Author Robin L. Rotham (http://robinlrotham.com/index2.html) has painstakingly compiled statistics about how, for erotic romance authors, previous exposure through e-publication relates to future success in print book sales. Yep, we're not surprised at all that so many erorom authors started out with (and in most cases are also still with) e-publishers.
Per Robin (and provided here with her permission)--
At this moment on Amazon.com, for print books:
1) The TOP 10 Erotica bestsellers were written by e-published authors.
2) 4 of those 10 were actually published by e-publishers -- EC and Samhain.
3) 13 of the top 25 Erotica bestsellers were published by e-pubs -- EC, Samhain, NCP, and Loose ID.
4) 40 of the top 100 Erotica bestsellers were published by those same e-pubs.
5) 13 of the top 100 Romance/Fantasy, Futuristic & Ghost bestsellers were written by e-published authors (that I recognize -- there may be more).
6) 6 of the top 100 Romance/Fantasy, Futuristic & Ghost bestsellers were published by e-pubs -- EC and Samhain.
(Robin accumulated these figures by hand, many hours work. Ahem, I'm going to have to have a word with her editor - shouldn't she be working on her next book? ;-0 )
What happens in the Cave doesn't always stay there... Conversations and news from Ellora's Cave Publishing, an erotic romance publisher.
2 comments:
Playing devil's advocate, though, doesn't the fact that Amazon is an online venue skew the results toward e-pubbed authors? The Amazon audience is already a specific slice of the print-book-buying public, in particular, the slice that is demonstrably comfortable buying things online. This group would necessarily have a greater overlap w/ ebook-buying-public, all of whom must be comfortable buying online.
Not saying that epubbed authors don't have an advantage, but giving me stats from Amazon is taking advantage of a non-level playing field. To prove your point, taking from bestseller lists that aren't pre-skewed toward online buyers might be more effective.
I understand this point, but it's still promising! When I scan the shelves in Barnes and Noble and in Books a Million, the figures of previously e-published authors goes down, BUT, the names I recognize on the shelves as authors I've been in EC, Loose Id and other e-pubs with IS increasing. Tthat's a good thing, especially since I see the number of trade paperback titles that qualify as "erotic romance" are increasing all the time.
Post a Comment