Harlequin losing out on eRomance

eRomance a Hit, but ...

As anyone who has scanned through Kindle lists and eBestseller lists must be very aware, romance is one of the categories that has seen very strong ebook adoption.

As the folks at Digital Book World muse, eRomance makes sense when you think about it.  The books are a very quick read. Certain authors are hugely popular, and their readers can't get enough of them. And -- as with the infamous Fifty Shades -- the "plain brown wrapper" of the eReader cover is less embarrassing than the raunchy graphic that may on the cover, so the reader is more likely to be happy to read in public.

Just one problem, as they say.  Harlequin, the largest and most prominent publisher of romance books in the world, might be getting left behind. It reported results yesterday and the net is that its ebook revenue growth failed to make up for print losses.

Other publishers are facing this at this juncture in the ebook revolution. However, in Harlequin's case the gap is wider. The rise of self-published romance ebooks (they hit the DBW Ebook Best-Seller list nearly every week) has provided competition that Harlequin/Mills and Boon have never had to battle before, and they are hurting.

Let's have a look at what Harlequin offers. According to a famous Harlequin author I once interviewed, the royalties on print books (which were all that were available, back then) were 2% of the cover price and each author was limited to four books per year per pen name.  That's fine, if you sell 20 million copies (as this author had, at the time of the interview), but it was a long, long wait for new authors to make that kind of money, if they ever did. Now, wannabe romance writers have the very attractive alternative of self-publishing on Kindle -- the usual price set (by the author, not Amazon) is $2.99 and the royalty rate is 70%.  Obviously, Harlequin/Mills and Boon would have a job to compete with that -- and are currently being sued by their current authors over ebook royalties. 

The company is certainly not folding their tents, however, struggling gamely, instead.  In Dec. it formed an ebook partnership with Cosmopolitan magazine and earlier this week it made its ebooks available for purchase by libraries through Ingram.

Is that enough? We shall see ... but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't. Could we be witnessing the slow demise of a giant?

Horatio Nelson's surgeon

Medical medals for sale at Bonhams

The Art Daily reports that these gorgeous medals are up for auction.

Even more interesting are the quoted extracts from letters written by Admiral Nelson and the original owner of the medals, ship's surgeon Sir George Magrath. 

Nelson's opinion of Magrath was of the highest order, as illustrated by his letters to Lady Hamilton, sent from HMS Victory on 27 May 1804.

"My dearest Emma,

Yesterday, I took Charles Connor on board, from the Phoebe, to try to do what we can do with him. At present, poor fellow, he has got a very bad eye, - and, I almost fear, that he will be blind in it - owing to an olive stone striking his eye; but the Surgeon of the Victory [George Magrath], who is by far the most able medical man I have ever seen, and equally so as a Surgeon, [says] that, if it can be saved, he will do it........".

Three days later, when writing to Dr Baird (Commissioner for Sick and Wounded Seamen), Nelson included this passage in a letter; "...The Pain in my head, nor spasms, I have not had for some time. Mr Magrath, whom I admire for his great abilities every day I live, gives me excellent remedies...."

George Magrath was born in County Tyrone in 1775 and he began his naval career on 2nd January 1794 as Surgeon's 3rd Mate to H.M.S. Theseus. He served close on three years on Theseus and spent time in the West Indies, where he contracted Yellow Fever, which led to the loss of vision in his left eye.

In spite of this handicap, he was promoted to Surgeon and after four months recuperation, he joined H.M.S. Adamant.

After some years aboard Adamant and other vessels, he was appointed Flag Medical Officer for H.M.S. Victory, joining on the 31st July 1803 to serve with Lord Nelson "... by whom I had the special honour of being personally selected... from the commencement of his Command".

Sadly, Margrath’s sense of triumph was short lived. In 1804 there was an outbreak of yellow fever in Gibraltar, killing almost 6,000 people. Nelson left Margrath in charge of the Naval Hospital to try and limit the spread of the deadly disease – and sailed off to his date with destiny, at Trafalgar.

Magrath wrote: ".....when superceded and cut off from re-joining my Patron, Lord Nelson, who had sailed for the West Indies, by which I lost not only my situation (which as Flag-Surgeon was due by right of service) in which my C in C had placed me, but had the additional mortification of not sharing in the glory of the Battle of Trafalgar, which would have infallibly led to promotion, which was conferred on the Surgeon, who was appointed to act in my place in Victory".

