"authors" entries
BookTour and IndieBound Make Author Events Hyper-Local
BookTour, which provides author-generated pages and a listing of author tour events, has integrated their database with IndieBound. This is an interesting model, which obviously could expand in its breadth. From the BookTour blog: … the trouble is neighborhood bookstores are all different (that's what makes them great). That made it hard to dump all their data into our…
News Roundup: iPhone Apps Developer Shocked by Windfall, Author Reaps Rewards of Web Openness, Comcast Buys Web Publisher for $125 Million
iPhone Apps Developer "Shell Shocked" by Outsized Payday Seth Weintraub over at 9to5Mac reports on the outsized success of at least one iPhone Apps developer, Eliza Block, who’s now earning an unexpected $2,000 a day from her crossword puzzle app, 2Across. Noteworthy certainly, but also instructive about the platform Apple has created for what can certainly be called "self…
Author Paulo Coelho Illustrates the Upside of Openness
Budding authors may not be able to duplicate the success of Paulo Coelho, but Coelho's willingness to experiment across mediums is certainly worth studying. From Jeff Jarvis' Guardian column: Coelho is the thoroughly modern author. But he still believes in print. For him, this isn't a matter of print v digital. It's a question of what comes when you add…
News Roundup: Digital Text App Uses Facebook, Subject/Author Sites Better than Brands, Saying Goodbye to Audiobook Cassettes
App Mashes Up Digital Text on Facebook Platform Digital Texts 2.0 is an interesting application for Facebook that lets you group and share digital material. It's intriguing to see cutting edge development occurring in this space. From the Digital Texts 2.0 about page: Digital Texts 2.0 was undertaken by Dr. Stéfan Sinclair as an initiative to experiment with applying…
Build Sites Around Authors and Subjects, Not Publisher Brands
Michael Cairns at PersonaNonData expresses a desire to see publishers include a more comprehensive picture of authors and works: Publishers are best placed to build author-centric and subject/theme-oriented websites — not sites oriented around a "brand" that isn't relevant, but those that focus attention on segments of the business that remain relevant to consumers. Envision the Spiritual segment at…
News Roundup: Sony Reader Now Supports EPUB, Esquire Using E Ink on September Cover, What Authors Can Learn from Silicon Valley
Sony Reader Now Supports EPUB and Digital Editions The new firmware for the Sony Reader (model PRS-505) supports EPUB and Adobe Digital Editions. From MobileRead: I can now confirm that this particular speculation seems to have proved out: the new firmware (available sometime today, July 24th) will include support for both epub and Adobe's Digital Editions. It will also…
What Authors Can Learn from Silicon Valley
Sramana Mitra of Forbes.com sees parallels between author Elle Newmark's grassroots audience development and Silicon Valley's software process: In Silicon Valley, we do alpha and beta products — small prototypes of our vision — and recruit a small number of customers to gain early validation of the products' viability. These alpha and beta products, along with early customer validation,…
News Roundup: New Kindles Rumored, Free Ebooks with Embedded Google Ads, Web Publicity and Giveaways Boost Author's Profile
Rumor: Two New Kindles Coming This Fall Citing an inside source, CrunchGear says Amazon will release two new Kindles in time for the holiday season: The first is an updated version with the same sized screen, a smaller form factor, and an improved interface … The second new model, which is shaped like an 8 1/2 x 11-inch piece of…
Budding Authors Use Espresso Book Machine to Publish
The future of print on demand might lie in personal expression. Customers at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, VT are using the Espresso Book Machine to produce their own titles. From Vermont Public Radio: Since it was installed, some of the store's customers have been using the machine to produce hard-to-find books from a huge online database of titles in the…
Web Publicity + Free = A Fighting Chance
Sci-fi author Scott Sigler uses podcasts, giveaways and grassroots Web marketing to build interest in his work. We've covered Sigler in the past, but his recent interview with The Independent illustrates the value lesser-known writers can derive from Web-based brand building and free distribution: Sigler's thinking — and this is the revolutionary bit — is that it's worth making…