I’ve been a huge proponent of the Amazon Kindle, but today I attended a class about the Barnes and Noble Nook, which is a slightly different platform. Less a dedicated ereader and more a mini-tablet, the Nook uses the Android operating system. Here’s what B&N rep Mark Hollingsworth had to share about publishing for this device:
PubIt! Is the new Barnes and Noble online, digital self-publishing platform. Independent publishers and authors can upload their ebooks and make them available for sale on bn.com.
Uploading and selling is a 3-step process through pubit.com. Setup an account, upload your ebook and cover art, let More >
Russell C. Conner spoke on ebooks today, revealing some of his personal experience with the format. He’s actually found his self-published ebooks outselling his hard copies by 8-to-1!
The two C’s of electronic media:
- Convenience—it must be easy to download and customizable
- Cost—the price must be lower than its physical counterpart
Compare, for instance, the price of a book at Amazon:
- Retail hardback: $27.99
- Audiobook: $26.39
- Discounted Price: $14.50
- Kindle Price: $9.99
Even if you sell your ebook for $6.99, your royalty per book is $2.45—much more than you’d get through a physical book!
How to set-up a quick-and-easy ebook:
- Use Times New Roman, no bigger than 16pt font
- Use center, bold, More >
As I’ve been looking for an agent with a good fit lately, I’ve enjoyed participating in agent panels. Here are the answers from the open Q&A at the 2011 DFW Writer’s Conference. Panelists include Louise Fury, agent at the L. Perkins Agency, Robert Brown, publisher with Ampichellis Ebooks, Jean Sagendorph, agent and owner of Mansion Street Literary Management, Dawn Frederick, agent and owner at Red Sofa Literary, Dr. Uwe Stender, agent and founder of TriadaUS Literary Agency, Faith Black, editor with The Berkley Publishing Group, and Elana Roth, agent at the Caren Johnson Literary Agency.
Should I self-publish a book or More >
Compiled these statistics about ebooks, reading, the Amazon Kindle and the Apple iPad the other day for a project and thought I’d share:
Ebooks
- Ebook sales grew 177% last year. Source
- 53% of those who buy ebook readers state that they now read more books than they did before. Source
- 51% of e-reader owners increased their purchases of e-books in the past year.
- 9% of consumers increased their purchases of hardcover books in the past year.
- 2.6 Average number of books read by e-reader owners in a month.
- 1.9 Average number of books read by print-book readers in a month.
- 176% Increase in U.S. electronic-book sales in 2009.
- 1.8% Decrease in More >
Recently, I’ve been enjoying author Frank Viola’s blog posts, especially as he’s been engaging more and more with those who follow his writing on the Internet. If you’re not familiar with Frank (the author, not the baseball player), he’s the author of a series of some extremely thought-provoking and faith-stirring books including Pagan Christianity?, From Eternity to Here and others. Today, he posted an interesting article on The New Roman Road. As someone who believes in the power of social media, I can’t help but repost. He says:
Many scholars and historians have speculated that one of the reasons why God chose More >
Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, founders of 37signals, is a compelling read, challenging the “old” way of business. This is a thoroughly enjoyable and quick read, with one nugget of goodness after another that will provoke the way you operate as a writer, and as a business person.
The other day I attended a meeting where the orchestrator stated they wanted a system of checks and balances in place so if something went wrong, it would be clear who caused the mistake.
Having just read Rework, I responded, “Yes, these checks and balances will help us cover our backs. But More >
