Happy Shopping everyone!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It's black Friday, but I will not be shoping. Instead I will be catching up on books scheduled for September/October this year.

Meanwhile I'll pass along some news about trends from one of our distributors, www.allromancebooks.com / www.omnilit.com

Write Words, Inc. was one of the first e-book publishers to sign up with ARe back in 2006 and we have been steadily adding our titles in other genres since the inception of their Omnilit (all genres) web site.

Of all our many distributors it's true that ARe pays the highest percentage in royalties. For authors, that means that we both make more money when customers buy from ARe.

PRESS RELEASE FROM ARe/Omnilit

Some general highlights

# Romance publishers 2006 = 18

# Romance publishers 2009 = over 13000

# Total publishers in 2009 (AR & OmniLit Combined) = over 3000

# Romance titles in inventory 2006 = close to 2000

# Romance titles in inventory 2009 = over 30,000

# Total titles in inventory 2009 (AR & OmniLit Combined) = over 250,000

Growth in customer base 200 8 to 2009 = 250%

Some buyer highlights

We're continuing to experience triple digit growth in the U.S. and the bulk of our sales are to U.S. customers. We are currently selling in 210 countries.

Top ten markets: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Italy.

Top ten U.S. markets: California, New York, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio

Buyer demographics!

Female = 90%

Male = 10%

Age = We're seeing growth in the over 60 demographic. Our biggest demographic is the 18-29 age group (40%).

Marital Status = Divorced 6%, Single 51%, in a relationship 43%

Some bookish highli ghts

Book length = the bulk of sales are on books between 30,000-69,999 words (39%)

Heat Rating = 97% of sales are on books rated 3 or higher

DRM v Non DRM = 97% of sales are on Non DRM titles

File formats = PDF is the best-selling format by far. Second place is a 3-way tie between LIT, PRC, and ePub. LIT and PRC have both lost market share in the past year. HTML is in 5^th position. We've just added the eReader format.

Significant sub-genre trends we're seeing = The overall market share for straight contemporary is down quite a bit from 2008, 22%. Although still a popular genre, the overall market share for multiple partners is also down from 2008. Rubenesque, although a small piece of the pie, is showing promise for growth. Other significant growth markets, listed in order, include Paranormal, Vampire/Werewolves, Gay Fiction, and Erotica.

In terms of which sub-genres owned the biggest piece of the pie in 2009, the top 10 are = Gay Fiction, Erotica, Contemporary, Multiple Partners, BDSM, Interracial, Vampires/ Werewolves, Shape-shifter, Sci-fi/Fantasy, Paranormal/Horror.

NOTE: We realize that many books cross multiple sub-genres. What we based the above statistics on is the category the reader selected prior to the purchase point. If it's a M/M, Contemporary, Paranormal and they clicked on Contemporary prior to the purchase, then the sale goes to Contemporary.

An antidotal report to check out: We have heard from some publishers and authors that because of differences between our pricing practices and that of our competitors AND because of the differences between our commission/fee structure, a book sold on the All Romance site is netting them more—in some cases significantly more per sale.

If this is true for you and/or your authors, we encourage you to point it out to them. We know customers have many choices and many factors to consider when deciding where to shop for your books. We, or course, want them to choose to shop at ARe!

Final files are up for 3 books

Preliminary files are up for the following:

TIME RIFT, by Dorothy Elena Bowman


And typesetting work has begun for the following:

NO BONES FOR THE DRAGON, by Marjorie Doughty

OZARK WOMAN by Terry Piper

Had a busy day, yesterday, but it was sure a change to have things going well.

New Paperbacks Begun

This week we ordered Anna Dynowski's FULL HOUSE and will be sending the proof to her as soon as we get it.

Final galleys are under way for:

TOBY MARTIN: SCHOOL SLEUTH, by Barbara Grengs

RAMPAGE, by Hank LeGrand III


We also began typesetting work on the paper editions of the following titles:

TIME-RIFT, by Elena Bowman

OZARK WOMAN, by Terry Piper

BONES OF THE DRAGON, by Marjorie Doughty

THE THROW-AWAYS, by Jeanne Greiser

Many thanks to my partner, Sandy List, for the bar codes she finished on all of the above.

arline

On gratitude

Buddha said:

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful."

