The Romance Publishing World Goes KABOOM!

Hey, romance lovers, here's some sort of hot-off-the-e-presses news...

Kaboom!!! The romance publishing world, Dorchester Publishing to be specific... has just news-exploded in a way I, and others, have been predicting for a couple of years now.

This is courtesy of the erotic romance author, Renee Bagby, on the Siren-BookStrand author’s loop:

Here is the full article on it from PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY’s daily emailed update:

Dorchester Drops Mass Market Publishing for E-Book/POD Model
by Jim Milliot
Aug 06, 2010

Mass market romance publisher Dorchester Publishing has dropped its traditional print publishing business in favor of an e-book/print-on-demand model effective with its September titles that are “shipping” now. President John Prebich said after retail sales fell by 25% in 2009, the company knew that 2010 “would be a defining year,” but rather than show improvement, “sales have been worse.” While returns are down, the company has had a difficult time getting its titles into stores as shelf space for mass market has been reduced, Prebich explained. Dorchester recently let its field sales force of seven go, although Tim DeYoung remains with the company as v-p of sales and marketing.?The editorial team remains intact, although Prebich said the number of titles released monthly will likely be reduced from over 30 to 25. He said the schedule for 2011 is set and Dorchester has books in the pipeline through June 2012.

Dorchester will continue to do print copies for its book club business and has signed a deal with Ingram Publisher Service for IPS to do print-on-demand copies for selected titles. According to Prebich, some e-books that are doing well in the digital marketplace will be released as trade paperbacks with IPS fulfilling orders; the company, however, will not do any more mass market paperbacks for retail distribution.

Prebich said Dorchester’s e-book business has had “remarkable growth” which he expects to double again in the next year. Still, digital sales accounted for only 12% of total revenue prior to the company making the transition to the e-book/pod model. Prebich conceded that Dorchester will have lower revenues, but he expects margins to improve. He said the company is working out a new royalty rate with authors that he expects to announce next week. Editors are talking to authors now about the changes. “We hope they’ll stay,” Prebich said. Dorchester’s e-books are available at most major vendors and compatible with most platforms at an average price of $6.99. Trade paperbacks will be priced in the $12 to $15 range.

On his decision to drop the mass market format Prebich explained: “These are like pioneer times in publishing. We felt like we needed to take some chances and make a bold move."

Here's a better article from PW:

~ tinyurl.com/24jwx5c ~
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Note: This Big Cat author can’t say she’s exactly surprised... however, it does send shock waves through the ole system. How many more of the so-called BIG PUBLISHERS are about to jump into the digital selling pool?
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Furthermore, how do we, as authors, protect ourselves from the impending Wal-Mart like invasion? That is, the BIG BOY publishers are used to dominating the romance market and intend to get rid of any and all competition... once they move in...
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Savanna

Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~