09.03.08
Shelfari joins the Amazon family.
When we talk about books, whether large publishers or independents, Amazon is synonymous with books. And now that brand is being enhanced by a new relationship with Shelfari.
If you haven’t been to Shelfari, they are one of the top “bookshelf” sites on the web. Like other bookshelf websites, on Shelfari you can report what you are reading, post a status about how far along you are in the book, post reviews, join discussion groups, learn about the authors and use many more great interactive tools. Shelfari also has the Author Unbound feature which allows authors to have their own webpage.
In a recent email from Shelfari they said that, “…now Shelfari and Amazon will work hand in hand to create innovative new ways to enjoy the books you love.” As of right now, I haven’t found a clear explanation of what the integration will look like but I am sure that the user experience will benefit from this exciting combination.
So, keep your eyes open on Amazon for integration with Shelfari and vice versa. If you haven’t created a bookshelf, then get one started now. If you are an author, make sure that you have signed up for an author page so people can learn more about you and your book!
Who knows, maybe some day we’ll see Shelmazon or Amafari. 
08.07.08
eBooks continue to grow.
I know we just talked about this, but eBooks continue to grow. There are many venues for eBooks and the rush to get included is starting to take over. As I surf around the web, whenever you see talk about books in general, there is now chatter about eBooks.
With two very strong contenders in portable eBooks readers, more and more people are finding time to read this way. Is your book useful to students or adult learners? With the built in interactive features, eBook readers can help students remember the best parts of the books and allows them to search for words or phrases through their entire collection.
eBook readers are portable, readable and fun. With new technologies in play, the screens are easy on the eyes. Many people have commented that it is possible to disappear into an eBook reader much like you do with a paper book. Once familiar with the page mechanisms, the readers are fun and easy to use.
Also, keep in mind, you can use an eBook in many places and situations. While you can use it at home – at the table or in bed – you can also use an eBook reader at the doctor, waiting for someone, at a restaurant, or any other place you would carry a regular book. But, instead of just having one book, you might 10 or more available at all times. You can carry around your personal library!
So, if you are still wondering about the whole eBook thing – give it a chance. It opens up your book to a whole new world. Putting your book on an eBook reader might be the equivalent of space travel for books!
07.24.08
eBooks and You.
One of the buzz words I keep hearing is “repurposing content”. One of the best ways to do this with books is in eBook and eAudio. eBook is simply that, an electronic copy of your book. Many times it is as simple as submitting a PDF to the vendor in order to have them publish the content electronically.
While the profit margin for eBook is still small, they cost nothing to produce and are another way for people to find your titles. By participating in eBook repurposing, titles are more searchable and more user friendly.
Where do you read an eBook? That’s the great thing. You can read an eBook everywhere. From your computer at your desk, your laptop, your book device – like Sony Reader or Kindle, and even from your cell phone. The portability and flexibility of the technology means that your eBook will travel with people much like a paper book would.
And, here’s another bonus. While I haven’t seen any hard and fast statistics, the general concensus among publishers is that eBooks INCREASE paper copy sales! Not decrease, but increase. When a person falls in love with a book in digital format, they seem to be more likely to purchase the paper copy down the road. Also, if this is the first thing they have read by you and they like it, readers are likely to search for more titles from an author they met in eBook. How exciting would it be to have someone read your eBook and next time they go to a bookstore, they pick up something else by you?! That would be pretty cool!
So, spend some time getting to know this new technology. If your book is in PDF then your book can be an eBook! Increase your exposure, your portability, and your reach into new technologies by participating in eBook.
06.26.08
Have you heard about Twellow? Twitter?
Twellow you say? What is that?
It is the new online directory for Twitter.
The micro blogging site that you have recently seen in the news. Short messages are sent via computer or cell phone that share what the user is up to at the moment. Sometimes these are big thoughts, sometimes they are what’s for dinner.
One small problem with Twitter is that the person you are looking for may not have used their name as their identity to “tweet” from. For instance, I am MidpointBooks on Twitter but my personal name is Janel. If you were to look for me by first name, you wouldn’t find me. If you wanted to find a distributor for independent books; simply search for book distribution on Twellow and walla – you’ll find us in the search results.
How does this help you? As an author or publisher, by belonging to Twitter, you are able to distribute updates about your book as often as you want – like sending people to your YouTube trailer or your website – and keep them up-to-date about reprints, news, and interviews. And now, through Twellow, people can find you and follow you on Twitter easier than ever before. So whether you want to use your name, your book title, or your publishing name, you can “tweet” about your book to everyone you meet!
