It’s not released to the public yet, but longform epublisher The Atavist is putting the final touches on a free version of its conversion tool, which will enable authors to publish to a variety of platforms at once without being tied to any one company’s overly restrictive fine print. (Yes, that’s a jab at iBooks [...]
self publishing
Amazon launches “Kindle Indie Books” section on Kindle Store
Yesterday, author Brendan Gannon noticed that Amazon rolled out a new section called “Kindle Indie Books” on the Kindle Store. It’s not another publishing imprint (I guess they couldn’t use the term “indie” otherwise), but rather a human- and machine-curated selection of popular indie and self-published titles. To get on the list, you have to [...]
Amazon makes it easier for anyone to submit to the Kindle Singles program
The Kindle Singles program—which is not about individually wrapped cheese slices, but rather short ebooks consisting of novellas, short stories, essays and articles—has been running since the beginning of 2011, but Amazon hasn’t publicized the submissions process very much. The company just offered an email address and asked that only “serious writers, thinkers, scientists, business [...]
How Sidney Williams escaped midlist oblivion
In this interview, author Sidney Williams discusses retro computers, how to budget for ebooks, lost gems on Project Gutenberg, and why he’s chosen to publish his novels through Crossroad Press.
What you need to know about the ‘Spam on the Kindle’ story
The hot story the past few days is that spam ebooks are taking over the marketplace. Here are a few points you should consider while reading such articles and blog posts.
Red Lemonade launches, offers another take on the “social slush pile”
Richard Nash’s new reading and writing community is another entry in the growing “social slush pile” website category. Is it a valid way to find new quality writing?
Publetariat asking for dollar donations to stay afloat
If you write with the intention of publishing, and if you’re online much at all, you’ve probably come across Publetariat, a popular online community serving authors and publishers. Today the editor posted a public request for donations to keep the site afloat as she struggles with private medical and financial issues. She writes: “This morning [...]
Three misperceptions about the ebook business
You can pretty much always find outspoken, passionate diatribes about ebooks online. I’ve written several myself, but in my defense I had to, or else the Ebook Bloggers Board would have flogged me and taken away my WordPress dashboard. Even setting aside my own involvement, I’ve always enjoyed this sort of spirited discussion–it’s like politics, [...]
After 20 years of traditional publishing, Donna Fasano goes indie
Update! – Sunday, July 11thDonna Fasano is holding an Amazon gift card giveaway to readers who purchase The Merry-Go-Round this month from Amazon or Smashwords. Check out her Goodreads author blog for details. Donna Fasano’s first novel was published by Harlequin Silhouette in 1990, and it was chosen by the Romance Writers of America as [...]
Writers, readers, publishers, and the desire to know everything at once
I like infoporn. I love to pore over traffic charts for websites, or look at survey numbers from opinion polls, or sit back and marvel at a really good graph, which is infoporn’s centerfold. One area where the data-crunching promise of personal computing has delivered is in capturing, assembling, and displaying this kind of labor-intensive [...]
My experiment with Blue Leaf book scanning service
How well does Blue Leaf Book Scanning service work? I’m about to find out with an out-of-print hardcover I just sent them.
Robin Sloan Publishes First Novel Directly To Readers For $1
Robin Sloan is a blogger and author who relied on readers, instead of a vanity press or traditional publisher, to help him publish his first novel.
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