This survey includes seven of the top eBook venues. The number of books shown for each site is the total that site classifies as romance on their main “browse all romance” page. Venues are listed in order of numbers of books.
Why Follow Inventory at eBook Retailers?
Inventory can be interpreted as a form of market reach. Liken it to WalMart. As much as you might prefer a smaller store for its atmosphere and more unique offerings, sooner or later a store with fewer items on its shelves isn’t going to have what you need. You may resist, standing by your favorite, but if you want something you want something, and you’ll go to the store that has it. You might even decide to switch stores permanently, or visit your old store less frequently.
That said, the exact nature of each retailer’s inventory is also a factor. In this analogy that might apply to the mix of publishers or eBook formats a store carries. For instance, ePub could overtake all other formats in terms of numbers of downloads, but not be available at the store with the largest inventory. Thus, in the end, the store without ePub might lose out.
Though B&N is this week’s winner in terms of percentages, it added only 80 new titles, while Amazon more than tripled that. What I would love to know is the source of new titles for each retailer, broken down into percentages (i.e. New York publishers, small presses, self-pubs, public domain books).
How much does the Kindle self-pub program add to Amazon’s romance inventory numbers? Is it a meaningful part of the equation, or does Amazon’s continued lead in eBooks available stem primarily from its position in the larger online marketplace?
Amazon.com (Kindle) 19,835 titles (19,576 last week) 1.32% increase (259 new titles)
Formats: DTP format for the Kindle, iPhone, and iPod
All Romance eBooks 18,823 titles (18,728 last week) 0.51% increase (95 new titles)
Formats: Adobe PDF eBook, MSReader, HTML, Mobipocket, Palm DOC/iSolo, Franklin eBookMan, Hiebook, Rocketbook, Open eBook.
Books On Board 13,843 titles (13,670 last week) 1.26% increase (173 new titles)
Formats: ePub, Secure Adobe Editions (ADE), eReaders, MSReader, Mobipocket.
The eBook Store (Sony) 11,872 titles (11,821 last week) 0.43% increase (51 new titles)
Formats: EBL for Sony Reader and PC
Fictionwise 11,500 titles (11,456 last week) 0.38% increase (44 new titles)
Formats: Gemstar/Rocket eBooks, Adobe Reader, MobiPocket, MS Reader, eReader
eBooks.com 9,575 titles (9,502 last week) 0.77% increase (73 new titles)
Formats: MS Reader, Mobipocket Reader, Adobe Digital Editions
Barnes and Noble 4,654 titles (4,574 last week) 1.75% increase (80 new titles)
Formats: iPhone, iPod, Blackberry, PC, Mac
Note: In many cases, figures will include eBooks that also have print editions. Breaking out electronic-only editions from the totals isn’t feasible.
Kindling Romance 
Romance Agent Talk: Lucienne Diver Tells of Changes in the Book Biz
Posted in Commentary, Digital Publishing News, eBook Stats, Writing Romance, tagged literary agents, Writer's Resources on September 17, 2009| Leave a Comment »
One of the most frustrating problems for romance authors and author hopefuls is not how to write something, but what to write and how to find people, ideally lots of people, who will buy it. Some authors excel at the business and marketing side of the writing biz, while others loath it and just want to be left alone to do their work.
Personally, I hate marketing. Why? Because it’s extremely complex and considering the vast array of ways people communicate with each other these days, there’s just so damn much of it. If you’ve ever visited a writers forum and taken a look at the signatures of the various posters to that forum, you may have noticed it’s common for an author to include links to websites, multiple blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other assorted “content streams.” All of that has to be built and maintained, and it’s a helluva lot of work, time that’s pulled away from what many writers prefer to do, write.
Some experts claim that no amount of marketing an author does, and this includes book signings and tours, will increase that authors sales. Others believe it’s crucial to engage in as many activities that put your name in front of readers as you can. Most authors have the option of leaving all publicity efforts up to their publishers, but it’s becoming increasingly rare to find an author who doesn’t have at least a bare bones website or blog.
Even if the subject of market trends makes your brain want to shut down, it pays to have at least a passing knowledge of them. Who is buying books now and why? How are they buying books? Where are they buying books? What are they buying? How can you use this knowledge to sell your books to them?
More importantly, where is the market going to be one, two, five years from now? You may wonder, am I going to be left in the dust if I don’t pay attention?
Lucienne Diver, an agent with The Knight Agency, gave the keynote address at the Heritage Book Festival in St. Augustine, Florida last week, a speech that addressed many of these questions. “New Publishing Paradigms,” is now posted on her blog. I liken it to the publishing version of a fold-out pocket map of a foreign city.
Some nuggets:
This is only a brief list. I’ve left out many of Driver’s other important facts and insights. Some of you may already have much of the information in this address, but I’m willing to bet you’ll find a helpful surprise or two.
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