, we’d like to remind you that it is never too late to sell your ideas before anyone else does. Look internally for potential ideas and make it happen.
Label: Marketing
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