The Publeconomist

“You don’t have to dig fashion to dig your teeth into this book.”

Anthony DiFiore — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:38:24 +0000

Yesterday I had the pleasure of reading a beautiful review of Fangs and Stilettos, written by Emelina Minero at EDGE. She had reached out to me on Twitter (@CommKr8veWriter) several weeks ago to let me know that she was enjoying the book, and I’m so thrilled that she liked it and is looking forward to the sequel. I’m 86 pages into the sequel right now, and the writing is coming along smoothly. Reading reviews like the one by Emelina are so encouraging while working on book 2!

Reader Views Kids reviews “Fangs and Stilettos”

Anthony DiFiore — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:12:35 +0000

Reader Views Kids — A Review of "Fangs and Stilettos" (inGroup Press, May 2012) by Antho…

“Fangs and Stilettos” on Kindle

Anthony DiFiore — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:49:31 +0000

The e-book version of “Fangs and Stilettos” is now live on Amazon as a Kindle exclusive. This means that Prime members can borrow the book for free! The paperback’s release date is one week from today on May 15th. Getting excited!!

Thanks Terri Schlichenmeyer!

Anthony DiFiore — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:53:46 +0000

I’m sending out a big THANK YOU this morning to Terri Schlichenmeyer for recommending Fangs and Stilettos in her SavannahNow.com column, “Break out the gift cards for more great books”. Fangs and Stilettos will be released on May 15th in paperback, and in e-book as a Kindle exclusive.

The Pulitzer Prize Board Snubs Fiction in 2012

Anthony DiFiore — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:53:22 +0000

This hasn’t happened since the 70s, but yes, it’s happened before. This year, the Pulitzer Prize Board decided not to give its prestigious award to any works of fiction. It’s hard (cough-ridiculous-cough) to believe that none of the considered titles were worthy of the prize. What’s worse, the board’s action sends a message to readers that this past year wasn’t very good for fiction. Maybe they shouldn’t bother reading any fiction that was released last year. Is this the kind of attitude that the Pulitzer Prize Board wants to promote in a time when the overall industry is struggling for sales?

For a beautiful reply to this obnoxious decision, check out author and bookseller Ann Patchett’s NYT op-ed. Especially her appeal for fiction: “It is a vital means of imagining a life other than our own, which in turn makes us more empathetic beings.”

Gay and Amish on Rainbow Radio

Anthony DiFiore — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 22:19:12 +0000

This month, James Schwartz got interviewed on Rainbow Radio. The audio can be found here. I encourage everyone to check out the interview if you’re interested in learning more about James’s unique life and upbringing. The author is currently working on his second book, following The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America.

In the office

Anthony DiFiore — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 21:31:12 +0000

Thanks Louis Lee Boroff (Chicago, IL) for the new photos. I’ll post more from our photo shoot soon.

SkyMall is Getting a Makeover

Anthony DiFiore — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:00:12 +0000

AZCentral.com recently reported that SkyMall has been acquired by an affiliate of Najafi Cos. If you’ve ever been on an airplane, then you’re familiar with SkyMall. It’s as ubiquitous on planes as the Holy Bible is in hotel rooms. It fills those ultra-bored moments when you’ve forced yourself to read the airline magazine, and it’s either SkyMall or staring mindlessly at the back of the seat in front of you.

I’ve never purchased anything from SkyMall, but clearly people do, because the business is thought to have sales of over $100 million. The ownership change is important because Najafi Cos. already has some stake in the publishing industry through book club and book direct-marketing businesses. Maybe now that there will be a focus on selling books through SkyMall, I’ll finally read that magazine after all.

Is KDP Select good for you?

Anthony DiFiore — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 22:13:22 +0000

When I started inGroup Press, I had every intention of embracing the technological revolution of publishing. I wanted our titles to be available on every type of e-book reader. At the time, the oldest and probably most famous LGBT publisher, Alyson Books, wasn’t publishing e-books. I wanted to do the exact opposite. And I did. InGroup titles became available on the Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Sony e-reader, Nook, etc. But now, something in the industry has changed the way I’m looking at e-books, and could reduce the amount of devices that inGroup titles are available on.

To give you some background, check out this press release about Amazon’s KDP Select lending program. In December, Amazon launched a program called KDP Select, that allows Kindle owners to essentially borrow books for free. Each time a book is borrowed, the author/publisher gets a flat-rate payment. The stipulation is that books in KDP Select must be exclusive to Kindle. If I want to enroll Fangs and Stilettos in KDP Select, then it can’t be available on any other i-bookstore. Only those with a Kindle (or a Kindle app on another device) would be able to download Fangs.

Judging by Amazon’s recent press release, KDP Select is off to a fantastic start, and could provide a huge boost to self-published authors and independent publishers. It seems like the authors benefiting most are those with a published series. Readers may be able to borrow the first two books of a series and then go on to buy the rest. But I recently took a chance on The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America and enrolled it in KDP Select. I pulled the book from every other i-bookstore in order to be in compliance. More copies of James Schwartz’s book were selling on Kindle than any other i-bookstore, so I decided that the consolidation might not hurt.

I also plan on releasing Fangs and Stilettos (May 15th, 2012) as a Kindle exclusive. Time will tell if consolidation works. While three years ago I was convinced that an e-book should be widely available on every device, I’m not so sure anymore. KDP Select may be the answer that authors and small publishers are looking for.

Check out our page on Publishers Marketplace

Anthony DiFiore — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:35:06 +0000

If you’re an aspiring or published author, Publishers Marketplace is an awesome website for networking. You can meet other authors, agents, publishers, and editors, learn about book deals, and find lots of great industry news. Check out inGroup’s profile on Publishers Marketplace here.