The e-book piracy debate is never-ending. At least as long as there are e-books to pirate. http://t.co/VIWhkOjYL7
Tagged: ebooks RSS
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Capt. Xerox
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Capt. Xerox
Ray Bradbury classics finally coming as eBooks. Good thing his fans had already scanned them for him years ago. http://t.co/HZCPB0xKgg
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Capt. Xerox
The advent of ebooks brings another chapter to the history of serialized science fiction. http://t.co/XXBLrTKt9C
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Capt. Xerox
If you’re mom tossed your Starlog magazines into the trash, rejoice that the Internet archive has preserved them. http://t.co/Af2LDb8bSB
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Capt. Xerox
Want to support indie writers? Here is GalleyCat’s list of self-published #scifi bestsellers for March. http://t.co/rwDOc4XEsA
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Capt. Xerox
WSJ has an excellent profile of the author who scored a hit with the self-published Wool books. http://t.co/oN1Fdd0Ld8
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Jeffrey Allan Boman
I’ll be writing/publishing my first eBook starting this month.
I’ll be happy if I have even a fraction of this guy’s success, but this is hopeful.
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Capt. Xerox
Good luck with your book. If you need any advice on self-publishing, I recommend the Guy Kawasaki book – Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur which I reviewed here: http://www.theendoftheuniverse.ca/2013/02/19/my-review-of-ape-author-publisher-entrepreneur-by-guy-kawasaki-and-shawn-welch/. Lots of useful info contained in it.
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Capt. Xerox
The great thing about technology is it is now possible for anyone to publish their own book. You could also say the bad thing about technology is that it is now possible for anyone to publish their own book.Because it is now so easy to create, publish and sell your own book, there has been a veritable explosion of self-published titles. The runaway success of books like Fifty Shades of Grey has only helped to fuel the Gold Rush.
Undoubtedly, a lot of the books that people are flogging online are mediocre and will probably never find an audience. More disappointing is that there are some great books that are being drowned in that sea of mediocrity and will also never find a substantial audience.
APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur is a book that will help you rise above that mediocre sea so that your book has a fighting chance.
Co-authored by Guy Kawasaki, former Apple evangelist turned author and web entrepreneur, and Shawn Welch, a developer and author of programming books, the book is a step-by-step manual for anyone interested in self-publishing. As the title suggests, it teaches you about the three hats you need to wear as a self-published writer.
The author part of the book explains the nitty-gritty of what it takes to write and prepare your text for publication. If you’re one of those writers who spends more time reading books about writing than actually writing them then you’re probably familiar with some of this, but what is different is that the information is updated for the internet era.
The publisher part of the book outlines the steps needed to sell a book online, whether it be an electronic or a physical book. Like the author portion preceding it, this book goes into great detail about the many services available online today to help you in this process. In many ways it goes into too much detail so you may find yourself only skimming large portions. That’s okay, because the authors suggest you don’t get too caught up on the details when first reading the book, but to instead familiarize yourself with its contents so you can go back to it as a reference when you are actually ready to publish.
The entrepreneur portion of the book explains how to use the internet and social media to help spur sales. I’d imagine that the advice is good if you actually have a product worth selling. I don’t think any amount of social media is going to get people to buy something that is a boring read. Word spreads pretty quickly if something is poor quality.
As I read APE, I couldn’t help but think that large portions of the information contained within had a short shelf life. There were detailed descriptions of services offered by Amazon and others which is great stuff, but would it still be pertinent two years from now? Maybe, but web years go fast so who knows what disruptive services might come along by then?
They do have a website which is part promotional and part practical as it contains resources mentioned in the book so it’s possible that the authors will update its contents over time as the self-publishing landscape changes.
If you’re at all interested in skipping the traditional publishing process and want to sell your own book directly to your readers, then APE is a great place to start, but, be forewarned, you have to be ready to work three jobs: author, publisher and entrepreneur.
