Tip of the Month: holiday scam warning!
During early December, be selective about deciding who receives free review copies of your book, because there may be self-proclaimed "book reviewers" who are actually just trolling for free holiday gifts. It might be an urban legend, but one story says that a publisher received a request for "review" copies of several titles... concluding "And could you gift-wrap them please?"
Quickie: Tweeting for Fun and Profit?
Writers who use Twitter.com to promote their books saw it coming: yep, a company called "Ad.ly" is now paying twitterers (twits?) with big followings to post ads in their tweets. Meanwhile, anecdotal reports suggest a huge attrition rate among Twitter users, prompting us to ask "Are Twitters Quitters?" -- or is this trend just another symptom of today's ADD epidemic?
Lead Story: e-Books going wild?
Recent developments in e-publishing suggest that the growth of e-Books seen in 2008 - 2009 continues to gain momentum. Consider these reports:
Amazon has started selling the Kindle in Europe. There are reportedly now more than 3 million Kindles in use, and growing.
The iPhone and iPod Touch jointly boast more than 50 MILLION users. In October 2009, the Apple "Apps Store" reported more downloads of book-related items than game-related items for the first time. Rival smartphones like the G3-Android and the Palm Pre will add millions more users, hungry for content to download, in 2010.
Smashwords.com has announced new deals that will let its users sell their books at Fictionwise.com (a Barnes & Noble property) and Amazon, although they lack copy protection as of today.
Lulu.com now allows users to upload EPUB files (as well as Word files, PDF files and other formats) then sell COPY-PROTECTED e-Books in Adobe Digital Editions format from their site. For now, Adobe Digital Editions with copy protection won’t run on the iPhone, but…
A senior executive at Adobe reports that copy-protected Adobe Digital Editions may soon run on the iPhone: "We have a number of partners who are looking to simply port… to the iPhone:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/readermobile
…Since we don't control development schedules of our … licensees, I don't have any exact dates for you. But, I expect that in 2010 there will be many iPhone apps which support PDF, EPUB and Adobe DRM."
Scrollmotion announced that it has partnered with Aptara Corporation to provide "one-stop shopping" for publishers who want to sell copy-protected e-Books for the iPhone. Stay tuned for updates as to whether this new service is suitable for authors as well as publishers.
U-Publish.com co-author Danny O. Snow has published two FREE e-Booklets (about 2000 words each) about current trends in e-publishing for the Society for New Communications Research in recent months:
Publishing at a Tipping Point
and
Mythconceptions: A Reality Check on e-Books from the Publisher's POV
If you are planning to enter the escalating e-Book market, these brief reports can help you navigate the complicated technical and business landscape of e-publishing as it stands in 2009, and where to focus your time and resources for 2010 and beyond.
POD for Dummies finally published
The long-awaited Dummies book about on-demand printing from BISG.org and Wiley & Sons is finally out:
http://www.bisg.org/publications/product.php?p=20&c=437
It's geared more for publishers than writers, but includes a treasure trove of info that savvy writers should know about how the "Big Boys" use POD to slash costs and boost revenues.
U-Publish.com co-author Danny O. Snow (a contributor to several sections of the new Dummies book) is offering free copies to the first three of this newsletter's subscribers who post meaningful commentary here by December 31.
Please help spread the word!
Please recommend this newsletter to your fellow authors and publishers. This is a free resource that is available to anyone in the book world upon request. We don't accept paid advertising, endorse or guarantee products or services, nor accept fees for mentioning them without full disclosure. See http://www.u-publish.com/enroll.htm to subscribe.
Reminder: call for entries, 2010 Eric Hoffer Award:
$1500 grand prize, $45 entry fee. "Each year, independent publishers release extraordinary books to little or no recognition. The Eric Hoffer Book Award recognizes excellence in publishing." Categories: Art, Poetry, General Fiction, Commercial Fiction, Children, Young Adult, Culture, Memoir, Business, Reference, Home, Health, Self-Help/Spiritual, Legacy (fiction or nonfiction).
Entry deadline January 21st, 2010. Details:
http://www.hofferaward.com
The Write Stuff:
"They're" is strictly a contraction of "they are." The word "their" connotes plural ownership, as in "Poynter and Snow will soon update their book." But "there" indicates location, such as "put the book there." All three words sound alike, but are spelled differently, and mean different things. Check your manuscript carefully for usage of all three words before putting it in print!
