Books, Blogs, and Beyond

Great resources for public domain book cover images

Hi all,

I know I've let this blog go dormant for a while, but I hope you'll forgive my hiatus while I've been off at BlogPaws DOING many of the social media things we write about here.

Anyway, I couldn't pass up sharing this link to today's Galley Cat post, providing links to some great public domain image resources for book cover designers.

I hope you'll click through and spend some time browsing, as I did. There's a lot of good stuff available for free!

Who needs a Nook, or Kindle, or Sony e-book reader?

By Tom Collins

I just bought my first e-book specifically designed to be read in an e-book reader. Why? Because I didn't have to buy a stand-alone gizmo to read it! (I've bought other e-books and, for reasons that will be obvious momentarily, I like the O'Reilly model of selling a bundle of e-book formats that doesn't chain me to one gizmo or format.)

Yvonne was sitting in bed last night reading Trust Agents (food for another post) and tossed me a small flyer that Barnes & Noble sent along with the book, with the headline: "Free Barnes & Noble eReader." Having seen the price advertised for B&N's new "nook" entry in the gizmo wars, I was surprised and read on.

A few minutes later, I had downloaded the free PC version (you can get one for Mac, iPhone, or Blackberry, too). It came with several free "classic" books, but what strikes me as the "killer app" part of this app is the ability to use it on a full-featured, full powered, web-connected device: my laptop, in this case. Here's why.

Is Social Media the Best Hope for "Publishers" to Survive?

By Tom Collins

Our friend Toby Bloomberg has written a thoughtful and thought-provoking post on how social media and publishers are interacting to sell books. She includes results from a survey that asked the question, "Where did you hear about the book you're reading?"

The #1 answer is (not surprisingly) "Friends." But if you add up all the online sources that can be classified as social media (blogs, websites/review sites, Amazon recommendations/reviews, Twitter, blog promotions/tours) the total is nearly double that of "Friends." And if you consider some bloggers as friends, or if some of the respondents thought "Friends" meant Facebook, the results may be even more dramatic! ;-D

The combination of friends and social media blew away bookstores and libraries and left traditional advertising a not-worth-mentioning afterthought lumped into the "Other" category.

So is social media going to help save publishers? Or is it part of the Publishing 3.0 (r)evolution that will empower authors and readers to connect directly and make traditional publishing irrelevant? I've already left my comment on Toby's post and urge you to go dig into her insights ... and add yours.

What Is a Good Size For a Self-Published Book?

By George Kittredge

Over at Self-Help-Book-Reviews.com, a reader sent in this inquiry.

"Right now my story is 400 pages at size 12 arial. The page is 8 1/2 x 11 with 1 inch border. This is too big though. What is a good size for a self-published book?"

This is an interesting question with no clear, specific answer. Like most questions in the book publishing business, the answers usually begin with "It depends." However, there are several issues that a soon-to-be-author may want to consider when determining how big his or her book should be. Here are some ideas to think about.

Things to Consider When Creating a Book Title

By George Kittredge

This morning I came across an informative new blog called Writing Simplified. What caught my eye was their March 20th post on "The Importance of Titles." This is a subject I have been giving some thought to lately and, for the most part, I tend to agree with the post's author that "titles are the single most important determiners of whether your writing will be read."

The author's advice is to give the title of your work great consideration before you publish. And that makes a lot of sense.

The title is definitely the most important determiner if you've written a white paper or a document designed to be a download. However, if your writing is a book that will be published and possibly sold in bookstores and at conferences, the title is only half of the puzzle. The second half is the book cover itself - the artwork, overall design, color combinations, size of print, etc. It's the combination that will determine whether your book will be (1) picked up and (2) opened.

However, with this in mind, here are some thoughts to consider with creating a title for your book.

Searching for the Right Book Publisher? Here's a Handy Author's Checklist.

By George Kittredge

Once you have made the decision to write a book and have finished your manuscript, the most important decision you as the author can make is selecting the book publisher you want to work with. Possibly not an easy task - especially when you consider all of the different types of publishing services that are available to you.

Wouldn't it be nice if you had some sort of an author's checklist that you could use to identify and evaluate the various types of services each publisher you talk with could offer you. Such a checklist might help you compare one publisher from another as well as provide an outline for questions you need to ask.

If you are in need of a handy author's checklist, the following might be just what you are looking for.

Should You Self-Publish Your New Book or Use a POD Publisher? - Part 3

By George Kittredge

In my previous two posts on this subject, I mentioned that many people are confused by the terms self-publishing and POD publishing, often using both to mean the same thing. Even publishing companies are guilty of the same fault, especially those that call themselves a POD self-publisher. In order to eliminate some confusion, I suggested that authors should think of their publishing options three ways:

1. self-publish their book under their own name and contract with a print-on-demand (POD) printer to print the book,
2. contract with an Internet POD publisher who will publish and print the book, or
3. contract with a POD publisher that offers individual, customized services and will also publish and print the book. 

There are pluses and minuses with each option, and the option an author selects will largely depend upon his or her publishing objectives and knowledge of publishing in general. Another major consideration is what it will cost (fees the author will pay) to produce and sell the book? Each option presents its own set of variables.

Hopefully, the following will give you some insights into the publishing costs you might expect or should anticipate.

Should You Self-Publish Your New Book or Use a POD Publisher? - Part 2

By George Kittredge

In my Part 1 post last week, we talked about the option of self-publishing a book. For authors who have the editing, the cover design, and layout resources; and have access to obtaining an ISBN, copyright, and other publishing requirements; and the time and desire to oversee the entire publishing project; self-publishing may be a good way to go.

However, many authors do not have access to resources or possess the necessary expertise to perform these book publishing tasks. In such situations, the alternative publishing choice may be to contract with a print-on-demand (POD) publisher.

So just what is a POD publisher, and what might be the benefits of choosing this publishing option?

Should You Self-Publish Your New Book or Use a POD Publisher? - Part 1

By George Kittredge

At last, an exciting day is arriving. You have just finished writing your new book, and you now can focus on how and where you want to publish it. You've ruled out the big, traditional publishing houses - primarily because they won't even consider you. So now you have some decisions to make.

Should you self-publish? Should you go with a print-on-demand (POD) publisher? Should you use a POD printer? You recently read about one publisher that called itself a POD, self-publisher. What is that, and what are the differences and advantages of one over the other? Are you confused? If so, it's easy to see why. Depending on what you read, terms such as self-publishing and POD publishing are often used interchangeably. But there are indeed some important differences you should know about. Perhaps the following will help clear up some of the confusion.

New POD Book Publishing Model Allows Authors to Select the Publishing Services They Need

By George Kittredge

They say that some of the best new products a company develops comes from ideas submitted by their clients or from those who would like to be their clients. That may be the best way to describe a new print-on-demand (POD) book publishing option now available to aspiring new authors.

This new publishing option is for writers who wish to self-publish their books with a POD publisher, but do not need all of the services the publisher traditionally offers - sort of a personalized book publishing arrangement that can be tailored to their specific needs, and can be offered at costs significantly lower than a full-service book publishing program.

The following offers a great example.