Online retail giant Amazon.com has acquired BookSurge, which maintains a catalog of thousands of print on demand book titles.

Greg Greeley, vice president of media products for Amazon.com says:

Print-on-demand has changed the economics of small-quantity printing, making it possible for books with low and uncertain demand to be profitably produced

Is this a good thing for writers? Depends. Often the perception of Print On Demand books is they are self-published, poorly edited books rejected by mainstream publishers. But this in not necessarily true. Best sellers such as “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and “Chicken Soup for the Soul” were originally self-published. Most of these successful self-published works were non-fiction pieces the authors marketed heavily. What about fiction? There are some success stories, but they are few and far between.

Greeley continues:

BookSurge makes it possible to print books that appeal to targeted audiences, whether it’s one copy or one thousand…thanks to print-on-demand, ‘out of print’ is out of date.

In general, don’t self-publish fiction if you think it will enhance your resume. But if you’re writing a highly-targeted non-fiction book and you don’t mind doing all the marketing yourself, this can be a great medium.

Christian Writer’s Blogs for Dummies, anyone?

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Check out this interview with Frank Peretti. When someone’s sold 12 million books, it’s worth learning some lessons from their habits.

He sees movies as a great way to lean the craft of storytelling:

I don’t watch television. Barb and I disconnected the TV years ago. We watch a lot of movies, practically every night. I watch them to see how the story is handled. It’s like in music when you listen to others who play your instrument to learn how they play it. You learn by observing others.

And note the secular fiction he reads:

…Michael Crichton — I like the way he constructs his story, his cinematic style and his eye for detail. He’s easy and fun to read, he moves his stories along. He’s always in a techno-thriller thing and I like that kind of thing. Mostly, I just like the way he handles his craft. I also like John Grisham. He’s a pretty good writer. I read a little Dean Koontz every now and then. I read a little Stephen King because I keep being compared to him. I can’t see the comparison.

Joel Miller–senior editor at Nelson Current–just posted an entry called, “Book Publishing and the Market.” In it he says,

Because I have so few publishing slots, I’m supposed to be the king of cynics, the Simon Cowell of books, e.g.: “I’m sorry, but it’s really bad. Really, really bad. Honestly.” Sentiments to that effect are communicated all the time. I’m nicer than that, of course. But book proposals are many, actual slots on the list are few. My job is similar to Cowell’s; I’m supposed to filter through the many to find the few. But it’s right at this point where everything gets difficult.

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