TODAY JOE AND I will discuss his exploration and venture into new media and distribution channels.  Joe, by the way, has an informative Author’s Page at Amazon, certainly a useful promotional tactic all authors should explore. Also take a look at the press release about Joe’s excursion into the smartphone platform at the Mobile Media Blog.

BECOMING A WRITER SERIOUSLY [BAWS]:  Over the past year, you’ve been moving toward electronic publishing with Kindle and e-books.  Has your experience been favorable, especially as compared to traditional print publishing?

NASSISE: To be honest, no, not really.  I’ve sold a few hundred digital copies of my works.  I’ve sold hundreds of thousands of my print books.

That said, I do see digital publishing as a key component of a writer’s arsenal.  The interest in digital formats will only continue to rise.  As a writer it is my job to make my content, my stories, available to as many potential readers as possible,  Making them accessible to people who want to read them, be it on a Kindle, a Sony Reader, an iPad or on their cell phone, is in my best interest.

BAWS:  You have just launched your next series of books — HELLstalkers — on the Small Screen Publishing [SSP] books-for-cellphone format.  What led you to that decision?

NASSISE: That one’s easy – the simple fact that just about everybody has a cell phone.  Distribution, remember?  At the Digital Book World conference in New York a few weeks ago, Harlequin Books announced that they sell an average of a million digital books to Japanese cell phone users each month.  Now obviously we don’t see that kind of usage here in the States yet, but I foresee that changing over time.  All you have to do is watch the growth of ebook apps in the iTunes store or the rise in downloads of the Stanza app to know its coming.  I want to be on the front wave of that trend.

BAWS:   You have tied up with Vienna-based SSP publisher Blackbetty MobileMedia.  How did you discover this new publisher, and how did you make connection with it?  Are there similar publishers based in the US?

NASSISE: I saw an article in the German press about Blackbetty in which it noted that they would be launching cell phone novels into the German market with an expansion into the US market shortly thereafter.  Given that I had a bestselling title in Germany that started out over here, I emailed the CEO and introduced myself.  That led to several email exchanges and a meeting the following year between my agent and Blackbetty’s director of development at the London Book Fair in late 2008.

Blackbetty worked with my German publisher to acquire the rights to my Templar Chronicles trilogy, which took about eight months.  In the meantime I kept up my contact with them and we got to wondering what it would be like to write an original novel series directly for the cell phone market.

Thinking we might be on to something, I took a basic idea I had to my friend and fellow writer, Jon Merz.  Jon and I had been looking for something to work on together, as we have similar styles and views about the publishing industry, and this seemed like an ideal project.  We put together a proposal, pitched it to Blackbetty, and managed to hammer out an agreement.

I’m not aware of similar US-based publishers focusing on the cell phone market, though GoSpoken in the UK certainly does.

BAWS:  Your first SSP book was advertised at the Frankfurt Book Fair as the first thriller in English for the cellphone?  Is this still true?  Is there a German-language version as well?

NASSISE: Yes, we do believe it is the first English language thriller series written exclusively for the cell phone market.  There certainly have been books written for the Japanese market in this fashion, but none over here.

And yes, there will be a German language edition, which will be distributed in Europe in partnership with telecommunications giant, Vodafone.

BAWS:  Who will be promoting and distributing this book?

NASSISE: In Europe, it will be distributed as part of Vodafone’s online platform, making it immediately available to their millions of customers.  In fact, Vodafone customers will be able to simple add the cost of the ebook directly to their cell phone bill and not even have to worry about credit cards, etc.

In the US and the UK, it will be distributed through another major cellular partner, but I’m not at liberty to say who just yet.

We’ll also be making it available through various Internet retailers, such as Amazon.com and the Sony Ebook Store.

BAWS:  I understand that it is available for free.  Why are you doing that?

NASSISE: Only the first six episodes, essentially the first six chapters, are free.  We’re doing that to introduce people to the story and the characters, kind of a try-before-you-buy approach.  We think the story is compelling enough that people will want to read the rest once they get into it and this serial-styled release is the way to do that.

BAWS:   I understand that many books are now coming into the iTunes store as iPhone apps.  Will your book be available there?

NASSISE: Yes.  We’ll be doing several different formats, including an iPhone app as well as books formatted for the Android, Kindle, Sony Reader, and any basic cell phone capable of handling a java-app.  [BAWS SECRET HINT:  The book is already available as a downloadable ebook at the official HELLstalkers website.]

BAWS:  Your advice to other writers who may be considering new routes to publication and distribution?

NASSISE: Be as diverse as possible.  You never know when one channel is going to dry up.  Having multiple channels can save your career when things don’t turn out as you expect in others.

BAWS CONCLUDING COMMENT

I first became aware of the books on smartphone phenomenon from a New York Times feature article last fall.  This is an extremely important article for writers to read.  Thoroughly researched, with some data that will give you a lot to think about.  No wonder Joe’s trying out the smartphone platform.

TOMORROW WE’LL TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT THE STANZA E-BOOK READER FOR iPHONE.  If you haven’t seen it in operation yet, I think you’ll be impressed.

QUESTION:  Have you ever read a book on your cellphone?  If so, how was the experience for you.