As gift-giving season draws closer, publishers look to retailers to stock up for the holidays, but this season, one of the largest retailers, Amazon, decided to drastically cut book orders to publishers. The cuts are due to space issues in Amazon’s warehouses as they make room for “bigger-ticket items for Black Friday and Cyber Monday,” Publisher’s Weekly suggests. This choice to cut orders has a significant impact on publishers, resulting in lower sales during a season when publishers count on high buy-ins. Amazon’s decision is especially hurtful to indie publishers who rely heavily or completely on Amazon for sales. The decision “will affect publishers’ bottom lines for months to come,” Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) states. Despite the fact that Amazon began as an online bookstore in 1994, its ever-increasing dominance and power creates a dependency that ultimately hurts the book industry. Amazon has no devotion or concern for the book industry, and its decision to cut book orders demonstrates just how important it is for book lovers to avoid Amazon for book purchases. The head of one company suggested moving more sales to retailers like Walmart and Barnes & Noble, but the best thing book buyers can do to support the industry is to make purchases from local independent bookstores. Purchasing from indie bookstores supports jobs, authors, and the local economy in a way that large retailers like Amazon simply cannot. Despite its convenience, Amazon is ultimately a harm to the book industry. This season, support your local community…

Military Writers Society of America convenes in Ohio September 27-29 for the annual conference and awards Banquet. An association of more than a thousand authors, poets, and artists come together by the common bond of love for the men and women who defend our nation, and a deep and personal understanding for their sacrifice and dedication. Their stories weave the fabric of our nation’s history. Leila Levinson, author of Gated Grief: The Daughter of a GI Concentration Camp Liberator Discovers a Legacy of Trauma, will offer several workshops on writing to heal. Veterans, First Responders, and other professionals who serve those suffering from trauma learn how to help others use writing as a healing modality. Swenson Book Development, LLC has been invited to present two panels on “Getting Your Book Published,” and “Marketing Today,” and participate in another panel on book publicity and promotions. One-on-one pitch sessions are also available. Danielle Sherwood is flying in from Seattle and Jill is driving from Ithaca to join Cathryn Prince from Connecticut. Cathryn Prince will read from her forthcoming Death in the Baltic: The WWII Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, discuss her research methods, and answer questions from the audience. On January 29, 1945, nearly 10,000 German refugees and wounded soldiers attempted to flee across the Baltic Sea aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a cruise liner turned escape ship. Three Russian torpedoes struck the boat, causing catastrophic damange. It sank and 9,000 people perished. Nazi and Soviet censorhship condemned the story to obscurity. Based…

Steven Piersanti, the President of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, recently updated his 2009 report on the publishing industry earlier this summer. Previously I posted an essay here that referenced Piersanti’s points raised in 2009 and how authors could overcome the 10 big mistakes big publishers make (February 28, 2011). Piersanti’s assessment in 2011 reflects the changes in technology and the economy in the past two years. In summary, here are “The 10 Awful Truths About Book Publishing”: 1. The number of books being published every year has increased, but of the 3 million titles published in the U.S. in 2010, 2.7 million were non-traditional, e.g. print on demand, e-books, reprints of public domain works, self-published and audiobooks. 2. Book industry sales have continued to decline since 2007. 3. Despite skyrocketing e-book sales, overall book sales are still shrinking. 4. The average U.S. nonfiction book is now selling less than 250 copies per year and less than 3,000 copies over its lifetime. 5. A book has less than a 1% chance of being stocked in an average bookstore. 6. It is getting harder every year to sell books. Investing the same amount today to market a book as was invested two years ago will yield a smaller return in sales today. 7. Most books today are selling only to the authors’ and publishers’ communities. 8. Most book marketing today is done by authors, not by publishers. 9. No other industry has so many new product introductions. 10. The book publishing world is in…