Our first newsletter for 2014 is now available

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Andrew

Our January newsletter has just been released.

2014 promises to be a bumper year for Hague Publishing with four eBooks slated to be released, as well as the release of our second paperback sometime in late March. As I explain in next weeks blog, relying on Facebook, Twitter, or (now) Google+ to be kept informed of what’s happening at Hague Publishing is somewhat problematic so why not subscribe to our email newsletter and never miss a release …

In the Newsletter

New Releases
- 28 February – Lights Over Emerald Creek by Shelley Davidow
Forthcoming releases for 2014
- Paperback
  - Frontier Incursion by Leonie Rogers
- eBook
  - Frontier Resistance by Leonie Rogers
  - Isis, Vampires and Ghosts – Oh My! by Janis Hill
  - Across the Bridge of Ice by Ruth Fox
Hague Publishing on Social Media
Blog Talk
Submissions Status
Now available from HaguePublishing.com

Seasons greeting to all our readers

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Andrew

We’re taking a short break over Christmas but will be back early in the new year. In the meantime …

IBPA’s new Code of Ethics

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Andrew

I am presently the member of two Australian trade associations (APA, SPN), and one international (the Independent Book Publishers Association). Now, professional associations generally have two conflicting mandates, firstly they have a responsibility to act on behalf of their members, a responsibility which will often have them acting like a cartel or a labor union (trade union) for the members of the profession, though this description is commonly rejected by the body concerned. Secondly professional bodies often act to protect the public by maintaining and enforcing standards of training and ethics in their profession. (Source Wikipedia). One of the primary methods by which this second is achieved is by the development, maintenance, and enforcement of a code of ethics for its members.

Without a Code of Ethics it is difficult for an organisation to discipline or expel a member for acting unethically, as without a code it often difficult to determine whether someone is a fit and proper person to be a member. This is because the question of fitness will differ across occupations, and the matter will often end up in court. With a Code of Ethics the question is simpler, as the expectations of the behaviour of its members is set out in that Code. While the matter may still end up in court, the fact that the Association made a determination against a code of ethics specific to its occupation and membership will make its decision to discipline, suspend, or expel a member is much easier to justify. And personally I can definitely confirm that it makes sacking an unethical employee so much easier.

Which should make it of concern that until recently none of these three associations appears to have had a code of ethics, although this has now changed with the release of IBPA’s first Code of Ethics. Continue reading →

How people chose what ebook to read – Part 2

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Andrew

Click Image to Enlarge Image Source: AuthorMarketingClub.com

[p2p type=”slug” value=”how-people-chose-what-ebook-to-read-part-1″]In my last blog [/p2p]I discussed a poll conducted by USA TODAY and Bookish, a website designed to help people find and buy books. The poll found that a majority of those surveyed (57%) cited their own opinion of the writer’s previous work as the major factor in creating interest in a particular book for them. Opinions of a relative and friend (publishers call that “word of mouth”) came in second at 43%. Lower on the list of major factors: professional reviewers and other writers (each 17%), the book cover (16%) and Internet opinions by non-professionals (10%).

This week I wanted to share with you the results of another recent survey by ebookfairies which confirms many of the USA today survey’s results. The ebookfairies survey was conducted from June 1-30, 2013, via Survey Monkey, and as many as 2,951 people replied to most of the 44 questions formulated by more than a dozen authors.

Some of the more relevant information from the survey include: Continue reading →

How people chose what ebook to read – Part 1

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Andrew

The availability of online bookstores, and particularly the arrival of eBooks is starting to transform how people discover the books they may want to read. The traditional place to do that was bookstores. You’d go in to buy one book and discover another.

Officials at Amazon and other book websites argue that clicking can replace browsing, but is that just a vague and nebulous hope, or are people actually selecting the books they’ll read in different ways? A recent poll conducted for USAToday and Bookish, a website designed to help people find and buy books, asked readers what factors create interest in a particular book for them. Continue reading →

Amazon finally catches up with the 21st century in Australia

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Andrew

For a retailer with one of the biggest, and possibly most sophisticated back office systems in the world Amazon demonstrated until a couple of days ago one of the most backward and antiquarian of systems when it came to paying Australian publishers who didn’t have an American bank account. While Google was quite happy paying earnings direct into our bank account every month in Australian dollars, and Lulu (Hague Publishing’s agent for Barnes and Noble and Apple sales) paid monthly into our PayPal account, and even Kobo was prepared to pay into our Australian bank account a maximum of every six months, Amazon would only pay by cheque in American dollars once our earnings had exceeded $100. This then required paying bank fees on the cheque, and on the conversion, costs which because of the complexity of the process we simply absorbed, rather than trying to split it up by individual sales and billing to our authors.

