Browsing Archive: October, 2010

Omeka Publishing Unveils A Scholarly Site

Posted by John R. on Sunday, October 31, 2010, In : digital publishing 
Omekais geared towards the online exhibition of library, museum and archive collections. Their new scholarly site, http://www.omeka.net/ , will be a boon to researchers and advanced degree candidates...as well as other academic aficionados.

This new Omeka site will also encourage collaboration and communication; a good thing in research. 

Wonder if something like this would encourage more adult collaboration in D.C.for the good of the country?#@*! 

Just thought I'd ask.

Susan J. Campbell of TMCne...
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Want to Know What a 'Round Book' Is?

Posted by John R. on Friday, October 29, 2010, In : digital publishing 
A German author has introduced a concept for new e-books that will further differentiate them from traditional books...And, he hopes, will make them a better reading experience for readers.

The German author who is on a mission to make e-books more interactive, and with the possibility of no beginning and no end, is Juergen Neffe and his program is called Libroid.

More details by
Barry Neild for CNN :

Never-ending book heralds new chapter in e-publishing

It's an age-old problem for avid book read...

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Adobe Triumphs Over Apple's Resistance to 'Flash'

Posted by John R. on Wednesday, October 27, 2010, In : Magazine Publishing 

Conde Nast's magazine empire will be using the Adobe publishing tool to publish and sell mags on Apple's iOS...AND with the fantastic "flash" capability intact through the use of ingenious Adobe apps.

For those who aren't aware, Apple resisted the use of the fantastic "flash" technology on their new iOS/iPad outlet by not including an Apple in-house designed app to allow the great clarity and sharp graphics technology that is "flash" and sets Adobe apart from the rest in this area...including ...


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Adobe Unveils New Hosted Digital Publishing Suite

Posted by John R. on Tuesday, October 26, 2010, In : digital publishing 

Adobe, still the premier online graphic designer resource, is providing a publishing platform that will allow magazines and newspapers to publish to all the new mobile devices.

The new Adobe platform was introduced today at the start of it's Adobe Max Conference.

I learned of this cool news reading an article by
Ron Miller for Fierce Content Management:

Adobe(NASDAQ: ADBE) made several key announcements today at the launch of its Adobe Max conference including a new hosted digital publishing...


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We Now Choose Where, When and How We Read Books

Posted by John R. on Saturday, October 23, 2010, In : digital publishing 
We could always choose where and when, just not how. Technology has enabled us to receive digital, video and audio formats in almost any location and over large and small devices...Neat, no?

The introduction of eReaders, iPads, SmartPhones and iPods, etc. has actually increased the number of readers (and people interested in reading) through an intense modern obsession with gadgetry (but, our ancestors were probably taken with gadgetry, too)...If ever there was an instance where the end justif...

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How to Keep a Writer's Brain Active OR How to Avoid Senility!

Posted by John R. on Friday, October 22, 2010, In : writing 
Some days I think I'm losing my mind...or, at least, the damn thing works in slow motion (come to think of it, it did that in my younger days, too...especially after a night out gaining all that lusty-life experience). But, as I have entered the Autumn of my life, those days seem to be occurring more frequently!

So, how do we writers keep our minds in better condition, especially as we age gracefully (or not so gracefully) ?

Delia Lloyd, writing for Huffington Post, gives us 5 excellent tips:

...
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Is the Ipad Saving Newspapers?

Posted by John R. on Wednesday, October 20, 2010, In : newspaper publishing 
When the iPad was first launched, it was heralded as a strong savior for the fledgling newspaper publishing industry...Along with the magazine industry AND a rescuer of cheap 'e-retailer'- priced ebooks! 

How has the iPad been doing in the past six months since it's launch?

Amy-Mae Elliot, a staff writer for Mashable.com, gives us a good analysis:

Is the iPad Really the Savior of the Newspaper Industry? 

Even before the
iPadwas revealed, analysts, pundits and the publishing industry were already...
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Apple's Big Announcement!

Posted by John R. on Sunday, October 17, 2010, In : writing digital gadgets 
Apple is set to make a well-publicized, "surprise" announcement next Wednesday...Wonder what it will be? Usually, when Apple makes a grandiose production of a Steve Job's upcoming press show, expectations are that something truly innovative will be introduced. 

Well, I'm not the only one who is wondering.
Nick Bilton is also pondering this in his post for Technology Bits in the NY Times:

When Apple makes an announcement about a coming press event it can sometimes feel like the National Hurric...


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Digital Magazines: Paid Content vs Advertising Dollars

Posted by John R. on Friday, October 15, 2010, In : Magazine Publishing 
Something is happening in the digital magazine world that many so-called publishing gurus said would never happen!...Mainly, that online revenues could and would come from consumers willing to pay for online content...AND that this paid content would exceed advertising dollars! 

