Last weekend I travelled up to Auckland to take part in a workshop on eBooks.
My bit was to tell
attendees what I discovered when I decided to make Craic an eBook.
In a nutshell - Know
what you are getting into, (Publishing- Dean Wesley Smith has a great post on that.)
Remember that you want to do the best
work that you can, so pay attention to detail...because you are going to be
putting your name on this product and you don’t want your name to stand for a
crappy reading experience.
The workshop was a
great success. The organisers made sure there was information available for
everyone at all stages of the e publishing spectrum. I’m sure by the end of the
day attendee’s were wishing that they had brought spare heads to help them process
what was coming at them.
You may need to grab
your spare head for help with understanding this week’s dramatic change in the
world of epublishing. Microsoft are partnering with Barnes and Noble.
Barnes
and Noble are a book store chain with their own ereader, Nook, who are in
competition with Amazon. Microsoft is...well who hasn’t heard of Microsoft?
What does it mean for
us... Digital Book World were the first out of the box with their predictions followed by CNET with a tech overview.
While we are on the
subject of ereaders, epublishing and the rise of the independent writer...
Passive Guy takes issues with some of Mike Shatzkin’s comments on how no big writers have gone indie yet and why. This is a good read, giving you an
overview on the current issues facing writers as they weigh up options. Especially
interesting are the comments from some big authors....
One of the biggest challenges in the
decision to go Independent...is how to be noticed by your readers. Marketing is
so important and so hard to do, if you are an introverted writer sitting in a
closet somewhere. So here are a few links that may help you to open the closet
door.
John Kremer has a handy post on turning the whole marketing thing around...and just write for
your fans and Tamara Webber has a good post about finding out that your fan’s aren’t necessarily who you think they are....
Mid Grade writer
Shelli Johannes has taken a hard look at what worked and what didn’t in her Indie experiment...The numbers are interesting and so is what not to do....
Amazon has announced
their next big move in their publishing portfolio...kids stuff....especially
kids series on screen...Check out what they are looking for.
While you are
contemplating screen moves, Joel Friedlander has listed ten handy Apps for the
writer that turn your iPhone into a writing tool!
For those writers who
love a challenge... Storyaday is the thing to do for May.
To finish
Those that have been
following me for a while know that I am interested in author collectives and how they support each other and market their work.
Check out this
delicious idea...love it! (Hey
FaBo Team are you watching?)
1 comment:
Great roundup! And thanks for including Victoria's guest post. We loved it, too.
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