[…]Prices might actually rise if Agency was abandoned. Under agency, publishers earn 70% of the list price as their cut, and the retailer gets 30%. Under wholesale, the publisher sells the book to the retailer for $X, usually at 50% of the list price, and the retailer usually marks up from there. Let’s take example of a book where the publisher wants
It’s been a good run. 2011 was the year when self-publishing broke open with the successes of Amanda Hocking, John Locke, and JA Konrath. The stigma is gone. No one thinks a self-published book is bad just because it’s been self-published. But people are creative – there are some out there who actively want to dislike self-publishing, and will look for reasons to criticize. There are also plenty of people who still want to believe in the validation of a traditional publisher: if an agent and editor like it, I must be good. So now the stigma is not: self-published […]
[…]There are two components of the agreement. The first is distribution into the Blio online store and e-reading app. The second part of the agreement gains Smashwords authors and publishers distribution into the library market through Baker & Taylor’s Axis360 service.
If you’re not familiar with Blio, it’s an online store (Blio.com) and also a popular e-reading application that has been pre-loaded on over millions of computers and devices. It powers the e-reading experience for laptops, desktops and tablets produced by Dell Computer, HP, Toshiba and T-Mobile, among others. Blio is
Paypal hasn’t had a great few months of PR. First there was the Regretsy debacle, in which Paypal refused to process donations for kids:
PayPal demanded that Regretsy, an Etsy parody site, return its recent donations garnered to provide Christmas presents for disadvantaged kids. Though Regretsy functions primarily as a humor blog that mocks unfortunate-looking items on the craft site Etsy, it also allows Etsy sellers to donate their products to charity — and even to other sellers in need.
After the internet outcry, they reversed this decision, and finally decided to make donations of their own.[…]
The site may look the same, but it’s not. Step right up for a long and boring tale. Around 3 months ago, registrations stopped working for no reason. I tried everything to fix it – deleting plugins, adding plugins, messing with code. Bluehost told me someone might have even hacked the site, so I hired a security firm. No one had. Finally, I found someone who knew what he was doing and he gave the site a full upgrade.
The site runs Buddypress, which is great and allows for everything you see on the site – members, groups[…]
[…]Now anyone can create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books, and more for iPad. All you need is an idea and a Mac. Start with one of the Apple-designed templates that feature a wide variety of page layouts. Add your own text and images with drag-and-drop ease. Use Multi-Touch widgets to include interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote presentations, 3D objects, and more. Preview your book on your iPad at any time. Then submit your finished work to the iBookstore with a few simple steps. And
Has self-publishing lost its way? The reason that I got interested in self-publishing was because of the traditional publishing industry’s obsession with marketing over the quality of books. It seems like the vibe around self-publishing these days is echoing trad publishing’s marketing obsession. I understand wanting to sell books. I’m desperate to sell books as well and I check my KDP account more than is healthy. But: book sales are not the only reason to write, and it’s also not the only reason to market a book.
JA Konrath has a post about how publicity doesn’t lead to book sales[…]
Andrew Sullivan posted an email from a reader – who we’ve reviewed and interviewed in the past – about his leap from self-publishing to AmazonEncore (which I didn’t know had happened, so congrats Tim!). He writes:
[…]After finishing a first draft of the manuscript, I jumped through all the typical hoops: got an agent, wrote a fat book proposal, revised till my nose bled, this, that, the other. Ultimately, after several years of trying, my agent was unable to sell it because, even when editors were interested – and we did have a few big pubs on the line -the