Disclaimer- I write for what are generally considered the “top three” epublishers – Ellora’s Cave, Loose-Id and Samhain Publishing. Having said that, on with the motley!

This is a quick whizz around the current state of the ebook world and is a personal view, so don’t take it as a definitive statement, or a comprehensive analysis.

This is read an ebook week. What it means to me is “read a book in e-format” week, but that doesn’t really sound snappy enough, does it? I don’t read or write ebooks, I read and write books. It’s up to my publishers how to put the book out, but if I hadn’t been interested in reading books in that format, I wouldn’t have submitted my work to publishers who put it out in ebook first. I care about ebooks, I love them and for a variety of reasons it’s my format of choice, but I have nothing against print books, or against people who prefer to read in that format. I just love that we now get the chance to choose.

In the past, many writers would send their work to epublishers because it was easier to get accepted. They saw it as an entrance to the world of publishing, good practice for the big time. Times have changed, so rapidly that some people haven’t caught up yet. Writers no longer leave epublishing to enter print publishing. They do both, and once their agents become aware of their epublishing earnings, they encourage the strategy. Some writers have even left the print publishing world (by which I mean the big seven – Penguin and its subsidiaries, Harper Collins, Harlequin, St Martins, Simon and Schuster, Kensington and Dorchester), because they are earning more in eformat. And writers submitting to the big epublishing companies can now expect a wait similar to the one they can expect in New York, London or Toronto. Submissions have increased hugely and so standards are as high as you can expect anywhere.

Sales are also underestimated by industry sources. The ebook specialists like Ellora’s Cave don’t yet share their data with a company like Nielsen Bookscan, so only ebook sales by the major print publishers are reported. Sales are nowhere near that of print, but they are increasing steadily, and with the advent of the ebook reader, are set to continue to grow.

Of course there are the smaller companies, from the niche specialists who provide quality books, but fewer and concentrate on certain sectors of the market, to the fly-by-night setups and the setups by authors who think that setting up their own company is the way to get published. Some of the biggest publishers in the market started that way, but that was then. This is now. That kind of company exists whatever format you look at. I’d rather concentrate on the top end of the market, where most sales are made, the success stories of the epublishing world.

What caused this change was the erotic romance. Not erotica, not mainstream or sweet romance, but the erotic romance specifically. It still outsells all other genres, but increasingly other genres are making headway, too, and erotic romance is evolving to cope with the expanding market. The thinly disguised erotic with no plot is fading, in favour of the longer story with fully realised characters and more intricate plots. Don’t get me wrong, if you want it, you can usually find it in epublishing, but the major publishers have made subtle alterations to their lines to appeal to the wider audience. It still outsells all other genres, but with romance the biggest selling genre in any fiction market, the only difference is the erotic content. The romance reader is voracious and restless, and it is moving into the ebook market with a will.

Without doubt the entrance of Sony and Amazon into the ereader forum has made a difference. The marketing efforts put into both readers have not just given the public a new gadget, but have drawn attention to the ebook market, and sales are up. It helps that ebooks can be read on multi purpose devices like the iphone or a pda, so you don’t have to go to the expense of an ereader. I read on my Ipaq, and on my ebookwise, because I need that backlight, and so far only the expensive Sony 700 series offers that. Plus, I get color on the Ipaq. The ebook reader wars are in their infancy, and we have yet to see the big entrants, Sony being the exception, going for the pre-empt. I can’t discuss the Kindle much, because it’s not available outside the US, but I can say that sales of my books available in Kindle are increasing nicely, though nowhere near the sales from the publishers’ own websites.

What I want is a big ipaq, something I can carry around with me, but which has the 6 inch screen, plus backlight, touchscreen and the other programs like notes and calendar. Whoever does that, and comes in at a reasonable price has my custom. And with Barnes and Noble’s acquisition of Fictionwise for $15 million, who can tell what the future for readers is? I understand that sale includes the Ebookwise, venerable but still holding up well against competition. Maybe B and N are planning to revamp it? (A smaller, replaceable battery would be nice, if you’re reading this, and sales outside the US!)

But it’s the books themselves that interest me. I’m seeing increasing numbers of New York and London published authors moving into ebooks, not just with their original publishers, but with ebook specialists. Books they want to write but don’t fit into their current portfolio, or new ventures under different names. Of course, the extra percentage of cover price paid by the epubs doesn’t hurt! Every major publisher now has its ebook list.

The one thing that concerns me is royalty. Producing an ebook is more expensive than most people assume, but still, it can be produced for the price of a mass market paperback. It would be naïve to think that any publisher would put out a book in hardback and still charge mass market paperback price, but conversely, the epublishers put out the ebook first, at a price usually under or around $7.99 and then the trade paperback which usually costs more, for people who prefer print. But the epublishers give the authors a significantly higher royalty rate, typically between 30% and 50% of cover price.

When I buy a book, I like the idea that the author is getting more for it, since 90% of the content belongs to the author, and I want to see that continue. (Of course I do!) The higher rate compensates for the lower unit sales and the low or non existent advances most e-authors get, but it also means the author is more invested in sales, since no sales equals no income. It makes more of a partnership between publisher and author.

So when you see “read an ebook,” give it a try. Look for your favourite author and see if any of her books are in eformat, or go to one of the epublishers and find something that looks interesting from someone brand new. As we say in Blighty, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!