Now, however, the launch of Amazon’s new Australia store means that Amazon will be paying us monthly direct into our bank account in Australian dollars.

Perhaps more importantly Amazon will also be paying royalties of 70% of the list price, similar to what it had previously paid for American sales, rather than at the previous rate of 30%.

So good news for small Australian publishers without an American bank account, and their authors. But perhaps not such good news for the Australian reader who is now forced to pay GST, and in some cases according to GoodEReader.com a significantly higher price than what they have to pay for in the American store, e.g: A Game of Thrones: $4.99 AU, $2.90 US. The Signature of All Things: equivalent. Just One Evil Act: $19.99 vs $6.59. The Book Thief: $12.99 vs $2.90.

The price difference even seems to have happened to Hague’s own books with Bonnie’s Story: A Blonde’s Guide to Mathematics having the same list price of US$4.99 in both stores (ie $5.29 in Australian dollars), but being marked down to $4.39 in the US store.

Of course readers could get the book from our own website for $5 Australian without any DRM protection 🙂

When submitting to a publisher don’t: submit your partner’s manuscript without seeking their approval

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Andrew

After last week’s posts which dealt with the relatively heavy topic of eBook earnings I thought it might be time to try something a little lighter. As a result this is will hopefully be the first in an irregular series entitled: When submitting to a publisher don’t:. In this case don’t submit your partner’s manuscript without seeking their permission!

Now you might think this warning isn’t really required, but it has actually happened to me. In the case in point I received a short, illustrated manuscript suitable for a parent to read to a young child. I liked the story, and the illustrations, but wasn’t sure if we were the best fit for the book .

When I emailed the author I discovered than not only was he not aware that his partner had submitted the manuscript without telling him, they had also commissioned the artwork without his permission and he hated it. Probably made for rather a chilly conversation over the breakfast table the next day. I do have to say, however, that I felt it was rather sweet of the partner to have that much faith in their partner’s work. But the bottom line remains: don’t.

Did the average eBook really earn just $297 in 2012?

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Andrew

As a small publisher this is obviously an important question: both for us, and for our authors. The question being, of course, how well is an author doing compared to their peers.

Unfortunately this information is difficult to obtain, as from the publisher’s perspective it is often commercial in confidence. Alternatively the information may rely on a small, non-representative sample of self-disclosing authors. What information is around seems to indicate, however, that the goal of earning enough to get a cookie and a mug of chocolate each week on the royalties from eBook sales is probably going to be well beyond the experience of the average author.

Back in May 2012 The Guardian ran an article with the headline ‘Stop the press: half of self-published authors earn less than $500’. The article was based on a survey of 1,007 self-published writers that was originally published by the website Taleist. Unfortunately I was unable to view the results from the original survey from the Taleist site due to its age, so this information is gleaned from the Guardian article.

What the survey shows is that the average amount earned by self-published authors in 2011 was just $10,000, with half of those responding making less than $500. While self-published superstars such as Amanda Hocking and EL James raked in enormous sums of money (Hocking attained sales of $2.5 million), the overall figure is significantly skewed by the top earners, with less than 10% of self-published authors earning about 75% of the reported revenue, and half of writers earning less than $500.

Continue reading →

To illustrate or not to illustrate? A question.

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Andrew

Recently we nominated Leonie Rogers’ Frontier Incursion for the Independent Book Publishers Association’s Benjamin Franklin Digital Awards. The Awards were established to honour the best in Digital Book innovation with nominees being judged on 5 criteria:

Content,
Use of Platform and Technology,
Innovation,
Design, and
Overall Reaction.

As a publishing award rather than a literary award we knew it was a bit of a long shot and unfortunately we weren’t successful. What was interesting, however, was the feedback we received from the judge about how they believed the book could be improved.

When I launched Hague Publishing it was with the intention of producing well edited eBooks, with a fast load, and a clean appearance. A book where the words did not get in the way of the story, but in fact supported that reading experience. Despite the failure to win the Award, it reassuring to have the judge recognise that the goals I had set myself had been achieved. It was also pleasing that the judge had enjoyed the story, particularly liking ‘the plot elements of genetic engineering and people-cat empathy’.

However, the suggestion that the book would benefit from the addition of internal illustration is not one that I would necessarily support. From a purely publishing perspective the use of internal illustrations would significantly add to the costs of production. While from the reader’s perspective illustrations would slow load time and chew up valuable storage space if they are like me and tend to leave previously read books on their eReader. It also raised the question of whether it would actually add any benefit to the reading experience.

Continue reading →