The publishing world's latest snub-fest raised the stakes this month with two developments:

* Barnes & Noble announced that it will not carry any Amazon-published titles in its stores. This includes Amazon books published and distributed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt under the publisher's New Harvest imprint. Originally, B&N had vowed to only exclude Amazon eBooks from its stores, but now it's included hardcopy books as well from the online retailer's publishing programs. Some independent bookstores have taken the same position. (A similar reaction happened when Amazon announced its purchase of Marshall Cavendish Children's Books in 2011).

* As of February 10, Penguin has yanked all its eBooks from OverDrive, the public library digital lending system. Penguin had only offered backlist titles digitally to libraries, but now even those won't be available. My guess is this is in part prompted by OverDrive partnering with Amazon to allow library patrons to borrow eBooks via wireless download to their Kindle devices. The article did go on to say that "Penguin is in talks with other vendors in hopes of restoring eBook lending." (By the way, Penguin is not the only big publisher to restrict eBook lending.)

Okay, I get it. Everyone hates Amazon. And I understand that the retail giant's strong-armed pricing policies have raised the hackles of competitors. But can we step back for a moment and look at the irony of this situation? Since Barnes & Noble purchased Sterling Publishing in 2003, it hasn't made any of its eBooks available in Kindle format, though Amazon does carry the hardcovers. I've always been able to read OverDrive books on my Nook, a Barnes & Noble device. And when did B&N cease to become the bully that put hundreds of independent bookstores out of business?

Publishers are continuing to side with B&N (a huge purchaser of their books, at a discount publishers can control), and against Amazon (a huge seller of their books, though at its own terms). Amazon and B&N are pitted against each other, as you'd expect from direct competitors. And independent stores are fighting for their lives, trying to side with no one.

Who's left out of this equation? Authors, illustrators and consumers. The people who create the products, and those who buy them. The very lifeblood of the industry.

Authors who happen to be published by Marshall Cavendish or New Harvest now can't find their books in many stores. Readers who are cash-strapped, have trouble seeing the small print in physical books, or who physically can't get to the library are now having some publishers dictate which books they'll be granted access to. And consumers who desperately want to buy the next book by their favorite author are being told they don't truly love books if they only purchase them at the best price they can find.

Capitalism is messy, and doesn't always play nice. But it's the system we've got. It's time for big publishers and retailers to figure out how to co-exist. Maybe it will come down to Amazon and Barnes & Noble having exclusives on the books they carry, so consumers know which retailer they'll go to for each title (like going to Sears if you want a Lands' End jacket because JC Penney doesn't carry that brand). Maybe all will agree on price points that everyone can live with. Perhaps authors and readers will put enough pressure on publishers that more eBooks will be available at the library. And certainly publishers should list on their websites where their books are available, so authors can know if the sales outlets are extensive enough to even warrant a manuscript submission.

But ultimately publishers and retailers have to figure this out. Because in capitalism, the creator and consumer are king, and the middleman can always be replaced.

It's impossible these days to read any posts having to do with publishing without the obligatory "the book is dead" comments. And yet with another click you'll find articles about how reading is up 20% from a decade ago among middle schoolers and teenagers, how more time is spent now reading for pleasure than in the past, and how the number of titles available is growing faster than ever. Clearly the book is alive and well.

So really, what we should be discussing is how we now define "book." What people are bemoaning is that fewer hardcopy, paper books are being published, and this is affecting the health of brick and mortar bookstores and libraries. And that's a legitimate concern, but it's very different from the demise of books and reading altogether.

For years, publishing and bookselling functioned on a business model that involved small profit margins, reliance on high-volume sales of some books to cover losses taken on others, and full credit for returns. This model is no longer viable, especially when eBooks have a much higher profit and the internet makes it possible for authors to reach readers directly and bypass the middlemen. What's needed is a new model, one that includes both hardcopy and electronic books. And, I believe, a new definition for "book" that encompasses the written word in all its formats.

I'm confident that print books aren't going anywhere. Some people just prefer to hold a book in their hands and turn the pages (and that includes a lot of teenagers I know). But there's a place for eBooks as well. Not only do some books benefit from multimedia available via apps and other platforms (think of what your high school science textbooks could have looked like with a little audio and video), but the price of eBooks means you can buy three novels for your Kindle for the cost of one hardcover. Customers deserve to have that choice.