In fact, this is happening now with the
Financial Times as explained below in a cutting edge interview by FOLIO magazine's Managing Editor, Matt Kinsman, with Financial Times' CEO, John Ridding:  

Game Changers 

Back i...


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Format for Shorter E-Books Coming to Amazon/Kindle

Posted by John R. on Thursday, October 14, 2010, In : digital publishing 
Amazon is still proving it's ahead of the power curve in innovation of new publishing models and dynamics.

By introducing a shorter and cheaper model for works 10K to 30K words in length (about 30 to 90 pages of print) Amazon is climbing way out of the old established print molds for publishing; and, I might add, opening up the public to unique stories, theses and papers that were previously unavailable to the public on a large published scale...not to mention a new source of revenue for writ...

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A Particular View of Book Publishing

Posted by John R. on Monday, October 11, 2010, In : publishing 
People who have experience in the publishing world probably have varied and unique outlooks as to just what that world consists of and is (much like life itself).

Adam Langer wrote his book The Thieves of Manhattan from his own particular view and admits much of it is fiction...But, a fiction based on factual experience, if you will.

This reported in the
Northwest Indiana Times by Jane Ammeson:

If you in anyway believe that book publishing is an old-school style business, full of refined types...


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Crazy E-book Prices? Maybe Not...

Posted by John R. on Friday, October 8, 2010, In : publishing 
Another chapter RE the so-called "agency model" (where publishers and not booksellers set the book prices) and what physical book and eBook prices should be.

Please refer to the 10/5/10 post "
E-Books are Selling for More than Hardcovers!" on the Writers Welcome Blog for an interesting background.

Apparently, the sole argument put forth as to why eBooks should be cheaper than their physical counterparts is the fact that you don't have the more expensive production costs (printing, paper, binding...

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Five Publishing Companies' Financial Wellness

Posted by John R. on Wednesday, October 6, 2010, In : publishing 
Every now and then I post on some financial data in the publishing industry. Some still invest in this great but changing industry you know.

In fact, industries in a state of flux sometimes offer the best opportunities for making money investing.

Chip Brian, founder of SmarTrend, reports on high debt to income ratios for five publishing companies:

Below are the five companies in the Publishing industry with the highest Debt-to-Capital ratio. The debt-to-capital ratio is an important measure of h...

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Barnes & Noble Trumps Amazon with 'Pubit' Self-Publishing Platform

Posted by John R. on Tuesday, October 5, 2010, In : self-publishing 
You can now self-publish in the B&N eBookstore and BN.com!

The reason I say Pubit trumps Amazon is because it comes with a free conversion tool that automatically formats Microsoft Word, TXT, HTML or RTF files into the ePub file format for publication.

This is BIG. Any self-publishing author can attest to the difficulty and frustration with formatting these files for Smashwords, Amazon, iPad, etc. This is a great step forward and hopefully will be followed by the others to make digital publis...

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Insight: Making Books Less Expensive for Buyers and More Profitable for Authors

Posted by John R. on Saturday, October 2, 2010, In : publishing 
Another big house publisher has been dumped by a bestselling author...And, why not? Traditional publishing is like thick molasses pouring from a bottle when new tech has ushered in fast-pouring media.

Traditional publishing can take up to two years or more to get a book to market from contract signing! Hell, by that time the book info is probably obsolete!

Douglas Rushkoff, a bestselling author, gives a good insight into why writers are leaving the big publishing houses in this article by Pando...
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What is a 'Published, Sold Author'?

Posted by John R. on Friday, October 1, 2010, In : publishing 

Good question...And one I would have answered exactly the same as author J. S. Wayne, even before I knew of him, in an article he wrote for Wordpreneur:

One or One Hundred Million?

So you’ve finally published your first book. Whether it was self-published or you went the more traditional route, you’ve got that first, shiny-covered book in your hand. Now you can give a wave to the people who supported you. You can also do the same to the people who said, "So, when’s that book coming o...


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About Me


John R. Austin Writer, Old-Warrior-Adventurer, Blogger... I was born in Key West, Florida. A rather famous hangout for some past famous writers: Hemingway and Tennessee Williams to name two. I just hope that I possess a glimmer of their talent. I have a bachelors degree in architecture/construction and a master's degree in industrial engineering. I have been writing for fifty plus years. Most of my writing has been in the technical, instructional and business areas. I am working on my first book: "Havana Harvest---When Cuba Was Naughty" which details my coming of age experiences in 1958 Havana, Cuba, at the age of 15. Please visit my other blog "Writers Welcome Blog" at http://alturl.com/4z88.

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