From Medium: A few uppercase words, centred or ranged at the top-left corner of a page, set in the regular weight of any grotesque font. More often than not, it’s black type on white, or the reverse, but colours may appear. Be it an international design exhibition, a show for the Venice Biennale, a new … Read more
From Writer Beware: I’ve written about this new “beware” twice already (you can see those posts here and here), but it appears to be a growing problem, so I want to put out a more focused warning. Scammers–the same Philippines-based Author Solutions copycats that I’ve featured numerous times in this blog (also see the long, long list in the sidebar)–are … Read more
From Writers in the Storm: In my last two posts here on WITS I talked in general terms about building your author platform, both online and offline. Today I’m going to dig a little deeper into building a long-term relationship with your readers. . . . . One key piece of information we ask potential readers to give … Read more
From Electric Lit: Every genre has its preoccupation, and the central preoccupation of crime fiction is justice. But in this moment of political upheaval, where our notions of justice are subject to intense scrutiny, we must ask what role has crime fiction played in getting us here. In a traditional mystery, the plot begins with … Read more
In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the … Read more
PG Note: The OP was published on March 17. From The Vulture: Last Tuesday, Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene hosted a talk with the author Kate Elizabeth Russell. Few signs of anything amiss could be discerned. The event was so well attended that dozens of audience members had to stand in the aisles, and no one … Read more
From Publishers Weekly: As far as I’m concerned, 2020 is the dawn of a new era in independent bookselling thanks to Bookshop and Edelweiss360 from Above the Treeline. I believe that with their healthy adoption, the most common observation from consumers will not be “bookstores are dying because of Amazon” but “I can’t imagine shopping … Read more
From Anne R. Allen’s Blog: I read a quote recently from an indie author who said he felt sorry for new writers who fall for scammy vanity publishers — because they obviously have no writer friends to clue them in. It is true that networking with other authors is the best way to stay safe … Read more
From Kristine Kathryn Rusch: Nobody cares. Such a sad phrase, particularly when uttered by someone without friends or family. I recently read a marvelous short story that ended with that very concept, although not the phrase itself. I’m not going to talk about that use of the phrase. Anything I say would be facile, because … Read more
From BookRiot: Everyone—you, your grandma, your best frenemy—should buy used books. In fact, I will go so far as to say that everyone should buy used books as often as they can, reserving purchases of new paper books for special occasions, gifting, and those rare, delicious occasions when you get a gift certificate for your … Read more
From The Smashwords Blog: Welcome to my annual publishing predictions, and hello 2020! . . . . Each year at this time I polish off my imaginary crystal ball, read the proverbial tea leaves, and generally attempt to divine a future that is anything but divinable. The value in speculating about the future is that … Read more
From Nature: When ‘Jane’ turned to alternative medicine, she had already exhausted radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other standard treatments for breast cancer. Her alternative-medicine practitioner shared an article about a therapy involving vitamin infusions. To her and her practitioner, it seemed to be authentic grounds for hope. But when Jane showed the article to her son-in-law … Read more
From Publishing Perspectives: Those of us on the annual international tournée de livres can tell you that, as advertised, FutureBook Live really is the largest of today’s conferences in terms of turnout. Not trade shows, mind you, this is a conference, a one-day outing which includes not only plenary sessions but four strands of focus. . … Read more
From IPKat: Accommodation of new business models and technological advances has fundamentally disrupted the open source industry. Unlike on-prem solutions, which are installed in a user environment, cloud-based software remains hosted on the vendor’s servers and is accessed by users through a web browser. Because cloud-based offerings do not involve software distribution, the copyleft effect … Read more
From Hugh Stephens Blog: My wife and I had just been visiting our daughter in her new home when we turned on the car radio. It was an interview on CBC with Andy Parker, whose daughter Alison had been murdered, live on TV, by a deranged former employee, back in 2015. The killer recorded and later … Read more
For those who haven’t read The Declaration of Independence or haven’t read it lately, here it is. IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with … Read more
From The Wall Street Journal: Resentment of elites is the theme of the hour. In “The Levelling,” Michael O’Sullivan mentions a historical analogy to make all the more vivid our current moment. In England in the late 1640s, he notes, a faction called the Levellers complained about the grandees in Oliver Cromwell’s army, which had … Read more
From Anne R. Allen’s Blog: I hear about new publishing scams all the time. Sometimes scammers approach me personally, but more often I hear a sad tale of woe from some newbie who has fallen for the latest con. This week I realized that almost all the victims of publishing scams have one thing in … Read more
From Forbes: Software is eating the world and video is taking over the internet. According to Cisco, video will account for 80% of all internet traffic in 2019. Any savvy marketer or business executive should be incorporating video into their business strategy. Companies in a wide range of industries are using premium video as a means of winning a market, … Read more
From The Outline: As reference books go, the thesaurus, these days, is one step up in respectability from the rhyming dictionary. To use one is to betray something embarrassing about yourself. To be accused of using one is to be accused both of pretentiousness and of using words whose meaning you don’t really know. (For … Read more
From The Washington Post: Australia is considering hefty fines and even jail time for executives at social media companies who fail to remove violent content quickly. The proposal is one of the most sweeping crackdowns on tech companies’ content moderation efforts that policymakers in a democratic government have ever considered. The new legislation, to be … Read more
