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What are E-Singles?

All About E-Singles

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What are e-singles and why are they an important new revenue stream for publishers?

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What are E-Singles?

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“Curling Up”

Illustration by Debbie Ohi

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Long reads

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Who Is Releasing Them?

Lots of different types of publishers…

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Traditional Book Publishers

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Magazines and Newspapers

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Startups…

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And Amazon!

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They Can Be About Anything.

• Fiction• Nonfiction – longform journalism• Nonfiction – memoir and personal essays• Nonfiction – useful/practical

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Where Does The Content Come From?

• Original • Repurposed content from a newspaper or

magazine

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Where Are They Sold?

• Separate sections of an e-bookstore• Floating around in the general e-bookstore

(not so great…stay tuned)• Standalone websites and author websites• Apps

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Kindle Singles

• Largest: Launched in January 2011, now up to 193 titles, about three new ones added per week

• Over 2 million sold• Submissions process, vetted by editor• For originals: Editing, cover design, jacket copy• Extra promotion and marketing

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Apple’s “Quick Reads” in the iTunes Store

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Nook Snaps

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Kobo Short Reads

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Apps

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What do they cost?

$0.99

$1.99

$2.99

A Breakdown of Kindle Singles prices…

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Business Models

– Standalone business/startup– Additional revenue stream within larger company– Partnerships– Why Barnes & Noble, Apple and Kobo are

different…

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Standalone Business/Startup

• The Atavist• Byliner Originals• Now and Then Reader

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Additional revenue stream within larger company

• Most newspaper/magazine models• Book publishers– Penguin Shorts– Rodale Essentials

• Kindle Singles

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Partnerships

• Hachette + Bloomberg Businessweek• Random House + Politico.com• Random House + RealClearPolitics• Penguin + The Economist• Open Road + ProPublica

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Why Are Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo different?

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Nook Snaps

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What are the advantages?

• Maintain reader interest between book releases• Give people more of a topic or author they love:

“Length is not a driving factor for people who are buying these” – Penguin’s Carrie Swetonic

• Content that writers simply could not sell before• Repackage content for new revenue streams,

cheaply• Monetize instead of just giving it away free

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Maintain reader interest between book releases. Give readers more of a topic/author they love.

Drive pre-orders for the next book.

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“Length is not a driving factor for people who are buying these.”

--Penguin’s Associate Director of Marketing, Carrie Swetonic

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Sampling…upsell!

$0.99

$35

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Repackage content to create new revenue streams – cheaply.

Monetize content that might have been free before.

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A home for content that authors simply couldn’t sell before…usually because it was too long for most magazines but too short

to be a full-length book.

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And what are the risks?

“If publishers think this is just a way of getting anything out there, as opposed to something that’s been edited and watered and fed and

cared for, we risk screwing up the genre on the front end”

– Random House Executive Editor Jon Meacham

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“Fill a genuine gap in the market”

--Penguin’s Associate Director of Marketing, Carrie Swetonic

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“It has been a bit of a challenge to make more people aware of the story’s existence. It’s not on any real-world bookshelves, and Atavist doesn’t have an army of publicists working on my behalf. Even people who want to read it sometimes need guidance on how to get it.”--David Wolman, author of “The Instigators”

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Low cost means you have to sell a lot of them to make a significant amount of money

(2 million sold sounds good, but…)

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Possible consumer confusion about what they are

$0.99?

Separate sections of the store are key

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Despite fast publishing process, picking a topic that is relevant…

Especially when readers are accustomed to getting the content for free.

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So how are they doing?

• Kindle Singles• Byliner• Atavist• Magazines• Traditional publishers

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What’s Next?

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Apps

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Other retailers get involved

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Questions?

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Thanks!

• Laura Hazard Owen• [email protected]• Twitter: @laurahazardowen