Lebrary.com Update

Welcome! The weather outside is sizzling, so we’re drinking iced versions of our favorite beverages, today. Find a chair and listen as David Nicholls, CEO of Lebrary.com, gives us the latest news about his on-line bookstore of eBooks.

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Lebrary.com commenced in February this year, I view the last few months with mixed emotions. A sense of pride that an idea, emanating from an ‘I wonder if’ moment, has actually come to fruition and is becoming an integral part of the mix for aspiring writers’ publication options.

Having recently watched a rerun of How the West Was Won, I know this journey of trying to reach the Publishing Promised Land, is full of ups and downs. We have attacks from the natives balanced by friendship and encouragement from friendly travelers.

Most of the criticism has been from my fellow Brits on this side of the pond. Sadly, it is an integral part of the British Psyche to point out that a new venture is either doomed to failure or intended as a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. This skepticism has always been prevalent in our culture, but isn’t very conducive to an entrepreneurial mentality. Thankfully, however, the response from the States and other parts of the world has been amazing. Lebrary.com has 50 authors with 64 books available for purchase.

The last three months have certainly been a learning process, full of hand holding for the writers who have ventured cautiously into this arena. “Can it?” “Will it?” “Will you?” “Why not?” The questions quite rightly come in abundance. The two most common ones however have been;
Am I allowed to publish elsewhere if my book goes on Lebrary.com? Answer: Yes.
Who owns the Copyright? Answer : The author.

The eBook route is easier, quicker, cheaper and more achievable than going the traditional route, but a stand-alone eBook is still quite new. I feel however that we are not too far away from publishing online being the norm.

We have attracted eight known publishing agents to the site so far. To date, three of our authors are now in dialogue with a few of these agents about their work. We have attracted writers (including a US Ambassador) from around the globe. Some of them come with an existing following. Due to their knowledge, patience and tenacity in promoting themselves on the Internet, these authors sell better, as they are able to maximize the free social networking opportunities.

As part of Lebrary’s commitment to promote our authors, we have embraced social networking, which really does drive traffic to the site. Sites we focus on are Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook, where we have started a Lebrary.com Fan Page to promote authors.

We have also developed a Facebook game called Book Pile Up, which shows our authors' book covers and is great fun.

This is only the beginning of a long and interesting journey. I’m sure there will be more arrows fired in our direction, but if you believe the recent AAP report that eBook sales jumped by 252% in the first quarter, then this wagon train is well on the way to the Publishing Promised Land.