"E" is for rEvolution - Part II

Last week, Laura posed the question of whether the readership for ebooks is the same audience for print books. And this, of course, is the key question for all writers looking to boost their sales in an increasingly tight market.

Most of us being traditionally published are also being published in ebooks, but we don't sell many. I think this is due to a couple of things: our ebooks are being released in limited formats (mostly PDF files), and our ebooks are not being promoted where ebook readers can find them.

As I cautiously explore the electronic jungle (Bombay Bowler tilted at a fetching angle), I've come to the conclusion that the readership is probably not the same. I think a number of ebook readers are a bit more electronically savvy than yours truly. I think they may be the folks who download music and download movies and use palm pilots and blueberries. (Er--blackberries?) A number of them seem to have migrated from fan fiction (a topic for another day). They are used to a more interactive reading experience. They write online, they read online. We work online, they play online.

Is this a younger audience? The audience of the future?

The other thing about these readers is that they are niche readers whose needs are not being met by traditional publishing. While paranormal and erotic romances are certainly being published, they are not being published in the quantity that these readers demand. Gay romance, which in epublishing is called M/M or F/F romance, is barely published at all by the big NY houses, but this stuff is a major seller in epublishing. Epublishing is filling a gap, it's meeting a need not otherwise met by traditional publishing.

But what does that mean for the rest of us? Unless you're writing erotic paranormals or BDSM thrillers or interracial or gay romance, maybe not a lot. Even if you are writing erotic paranormals for the big houses, there doesn't seem to be a lot of crossover. Why? Why are these pockets of readers apparently isolated from each other? And is there a way to reach those readers?

As we look at that whole global marketplace thing, one of the obvious benefits of ebooks is that they eliminate the time and expense of mailing overseas. Books are expensive to ship and paper is increasingly costly.

And let's not forget about the joys of immediate gratification -- even if you're not overseas.

Convenience--and privacy. If you are into elves and erotica, you may prefer to buy books online rather than suffer the bemused glances of a twenty-something opposite sex bookstore clerk.

But how do we find these readers? If they read online, they're obviously found lurking on Internet, but the World Wide Web is a big place.

Do we need these readers? Even if they are out there in enough numbers to qualify their publishers for RWA membership--with romance continuing to outsell the other genres--would adding their numbers to our existing readership be significant? Maybe yes, maybe no. Given the fact that royalties on ebooks are generally double - triple what they are on print books, small numbers of ebook readers could still prove to be significant.

Unfortunately, I only have questions, not answers. But I'm interested in your ideas.

Even if ebooks don't replace print books, do you think these readers are the readers of the future? Do we need to actively court them now--and, if so, how do we do that?