His replacement was William Beatty.
 Four medals awarded to Horatio Nelson’s personal surgeon, Sir George Magrath, will be offered at Bonhams next sale of Coins and Medals on March 27th in Knightsbridge.

Estimated to sell for £9,000-12,000, the medals were awarded for Margrath’s work as Inspector of Hospitals and Fleets for the Royal Navy.

They include; The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B., Military Division breast badge in gold and enamel; The Royal Guelphic Order, K.H., Knight's breast badge in gold and enamel; Naval General Service 1793-1840, two bars, Camperdown, Copenhagen 1801 (Geo. Magrath, Surgeon.); Portugal, Order of Christ, Knight Commander's neck badge in gold and enamel.

 

Quarterdeck, March 2013

March, 2013--Highlights

George Jepson interviews author Helen Hollick.

 

By George!--George remembers Orvin Yeoman, his father-in-law, and a WWII US Navy corpsman.

Julian Stockwin writes about life aboard a man-of-war. This two-part series began in last month's issue.

Download the full newsletter here.

Kiri in Downton Abbey

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to feature in hugely popular series

New Zealand opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is joining the cast of Downton Abbey next season.

Another famous diva, Shirley MacLaine, will reprise her role as Martha Levinson, Lord Robert Crawley's freewheeling American mother-in-law, Carnival Films and Masterpiece on PBS said. MacLaine appeared in episodes early last season.

Te Kanawa will play a house guest. She will sing during her visit.

That will definitely be something to look forward to --- but I wonder if she is dieting in preparation?  The women in that program really are so terribly thin...

SPOILER ALERT.  I believe that American viewers are still bound up in Season Two.  Do not hit the link in the header if you don't want broad hints of the dramatic plot developments that lie ahead for you.

Dragon Boat Festival

DRAGON BOAT RACING IN WELLINGTON

I seem to be promoting my home city a lot at the moment, but the weather is truly beautiful.

And the Dragon Boat Festival is special

Dragon Boating is a unique blend of sport, culture and celebration

According to legend, in 400BC the Chinese Statesman and revered poet Ch'y Yuan drowned himself in the Mi Lo river to protest the corrupt regime of the Ch'u Dynasty.

Local fishermen raced out in their boats to save him, but were too late. To prevent his body being eaten by fish they beat their paddles furiously on the water and threw rice as a sacrifice to his spirit.
Today the Chinese people commemorate his death each year with the spectacular Dragon Boat Festivals that happen around the world.

In Wellington, it started out as a corporate challenge, but then it became a sport, and then it became Just Fun, and now it is international.

(Please note, New Zealand currently holds the trophy, not Australia.)

Dragon Boating involves 20 paddlers in one boat, a sweep who stands at the back to steer the boat and a drummer who sits on the front.  The race is held in Wellington Harbour,  right in the CBD.  Just 50 metres out from the shores of Frank Kitts Park, the course is a short walk from Civic Square, the City Library, Te Papa, or wherever you might be, downtown. All teams load from Aotea Lagoon.

(In case you are mystified, "CBD" means Central Business District.)

You are going to be here?  Wonderful.  Adult teams race on Saturday, 16th March, and school teams race the next day, Sunday 17th March.  There will be stalls, so you can shop your heart out, as well as watch the fun.

Traveling to New Zealand?

The "holiday while you're having a holiday" ferry service offers a free travel app

FREE Travel App for Apple and Android

 

 

Packed with fantastic local information, the Interislander Travel Guide tells you where you are and gives you information about places of interest as you approach.

The Interislander Travel guide contains points of interest covering the whole of New Zealand - over 800 of them, in fact. The guide will tell you about places to stay, provide local information on towns and cities, advise you on the best places to eat, and also point out places of cultural and historical significance.

The Interislander Travel Guide is perfect for any holidaymaker wishing to travel anywhere in New Zealand. Go wherever you like with your own personal travel guide in your pocket.

The Travel app is available FREE from the Apple App Store and on Google Play for Android.

Barnes & Noble struggling, weighed down by Nook

From Digital Book World -- which  reports that the third quarter earnings look awful.

Barnes & Noble booked $2.2 billion in revenue in its third-quarter ending Jan. 26, 2013, a decrease of 8.8% compared to the same period a year ago. The company also swung to a loss of $6.1 million versus a profit $52 million last year.

While the company’s bricks-and-mortar businesses — its nearly 700 retail stores and network of some 600 college bookstores — had a challenging quarter, Barnes & Noble was mostly weighed down by its flagging Nook digital division.

