"Impeached" in Paperback

On Tuesday, May 15, Simon & Schuster will officially release the paperback edition of Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy.  Although Amazon has been selling the paperback version for several days, with any luck the new release will be available in stores soonest.

 
 
Thumbnail image for Impeached.jpgAt this point in the life of the publishing industry, the pattern of product rollout is getting tricky (hardcover, paperback, e-book, twitter . . . ), but it’s still a hoot to see the book come out in a new format that will appeal to some new readers. 

 E-books seem finally to be catching on, sort of, though the statistics are hard to come by. One measure shows e-book sales gaining a good deal over the last two years:

Q1 2010: $90 million

Q1 2009: $25 million

Q1 2008:  <$10 million

My uniformed guess is that the iPhone and iPad account for a lot of the improvement, and they are still a small share of the market, but the times they finally seem to be a-changin’.

For authors, of course, all statistics are hard to come by; publishers’ royalty statements come twice a year, and cover the period 6 to 12 months before the date of the statement.  

I digress.  For now, it’s a treat to see the paperback break out!

 

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