With the opening of their exciting new bookstore, OmniLit, who better to interview today than the forward-thinking co-owner of All Romance eBooks, and OmniLit, Lori James!
Lori James obtained her Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Baylor University in 1984 and her Masters in Social Work from San Diego State in 1988 before beginning her career as a psychotherapist. After working for fifteen years in the healthcare industry, first as a clinician, then in Quality and Regulatory Management, Lori left what she used to call her “real life” day job in early 2007 to pursue writing and working in the publishing industry full-time.
Lori was a founding partner and the Chief Operating Officer of Linden Bay Romance, LLC, a small independent publishing house that was sold in late 2008 to Samhain Publishing, Ltd. Today she is the co-owner and Chief Operating Officer of All Romance eBooks, LLC. The eBook distribution company does business as All Romance, selling to the romance market and OmniLit, selling to the entire fiction and non-fiction market.
When not hard at work, Lori enjoys travel, spending time with her friends and family, reading, watching movies, and wine tasting (she collects California cabernets). Or, you might find her sequestered in her office with her laptop or out at a convention or book signing. Writing as Samantha Sommersby, Lori is the author of many novels and novellas, including the critically acclaimed cross-genre paranormal romance series Forbidden.
All Romance ebooks
1) The first question needs to be: Who are All Romance ebooks?
I co-own All Romance eBooks, LLC (ARe) along with my business partner, Barbara Perfetti. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in Palm Harbor, FL. We currently have two brands under which we do business, All Romance (www.allromance.com and www.allromanceebooks.com), which specializes in the sale of romance eBooks and OmniLit (www.omnilit.com) which sells both fiction and non-fiction eBooks.
Barb and I certainly don’t run the company by ourselves. We couldn’t possibly. We have a full-time Marketing and Promotions Manager (Julie Cummings), a full-time IT Manager (John Jacks), and a part-time Media and Public Relations Manager (Cat Johnson). In addition, there are several people with whom we have contract and/or consulting arrangements.
2) Where did the idea for ARe come from and what factors do you think have contributed to the success of All Romance?
Like almost everything that Barb and I do together, it started with one of us calling the other one and uttering those four little words that honestly can make both of our husbands wince: “I’ve got an idea.” In this particular instance, it was the belief that romance readers deserved their own on-line store, one place where they could find books by all of their favorite authors and publishers.
Barb and I are both very driven, we seem to find inspiration everywhere, we have similar values, and we’ve each had lots of experience working in big business. ARe wasn’t our first collaborative endeavor, we also owned Linden Bay Romance, LLC, a small independent press that was sold to Samhain Publishing, Ltd in late 2008.
Although it was our experience as a publisher that initially sparked the conceptualization of ARe, it quickly became apparent that in order to establish something that was truly unique, something we could be really excited about, we needed to focus on meeting the needs of three primary customers—readers, publishers, and authors. This has been very much a collaborative effort.
During the development stage we interviewed a lot of people and we listened. Raven Moore, president and publisher of Liquid Silver books, gave us a piece of advice in the beginning that has served us well. “Make it easy,” she said. That became our mantra. So much about life is already hard. We face enough challenges. Barb and I decided early on that we wanted the customer experience at ARe to be spectacular.
We started with what we knew best, Romance. Today we continue to work closely with readers, publishers, and authors, accepting their feedback and often incorporating their suggestions as enhancements. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve and we’re very invested in doing what we can to help grow the eBook market.
While broadening our customer base is an on-going focus, we’re also very committed to keeping the customers we have and servicing them fabulously. There’s a personal feel to the All Romance site akin to that of an independent brick and mortar store that specializes in romance. We know our site, we know romance, we know the publishers and the authors, and we know that even though we don’t see our customers face to face, that they are real people that are entitled to real service.
3) How many books are currently listed with All Romance?
Right now we have a little over 18,000, and the number’s growing all the time. Publishers are constantly adding new content. We’re also in the process of bringing on several additional publishers, so by the time this is out I expect that number will be quite a bit higher.
4) What else makes up the ARe empire?
First let me say that my parents are going to be very impressed you’re calling it an empire. What I do is largely still a mystery to them.