This year in particular, I am grateful for all of you who have touched my life and who will continue to touch it. I got sick, but I didn't die. If I am no longer able to work as long or as efficiently as I once did, I am grateful for what I can do now, for each little bit that gets done and that each day brings a bit of improvement.

arline, who still has much to learn and who is still doing so.

As Sachel Paige said -- Writing Tip

Sachel Paige, a famous pitcher from the time when Baseball was segregated, reportedly pitched well into his 60s. His advice to young ball players was, "Keep moving, something might be gaining on you."

"Keep moving" is good advice for writers, too. Make sure something is happening all the time and that it hasn't happened before and won't happen again. This is especially true of dialogue, where it's tempting to write like people really talk.

In dialogue if someone says, "Where did you get that hat?"

The other character replies, "Macy's."

In real life, if someone says, "Where did you get that hat?"

The other person says, "Why, what's wrong with it?" But you can see that kind of reply would not move the scene forward.

Proofs Back and Best Sellers at Fictionwise

Proofs are back and on their way to the authors for the following paper books:

BATTLE OF WILLS, by Bliss Addison
WHITE GOLD, by Spencer Dane

ODYSSEY, by Elena Bowman is on order.

Both the ones we have seen have excellent covers and look good to us.

In the newsletter we used to post the best sellers at Fictionwise every week. Since this blog is for news-sharing we thought we'd do that here from time to time. These are based on the number of searches and are only for our own small company. Anyone can check their book by going to www.fictionwise.com choosing "brows by" on the lower left, publishers, and then ebooksonthe.net to get the list of books available from us in order. Reader reactions can be seen by clicking on any title there.

MOST SEARCHED Titles this week at www.fictionwise.com

1. MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES by Agatha Christie
2. CAPTAIN BLOOD, by Raphael Sabatini
3. A CHRISTMAS CAROL, by Charles Dickens
4. GHOST OF A CHANCE by Elizabeth Eagan-Cox
5. DEMON CHASER, by David Berardelli
6. YET THE RIVER FLOWS ON by Jack Lyle
7. DEATH SHALL HAVE NO DOMINION, by Pinkie Paranya
8. BLEEDING HEARTS by Josh Aterovis
9. REAP THE WHIRLWIND by Josh Aterovis
10. REGS by Nina Osier


HIGHEST READER RATED AT FICTIONWISE Based on reader responses at the site.

1. GHOST DANCER by Arline Chase
2. MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES, by Agatha Christie
3. SHAPE OF FEAR, by Matthew L. Schoonover
4. BODILY HARM, by Arlene Stadd
5. LADY LIGHTKEEPER, by Nikki Leigh
6. DARK ELF, by Ray Morand
7. TORTURED SOULS, by Matthew L. Schoonover
8. SLOW DANCING, by Helen Chappell
9. HOLIDAY HORROR, by Marie Prato
10. BLEEDING HEARTS, by Josh Aterovis

All our e-books are distributed through Fictionwise and if you hear back from customers who bought there, it's okay to remind them they may go back and rate your book.

One Woman's Writing Philosophy - writing tip

Each of us has different reasons for why we do it. Write, that is. It is, after all, hard work, and often for little reward.

When it goes right, nothing can give you greater pleasure. I have come to feel about my stories (especially since I started doing longer works) that the true satisfaction is in the work itself. At first, I wanted to sell, sell, sell, and I did publish a lot when I concentrated on short things. Now, I'm more in tune to making the writing as good as I can. The work is my reward, because I enjoy every minute, even the ones when I'm struggling hard. Then if it gets accepted -- great! If it doesn't, I've had my fun. My friend, mystery writer Helen Chappell, says I should be shot for even thinking such a thing and "nobody but a fool every wrote, except for money." But I can't help how I feel.

Yes, writing is hard. Some days you feel as if you're wrestling a bear. But, oh the sense of accomplishment when you make that bear dance!