By popular demand, this newsletter features a basic tip like this on word usage in each issue. Please don't be offended if they seem elementary to you; we have seen far too many books in print (some of them otherwise promising) with glaring errors in spelling or grammar.
Writers -- even professional ones -- are often so close to their own work that they overlook problems that might seem obvious to an outsider. It's always a good idea to get a qualified proofreader or editor to review any manuscript before it's published!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Savvy Self-Publisher, July-August 2009
Happy Independence Day - the right to publish our own books
is among the greatest freedoms we enjoy. Benjamin Franklin was
a self-publisher; so was Thomas Paine... why not you?
Tip of the Month:
Ever wonder why many books have TWO title pages?
It's a tradition retained from the days when books were reserved
for the wealthy (the poor couldn't read anyway) who had private
libraries. Books were custom-bound for each owner's library,
usually in leather, with a family crest.
The first title page, called the 'half-title' (or 'bastard
title') page, was to protect the rest of the pages for the book
binder. It was removed when the binding was completed. The
second title page, or 'full-title' page, remained bound inside
the finished book.
Today, the half-title page isn't really needed, but is often
retained... an interesting artifact of days gone by.
Lead Story:
New iPhone and Competitors Gain Momentum... BUT...
The new iPhone 3GS was released in June with a TON of buzz.
Competing smartphones like the Palm Pre and the Google Android
are also growing rapidly in popularity.
Smartphones are VERY important to authors and publishers, since
they may very well become the primary way that readers read books
in the not-too-distant future.
A few years ago, they could be overlooked, simply because relatively
few Americans used handheld devices for reading. But there were 17
million iPhones in use before the release of the 3GS... projections
for 2010 range as high as 35 million.
In Japan, where smartphones are nearly universal, five of the
top ten bestsellers of 2007 were cell phone novels:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/asia/20japan.html
This is good news for foresighted authors and publishers in the
US, most of whom are already moving rapidly to add electronic
versions of their books.
But the news isn't all good. AT&T still has a stranglehold on
the iPhone; Sprint has the Pre... this means that users are not
just buying a phone, but an ongoing service on which the phone's
functions depend. This is bad news for consumers, and those who
want to reach them:
http://www.freepress.net/FreeMyPhone
In conclusion, if you write or publish books, NOW is the time
to get moving toward electronic distribution. Smartphones will
almost certainly be a big part of the future market for books.
Don't get left behind by offering your book only in printed
form.
There are still many questions about which devices for reading
e-Books will ultimate prevail in the marketplace, the file
formats they use, who will sell them to the public, and more.
Please stay tuned to this newsletter for updates!
U-Publish.com Freebie:
Smashwords Re-Releases Snow's e-Book
Smashwords has re-released Danny O. Snow's 2002 collection of
articles on electronic publishing, titled 'Steal this e-Book!"
It is available as a FR@E download, in a wide variety of formats
for the Kindle, iPhone, Sony e-Reader and others:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/2313
For those unfamiliar with Smashwords, it is a new e-publishing
and bookselling site that provides fre@ online file conversion
from Word or RTF to every major e-Book format. It also provides
e-commerce, and online community networking services... also
at no charge to the author. Royalties are a whopping 85% of
net profits.
It does NOT however provide DRM (to deter piracy) of any kind.
Nor is it suitable for books with complicated layouts, complex
graphs, charts, etc.
But if you have written a book that is primarily simple text,
and want a way to make it widely available as a DRM-fr*e e-Book
without spending a dime, Smashwords is definitely worth a try.
The Write Stuff:
A "quote" is an cost estimate from a vendor or service provider.
A "quotation" is a reproduction of a person's statement.
The phrase "Here is a quote from Shakespeare..." is incorrect.
It should read "Here is a quotation..." instead.
By popular demand, this newsletter will feature a similar tip
in each issue henceforth.
DOJ Opens Formal Investigation of Google Settlement
You've heard the rumors before, but now it's official. The
U.S. Department of Justice has launched an anti-trust inquiry
of the much-publicized settlement in October 2008 that would
allow the release of MILLIONS of books online by Google:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10278473-93.html
Danny O. Snow's personal POV: Of course, no one wants a monopoly
in the book world, online or offline. Whether Amazon and the
Kindle (or Sony and the e-Reader) can effectively compete is
hard to predict. At the same time, I see no company but Google
with both the resources and willingness to take this historic
step forward in the history of the written word. The current
squabbling makes me imagine that a cure for cancer has finally
been found... but is delayed while pharmaceutical companies
and the FDA jockey for position. I'm sure that some parties
have valid reasons to question the settlement -- and they
deserve answers. But how long do we stall the dawn of a new
age for books? If not Google, who? If not now, when?
is among the greatest freedoms we enjoy. Benjamin Franklin was
a self-publisher; so was Thomas Paine... why not you?