After opening our doors, All Romance quickly became more than just an on-line bookstore. The best neighborhood bookstores are places where customers can hang out, where authors can promote their works, and where the two can interact. So we have launched quite a few initiatives to support those ideas.
We have a customer newsletter, Wildfire, which contains new releases and a variety of columns. Due to it’s popularity and growth over the past few months, we’re in the process of a substantial expansion of it’s content. For about a month we’ve been quietly interviewing prospective columnists. It’s being announced here first, that soon the Wildfire will be re-launched as a twice-weekly eZine.
Then there’s the “What’s Hot in Romance” radio show hosted by Cat Johnson. The show is aired on Blogtalk Radio every Monday night from 9:30-10:30 EST. Cat does a fabulous job with it and our listenership keeps growing. The archive is posted to our library and the link is embedded in our newsletter, so there’s lots of exposure. Each segment contains interviews with two or three of today’s hottest authors. She always schedules around new releases, so there’s fresh content for listeners. This year we took the show on the road with a sound crew to the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention and BookExpo America and taped interviews. It was a blast!
We also just announced a new charity project – 28 Days of Heart – which will benefit the American Heart Association. This coming February, when everyone’s attention is focused on matters of the heart, we at All Romance will be partnering with authors to fight the number one killer of women, heart disease. Authors interested in reading the details of the submission call can do so here.
Then there’s a host of author services we provide that Julie Cummings coordinates. Most of these are of no cost, although we do have a couple advertising opportunities as well. We offer group ads in print magazines where authors can participate, we host videos, there are chats, interview opportunities, support for eBook signings, and our Free Read program which allows readers who aren’t familiar with eBooks to try them risk free. Authors can go to the Advertising/Affiliate link at the bottom of our webpage for details of all these promo options.
Last, but certainly not least, there is OmniLit – our new sister store. Although we should probably start calling it our mother store since it contains the entire catalogue of romance/erotica from All Romance in addition to other fiction and non-fiction titles. More on OmniLit later in this interview!
5) How have you seen the popularity of ebooks change since you began?
The popularity of eBooks is soaring and they are becoming more and more mainstream. When I first became involved with the industry eBooks were very much a niche market, but in the last twelve months we’ve experienced an excess of 300% growth in sales. A lot of those sales are due to mobile phone users discovering the fact that they are carrying an ebook reader in the palm of their hand.
For years I heard folks say that the eBook market wouldn’t explode until there was a good enough eBook device on the market. Now we have the Sony, Kindle, Cybook Gen 3, and Cool*ER. More compelling, in my opinion, has been the smart phone technology. With the iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry Storm, etc., people have a viable reader in their pocket. They can search the Internet, download, and read instantly.
Almost all of the NY publishing houses now are offering digital content. It’s no longer a fringe market. But it does still provide the reader with options that are edgier. The ePublishing business model allows publishers to take more risks, more chances. That won’t go away. In fact, I think we’re going to see more of it.
6) Do you think sales of ebooks, in general, are affected by economic issues?
Yes, I think the current economic climate has helped increase sales in the eBook industry. Our average price point on an eBook in All Romance is $4.67, which offers readers an inexpensive way to take a break from life during these stressful times. We sell a lot of Happily-Ever-Afters and Happily-Ever-After-For-Nows. We get emails daily from customers thanking us for providing them with a venue to easily find the types of books that bring them joy.
7) What do you think the next big step in improving ebook popularity will be?
Improved content and advertising. When you’re a niche market, people will come to you and they will be tolerant of variance in quality – they don’t have other options.
For publishers, the content challenge will be whether they can keep up with production demand AND maintain quality. In the digital world that means not only strong editing, but making sure that files are formatted correctly, and that your selling venues are cutting edge, attracting the right market, and bringing you the return on investment you need. Keeping abreast of the technological curve is time consuming and expensive. Not all publishers will be able to do it well and not all distributers will be able to do it well.
A publisher’s time is a very valuable commodity. Because of that I think we’ll be seeing publishers questioning and re-evaluating their business model. We’re already seeing some houses that have elected to drop out of the business of selling. Instead of dividing their attention between being a publisher and being a retailer, they are focusing solely on the publication. We’re also hearing from publishers that they are being more selective about which distributers they work with. No one wants to put all of his or her eggs in one basket and no one wants to miss market opportunity. But a scattershot approach to distribution just isn’t cost effective in the long run. We’ve done quite a bit over the past couple years to provide authors with tools to help them connect with the reading public. We’re turning our attention now to focus on some projects that will aid the small and mid-sized presses.