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Capt. Xerox
Looking for something different to read? Why not try a self-published #scifi novel? Here is a list of bestsellers. http://t.co/SGuiYBYi
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Capt. Xerox
This book excerpt published by Slate argues that e-reading is not reading. Does that mean digital photos aren’t photos? http://t.co/65l3w1Lw
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Capt. Xerox
I remember buying the first issue of OMNI Magazine. I followed iit for years. Now I can read them online for free! http://t.co/58LCNga5
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Lazarus
That IS cool. I remember that there were even TV commercials preceding the launch of the magazine and while it sounded interesting I wasn’t dazzled or anything and did not even consider getting it. But a few months later a friend and I were perusing the magazine racks while waiting for the Metro and some some pretty cool stuff in one of the issues and each of us bought one. For a number of years after that I bought them one the stands as soon as I saw a new one. Loved the science as much as the science fiction among many other things. There were many months in which I read pretty much the entire issue from end to end. I regretted getting rid of my pile years ago. Now I can have it back (if I ever find the time that is). Thanks
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Capt. Xerox
Interesting to see that people give more for SFWA’s Humble eBook Bundle than they do for the indie game bundles. http://t.co/sA9fXLj5
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Capt. Xerox
We are cursed with an oversupply of free ebooks! Here are 130 Places for free #scifi. http://t.co/U34MZeNn
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Capt. Xerox
Six-Gun Gorilla. The title says it all. Read the 15-part saga of a gorilla seeking revenge for his master’s death. http://t.co/3mgYGXbb
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Capt. Xerox
I like this new e-book export feature that has been added to Wikipedia. I don’t know what to do with it, but I like it http://t.co/eJFwdifP
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Capt. Xerox
Are you a fan of old-time, pulp #scifi? I just discovered this treasure trove of free stories from Munsey’s. Enjoy! http://t.co/I0aGcRBp
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Capt. Xerox
Pay what you want for a bunch of #scifi ebooks in The Big Bang Bundle. Love to hear from anyone who’s read any of them. http://t.co/k51qMufP
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Capt. Xerox
To paraphrase Paul Krugman, you can always find the ebook you’re looking for but you need a bookstore to find what you weren’t looking for.
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Capt. Xerox
Are indie #scifi ebooks the new pulp fiction? They certainly can churn them out. Here are some recommendations. http://t.co/FkKG9Ky7
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Capt. Xerox
Everyone likes free. Here are some free #scifi ebooks that will be given out over the next 10 weeks. http://t.co/KjHtWnhO
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Capt. Xerox
Not sure how significant this is, but Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games books are among the most highlighted on the Kindle http://t.co/MfWe5E6E
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Capt. Xerox
I like Singularity & Co.’s goal of reviving out-of-print #scifi #books so they can be rediscovered on ereaders. http://t.co/KZ3KkfVn
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Capt. Xerox
Some observers are theorizing that part of the reason for the success of e-book readers is that people are using them to read "downmarket" genre fiction. You know smutty stories and trash like science fiction. The thinking is that people can read this stuff in public and not worry about anyone noticing the tell-tale book cover as they sit on the bus.
One of the bloggers for Wired's GeekDad notes that one of the things lost with ebooks is the cover art with which we judge a book's merit before we buy it. With that in mind, he offers up 102 essential science ficton books for reading on your Kindle, but he has the foresight to include all of their covers for you to browse before making your picks.
If you're still not tired of people guiding your reading choices with their lists of "essential" books, here's another one that suggests 50 sci-fi authors you must read. Not much new to long-time readers on the list, but it may be useful to newcomers.
I've always used award wins and nominations to guide me towards fiction worth reading. John Scalzi is asking his readers to come up with titles worthy of nomination for the 2011 Nebulas. Certain names come up again and again so I know that I probably should check some of those out.
Much more intimidating is Locus' recommended science fiction reading list for 2011. I think it would take me most of 2012 to read even half of it.
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Capt. Xerox
The secret behind the success of e-book readers? People are buying trashy genre fiction and smut to read on them. http://t.co/fJjlTvK1
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Capt. Xerox
A best-selling author encourages people to pirate books. But what if you aren’t already a popular or known author? http://t.co/6h7KrdLz
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Capt. Xerox
Jonathan Franzen’s claim that: e-books are damaging society doesn’t seem to have much support. What do you think? http://t.co/v1dMgm6c
Capt. Xerox, and 
avdezign (Cosmic) 5:51 am on April 16, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I seen a serial going on on twitter and another on G+ but I have not tried to read or follow.