From Fast Company: As we kick-start the new year, it seems that every conversation we have about the future of business centers around automation, artificial intelligence, chatbots, and the like. All of these innovations streamline our ability to connect with our coworkers, our customers, and our broader communities. However, they move us even further away … Read more
Not necessarily about authors and books, but an illustration of a problem that has been around as long as PG has been a lawyer. From Law360: Tarikul Khan turned around and whispered, “I’m scared now.” Waiting in a wood-paneled Brooklyn courtroom for the first hearing in his lawsuit, Khan was watching U.S. Magistrate Judge Lois … Read more
From Kristine Kathryn Rusch: The biggest issue for the latter half of 2018 was book sales. Indies and traditional publishers both complained that book sales were down, and that a crisis was imminent. Their ideas of crisis were different, but they come from a similar source, which is the current state of disruption in the … Read more
From Crime Reads: On the morning of October 12, 2017, a packed crowd in the Grand Centre Ballroom of the Sheraton Centre Toronto hotel stared politely at the grisly slide. It was the view from the dashboard of a taxi towards the front seat, soaked in blood, and the back seat, which had fared little … Read more
From The Digital Reader: There are two frequently repeated misconceptions about the ebook market that continue to be repeated no matter how often they are debunked. The first is that AAP publisher ebook revenue is the sum of global ebook sales, and the second is that ISBN registrations equals the number of titles published by … Read more
PG just received a tip that a change in Terms of Service at KBoards has upset a great many long-time participants. PG did some quick checking at this link and elsewhere and discovered a lot of people who want to delete their Kboards accounts and all their posts, but are unable to do so. Evidently, … Read more
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of … Read more
From No Shelf Required: The issue of Digital Rights Management (DRM) has been around for as long as ebooks have been around—and not only ebooks, but digital content in general, including online journals, movies, TV shows, games, and software. DRM is usually discussed in the context of copyright and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of … Read more
Re: Character Development From Fast Company: People fall into one of four distinct tendencies: obliger, questioner, rebel, and upholder. Each impacts how you become motivated to accomplish things. . . . . If you’ve ever wondered why some people get more things done, it may not have anything to do with their supply of willpower. … Read more
From National Public Radio: The romance genre is a juggernaut that continues unabated. It’s a billion-dollar industry that outperforms all other book genres, and it’s remarkably innovative, with a strong tradition of independent and self-publishing. It’s also an industry that’s been grappling with a diversity problem. The RITA Award, the top honor for romance writers awarded … Read more
From Social Media Examiner: If you were a car salesman, who would your ideal customer be? People of all ages buy cars, but if there’s one specific audience that’s guaranteed to want a car, it would be teenagers who just got their driver’s license. A successful car salesman will do some research before targeting these … Read more
From Petapixel: A well-known insect photographer has filed a $2.7 million copyright infringement lawsuit against a pest-control company. He accuses the businesses of using his photos without permission on its website. Alex Wild is the curator of entomology at the University of Texas-Austin, and his photos have been featured everywhere from the Smithsonian to National Geographic. … Read more
From author Alyson McLayne via Romance University: With January just ended, I realize I haven’t set any goals for the year. And truthfully, as busy as I am, I can’t help but wonder What’s the point? I already have goals for this year in the form of deadlines: 3 books to complete, 12 newsletters to craft, 25+ … Read more
UPDATE: Data Guy just posted the following: FWIW, of the 1,417,793 ebooks that have sold 1 or more US copies in the last 6 months: 653,188 had ISBNs 764,605 didn’t And that’s ebooks from ALL types of publishers, not just indies. From Publishers Weekly: A new report issued by Bowker found that a total of … Read more
Copyright law is a many-splendored field. The following has nothing to do with books, but discusses an obscure and interesting (at least for PG) corner of copyright law. From Plagiarism Today: Churches host Super Bowl viewing parties as a family friendly and dynamic evangelistic opportunity to reach out to their community, but what about copyright … Read more
From David Gaughran at Let’s Get Digital: On Monday, I found out that some bug hit a German e-book site causing the reactivation of long-dead listings, including one of mine, putting myself and some other authors in breach of KDP Select’s exclusivity rule. Amazon pounced into action and cancelled my Countdown deal which was scheduled … Read more
From The Creative Independent: Do you have a structured daily writing routine? I have an unstructured daily writing routine. On a writing day, I do a lot of things that might seem kind of psychotic taken together. I basically wake up around noon. I have a nocturnal writing schedule, and I spend all day just trying … Read more
From the Amazon Press Room: Amazon today announced that small businesses and entrepreneurs on Amazon sold more than 2 billion items in a record-breaking first half of 2017. With more than 300 million active customers, Amazon offers small businesses the opportunity to reach shoppers in more than 180 countries around the world. Small businesses are also able to use Amazon’s … Read more
From TCK Publishing: One of the factors that decides whether your book will be successful or a flop on Amazon Kindle is the formatting. While reading a book, have you ever seen the text all run together, paragraphs with weird characters, or chunks of text that just seems to go on forever? How did you … Read more
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which … Read more
From Publishers Weekly: In fall 1917, a group of 15 women booksellers—excluded from membership in the ABA and the Booksellers’ League—met at Sherwood’s Book Store in Manhattan to form the Women’s National Book Association. Membership was open to women in all areas of the book world: publishers, editors, booksellers, authors, librarians, illustrators, and production people. … Read more
From The Alliance of Independent Authors: As a young child, I learned to read and write in what seemed like the blink of an eye. The world of books unfolded, bringing knowledge and adventure. Not all of my relatives have been so lucky. Parallel threads run through my family: each of the last three generations … Read more