And, to see the full significance of this, bear in mind that Apple's share of the digital market is rising, being currently about 24%

Nook's revenue was down 26% on the same period last year, with a posted loss of $190 million.

But there is no way, it seems, that Nook will be abandoned. Instead, there will be cost-cutting measures.  Which, as DBW predicts, means lay-offs in staff.

New approach to enhanced eBooks

From Digital Book World

An interesting experiment, with a pragmatic entry into the market.  It will be fascinating to see where it leads...

Digital publishing start-up, Erudition, beta-launches enhanced eBook series

Erudition, a new digital publishing start-up, has successfully beta-launched its first series of enhanced publications, Practising The Piano. The author, Graham Fitch, is one of the UK’s leading piano teachers and the series features the culmination of years of experience teaching pianists of all levels. The publications fill a gap in the piano literature with a focus on the art of practising, showing the reader exactly what to do in order to get the most out of their practice time.

A digital first approach
The publications are purpose-built for digital consumption using Erudition’s in-house content management system. The layout of content is optimised for onscreen reading on personal computers and iPads. Enhancements such as video clips, audio and additional resources are seamlessly integrated with content. Interactive “sliders” enable important concepts to be broken down and illustrated in a step-by-step format.

Direct sales model
Practising The Piano is marketed, sold and distributed directly to the reader via Erudition’s innovative digital fulfilment platform. The publications can be purchased and accessed via a dedicated website www.informance.biz or the author’s blog www.practisingthepiano.com. Readers view and interact with their content via a cloud library integrated with a web-based reading application which renders HTML5 content for online and offline consumption.

This direct model provides statistics and usage feedback not usually available to a publisher via third-party retail channels. “We’re thrilled with the results achieved so far”, says Ryan Morison, Director at Erudition. “We’ve received positive feedback from customers across the globe and over 70% of readers accessed the entire first volume within the first week of purchasing it.” New editions and volumes will be influenced directly by the feedback obtained from the beta launch.

Huge pay out to slave owners

The compensation for slave owners in 1833 was bigger than bank bailouts today

It's old news, and the amounts have to be adjusted to match modern currency, but it's still shocking

Britons now able to look up slave-owning ancestors.

 

 

 

LONDON (AP) -- A new database launched Wednesday lets Britons curious about their family history uncover some potentially uncomfortable information — whether their ancestors owned slaves.

Researchers at University College London spent three years compiling a searchable listing of thousands of people who received compensation for loss of their "possessions" when slave ownership was outlawed by Britain in 1833.

About 46,000 people were paid a total of 20 million pounds — the equivalent of 40 percent of all annual government spending at the time — after the freeing of slaves in British colonies in the Caribbean, Mauritius and southern Africa.

"This is a huge bailout," said Keith McClelland, a research associate on the project. "Relatively speaking, it is bigger than the bailout of the bankers in recent years."

Compensation for slave-owners was opposed by some abolitionists, who argued it was immoral, but it was approved as the political price of getting the 1833 abolition bill passed.

 

Leveling the eBook playing field

From Huffington Post.

Three independent bookstores are taking Amazon and the so-called Big Six publishers (Random House, Penguin, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan) to court in an attempt to level the playing field for book retailers. If successful, the lawsuit could completely change how ebooks are sold.

The class-action complaint, filed in New York on Feb 15., claims that by entering into confidential agreements with the Big Six publishers, who control approximately 60 percent of print book revenue in the U.S., Amazon has created a monopoly in the marketplace that is designed to control prices and destroy independent booksellers.

The complaint centers on digital rights management, or DRM, the technological lock that prevents consumers from transferring any ebook they buy on an Amazon Kindle onto, say, a Nook or Kobo ereader.

DRM comes with all ebooks sold by the major publishers, with the exception of Macmillian's Tor and Forge imprints, and it means that if a consumer decides to switch to another company's ereading device, he or she would lose access to any already purchased ebooks. DRM used to be a feature of digital music sold on iTunes, until Apple abandoned the practice in 2009.

The bookstores making the complaint are the Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, based in Albany, N.Y., Fiction Addiction in Greenville, S.C., and Posman Books of New York City, though the suit states that these stores are suing on behalf of "all independent brick-and-mortar bookstores who sell e-books."

All parties are refusing to comment, the matter being under litigation.

However, if you are an indie author, it seems a good idea to make your book DRM free.