Another point that's absolutely worth discussing is that the form of storytelling consisting of written words alone should be preserved. Novels — black words on a white page, with the reader filling in the gaps with his or her imagination — are just as important as apps that move and speak and sing when you touch the screen. Both are valuable experiences, both are ways the author (and in some cases the illustrator) can communicate with the reader. But if you're reading The Catcher in the Rye on a Nook, Salinger's words will be exactly the same as when you read them on paper.

Yes, the process by which we buy and read books is changing. And traditional publishers, bookstores and libraries need to adapt, just as the music industry, video rental and phone companies have had to adapt. But for readers and writers, we now have more options when we think "book". If you like to read only paper books and you despise Amazon, shop at your local bookstore. If you don't want your kids getting hooked on apps, don't give them an iPad. If you need a new book immediately (for research, because it's 2:00 AM and you can't sleep, or because you forgot to pack that vacation novel), download it in seconds to your Nook. And if you're an author, you can now reach readers in several formats, all over the world, and at numerous price points.

The book isn't dead, it's evolving. And whatever form it takes, it's still, at its core, a book.

Those of you who are Fightin' Bookworms (members of our CBI Clubhouse online community) know that in the two years since we've launched the site, we've amassed a huge amount of information on writing and publishing children's books. So much information, in fact, that it was getting unwieldy.

So Jon's spent the last two months (days, evenings, weekends, even in his sleep) completely redesigning and improving the site. And as of this week….

The *NEW* CBI Clubhouse is now live at http://cbiclubhouse.com !   

The CBI 1-2-3 System is up and running, bringing you exactly the information you need, exactly when you need it.  No more hunting around through a massive library of information — it's all right there for you.

And, wow, wait until you meet our new Expert Guides!  A Newbery Honoree…multi-million selling authors…a magazine writer with more than 1600 credits….the most famous names in self publishing and book marketing…and on and on.  When we say All-Star, we're not kidding!

And this is just the beginning.  Private critique groups are coming soon. So are advanced and professional levels.  And webinars.  And…   well, we can't give away all our surprises now can we? 

OK, then – go check it out:  http://cbiclubhouse.com

And please let us know what you think. Your feedback helps us make the Clubhouse even better!

In another alternative to publishing traditionally or, more recently, with companies like Amazon, the teen writing site Figment has just announced the publication of its first book. Created as an online community where people in their teens and twenties can post writing and get feedback, Figment has expanded into a marketing vehicle for YA publishers to showcase new fiction to a teen audience. Now Figment has released a paperback edition of Blake Nelson’s Dream School, a sequel to his 1994 YA novel Girl, after serializing the book on the online site.The book is distributed to stores through Publishers Group West.

Though Figment doesn't plan on becoming a full-time publisher, this does show the power of building an audience online, then publishing. It also demonstrates how authors are finding more ways to bypass the big publishers and get their work out on their own terms.

Now that ebooks have finally captured a share of the market, publishers are looking at so-called enhanced ebooks as the next big development. However, for a variety of reasons, the future for enhanced ebooks is murky, at best.

What is an enhanced ebook?

At this point, the best answer is “no one knows for sure.” Clearly an enhanced ebook is an ebook that includes more than just the text and illustrations from the basic print or ebook, but what those added elements might be is uncertain. Some publishers have discussed adding reader’s guides, author interviews and other materials that might assist the reader in reading or analyzing the book. While these additional elements might be of some value to book purchasers, they are hardly revolutionary, in that similar materials have been added to paperbacks for decades (although not in audiovisual or interactive formats). Other materials that have been proposed for enhanced ebooks include puzzles, quizzes and games, for children’s books, and audio and video materials such as radio and newsreel or television recordings, for biographies, books about historic events or time periods, and public affairs books. Depending on the type of book, it is certainly possible to imagine additional elements that could enhance an ebook, but moving from imagination to execution may prove to be a difficult process.

Who will control enhanced ebooks?

