DeBunking Archives | The Digital Reader

The Authors Guild Rehashes Bogus Author Income Survey as a “New” Report

21 February, 202021 February, 2020DeBunking, The Authors Guild6 Comments

Earlier this week The Publishers Authors Guild released a report that "explores the factors leading to the decline in the writing profession. Alas, this report is...

27% of Americans Have Not Read a Book in The Past Year (That Year Was 2018)

10 February, 202010 February, 2020DeBunking2 Comments

Earlier today a certain blog known for not crediting their sources reported that a quarter of Americans had not read a book in the past year. ...

The eBook Revolution Never Happened, and Other Comforting Myths

31 December, 201928 January, 2020DeBunking6 Comments

Have you read the ten-year retrospective on the ebook revolution that Vox published a few weeks back? Go read it, and then come back here so...

Are You Ready For The Next eBook Boom?

29 December, 201921 January, 2020DeBunking12 Comments

The legacy book publishing industry is fond of telling itself comforting myths. For example, one myth that just crossed my desk was the idea that younger...

UK Audiobook Revenues to Eclipse eBook Revenues in 2020, and Other Impossibilities

7 December, 20197 December, 2019DeBunking3 Comments

Back in 2014 everyone was excitedly repeating the claim that Amazon made up half of the UK's online retail. This idea lasted until about ten minutes...

The Whole “Library eBooks Kill Retail eBook Sales” Idea Makes No Sense

20 September, 201920 September, 2019DeBunking, Library eBooks22 Comments

I was working on a blog post this morning on Scholastic ebooks being in OverDrive when I got to thinking about the current uproar over library...

When Has Writing a Book Ever Not Been an Elitist Pursuit?

9 May, 20193 July, 2019DeBunking4 Comments

On Tuesday The Guardian engaged in the book world's favorite pastime. No, not ebook-bashing. No, not baseless Amazon fear-mongering. (Let me try this again.) On Tuesday...

The “eBooks Are Dead” Nonsense Has Spread to Australia

25 March, 201925 March, 2019DeBunking7 Comments

If there's one constant in the news industry it's that there's no end to bad coverage on any given topic, including ebooks. Sometimes the bad reporting...

When the Publisher Drops the Ball, Or, YA Author Pulls Debut Novel Following Criticism of Its Depiction of Slavery

2 February, 20192 February, 2019DeBunking39 Comments

Q: When is an outrage not an outrage? A When the publisher screws up, and hands reviewers a book that wasn't ready. The hot story this...

The Authors Guild Claims Author Income is Down

7 January, 20197 January, 2019DeBunking7 Comments

Sorry to keep beating an old drum, but a new survey report on author incomes was released late last week, and it is just as useless...

PSA: Good e-Reader Fact-Check

24 December, 201831 December, 2019DeBunking18 Comments

It has come to my attention that there is still some doubt as to whether a certain blog has a reputation for being less than reliable...

Report Shows Retired UK Authors Are Earning Less Than the Minimum Wage

29 November, 20187 January, 2019DeBunking2 Comments

When I wrote about a recent survey of Canadian author income last week, I pointed out that this type of report is almost always flawed in...

Survey of Canadian Author Incomes Shows Retired Authors Aren’t Earning Much

23 November, 20187 January, 2019DeBunking4 Comments

One of the favorite pastimes of the publishing community is sharing author income survey reports, and wringing hands over the results. The reports are usually bullshit for...