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August 28, 2005
SF authors podcasting their novels: "podiobooks"
As recently as this time last year, a podcast—a digital audio program that lives on the Internet—would have meant very little to most people. But today there are thousands of websites devoted to the technology; major media outlets have started releasing some of their broadcasts via podcast; and even cult favorite Neil Gaiman has posted the first few chapters of the audio version of his Anansi Boys on his blog. Sigler’s podcasting got him a deal with the publisher Dragon Moon Press after the publisher heard his audio version of EarthCore. And a new site, Podiobooks.com, has launched, with five titles already available for download. Its co-founder, Evo Terra, a podcaster for the online talk show The Dragon Page, notes that, as of this writing, 19 new authors have signed on to release free audio versions of their books through the site. Link(Via Boing Boing.)
Posted by Andreas at 08:07 AM
August 24, 2005
Teleread about e-books
Teleread is publishing an excellent blog about e-books.
Posted by Andreas at 11:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 16, 2005
PABD becomes SPAN corporate partner
SPAN, the Small Publishers Association of North America, is one of the leading trade bodies for self publishers and independent publishers. It provides a host of benefits to its members to help them market and distribute their books.
PABD has just become a SPAN Corporate Partner, which, among other things, means that if you have published your book with PABD you receive a dramatically discounted rate when you become a SPAN member.
We'll give you the full story on this in our newsletter and on the site, but we think it's great news and those who can should attend the SPAN conference coming up later in the year. We'll give you more information on that shortly.
If you'd like to find out more about SPAN click here
Posted by iain at 05:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
New reviews magazine for self publishers
A new publication is about to appear which specialises in the independent reviewing of self published books.
The title accepts books 6 months prior to publication through to 3 months after. Unfortunately books that have been in print for longer than three months don't qualify.
The magazine is called Readers' Review and will be published three times a year.
The one drawback is that the publication takes a trade discount on all sales made through the review that appears. It takes 30% of the cover price, but also demands 15% of the monies owed to you as 'administration'.
If you'd like more information on how to sumbit your book, contact us at iain@pabd.com
Posted by iain at 05:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 12, 2005
Create postage stamps from your book cover
Our friends over at Zazzle have struck a deal with the US post office that allows you to create your own personalized postage stamps. There's nothing stopping you creating stamps with the cover of your book as the image. We think this is a really cool way to spread the word about your work.
Just save the image from your Personal Selling Page, upload it here and a couple of days later your stamps will be delivered.
Posted by Andreas at 04:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Air out my shorts
'Air our my shorts' is a literary podcast from Toronto, produced by Preston Buttons and The Word Whore. As the name suggests, authors send in their short works of fiction and have it read, discussed, and in some cases dissected, on air.
To learn more, and to submit your own work, take a look at their website.
Posted by Andreas at 11:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Google Adwords and Amazon
This tip in from Steve Harrison:
Amazon is a joint venture partner with Google Adwords and they post the top selling Google Adword ads on every book sales page that has the same keywords, which includes the words in the title and author's names. When you select the title or authors name as your keywords, your ad will show up under "Customers interested in this title may also be interested in" on that book's page.
Although advertising on Google Adwords isn't free, the payback can be enormous. For info on Google's Adwords program go to http://www.google.com/adwords
Posted by Andreas at 07:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 11, 2005
2005 DIY Book Festival - Deadline
The 2005 DIY Book Festival entry deadline is Sept. 25 for the fourth annual program celebrating the success of independent authors and publishers.
The DIY Book Festival will consider self-published or independent publisher non-fiction, fiction, biography/autobiography, children's books, teenage, how-to, audio/spoken word, photography, art, comics, 'zines, fan fiction, poetry and e-books published on or after Jan. 1, 2003. All entries must be in English and have been self-published or issued by an independent publishing house that has published less than 50 works since the entry cut-off point.
The grand prize for the 2005 DIYBF Author of the Year is $1000 cash and a flight to Los Angeles for the gala awards ceremony. Genre category winners will receive a combination of books, software and cash awards.
Submitted works will be judged by a panel of industry experts using the following criteria:
1) General excellence and the author's passion for telling a good story.
2) The unique use of guerilla marketing tactics to reach a wider audience. This includes innovative marketing, merchandising, publicity tactics and other innovative methods of reaching an independent audience...