Given the current uncertainty surrounding enhanced ebooks, authors (at least those represented by agents) are understandably reluctant to give up enhanced ebook rights. An author might be concerned that the publisher will never produce an enhanced ebook, and thus if the author has granted enhanced ebook rights to the publisher, he or she will lose out on an opportunity to earn royalties from such a project. An author might also be concerned that the publisher will produce an enhanced ebook, but that the elements added to create the enhanced ebook will not be in keeping with the message, style or tone that the author intended for the book, or that each reader will have the ability to modify the book in ways the author never envisioned or intended to create his or her own enhanced ebook. Finally, the financial arrangements for enhanced ebooks are unclear, and an author will not want to commit to a fixed royalty or other terms without having some idea as to what will ultimately evolve in the way of prices, costs and royalty rates for enhanced ebooks.

From the publisher’s perspective, the publisher will not want the author to retain the right to produce or license an enhanced ebook separate from the publisher’s print or electronic editions of the same book, as a separate enhanced ebook may compete with or supersede the publisher’s print and ebook editions. While a publisher may be willing to give an author a right of approval over an enhanced ebook, the publisher most likely will not want an author to have absolute veto power over such a project, particularly if the publisher has to incur substantial development costs before getting the enhanced ebook to the point where the author can approve or disapprove. Read more

Last June Apple rolled out its Version 1.3 of iBooks, which contains a read-aloud feature especially useful for children's ebooks. The text is read out loud by a human narrator (no computer voice), and there's an optional feature that highlights each word of text as it's read. In an email to publishers last week, Apple explains how to create such an ebook. Read about it here.

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It's time to reveal our super-secret project:  Write4Kids! TV.   It's a web video channel devoted exclusively to writing children's books, and will feature video interviews with authors, editors and publishing visionaries.  It's completely free and is certain to become must-viewing for anyone interested in creating children's books.

Right now, the very first episode is up, and it's a doozy. Join me for an exclusive chat with Karen Robertson, author of Treasure Kai and the Lost Gold of Shark Island and creator of an amazing eBook called Author's Guide to Book Apps.

Karen has a great story:  about a year ago, she decided to create an iPad app for her book.  She's a self-described "total non-techie", but she taught herself how to do everything.  Her journey turned out to be more fun and less expensive than she imagined.  Now she's become an evangelist for writers to create and sell their own children's book apps and, to prove that absolutely anyone can do it, she's created a step-by-step roadmap that shows exactly how to make it happen (and she's teamed up with us to offer it at a special price).

Apps are super-hot right now and can offer exposure and, yes, profit for writers, whether they've been previously published or not. 

In our chat, Karen shares exactly what apps are and how they're sold.  It's a meaty conversation that will leave you feeling confident that, in fact, you can do it.

Go check out "Children's Book Apps Made Easy" at http://Write4Kids.tv

Karen has a free report about creating apps at http://bit.ly/apps4kids

When it comes to publishing's future, there are two kinds of writers:  those who shy away from change and those who embrace and benefit from change.

Among those in the latter group, Young Adult/Sci-Fi author Cory Doctorow is the undisputed king.  His take on copyright, giving his writing away and the use of technology in publishing is controversial, provocative and, many would say, visionary.

Cory gives away electronic editions of all of his wonderful books and, so far, it's worked spectacularly in terms of garnering renown, generating a huge following and, yes, earning income.   Inside each of his books, he pens essays – manifestos, really – about publishing's future from a writer's perspective.  They're often as compelling as the actual story that follows.

Recently,  I contacted Cory and asked if I could collect all his essays and compile them into a single eBook to share with every writer I knew.  He consented, and today, I'm proud to bring you:

In keeping with Cory's "free is good!" ethos, we're giving this ebook away, no strings attached.  In fact, we encourage you to share it with every writer you know.

Be forewarned:  this isn't "preaching to the choir" material.  Cory has some ideas that go 100% against the grain of much of publishing's conventional wisdom.  So be prepared to be nodding in enthusiastic agreement on one page and screaming "WHAT?!?!?!" on the next.  And that's why it's so much fun.

You may agree with some of what he has to say, none of what he has to say or all of what he has to say, but YOU NEED TO READ THIS AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF.  Really, it's that important.

Me?  I'm down with many of Cory's opinions, and I'm resistant on others.  But he's a persuasive guy and his arguments are impacting my thinking, that's for certain.  They will most likely do the same for you.

