In my opinion there is nothing more rewarding for a writer than opening that box delivered by UPS and seeing your first or latest novel. To actually hold your work in your hand, see the cover and read the text, is gratifying beyond belief. Fast forward to 2011--that tangible representation of your work may not be practical or even profitable.
Big brick and mortar book stores, e.g., Borders, are having a difficult time selling books. There are myriad reasons why bankruptcy may become a virus that strikes more stores, but the bottom line is in this economy books are expensive, and publishers are not getting the same bang for their buck that they did in the past. The advent of eBooks has sent the industry spinning out of control, it's purported to be the future of the industry. And ironically, this new trend may strengthen the many indie book stores while weakening the giants.
Why? Price. A writer has virtually no cost involved to sell his eBook, and on Amazon he reaps a 70% profit on each one sold.(Most traditional book deals pay the author 30%) The author prices the book himself, the best selling eBooks are priced between $3 and $7 because this low price attracts more buyers. More books sold equals more money made.
My book sales are equally split between eBooks and conventional books (Kindle and Nook), but the trend is for more eBooks to sell than traditional. For a more in depth look at this phenomenon and a story about a young woman who has been making great money on her nine self-published eBooks, follow this link: http://tiny.cc/zv64y
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