Tip of the Month:
Ever wonder why many books have TWO title pages?
It's a tradition retained from the days when books were reserved
for the wealthy (the poor couldn't read anyway) who had private
libraries. Books were custom-bound for each owner's library,
usually in leather, with a family crest.
The first title page, called the 'half-title' (or 'bastard
title') page, was to protect the rest of the pages for the book
binder. It was removed when the binding was completed. The
second title page, or 'full-title' page, remained bound inside
the finished book.
Today, the half-title page isn't really needed, but is often
retained... an interesting artifact of days gone by.
Lead Story:
New iPhone and Competitors Gain Momentum... BUT...
The new iPhone 3GS was released in June with a TON of buzz.
Competing smartphones like the Palm Pre and the Google Android
are also growing rapidly in popularity.
Smartphones are VERY important to authors and publishers, since
they may very well become the primary way that readers read books
in the not-too-distant future.
A few years ago, they could be overlooked, simply because relatively
few Americans used handheld devices for reading. But there were 17
million iPhones in use before the release of the 3GS... projections
for 2010 range as high as 35 million.
In Japan, where smartphones are nearly universal, five of the
top ten bestsellers of 2007 were cell phone novels:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/asia/20japan.html
This is good news for foresighted authors and publishers in the
US, most of whom are already moving rapidly to add electronic
versions of their books.
But the news isn't all good. AT&T still has a stranglehold on
the iPhone; Sprint has the Pre... this means that users are not
just buying a phone, but an ongoing service on which the phone's
functions depend. This is bad news for consumers, and those who
want to reach them:
http://www.freepress.net/FreeMyPhone
In conclusion, if you write or publish books, NOW is the time
to get moving toward electronic distribution. Smartphones will
almost certainly be a big part of the future market for books.
Don't get left behind by offering your book only in printed
form.
There are still many questions about which devices for reading
e-Books will ultimate prevail in the marketplace, the file
formats they use, who will sell them to the public, and more.
Please stay tuned to this newsletter for updates!
U-Publish.com Freebie:
Smashwords Re-Releases Snow's e-Book
Smashwords has re-released Danny O. Snow's 2002 collection of
articles on electronic publishing, titled 'Steal this e-Book!"
It is available as a FR@E download, in a wide variety of formats
for the Kindle, iPhone, Sony e-Reader and others:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/2313
For those unfamiliar with Smashwords, it is a new e-publishing
and bookselling site that provides fre@ online file conversion
from Word or RTF to every major e-Book format. It also provides
e-commerce, and online community networking services... also
at no charge to the author. Royalties are a whopping 85% of
net profits.
It does NOT however provide DRM (to deter piracy) of any kind.
Nor is it suitable for books with complicated layouts, complex
graphs, charts, etc.
But if you have written a book that is primarily simple text,
and want a way to make it widely available as a DRM-fr*e e-Book
without spending a dime, Smashwords is definitely worth a try.
The Write Stuff:
A "quote" is an cost estimate from a vendor or service provider.
A "quotation" is a reproduction of a person's statement.
The phrase "Here is a quote from Shakespeare..." is incorrect.
It should read "Here is a quotation..." instead.
By popular demand, this newsletter will feature a similar tip
in each issue henceforth.
DOJ Opens Formal Investigation of Google Settlement
You've heard the rumors before, but now it's official. The
U.S. Department of Justice has launched an anti-trust inquiry
of the much-publicized settlement in October 2008 that would
allow the release of MILLIONS of books online by Google:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10278473-93.html
Danny O. Snow's personal POV: Of course, no one wants a monopoly
in the book world, online or offline. Whether Amazon and the
Kindle (or Sony and the e-Reader) can effectively compete is
hard to predict. At the same time, I see no company but Google
with both the resources and willingness to take this historic
step forward in the history of the written word. The current
squabbling makes me imagine that a cure for cancer has finally
been found... but is delayed while pharmaceutical companies
and the FDA jockey for position. I'm sure that some parties
have valid reasons to question the settlement -- and they
deserve answers. But how long do we stall the dawn of a new
age for books? If not Google, who? If not now, when?
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