The advertising issue is going to become extremely important. The Internet is vast. You can’t build a website using the Field of Dreams philosophy – “If you build it, they will come”. If you want people to purchase eBooks you need to be actively and smartly going out there and advertising eBooks. And I’m not talking about a particular author promoting their particular title. I’m talking about increased industry advertising to increase public awareness. That’s something we feel strongly about at ARe. Increasing public awareness about eBooks has been a core goal of ours since we opened and we invest heavily in it. One project that resulted from that goal is the www.gogreenreade.com site that ARe sponsors to promote eBook awareness and their relation to the environment.
8) What’s your views on the ever-present debate over whether ebook authors are “real” authors or not.
Personally, I think that people are focusing on the wrong argument and that the divisiveness is both petty and damaging to the industry as a whole. The fact of the matter is digital publishing is here to stay and it’s a business model that is both growing and profitable. This digital v print argument seems to be about as meaningless as waging a war to once and for all determine whether a song downloaded from iTunes is “real” music. I think people are getting distracted by the argument because it’s easier to focus on and put a label on than the real concern – which is that some individuals want to see more quality control and standards set within the publishing industry. If it should be done and who should do it, are questions worth exploring.
Standards would have to come from an organization that has comprehensive and unbiased expertise AND that offers something of value to authors, publishers, and readers. Until that happens on a large scale we’re looking at voluntary compliance with little to no deterrent for non-compliance. Perhaps more importantly, I see a lot of energy going into internal arguing that could be redirected in a positive way to grow and expand the industry.
The New OmniLit bookstore
9) Do you see yourself doing the same with other genres as you have with romance/erotica on All Romance?
We’ve been asked this question repeatedly over the past couple years. Romance was something that Barb and I both loved and knew, so we focused on that genre first and foremost. Although All Romance is a specialty store, it was really created with the idea to decrease fragmentation in the market, to allow readers to shop in one place, to give them, as our tagline says, “All the romance they need from all the publishers they love”.
With the launch of OmniLit, we’re going to be taking that model further and offering hundreds of thousands of books in all genres. The OmniLit site will have the same kind of search and filtering functions, the same convenience, and the same stellar support. We’ll be offering all the choice and have the technological advances that customers of larger stores have become used to, but we’re going to hold on to those little personal touches and service goals that the smaller stores are sometimes better known for. That’s why we’re calling ourselves “The bookstore on the corner of your digital neighborhood”.
From a reader perspective the shopping experience between the two sites will be seamless. They will have one login and one library. If a reader enters our store through the All Romance door, they can shop to their hearts content there just like they do today. If they want to purchase something other than romance, they can click on the OmniLit button and continue to shop and add items to their cart before checking out and downloading. Or, they can enter through the OmniLit door, choose from hundreds of thousands of fiction and non-fiction titles, then click to continue shopping in the All Romance section of the store before checking out and downloading. Simple.
10) What conferences do you attend annually? Where can our readers meet you?
This year we’ve had a crazy conference season – EPICON in March, Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in April, BookExpo America in May, Lori Foster’s Reader Event in June, Comic-Con in July, Dragon*Con in August, and the West Hollywood Bookfair in September.
Historically we found that attending conventions affords us the opportunity to connect with many of our publisher and vendor partners as well as with readers. For the past six to eight months we’ve found there are many businesses and individuals that have had to curtail their travel budgets, so we’ve been reaching out more by email, chat, and phone. People contact me all the time to tell me what they like about the site and to ask for enhancements. We review and respond to each and every request and we evaluate all suggestions. Because this market and technology is an ever-moving target, we believe that we can keep getting better. There’s no such thing as the status quo. Our enhancement queue will never be empty and we will never get to the end of our project list. Improvement will be on going and continuous.
Readers that can’t make a convention but have an idea they’d like to share can email us using the contact form at the bottom of the website.
Thanks to Lori (and her business partner Barbara Perfetti) for this amazing interview. The All romance/OmniLit brand is going places, and is in great hands!
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