How do you classify yourself as a reader?

Family Portrait

As my beta readers plow through The Beresfords, it's time for me to make some marketing and publishing decisions. Up to now, I've always offered both print and ebook editions of my works (except for Mia and the Magic Cupcakes, which is hardcover only). Relative to ebook versions, print editions are more expensive to design (need a spine, back cover, and text formatting), produce, and distribute, but I know some of you are very devoted to physical books. I myself feel wistful at the thought of not holding a weighty, beautiful copy of The Beresfords in my eager hands.

So I thought I'd ask--should I go ahead with a physical edition or not? It would be odd to have launch parties with nothing to sign--would we all hit "Buy Now" at the same time? But on the other hand, I'd love to save you money if I can.

Check out the Poll to the right there. Would you do me the kindness of clicking a box? You may click more than one, if you're one of those folks who would buy a book two ways. Or maybe I could figure out how to "gift" an ebook edition, if you already purchased the print one. Research...

Thanks, folks. And please, I welcome comments! Why did you choose what you chose? If you have an e-reader, what percentage of books do you read on it?

I have a Kindle and use it mainly for free classics, library books, and galley reviews. Love it. It probably amounts to 40% of my reading.

As We Go, So Goes the Nation?

Hold off on buying that ticket to Tulsa--

Book club met last night, valiantly gathered around a fire pit because, dang it, thermometer notwithstanding, it's summer. While the rest of America fried like the proverbial egg on a sidewalk, we counted ourselves lucky not to be wearing fleece. And I'll bet any other book club in America which tackled Edith Wharton's Summer spent way more time on all her descriptions of heat. Hot weather, hot emotions, hot times on a Mexican blanket...

But while we may not be in step with our compatriots weather-wise, we were utterly representative of publishing trends. Of the nine of us gathered, five of us had e-readers: two iPads (with Kindle for iPad), two Kindles, and one Nook. Two more had library copies, and the other two might have owned the book from high school. Now, we usually try to pick books available in paperback or at the library, but it's unusual to have a month where no one had to buy a copy.

Publishers Weekly summed up the latest AAP report this way:

All major adult print segments—hardcover, paperback and mass market—showed a decline in sales in May...While e-books showed a steep uptick of 146.9% for the month, bringing in $73.4 million in sales, adult hardcovers dropped 38.2%, adult paperbacks dropped 14.3%, and adult mass market fell 39.4%. For the calendar year, e-books brought in $389.7 million in sales, a 160.1% climb over the same period 2010.

Not only that, but Borders has finally cried uncle, which had our book club spending two minutes mourning the fact and five minutes thinking we had gift cards we needed to use up, and do you think we could pick up the Hunger Games boxed-set at the sale..?

People love bookstores (I count myself in this crowd) and bemoan their death, but how many of our reading purchases are still made in them? And I'm not talking about Amazon killing the bookstore, either. So many people I know buy all their physical books at Costco! Amazon at least offers millions of books--Costco a few hundred. Traditional publishers don't have a prayer if they're jockeying for a few spaces on the Costco table.

I don't buy many books, but I make an effort to get them at my local, independent bookseller now, if I can't get them free from the library or for less than $5 on my Kindle. I've never bought a book at Costco, just like I've never bought one at the grocery store. The thought that "everyone else is reading it" makes me less likely to pick it up. But that's just me, I've been told.

I'd love to hear from you in the Comments. How many non-gift book purchases have you made recently, and where did you get them?

Some Fireworks and a Few Duds

My patented pen-grip

Many thanks to those who turned out for my first-ever book launch party in Eastern Washington, and to my extremely loveable in-laws for hosting. Very interesting to see the ratio of physical-book to Kindle readers over there. On our side of the mountains we are somewhere between 25-40% ownership of e-readers, but only one of the 16 attendees in Richland had one. Small sample size, yes, but clearly I need to continue offering future works as physical books for the near future.

It's been a while since I posted on the fate of Everliving. My shift from quasi-Christian-fiction to paranormal romance threw a few people. Two readers told me they had difficulty suspending belief when it came to a ghost; another reported that she was reading the book only because I had written it, but it really wasn't her cup of tea. (She recommended I try whipping out a frothy book set in the Scottish Highlands. I don't currently have one in the works, but never say never.)

