Showing category "self-publishing" (Show all posts)

Self-Published "Pleased But Not Satisfied" Topseller for Bookworm

Posted by John R. on Monday, December 27, 2010, In : self-publishing 
David Sokol, an Omaha native, has self-published a business management book (his first book) through online bookstore Bookworm. It has been it's bestseller over the last two years with 8000 copies sold to people from all over the world.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that Sokol is a top manager in a Berkshire Hathaway major subsidiary company AND that  Sokol is rumored to become Berkshire Hathaway’s next chairman and CEO, succeeding Warren Buffett, 80.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is essentia...

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How About Letting Readers' Input Write Your Book?

Posted by John R. on Saturday, December 18, 2010, In : self-publishing 
An idea for lazy writers (although not new, damn it!): get your readers' feedback on an interesting subject and then formulate that input into a finished book and sell it on the internet!

Cool idea...and that's just what Andrew Sullivan, writer of the 10-year-old Daily Dish blog on the Atlantic web site, has done successfully for the second time...Hell, I have to admit it, I admire pure genius.

He first published a book on the Blurb.com "Make Your Own Book" site back in June, made up of photos ...

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Amazon's CreateSpace is on the Move!

Posted by John R. on Tuesday, November 23, 2010, In : self-publishing 
Amazon's self-publishing arm, CreateSpace, has listened to suggested improvements by many of its users and finally introduced a number of customer-friendly upgrades to improve the self-publishing experience.

More details provided by this press release from MarketWatch.com:

CreateSpace, part of the Amazon.com, Inc. group of companies, today announced an improved self-publishing experience that will help content creators set up, distribute and manage their titles more easily. These enhancements a...

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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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FastPencil Offers Big-Name Authors Speed, Simplicity and Higher Royalties

Posted by John R. on Sunday, September 5, 2010, In : self-publishing 
FastPencil is moving FAST (appropriate name) to nab established authors with their FastPencil Premiere package...A package solidified with agreements with Amazon, iPad and Barnes & Noble website outlets; plus they are working deals to sell the books in brick and mortar stores.

Anthony Ha reports these details from MediaBeat (of VentureBeat):

Campbell, Calif.-based
FastPencil tries to democratize the book worldwith Web-based book creation and publishing tools. Now it’s trying to go up-market w...
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How Self-publishing Affects a Writer's Career

Posted by John R. on Sunday, July 25, 2010, In : self-publishing 
There are pros and cons to self-publishing...However, in todays evolving publishing atmosphere, self-publishing is becoming more acceptable and now has more pros than cons!

Here is an insight given by
Ruth Belena in an article she wrote for Helium:

Self-publishing is now more than ever an option for a new writer to get into print or to create an e-book. It is worth considering the effects of self-publishing on a writer's career and the many benefits to be gained from self-publishing, when it is...

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Self-publishing is Coming-of-Age!

Posted by John R. on Thursday, July 8, 2010, In : self-publishing 
Gone are the days when self-publishing (SP) was on the "B" list...It has arrived and is getting invites from "A" list groups.

And what was the popularizer or legitimizer? Who gussied up SP?

Technology!

With a large helping hand from bad management and greed in the old traditional publishing model!

This from the
New Hampshire Public Radio  (Word of Mouth) by Virginia Prescott

Self Publishing Débutante

There’s a new way to make it in the cut-throat world of book publishing. We recently spoke t...

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Smashwords Forms E-book Partnership with Wattpad

Posted by John R. on Friday, July 2, 2010, In : self-publishing 
Smashwords has partnered with Wattpad to grow and supplement both their services and sites...BUT, will this be a good partnership? Many say Wattpad has very low standards and the quality of the participants' writing is actually pretty terrible...

Here's hoping Smashwords will increase Wattpad's quality and not vice-versa!   

This report by Calvin Reid of Publishers Weekly:

Wattpad, an online writing community, social network and mobile phone e-book developer, is partnering with e-book publisher ...

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Delving into Self-publishing

Posted by John R. on Wednesday, June 30, 2010, In : self-publishing 

Today's post is introducing a blog and website that gives insight from authors who have actually self-published...There are nuggets to be mined from this resource for those who are thinking about self-publishing or want to learn more about self-publishing and marketing books online.

This press release from prlog.org:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Jun 29, 2010 – Dearborn, MI – June 29, 2010 – Today, jexbo.com, the site that helps self-published authors sell books on...


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Self-publish Books? Why Not Magazines?

Posted by John R. on Thursday, June 24, 2010, In : self-publishing 

Nice little tid-bit of interesting publishing-simplified news. This from Christopher Nulla technology writer for Yahoo! News:

Not everyone has it in them to write the
great American novel. Some of you may have more skimmable ambitions — to create your own magazine.

I love magazines, but I know firsthand how difficult they can be for amateurs to create. The printing and distribution process is the real killer: Commercial printers cost a small fortune to use, and getting magazines into the ...


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Very Short Story (#vss) Twitter Fiction

Posted by John R. on Tuesday, May 18, 2010, In : self-publishing 
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Ididn't realize until very recently that twitterers were tweeting very short stories of 140 characters or less by the hashtag #vss...

Now there is an anthology of some of these tweet short stories in book form titled  
#VSS Anthology Volume 1 !  

I find this absolutely interesting!...If you practice this very short story endeavor it should help you learn to concisely synopsize which should in turn help you to write better query letters...Right?

Anyway, Polish blogger,
Piotr Kowalczyk...
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Book Publishing is Simply Becoming Self-Publishing

Posted by John R. on Saturday, May 1, 2010, In : self-publishing 

"Self-publish? Are you nuts!" says I. "Yeah, nuts like a fox! Or is it a squirrel? Squirrels like nuts,right? Not foxes. Oh hell, I want a re-write!" says my author-aspiring friend.

Let's try this again. "Self-publish? Are you crazy!" says I. "Yeah, CRAZY LIKE A FOX!" says my author-aspiring friend.

Much, much better...and TRUE...as the following NY Times article by 
Virginia Herrernan  (pictured at left) proves:  

I love out-there theories and the people who are seized by them. I’m a sitting d...


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DIY Authors Conference & Marketplace

Posted by John R. on Saturday, May 1, 2010, In : self-publishing 
I'm glad someone has finally come up with a conference for self-publishing! It was inevitable with its rising popularity in the rapidly changing publishing industry....

I received the following announcement and invitation today and want to pass it along to my readers who may not be aware. Please pass this on to those that may be interested...I'm sure a lot of HOT information will be presented. I definitely would attend if I weren't SO out of bread right now:

Dear Writer friends,

We'd like to inv...

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Self-Publishers Online Conference (SPOC) Will Highlight Two Key Trends: The Rise in Self-Publishing and Virtual Events

Posted by John R. on Wednesday, April 28, 2010, In : self-publishing 
Want to get the latest on self-publishing? The second annual Self-Publishers Online Conference coming 12 - 14 May, 2010 is an excellent place to get expert advice and attend virtual seminars, exhibit halls, conference rooms and briefings by industry insiders...AND from the comfort of your own home...AND for free!...What a deal...

Press release from Send2Press edited by Debra Tone

Recession or no, more books are being published now than at any time in history. Yet attendance at publishing ind...

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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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