Book Divas

The year 2012 may well just mark the year many say goodbye to the printed book. One publisher who is bidding adieu is Tribute Books, who starting in January will make the move to exclusively ebooks. What's more is that this format is allowing publishers to try out new royalty formats. Tribute will be splitting royalties 50/50 on net retail prices and publishing one author per month next year. There will be no fees charged to the author whatsoever, but they are looking for a certain kind of "partner" in this venture--authors must be active on social media, have knowledge of the publishing process, and preferably have a book or more published through a royalty-paying press.

Book Divas had a chance to catch up with Nicole Langan to ask a few questions about this major decision:

1) What were Tribute Books reasons for moving to a solely ebooks format? Does this mean that print books are dead?
Our main reason is the explosion in popularity of e-readers such as the Kindle, Nook and iPad. Over the course of 2011, we've watched our ebook sales outpace our print sales by 2 to 1. The under $5 price point of most of our titles and the ease of purchase and delivery are surely contributing factors.

2) How do you think the young adult genre is uniquely situated to succeed in the ebooks genre?
No one age group integrates technology into their daily lifestyles like teenagers. They are constantly plugged in and connected 24/7 either by smart phone, electronic tablet, laptop, etc. They "get" ebooks.

3) What authors do you already have lined up to be published under the new structure of Tribute Books?
At this time, we're ready to go with an author we've already published, Larry Peterson. We published his children's book, Slippery Willie's Stupid Ugly Shoes (www.slipperywillie.com) last year, and we're looking forward to e-publishing his second young adult title, The Priest and the Peaches in January 2012. Larry has done a phenomenal job over the last year in building his social media platform through his blog, Facebook and Twitter. He is the type of author we dream about working with.

4) What hurdles do you anticipate facing moving to only ebooks?
The biggest hurdle will probably be the authors who choose not to submit their manuscripts because they would like to see their book in print, and I completely understand and respect that decision.

5) What is Tribute Books most excited about in moving to this new structure?
I'm most excited about working with authors who enjoy promoting their book on a daily basis. Ones who know the ins and outs of the time and effort it takes to make a book a success because I'm ready and willing to work with them every step of the way.