Monday, May 21, 2012

The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success

The Secrets to Ebook Publishing SuccessThe Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success by Mark Coker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a free ebook written by Mark Coker, the founder of Smashwords, an ebook publishing company.  It's a good read directed at authors, covering topics on what makes a good book, how to publish it, marketing, pricing, distribution.  Even if you never plan to use Smashwords, it has a lot of good information.  All readers are encouraged to share this free ebook, available for free on Smashwords.com, or for 99 cents on Amazon.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

The rest of this review is not a review, but my personal journey with ebook publishing directed at authors of ebooks.

I found it interesting that this book was published in March this year, shortly after Amazon announced its KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) Select program for authors.  It's a "new option to make money and promote your book."  The catch is you have to make your book exclusive to Kindle for at least 90 days, to get all the benefits of the program.  You can even promote your book as free for up to 5 days in that period.  When Amazon says exclusive, they mean exclusive.  An author has to remove said book from all other distribution channels...Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, and of course Smashwords and any place else it might be lurking.  Any violation during the 90 days means said ebook will never appear on Kindle again. 

I have been following a number of authors who are in the KDP select program, and it appears to work well for authors with a backlist of books.  A five-year-old book that has declined in sales gets new life, and the author also sees a surge in sales of more recent books.

I must admit I am a long-time Amazon fan.  Amazon was the first online store I ever shopped, beginning in 1999.  I have long considered Amazon the gold-standard when it comes to online purchasing and customer service.  But somehow the KDP select program smacks of monopoly.

I am also a fan of Smashwords.  They haven't been around very long (founded in 2008), but they filled a niche that satisfied my personal requirement in 2009.  I self-published my first book in 2008 (in paperback), using Lulu.com.  At that time Lulu was free.  You paid only for the books you bought.  If you wanted distribution, it cost $99 for an ISBN and distribution to all the online bookstores, Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Sony, and dozens of others all over the globe.  Lulu didn't venture into ebook publishing until this year.

When I did the research on how to publish an ebook, I learned I could do it directly through Kindle Direct Publishing, but that only covered Kindle format.  I had my book up and running on Kindle in 2009.  Then I learned about Smashwords, which covers all the other formats as well as mobi for Kindle.  The only cost for distribution in the "Premium Catalog" is $9.95 for an ISBN.  I don't understand why I needed another ISBN, but for $9.95 I didn't care.  And they don't even ask for the money up front, they take it out of future sales.  Now I'm really a fan.  That $9.95 gets me international sales.  OK, Amazon get me international sales too.  But Smashwords gets my same ebook on B&N, Kobo, Sony, and get this...the Apple store, as well as some ebook readers I had never heard of.  I'm always surprised at my numbers for iPad. Yeah I know the KDP Select devotees will point out that there is a free Kindle app for iPad, iPhone, Droid, whatever else you have.  But when somebody with an iPad goes browsing in the Apple store, I want my book to be there.

So when I read the chapters in this book entitled, "Maximize Distribution," and "Think Globally,"  I'm a believer.  I'll be sticking with Smashwords for a while.




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Friday, May 4, 2012

The Avengers


I didn't have to ask Sweetie twice if he wanted to go to the movies today.  Total testosterone movie.  Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, The Black Widow, and Hawkeye team up to stop Loki.  You guys know who all these people are.  And Samuel L. Jackson as their fearless leader, Fury.

We went to the first non-3D showing at 1:15, and the theater was packed.  Hardly an empty seat in the place when we arrived at 1:15.  We managed to squeezed into the two seats at the top in the corner, which were better than the few seats down front, too close to the screen to watch without getting a pain in the neck.

The plot?  Does there have to be a plot when you have special effects and flying, crashing things?  It was a bit dark at the beginning, and too much talking, shouting orders, so I got a snooze.  They did break up the action with some frequent comic relief.  These are Marvel comic book characters, ya-know?  At the end of the movie, the audience applauded.

But I gotta love Samuel L. Jackson.  He has so many movies in the works, I can't see them all.  There was a time when I tried to keep up with his different hairdos.  He's had afros, and dreadlocs and jerri-curls, and most anything that a black man can have.  My favorite on him  is bald.  He has had so many hair variations that he started adding skin variations...scars, burns, wrinkles.  In this movie he has an eye-patch with a dreadful looking starburst of scars radiating from under it.  It's almost as mean as his face in The Dark Knight in 2008.


Anyway, I had to dig up my old chart.  It became impossible to keep it up, even with help from friends.

I give the Avengers three stars.


Samuel L Jackson Hairdo Rating Chart

Movie Title
Year Released
Character
Hair style
Sarah’s hairdo rating
Resurrecting the Champ
2007
Champ
locs
1
Snakes on a Plane
2006
Neville Flynn
bald
9
Freedomland
2006
Lorenzo Council
hat
3
The Man
2005
Derrick Vann
short locs
2
Star Wars:Episode III
2005
Mace Windu
bald
9
XXX2
2004
Agent Augustus Gibbons
short afro
5
Kill Bill
2003
The Organ Player


Blackout
2003
Mills


S.W.A.T.
2003
Lt. Dan “Hondo” Harrelson


Basic
2003
Drill Instructor West


XXX
2002
Agent Augustus Gibbons
short afro
5
House on Turk Street
2002
Jack Friar


Star Wars:  Episode II – Attack of the Clones
2002
Mace Windu
bald
9
Changing Lanes
2002
Doyle Gipson
short afro
5
Formula 51
2002
Elmo McElroy
long braids
4
The Caveman’s Valentine
2001
Romulus Ledbetter
dreadlocks
2
Unbreakable
2000
Elijah Price
“bed head” afro
1
Shaft
2000
John Shaft
bald
10
Rules of Engagement
2000
Colonel Terry L. Childers


Any Given Wednesday
2000
Willie Nutter


Deep Blue Sea
1999
Russell Franklin
black toupee
0
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
1999
Mace Windu
bald
9
The Red Violin
1998
Charles Morritz
bald & thinning
3
The Negotiator
1998
Lt. Danny Roman


Jackie Brown
1997
Ordell Robbie
fried & died
1
Eve’s Bayou
1997
Louis Batiste
short afro
6
A Time to Kill
1996
Carl Lee Hailey
receding afro
4
Pulp Fiction
1994
Jules Winnfield
curl
1
Jungle Fever
1991
Gator Purify
Short
2