Book Blogger Hop: A look back at 2023

Posted on by BonnieReadsAndWrites

Book Blogger Hop is run by Billy @ coffeeaddicted writer. There is a different bookish question this week. This week we’re looking at our favorite book of 2023.

Answer: I read a lot of amazing books this year, but I’m going to go with Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich. This is heartwarming Southern fiction at its very best! You can read my review by clicking on the cover.

It’s the homestretch before Christmas! For all who celebrate, I hope your preparations are going well. What was your favorite book of 2023?

Unknown's avatar

Published by BonnieReadsAndWrites

I love to read and write book reviews in my free time. I review advance review copies of books on Netgalley for various publishers. I am also a reviewer for Historical Novels Review Magazine, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society. I review books from publishers of all size, large to small. I have a special place in my heart for indie authors. I will sometimes post a little writing that I might dabble in occasionally. I also am lucky enough to live in the Smoky Mountains, so I'll be sharing photos of the beauty around me from time to time.

27 thoughts on “Book Blogger Hop: A look back at 2023”

      1. It’s a shame there’s no ebook. I did ask the author if there would be one, and he said no, that the small press doesn’t do ebooks because they’re afraid of piracy. It’s a shame because it limits their reach.

        2. Dewitt’s press has not ruled out e-books but considers them on a book-by-book basis. However, there are two issues that are overarching: piracy and free or near free 0.99 cent e-books. Both are devastating to the lifeblood of any press, especially small Indie presses that put out high quality literary writing.

          Now, e-books are particular egregious in both regards, pricing and piracy. First, they are oh-so easy for the user to click and buy, but when Amazon offers up a kindle edition for free (to join their service) or 0.99 cents, the author and the press make zero dollars on that sale–nothing whatsoever. Second, almost any book you point to on Amazon that is in e-book format can be gotten for free off of a Russian or other book sharing site. And they have millions and millions of titles online for free download. Those downloads make zero dollars for the author and press. But, hey, isn’t that grand for the reader?

          What is standard in most publishing it to first release a hardback edition and often a concurrent audiobook edition. Then, six to twelve months later, release a paperback edition. Then, after a bit of time. release an e-book edition.

          During the recent civil trail of the proposed Penguin merger with Simon Schuster, a whole flurry of top executive in the publishing industry testified. And what they said was sobering but also informative and illuminating, explaining the motivations and thinking behind the practices of the Big5 houses. One theme that resonated over and over was that if there ever emerged a “Netflix” of publishing, then books as we know them would effectively be dead, relegated to a backwater. That is why the frontlists of all the Big5 houses do not release e-books for their first editions. They do hardbacks & audio, then paper, and only after all that, they may or they may not, then release an e-book.

          From a reader’s perspective, all of this is hidden and matters not an iota.

          To give you an inside look at book pricing as of today, 27 May 2024, a 282 page paperback with a trim size of 5.5×8.5 printed B&W on creme paper and selling for $19.95 earns an author $1.64 cents at a royalties rate of 25%, which is far above the industry average. The press earns $4.92. But it costs about $7,000 to $15,000 dollars to produce that book in hardback, paperback, and audiobook formats.

          So, take the lower figure of 7K, which is unrealistic if including audio, but let’s take that figure. The press will have to sell 1,423 books to get to zero profit, or the break-even, point. After that, they begin to earn that $4.92 per title, but the press is still incurring all the expenses of running a press. Meanwhile, the author has earned $2,333.72 while the press earned nothing. But, if that were just an e-book, selling for 0.99 cents as a Kindle title, then an astronomical number of e-books would have to be sold to even begin approaching these already pitiful numbers.

          Anyway, as you may now see, e-books are, in general, not conducive to the lifeblood or keeping an Indie literary press going. They are also not healthy for the Big5 houses.

          Kurt

          __________________________

          Kurt Lovelace, Executive Editor
          Pierian Springs Press

  8. I agree…so many good books this year, but I am going with THE ROARING DAYS OF ZORA LILY by Noelle Salazar.

    I have heard of Kinfolk, but never read it.

    Have a great upcoming week.

Leave a Reply