For more information please visit the DIY convention website
Posted by Andreas at 11:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 10, 2005
Amazon marketing tricks
Over the next couple of weeks we will be publishing a number of tricks and tips exploring ways to increase your visibility on amazon.com
So, starting today:
Tip one: Build a reputation as an expert by reviewing other people's books.
Find other books that deal with similar subject matter to your own and then review them. This might involve the expense of purchasing the actual books but you might already own them from the days when you were researching your own book. Make sure that your review is fair and balanced.
Every review you post you'll sign with 'Your Name, author of Title of your book".
Amazon takes a dim view on using the title of your own book in the actual review - this will be treated as spam and the review will not be posted - but they are happy for you to include the title of your book in your signature. Feel free to use any other relevant credentials you might have in there. Anything that portrays you as an expert in your field is generally a good idea.
Do the above to as many books as you can manage and you'll build a reputation as trusted source in no time. Once that has happened people will start to look at your book as a trusted source of information and your sales should go up.
Posted by Andreas at 01:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Controversial writer fuels the plagarism debate
Stephen Miles, one of the writers controversially stripped of the 2002 Leonard Sankey Award for New Talent in Fiction amid claims of plagarism, has chosen to publish his account of the events that sent shockwaves around the literary world with PABD.
In all, three of the five winners were later disqualified for using large tracts of other author's work within their novels. The scandal ensured that the Sankey Awards would not be held again.
Of the three writers, only Miles ever protested his innocense and All My Own Work sets out to "put the record straight" as Miles puts it.
"Copying anothers work is about the lowest thing that you can accuse any writer of. It has taken me literally years to come to terms with what happened after the Sankey's. Now, I feel like it's time for me to tell my story as it actually happened," says Miles.
However, some media experts have stated that this book is likely to reopen the perrenial debate about the willingness of authors to 'borrow' from others.
Miles remains unequivocal: "I did not steal anyone else's work." A claim thrown into some doubt by writer Richard Cooper who has recently stated that All My Own Work is, in fact, all his own work.
PABD has been in discussion with Miles for some time about this project and we are completely confident in the assurances that he has given us to the genuine nature of his novels. Our opinion is that, in many ways, Stephen has been subject to a witch hunt by the literary community and, for that reason alone, his story deserves to be told.
To judge for yourself, All My Own Work is currently being published chapter by chapter on Miles’s weblog and visitors are invited to make a donation to help Miles fund PABD’s initial fees. In return Miles pledges to offer copies of the book at a discount to the donors and acknowledge their support in the book itself.
You can find out more about the Sankey Aards and remind yourself of the controversy by visiting the official Sankey website.
Posted by iain at 12:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 05, 2005
Pen to Postcard a roaring success
Recently, PABD sponsored an innovative writing project in Surrey, England called Pen to Postcard.
The idea was to increase the accessibility of creative writing for everyone by placing a series of postcards in public spaces. The postcards had the beginning of a micro-story on them. People were invited to complete the story and mail the postcard back.
The response was very impressive - as was the quality. You can read the winners for yourself at http://www.pentopostcard.org
We attended the award ceremony in Guildford where the winners read out their stories to warm applause from quite a large and appreciative audience.
It is great to see - and be a part of - so many interesting creative writing projects.
If you'd like to know more about Pen to Postcard or would be interested in organising something similar yourself you can drop us a line by clicking here
Posted by iain at 10:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 01, 2005
Meet the competition
We believe that we offer the best mixture of quality, author support and affordability. We hope to be known not just for the volume of books we've helped publish but for quality of writing from our authors.
We do appreciate that there are other companies offering similar services to us. To help you make a decision of where to publish we have prepared a comparison chart, listing costs and services. Click here to download this chart as a pdf.
Many companies and services use the words 'self publishing' liberally. It's wise to check if this is actually true or if you are, in fact, working with a subsidy publisher. Companies like ourselves, lulu.com and Cafepress offer genuine self publishing services. This means that the author is the publisher, with all the rights and responsibilities that brings. A good question to ask is: "Is the ISBN for my book registered in my name?" If the answer is no, then you are NOT the publisher, but are publishing under the name of the ISBN holder.
While we have made every effort to ensure that the figures in our chart are correct, please do let us know should you find an error or an ommission and we'll correct it as soon as possible. We have no way to monitor all the services listed all of the time, so please make sure to make your own enquiries before coming to your decision.
Posted by Andreas at 03:42 PM | Comments (0)