For those who don't mind a few things that go bump in the night, however, the response has been positive. The UW Bookstore recently selected Everliving as a Staff Favorite! For your delectation, I include the full review:

Can a ghost story be both spooky and romantic? When that ghost story is written by Bellevue author Christina Dudley, it certainly can be. With her remarkable talent in evoking a sense of place and creating atmosphere, Dudley spins an absorbing tale of lost love, mystery, and paranormal longing set amongst the towering giants of the forest and populated by a rich cast of characters, both living and dead. Her informative descriptions of trees, forests, and redwood canopies are entertaining and never dull or pedantic, and prompt even an acrophobe like me to consider roping up and viewing the world from above. I know that the next time I’m hiking through the forest, Everliving will certainly have me appreciating the trees… and also peering into the mist. -A.M.

 And in the you-learn-something-new-every-day category, it's come to my attention that people yet exist who have never ever ordered a single thing on Amazon. Yes, blog reader, I speak truth. How do I know? Because at least three people have told me they wanted to leave an Amazon review, but that meant first they'd have to buy something (i.e., have an Amazon account). If it's 2011 and they have not yet done so, I'm not holding my breath. Too bad, though, because they had great reviews:

• "A page-turner--perfect summer reading." - R. W.
• "Absolutely fantastic! I was hooked right away, and I loved how all of your characters were so real." - D. B.
• "LOVED it! The perfect amount of suspense and eerie to keep you glued up front (without scaring you to death...but enough teeth that I couldn't read it at night), and then you're so hooked on the relationship between Ben and Daphne that you just can't stop reading..." - K. F.

As always, you can find my books at the UW bookstore, from which they'll ship and gift wrap for free (1.888.335.7323) or on Amazon or the Barnes & Noble Nook.

In the Special Events department, catch me at Creative Mom Toys at the Landing in Renton on Wednesday, July 20, 10:30a for a Mia and the Magic Cupcakes reading. Very cool store with unique, quality toys and books. Despite being a Mia event, I'll have my other books with me, as always, which I'll be happy to sell like crack out of the back of my van.

Thanks for checking in!

Here Go Ten Minutes

Okay, I vowed I would do some writing today because I haven't for a couple weeks. So after revising Chapter 4 of my unnamed sequel for twenty minutes, I'm ducking out again. Really, I'm approaching halfway done, if I'm not already there (on the whole dinged book), but there are so many distractions!

1. Goodreads.com. I know this site has been around forever (in cyberspace terms), but I finally got on because I was reading the publishing industry's eulogies for Kirkus Reviews--which now claims it's got a few more gasps left in it--and one commenter said she didn't read the professional reviews anymore. She just checked it out on Goodreads. Hmmm...Wondering if you readers tend to go with the professional blurbs, Amazon, Goodreads, or friends' recommendations. It's always a bonus to find like-minded readers, so you know whether or not you'll agree with their reviews. I just joined a group on Goodreads called "Madam, Want to Talk about Author Mary Stewart?" because I figure they have potential.
2. The avalanche of e-readers threatening to bury us. The publishing industry is also abuzz with the many, many e-readers launching in 2010 to challenge the Kindle. The Kindle, which already had some wringing their hands because the pricing didn't allow everyone to get a big enough piece of the pie. I haven't spent much time weeping over the publishing industry because I opted out, but I remain very interested in the whole electronic thing. MOURNING BECOMES CASSANDRA is already available on Kindle, and I'm in process with the Google Books version and queued up with Barnes & Noble. For the forseeable future I'll always want a printed, physical copy of my book(s), and I'll print some up for others without e-readers, but it certainly is terribly expensive. Had I sold every copy of MBC as a Kindle version, I would have been able to take that dream cruise to Antarctica now, even with the cut Amazon takes. As it is, I'm in the black but will have to dig into the savings to bring out the next one.
3. My cholesterol. For the first time it's approaching the Highway to the Danger Zone, and I really ought to take more walks.
4. Rock Band. Got it for Christmas and played plenty down in California, so it's irritating to come back up here and find that we have hardly any songs and have to start over. My avatar couldn't even afford the hoodie I wanted her to have, so I had to play a whole bunch after I sent the kids to bed to get money for the hoodie. Plus, the microphone was defective, and I had to sort that out. Plus plus, I now have a blister from drumming.

Okay, the ten minutes are up (and then some). Back to writing.