THE GREAT E-BOOK BATTLE
• Marti Talbott

---

When I first became an avid Internet user, E-books looked like they just might be the greatest thing since the mute button. As a writer, it was exciting and I quickly found a site that would take my E-book and offer it to hungry readers. As E-books go it did very well, landing on the
Mightywords.com bestseller list and staying there for close to three weeks.

Nearly a year has passed since then and sadly, the E-book market has steadily declined. Mightywords found fiction unprofitable and decided not to carry it, so I moved my novel to e-books-for-sale. But sales have been bleak at best. Usually priced cheaper than paperbacks, fiction E-books have failed to attract readers. Their excuses vary, but most readers admit they would rather curl up with a good book than a good computer.

So why are traditional publishers half killing themselves to get their hands on E-book rights?
The answer lies in yet another invention arriving in the not too far off future -
"Books in Minutes!"

Not unlike Print on Demand systems, these machines will appear in the corner drug store or grocery, allow the reader to make a selection, download the appropriate E-book, print, cut, and bind while you wait. In less than 10 minutes, it will produce a paperback novel the reader can curl up with, complete with the store's barcode ready for checkout. And while you wait, the store hopes you'll buy even more products. But to do this, the industry must have E-books already set up in a format compatible to the "Books in Minutes" machine. That's what all the fuss is about.

Traditional Publishers will make millions while at the same time saving millions on shipping and distribution. The only question is, who owns the E-book rights to all those books already in print the author or the publisher? Writer beware. Think twice before you sign away your E-book rights.

By Marti Talbott, Author of:
Marti Talbott is the author of: A Shattered City - Earthquake in Seattle
email:Martitalbott3@aol.com
Marti is a mother of two and the grandmother of six, a California earthquake survivor now living in Seattle. She is the author of one published and four as yet unpublished novels.

*If you are an e-publisher and want to respond to this write to editor

April 24th Note since this article was written Marti has decided to close Carson Books and anyone who is thinking of submitting to Domhan Books should write to this editor first before submitting.

More Fiction in Dreamscapes

< Back to Index
< About the Author
< Reply to this Article