HERE'S YOUR FREE COPY. READ IT, AND SPREAD IT AROUND…..

It seems that reports of the death of books have been greatly exaggerated (with apologies to Mark Twain). As the numbers continue to roll in, it's clear that people still read, more titles are being published than ever, and e-books are taking their place alongside print books, not replacing them. As reported in "Is the Book Dead? Let That Myth Rest in Peace" from The Atlantic, 288,355 new and reissued titles were published in 2009, and Bowker (the data agency for publishing) speculates that the numbers will be higher in 2010 and 2011. And — here's a really astounding statistic — an additional 764,448 titles fell into the self-published, micro-niche and print-on-demand categories.

Think about that for a moment. For the first time in publishing history, authors are self-publishing more books than publishing houses are producing. Considering that these numbers are over a year old, and advances in e-publishing are happening faster than you can download an app from the iStore, 2011 could potentially near the one million mark in self-published titles.

Upon hearing this, many seasoned authors (read: those with several traditionally-published books under their belts) worry about the lack of gate-keepers. If so many people are self-publishing (and publishers are paying attention to successful self-published efforts, as described in this Publishers Weekly article), who's going to decide what's good? Who's going to create the buzz, tell us what to buy? Without the taste-makers, how will we know what to read?

It's a seismic change, to be sure. And like all changes, it feels a bit scary. But the answer boils down to one word: you.

You, as the consumer, get to decide with your dollars what constitutes a good book. Sure, book buyers always voted with their purchases, but the pool of choices was limited by what publishers presented. And publishers often make decisions based on non-artistic criteria: Does this book cash in on a current trend? Is the market broad enough to make a substantial profit? Will it stay on the shelves of Barnes & Noble for more than three months? Is the author a celebrity? Many great books get published each year, but just as many great books get rejected because they don't quite fit the corporate plan. Readers have never had the opportunity to decide for themselves if those books deserve to exist. Now they can.

You, as the author, still have to put in the work, learning how to write, learning how to revise, and learning how to communicate with your audience. That age-old truth won't change. But now, after you've workshopped the manuscript, had it professionally edited and gotten the go-ahead from your writers' group, you have the power to see your words in print. Since self-publishing is rapidly losing its stigma as the last resort for rejected authors, you have a real choice of submitting to publishers or producing the book yourself. You also now have a choice of paper or electronic formats. Low-cost and no-cost options for e-books mean you can make your dream a reality without a trust fund.

You, as the publicist for your book, can generate reviews, create a buzz, connect with readers and set up personal appearances in direct proportion to the amount of time you're willing to devote to marketing. You're not limited by the publisher's marketing dollars going to the big authors, or the New York Times' limited space in their book review section. The internet is the great equalizer, giving authors the same access to their audience as publishers have had. The more you reach out, the more sales you'll see. It's that simple.

The book is far from dead, and the opportunities for authors are more plentiful than ever. The only difference is that now both authors and consumers have more choices, which means they're responsible for deciding what constitutes a worthy book. As an author, you now have options: you can go the time-honored route of submitting to agents and publishers, waiting months for a reply, and hoping you're one of the lucky ones who gets a book contract. Then you can hope your book sells enough to get contract #2. Many authors still find success and fulfillment this way, and if you're one of those, then I'm looking forward to seeing your book on the shelves. But if you're tired of waiting, you believe in your book and you're not afraid to do the work necessary to get it out there, then for the first time you have equal (or very close) access to book production and marketing as the big publishers. And it's only going to get easier.

So make your choice. Your readers are waiting.

Kindle Lending Library Coming Later in 2011

Amazon's Kindle Lending Library, debuting later in 2011, is a notable step for Amazon, which will offer more than 11,000 of its Kindle ebooks for loan via libraries throughout America.

Anyone with a Kindle or free Kindle app on their smartphone can borrow an ebook, make annotations and highlights, and find those same notes when they re-borrow the ebook or purchase it.

“Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no,” said Jay Marine, director of Amazon Kindle. “Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them.”

One thing I particularly like about the Kindle Lending Library initiative is that it keeps public libraries in the loop, instead of bypassing them. That's a smart move by Amazon.

OK, Barnes & Noble, it's your turn to respond. Whaddya got? 

Amazon Kindle Library Lending Coming Later in 2011