PANTHERA PUBLISHING

Paperbacks and Hardbacks

Books have been giving legs to words, ideas, and stories since very ancient times.  It could be said that drawings on cave walls were the earliest attempts to extend words, ideas and stories beyond the moment but they weren't very portable.  In time other surfaces became available like parchments and animal hides for added portability.  Finally, paper, handwriting and printing extended the legs of such words, ideas and stories across vast distances.   Though the tools advanced to our modern digital age the needs and desires to extend our words, ideas and stories remain.  Books are like friends who hang out with us on our shelves. It may have been Plato who said "A reader lives a thousand lives while a non-reader has only one."


Our age, with all of its wondrous tools, has provided access to more people, perhaps all people, to express their words, ideas and stories. This includes you.  The practical limitations of publishing books have diminished.  Publishing is no longer limited to the few of significant financial means.  Writing  a book and getting it published no longer requires large amounts of money to pay up front. Publishing companies like Amazon do not need to print a minimum quantity and store them for sale.  Books are printed on demand when ordered with as few as one in quantity. 


No longer are editors for large publishing companies the final decision-makers for whether a book can be published.  Self-publishing has become mainstream via the technologies of companies like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Ingram Sparks.  You and I decide what we want to write and publish and these companies make it happen for us.  


If you have a business, publishing a book is a tremendous boost to your credibility.  If you are a consultant a book will help increase your invitations to speak.  There continues to be a mystique and a respect around the fact that you are a published author.  


At Panthera Publishing we help authors with the technicals of getting your book ready to publish with Amazon.  As noted in the DIY section of our home page, you can learn to do this yourself.  Most of us here at Panthera are published authors and some of us learned the mechanics of cover creation and manuscript formatting ourselves.  However, our clients have decided that they want to focus on their content and leave the publishing process to us.   

Digital Books

When I traveled as consultant for many years I was thrilled that I could bring nearly my whole library with me.  This the is the great innovation of the digital world of books.  You don't have to choose which books to bring when you travel because you can bring them all.  You can start reading on your tablet and continue on your phone while waiting for your spouse or friend while they shop.  Finally, when you hear about a book that sounds interesting you can order and download immediately.  Remember when we used to have to wait for a book to arrive in the mail? I often will purchase and download the digital version of a book and read that first.  If I like it I will often order the paperback or hardback also for my shelf at home.


For authors this is also a great opportunity.  You can choose to publish your paperback or hardback first and then a digital version or the other way around or only a digital version.  There are no limits. There is tremendous flexibility as well. Perhaps you want to release your book as a series of shorter formats like the serial books of the past.  

Digital books also provide greater royalties since there are no production costs like printing for companies like Amazon. 

Audio Books

Audio books have been around longer than digital books.  Many of us were listening to books on tape in the 1970s.  Of course these evolved into books on CD.  Most recently, CDs have mostly been replaced with streaming much as other forms of entertainment. Amazon formerly sold books on CDs but has also dropped this format with their purchase of Audible.com which has become the standard for audio books and the largest distributor.   

According to WordsRated.com: 

  • The US is the world’s largest market for audiobooks, estimated to be worth up to $1.875 billion in 2021
  • The US is expected to continue growing at a rate of 20% – 25% per year
  • Audiobooks have been one of the fastest-growing segments in publishing in the US over the past 5 years, growing 59.6% from 2017 to 2019
  • Audiobook sales revenue reached $1.3 billion US dollars in 2020
  • 2019 marked the first time that audiobooks surpassed ebooks’ sales figures – having generated 22.17% more revenue than ebooks.

Audio books are slightly more complicated to produce though many authors have succeeded at this. There are two phases,  recording and editing.  ACX the industry standard for audio books has some quality standards that must be maintained for each audio book, in order deliver a quality book to listeners.  Here at Panthera we have experience in producing audio books and would love to help you with yours.  Why not contact us today to discuss your idea or project?

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