06.23.08
LinkedIn – Your Free Promotional Tool
Are you trying to get visibility for your book? Does free sound like a good price tag?
With the variety of Social Networking sites out there, LinkIn is sometimes seen as nothing more than a business contacts site. However, don’t overlook this a great tool for promoting your book.
One of the advantages of LinkedIn is that it functions primarily on name recognition. This means that anyone that knows you, worked with you, or you went to school with will have the opportunity to find you on LinkedIn. When you do an interview about your book or write something, if people search for your name it is very possible for them to find your LinkedIn profile.
Joining LinkedIn is as simple as filling out a free profile. Once you get started, you can fill people in on what you have been up to, where you have worked, the schools you attended, associations you belong to and links to other websites. This helps people not only connect to you personally but also helps them to find out more information about your book. Also, by linking to your book website from another source (like LinkedIn) you increase your visibility on search engines like Google.
So take a few minutes and set up your initial profile on LinkedIn. Next thing you know, people will be contacting you to find out, “Where can I get your book?”!
To learn more about LinkedIn, please look at the following articles:
http://www.sitepronews.com/2008/05/22/why-bother-with-linkedin-or-facebook/
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/01/ten_ways_to_use.html
05.15.08
Video Sharing and Books
As we all know from watching the news, video sharing is a great way to attract attention to anything. Sometimes to good things, sometimes to funny things, sometimes to stupid things, and even some news things. Video sharing can also be used to promote books.
There are several options for this kind of marketing. You may simply want to read an excerpt from a book on video, or maybe make a slide show with the details of the book and some great quotes. Other options include hiring a company to build a book trailer which can include still images, full action sequences, and music.
Really, video sharing is about creativity and fun while promoting your book. So start brainstorming, grab a video camera, and promote your book!
04.24.08
Getting up to speed on eAudio
Getting up to speed on eAudio is a big process. However, one very beneficial place to visit for information is the Audio Publishers Association at www.audiopub.org. By visiting here you can find out a lot of information about eaudio. For instance, they have a nice little glossary of terms that I want to include to get you started:
Glossary of Key Terms Concerning Audiobooks
Abridged Audiobook–A professional abridger “edits” the work from the original text to encompass the essence of the story while maintaining characterizations, plotlines and style. Most abridgements are done with author approval. Just as many book-based movies do justice to the book while not including every single scene, so an abridgement strives for the same goal of staying true to the spirit and content of the book.
Audio Original/Audio Only/Spoken Word–Audiobook products derived from sources other than book content. These programs include dramatic readings, stand-up comedy, seminars, conversations, etc. that have no book counterpart.
Cassette– Easy to use and with a wide install base, this technology still represents a significant piece of the audiobook market. A single cassette can hold more than 100 minutes of programming.
CD–The popularity of this format is steadily increasing. Most cars now come standard with these players and inexpensive adapters are available for cars without factory installed CD players. Red Book specifications indicate that a single disc can hold up to 74 minutes of digital audio material. This is why you will find in many cases the same program requires more CDs than cassettes. CDs can also be played on computers and CD/MP3 players.
CD ROM Disk or Mini-disk–These are sometimes included in audiobook packages to carry video and text if necessary or desired as added value.
Digital download/Audio Download–Audiobook content can be transmitted digitally in different compressions to compatible players or listened to directly from the computer.
MP3CD–An audiobook format for which an MP3 player is required, only some CD/DVD players can currently read this format. While this emerging technology still has a relatively small install base, MP3CDs can hold a large amount of audio material on a single CD.
Packaging–Audiobooks can come in trays, slides, jewel cases, sleeves, wallets and spined plastique books. Most audiobooks are shrink-wrapped and some have a mylar-seal. Outside boxes can be many different sizes due to the number of units inside and package design.
Unabridged Audiobook–The complete, unaltered work.
04.16.08
Facebook news today
Per a report on Compiler from wired.com, Six Apart is adding a Blog It client to Facebook that will allow you to update several blogs at one time from the Facebook interface. This includes WordPress blogs and other major blog clients. However, I’ve been poking around on the site and can’t seem to find it in the applications menus as of this morning. Hopefully it will be up soon. I’ll let you know how it works.
You can read the original article here: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2008/04/six-apart-launc.html
