It's Read an Ebook Week!

Today through next Saturday is Read an Ebook Week. Like it or not, ebooks are a phenomena of our time. Ebooks have begun to outsell physical books, and are sneaking into the major bestsellers lists - even the NYT (that's Nose-in-the Air Times) has admitted it, and has listings for ebooks. In January, newcomer and self-published author Amanda Hocking sold 450,000 books, nearly all electronic, spread over nine titles. She's taken the McDonald's approach - she sells lots of hamburgers at 99 cents, rather than steaks. I've read one of her 99 cent books, and believe me, they're definitely not steak.

The publishing industry is undergoing a revolution, as self-published authors bypass the whole industry and go direct to their readers via online booksellers, ereaders, Facebook and Twitter. And blogs, like this one. The recent Border's bookstore bankruptcy can be blamed, in part, on the ebook revolution.

Ebooks aren't for everyone, I'll admit. You have to invest in a reader or sit in front of your computer to read your books. Not every book is available in electronic format. And the publishers still have a stranglehold on pricing for bestsellers, insisting it costs as much to deliver an electronic copy as it does to produce a hardcover, which is pure bullshit.

My own experience with selling ebooks has been good. For An Ordinary Fairy, the ebook version at $4.99 sells 3.5 to 1 as many as the paperback at $15.00. I make about the same royalty, so I don't really care.

So try it. Samples of most ebooks are available free - up to 20% of the book, which is more than enough to decide if you like the format. Happy e-reading!